Southern birding tour – Israel - late fall 2005

The Yellow-browed Warbler photos are courtesy of Yoav Perlman; all other photos are courtesy of Jonathan Meyrav

We launched our fall season with a series of successful tours. Although we had to work for some of our key species, we were rewarded with several surprisingly good birds along the way. Here is a short summary of the tours highlights.

October 31 st - I met up with Peter Johnson, a visiting birder from New Jersey and we birded Lotan on foot. It was a chilly morning (by our standards) and we were quickly admiring 2 of our local Little Green Bee-eaters as they warmed up in the early morning sun. Redstarts and Black Redstarts were in evidence along with many Bluethroats, scurrying in the shadows of the shrubs. I was delighted to find a calling Fieldfare perched atop a tree in the organic garden, a rare winter visitor for us.

With the sun over the mountains we checked the local Antenna and sure enough a fine Barbary Falcon was spotted perched, eyeing the doves in the dairy barn.

We headed down to Eilat, as we passed Grofit a large, dark Eagle flew over the road. I stopped the car and found the Eagle perched about 300 metres away. We put up the scope and admired an adult Golden Eagle, one of our rarest resident raptors. 20 minutes later we arrived at the productive K20 salt pans. I headed directly to the pool where a Red Phalarope was found several days earlier. Sure enough the Phalarope was still there, spinning and giving excellent views. Single Grey Plovers and a small party of Slender billed Gulls are worth noting.

At the K19 reservoir we enjoyed close views of a sub adult Greater Spotted Eagle and single Black Kites. In the afternoon we spent some time birding the fields of Neot Smadar. We found several "Eastern" Stonechats, both of the Siberian and Caspian forms. A female Desert Wheatear gave excellent views alongside a Greater Short-toed Lark.

On November 1 st we met up with George and Naomi Adam and we headed down to Eilat. At the Birdwatching Park we connected with a surprisingly bright Citrine Wagtail and White-breasted Kingfishers. The park was full of Chiffchaffs and the first Water Pipits of the winter were calling overhead. A quick visit to the North beach produced Indian House Crows, several Dozen White-eyed Gulls, and single Siberian and Armenian Gulls.

After visiting several other sites we headed north to a local sewage pool that is a real "magnet". We got close to first year Hooded Wheatear and found the regular selection of migrants among the vegetation. Nearby we found a noisy flock of 20 Indian Silverbills, and had great views of 5 Namaqua Doves perched at eye level.

A great find was a confiding Cream-colored Courser feeding with 3 Northern Lapwings at the Samar Turf fields.

At Yotvata rest area we noted a flock of 25 Tristrams Grackles.

That afternoon was dedicated to the fields and acacia scrub of Yotvata. After a quick visit to the sewage pools, which produced an adult Spotted Redshank and a pair of Scrub Warblers, we headed for the circular fields.

Here we found dozens of White Wagtails, several Yellow Wagtails and Red throated Pipits. At least 1 Oriental Skylark flew overhead calling and after some searching we found a nice Richard's Pipit. The day was sealed with a nice male Desert Wheatear, and a hunting male Sparrowhawk that made dinner of an unlucky Red-throated Pipit…

November 2 nd - An early start was necessary and we arrived in Nitzana after sunrise. We were blessed with real luck as on an impulse I decided to take an alternate road and we found 4 Maqueen's Bustards feeding near the road. After enjoying these great birds we headed to the famous Sandgrouse drinking spot. Shortly after we arrived the air filled with the beautiful calls of the birds For the next 90 minutes we had our packed breakfasts while enjoying great views of hundreds of Sandgrouse coming in to drink. Around 500 Black-bellied Sandgrouse, 150 Spotted and 35 Crowned Sandgrouse made an appearance. What an awesome sight, this is always a tour highlight.

After the birds left we birded the pools and the adjacent areas. We had great views of Southern Grey Shrikes, Sardinian Warbler, Mourning Wheatears and Chuckars. A great find was a confiding Merlin sheltering from the wind behind the pools. We had distant views of another Maqueen's Bustard and several Lesser Short-toed Larks were noted in the area as well. We visited several more sites picking up species like Hoopoe, Desert Lark, Isabelline and Northern Wheatears, Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat and more common migrants.

We started the long journey south and stopped at Sdeh-boker where we found Griffon Vultures, Sand Partridge and a nice female Blue rock Thrush.

We continued south and birded around Mitzpe Ramon at a most productive Tamarisk grove. This area is located on the high Negev Plateau and is a great spot for migrants. We found many birds there but the highlight of the place and the day was a superb Yellow-browed Warbler found feeding with Chiffchaffs in the low vegetation. This beautiful Siberian warbler is a very rare fall and winter visitor in Israel . The bird which was in bright plumage called several times and seemed at ease.

Later that evening I called Yoav Perlman and told him about the bird. I was happy to learn that Yoav planned on ringing at the site the following morning. It took Yoav (along with Ido Tzurim and Arnon Tzairi) 30 to mist net and ring the bird. I am happy to add 2 images of the bird in the hand taken by Yoav.

November 4 th - Again an early start as we picked up Lou and Marilyn Marsh who joined us for the day. We headed north to the Southern Negev plateau region. We had a great start as 3 Asian Wild Ass were spotted near the road at first light. We stopped at the Meishar plain to look for Larks. Surprisingly enough the first bird we found was a fresh plumaged Richard's Pipit feeding in the scrub. We scanned the desert and approached several distant Larks. These proved to be no less than 5 Bar-tailed Desert Larks feeding with some Crested Larks. Quite a few Dorcas Gazzelle could be seen roaming the plains.

Several kilometers along the road we spotted a nice adult Long-legged Buzzard perched near the road. We birded the Mitzpe Ramon and Sdeh Boker areas coming up with mostly the same species as the days before. The Yellow-browed Warbler, now ringed gave excellent views at the Tamarisk grove.

We headed back south to the Eilat area where we connected with Desert Finch, the three Kingfisher species, and more. The day was sealed at a traditional drinking spot for Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse. 17 birds came in at last light and sealed a great tour.

All the images were taken during early November.

Good birding.

Jonathan Meyrav /// Lotan center for Birdwatching

Contact info

Daphna Abell
Program Coordinator
lotan-programs@lotan.ardom.co.il
Tel: +972 8 6356935;
Toll Free: 1800 2000 75 (when in Israel)