Israel Trip Report Highlights

Here are the highlights from Dave Gosney's recent trip to Israel.

When I arrived in Israel in late March, my first port of call was the Kibbutz at Lotan where I was to be staying. Within minutes of arriving I'd seen Black-eared Wheatear, Bluethroat and Rüppell's Warbler, so I knew I'd be happy there.

Better still, within half an hour one of the resident birdwatchers Susannah Lehman had also shown me a male Ménétries's Warbler which had taken up residence outside her flat.

Before the end of the day Susannah had shown me the Hume's Warbler that had wintered at Yotvata and also the Oriental Skylarks which were present on the alfalfa fields nearby. What a start. Over the next few days I managed to catch up with a few species that we needed better footage of.

Lotan birdwatcher James Smith had found a Cyprus Pied Wheatear near Shizzafon where I also managed to film several Trumpeter Finches.

Down the valley at Eilat, a superb male Semi-collared Flycatcher was showing well in the ringing centre car park where I saw the first of many Eastern Bonelli's Warblers.

Lots of birds were feeding on and around the nearby freshwater pool and I particularly enjoyed a female Citrine Wagtail and several Red-rumped Swallows skimming over the water.

Fellow cameraman Andy Kyriakou was kind enough to put me onto some Indian Silverbills which seemed to be nesting amongst the razor wire by Jordanian border. Nearby I managed to spot a pair of Namaqua Doves, normally an elusive species here.

Raptor passage had been slow before my arrival but in the end we had some really big movements of Steppe Buzzards, often with the occasional Steppe Eagle amongst them. Another of the highlights was an early morning trip to the Negev, arriving in time to see a superb male Houbara Bustard.

Nearby we also checked out one of the sandgrouse drinking pools. We did see some Spotted Sandgrouse, but only small numbers of Black-bellied Sandgrouse actually settled where they could be filmed.

One evening I joined Hadoram Shirihai's night watch, but the conditions were too dark for me to film the Nubian Nightjars that were illuminated by his lamp. However, I did manage to film a Little Crake in the nearby fishpond as well as a beautifully lit Black Stork.

The next day I went in search of a new bird for me, Grey Hypocolius, near the reservoirs at km 20. It was much harder to find than I expected, but I did manage to get several shots of it. The reservoirs themselves had a lot of good birds including some splendid Marsh Sandpipers.

One of the birds I was particularly keen to film was the endemic Arabian Warbler. This species proved to be very elusive so it was only after several returns to Yotvata that I managed to find two pairs, one of which I filmed.

The great thing about Israel at this time of year is not just the rarities, but also the great views you get of relatively common birds, many of which come pouring through on passage.

David Gosney