Desert Wheatear

It has been unusually cold in the Arava desert the past two weeks, and we even had a few sprinklings of rain, nothing really measureable but yet quite refreshing.

The White-fronted Goose that I did not see at the Yotvata circular fields has moved to the Yotvata sewage. Michael and Brenda had seen it a few days ago. It will have been in the area for two months now.

I concentrated on the feed storage area behind Lotan‘s dairy barn, and it was quite productive. A sizeable group of Red-throated Pipits were about, as were a few Water Pipits. I did see one Corn Bunting, as well as a beautiful male Desert Wheatear. Its all-black tail and the white line at the bottom of the grayish crown made the identification very clear. A Northern Wheatear was nearby for comparison. Michael and Brenda reported that they saw one Temminck’s Lark at the same location but, despite searching, could not locate the individual. We are inundated at the moment with White Wagtails and Bluethroats, and even a small number of the svecica subspecies with the reddish dot. We also have quite a number of female bluethroats without the coloration.

I also wanted to see what was going on in Nachal Ketura, just up the road from Lotan. The usual Yellow-vented Bulbuls were about as were a group of House Sparrows. I saw several Crested Larks about near the shrubs, and proceeded further up the river bed. I did a warbler of some kind, probably a Sardinian Warbler, but it played hard to get. Eventually it disappeared without identification. In its stead three Scrub Warblers came into the next shrub and played around for quite a while. I could get some very good views, with the streaking on the head, and the very characteristic tail.

First of all, happy new year to everyone!

After a long time away from writing updates for the website, I have come back to doing it. Although the spring is the premium migration season, the other seasons do not disappoint either. It may be a bit harder to find the birds, but at the right places, and with a little bit of luck, birding is still very good.

Weather conditions: morning very cold with 7 degrees Celsius, partly-cloudy to overcast, temperature reaching up to 17 degrees Celsius.

I went out with a friend today to do some birding in the Arava valley, but we first headed down to Eilat, to the ringing station. We arrived very early, and  today, nobody was there. We walked around a bit to see what was going on from  the various hides placed in the bird sanctuary. A Little Grebe was swimming in the pond, and a Little Egret was walking along the bank. A Black-headed Gull was overhead and a Common Tern too. We saw quite a number of Bluethroats along with the obligatory Yellow-vented Bulbuls and the House Sparrows.  The salt ponds south of the sanctuary held five Greater Flamingoes, along with a Great Egret. There was actually little going on at the sanctuary, and soon we were on our way.

We continued up the road and ended up at the Eilat sewage works at Km 19. Hundreds of Feral Doves were about at the cattle quarantine station, but our attention was directed at the pond of the sewage farm. After climbing up the embankment, we saw the goings-on. About 10 Spoonbills, 10 or so White Storks, five Black Storks, hundreds of Greater Cormorants, over 30 Grey Herons, Little Egrets and Great Egrets were on the embankments. A Marsh Harrier was hunting nearby. Swimming in the pond were several Pintails, well over 50 Shelducks and about 40 Shovelers. A similar number of Coots were about too, and a few White Wagtails.

At the Km 20 salt ponds there was less of a variety of birds about, but in quite large numbers. This time there must have been over 400 Greater Flamingoes, a number larger than in previous months. We had well over a hundred Shelducks, three Avocets, two female Pintails, plus the usual Black-winged Stilts, the Little Stints, the Redshanks, and at least one Dunlin.

While driving away from the salt ponds we came upon three Negev Gazelles (Gazella gazelle dorcas) feeding underneath an acacia tree. They were pretty unafraid of us as we approached with the car, but finally did move along.

We wanted to see whether the Syrian Serins that had been sighted several weeks earlier were still there at the Samar sewage ponds, but no such luck. We also tried for the Hoopoe Larks that I had seen at the Samar Dunes the previous week, but they were nowhere to be seen. The Samar Dunes are now at the center of a controversy, where a contractor has received permission to quarry the sand from these dunes for the construction industry. The agreements have been signed and the work has started, but there is still intense opposition to the project. The contractor has stated that he is willing to stop the work if his money is returned to him by the Israel Lands Authority. They of course refuse to budge, so now the last dunes in the Arava are being threatened, together with their unique wildlife.

We proceeded from there to the acacia grove at Km 51, near the British police station from the 1920′s and the Roman fort. We were looking for the Arabian Warbler that is resident there. Along the way, we found several Blackstarts, two Little Green Bee-eaters, a pair of Palestine Sunbirds, a Marsh Harrier hunting and a few Crested Larks. We also saw two Chiffchaffs, but the warbler kept evading us. It was always on the other side of the tree or bush as we approached. We gave up, went back to the car, and as we were going to leave, the Arabian Warbler presented itself beautifully, not 10 meters from the car.

Next came the Yotvata circular fields. As we drove up to the northern circular field, a White-fronted Goose flew up.  I had seen two White-fronted Geese six weeks earlier, and this one seems to be the one that was stuck around. It landed a hundred meters further and did not let itself be disturbed by some onlookers. We looked around for larks and pipits and did find some: Crested Larks were plentiful, as well as Water Pipits. We also saw a small flock of Northern Lapwings, a bird that is not very common here in the Arava.

The last stop was back on Lotan, where we visited the Constructed Wetlands. We saw a large number of Bluethroats and White Wagtails. A few Chiffchaffs were about, as well as several Graceful Prinias. Here we saw Water Pipits, Red-throated Pipits, Rock Martins and the obligatory Spur-winged Lapwing. We also saw a flock of about 25 Red-throated Pipits behind the dairy barn in the cow feed area.

