Late fall 2007 in the southern Arava and Eilat

The days are short and the nights clear and well into single digits. The morning is filled with the calls of wintering Bluethroats and Black Redstarts.

I set out early on the morning of November 23rd for a full day birding tour.

We started at Neot Smadar fields where after some searching we found at least 2 Richard's Pipits amongst the many Red throated and Meadow Pipits. Just above the lake I located a very bright Yellow Browed Warbler by call and we were able to enjoy this beautiful bird for a few minutes.

From here we headed down to Yotvata fields where there were several male Desert Wheatears but nothing else out of the expected.

We headed down to the Samar Turf fields where we found a rather confiding Asian Buff-bellied Pipit which gave some nice views.

Down at Eilat we had a nice Dark morph W. Reef Heron fishing near the beach and at the K19 sewage we were happy to find a single juvenile White-fronted Goose, a very rare bird around Eilat, amongst the numerous ducks present.

This has the feeling of an interesting winter. Quite a few interesting species have already been recorded, some in significant numbers.

As December rolls in we started to get more and more rare Asian winteres and vagrants in the south. At least 2 more Yellow Browed Warblers were recorded in the southern Arava, as well as a single Hume's Leaf Warbler.

At least 3 Oriental Skylarks are present in agricultural areas and 2 A. Buff-bellied Pipits remain loyal to the Samar fields.

Stay posted for more info and fresh images from the field.

Jonathan Meyrav

Contact info

Daphna Abell
Program Coordinator
lotan-programs@lotan.ardom.co.il
Tel: +972 8 6356935;
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