After being away for a while from the southern part of Israel, I had the opportunity to go out with two couples to bird for two days.
Black Kite
We headed down to the Eilat mountains to look for migrating raptors. We arrived there at about 9 a.m. and saw some light migration going on. There were a few dozen Steppe Buzzards and a about 10 Black Kites overhead. This stopped pretty soon after we got there. After spending another 15 minutes and seeing two more birds, we decided to head down into Eilat. Because there was bad weather in the center and north of the country, there seemed to be much less migration going on. The usual spots where there would be lots pf passerines were relatively quiet. The odd Blackcap and Lesser Whitethroat were present. We did see one Siberian Chiffchaff in the bushes near the canal which leads to North Beach.
Driving through the Eilot date plantation we saw one Squacco Heron. This was the first time that my guests saw this bird, and were astounded how it could “disappear” in plain sight. As soon as it took off, they could see the bright white wings.
We continued on north, but it started to rain, so we decided not to go to the Km 19 sewage farm. Instead we continued straight on to Km 20 salt ponds. The Greater Flamingoes were there of course, but also Kentish Plovers, Little Ringed Plovers, ten Avocets, several hundred Shelducks, several hundred Black-headed Gulls, seven Little Egrets, two Grey Herons. On the way out, we saw two Little Green Bee-eaters that have their territory just to the west of the ponds.
Later in the afternoon, there was some migration going on over Lotan, with several dozen Steppe Buzzards and Black Kites. We did see the first of the European Bee-eaters (about 50 of them) that are common here in April and May.
The next day, while in Park Timna, we saw one Hooded Wheatear that was chasing a butterfly, being unsuccessful in catching it. Here there was stronger migration of Steppe Buzzards and Black Kites, with several hundred gliding silently overhead. One Woodchat Shrike was seen at the Lotan football pitch, along with a few Wrynecks hopping around with the House Sparrows.
We seem to be in the middle of a lull between waves of migration right now. Hopefully it will pick up in the next couple of days.
David Schoneveld