All in all, it was a productive five hours of birding.

David Schoneveld

Licensed Tour Guide and Bird Guide

Kibbutz Lotan

After a prolonged absence from writing an update on the website due to guiding elsewhere in the country, I have found the time to write again. I went on a 4-hour birding trip with two of my kids to see what was going on at the Eilat Sewage works and at the Km 20 salt ponds.

At the sewage works there were over 100 Cormorants sunning themselves at the side of the large pond, along with over 40 Grey Herons. Mixed in were approximately 30 Little Egrets and a few Great Egrets. One Purple Heron stood out among the flock. At first it was a bit hard to distinguish it from the other Herons, but once we had a good look, it was unmistakable. There were also four to five Spoonbills present as well as five White Storks. Talking about storks, I saw several flocks of White Storks and Pelicans migrating over northern Israel, around the area between Tiberias and Nazareth. They amounted to about 500 individuals. The Pelicans were fewer, with one small flock of 20. Paddling around in the water we saw over 50 Coots. Overhead we saw one Imperial Eagle, one Booted Eagle and two juvenile Steppe Eagles. Just as we were about to leave a Pied Kingfisher showed up.

At the Km 20 salt ponds the number of Flamingoes has increased in relation to the summer, with over 200 wading around. The numbers had dwindled after the spring, but with the influx of more juvenile ones, the colony has grown. It was apparent that there had been numerous visits of people that day because the birds were concentrated in the center of the ponds far away from the sides and potential danger. The usual Little Ringed Plovers, Little Stints and Black-winged Stilts were feeding along the edges. We did see over 10 Ruffs feeding alongside, as well as five Avocets. In the center of the pond we saw a large number of Shelducks, well over a hundred individuals.

We decided to look for the Dorcas Gazelle that lives north of the ponds, but we not lucky this time. They had obviously been disturbed by people driving around, although we did see fresh footprints and droppings.

It was then time to head back to Lotan. The weather was beautiful with temperatures of around 27 degrees Celsius and a breeze from the north.
David Schoneveld
Licensed Tour Guide and Bird Guide
Kibbutz Lotan

Lesser Spotted Eagle

After a few days where there was little new migration going on, we woke up to a day where from the outset it seemed that there was a lot more going on. There were many more Lesser Whitethroats, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs in the trees on the Kibbutz. There apparently had been some significant migration after a few days where the bad weather in the north of Israel had put the parking brake on migration.

Right outside my back door there was a Wryneck merrily hopping around, and in the lawn closest to my house there were some Red-throated Pipits and Meadow Pipits around. Walking further, there was one particular shrubs, called a Callistemon King’s Park, that was literally teeming with Sylvia warblers, mostly Lesser Whitethroats and Blackcaps. This is a regular occurrence with this shrub, which we call the bottlebrush tree, in full bloom. The Constructed Wetlands did not yield many new things. There were three Yellow Wagtails (feldegg), and a bunch of Red-throated Pipits in pool number one and three. One Green Sandpiper noisily flew away and the obligatory Spur-winged Plovers were, as usual sounding the alarm. One Pallid Harrier was spotted hunting early in the morning above the ponds.

After breakfast, I went out, and that is when I saw the overhead migration going on. Most of it was over the mountains, called Caravan Cliffs, which are to the west of us, but every once in a while there would be one “kettle” that would form right above Lotan. My estimate is that there were well over 3,000 raptors overhead. The most common was the Steppe Buzzard, numbering over 80% of the total. There was also quite a large number of Black Kites in the mix. Noteworthy was that there were several Steppe Eagles, at least one Lesser Spotted Eagle, one Osprey, several Sparrowhawks, one Egyptian Vulture, and several Montagu’s Harriers. This spectacle continued to about 11 a.m. and then stopped. The Israeli birder Barak Granit stopped by and confirmed some of the sightings. We both remarked that there was a notorious absence of Black Storks that migrate together with the Black Kites. Maybe that will change in the next couple of days.

David Schoneveld

Licensed Tour Guide and Birder

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

Bimaculated Lark

Spring migration is underway already in full force, just in  the past two days it seems to have bypassed Lotan. Here is it quite quiet. In our Lotan Wetlands all four types of Wagtails can be  seen: White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail (feldegg), Grey Wagtail and Citrine Wagtail. All can be seen hopping next to each other in the same wetland pond. In addition, there are three Little ringed Plovers,  six Green Sandpipers, a bunch of Chiffchaffs,  Red-throated Pipits and Water Pipits.  The lone Barbary Falcon that is here all year round is hunting overhead and goes back everytime to the cellular tower.  In the late afternoon, the Barn Swallows, Red-rumped Swallows are about hunting. There are a large number of dragonflies around, which attracts the other birds.

Migration goes on elsewhere in the vicinity, with 75 Bimaculated Larks at Yotvata fields, along with Short-toed Larks. Raptor migration is also proceeding along well, with a growing variety of species. Pallid Harrier, Marsh Harrier, Merlin, Goshawk, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Steppe Eagle, several  White Storks, Steppe Buzzard (several hundred), Black Kite (also in the hundreds) are present .  At night, the Pharaoh’s Eagle Owl can be seen flying around the fields of Yotvata.

So far this time,

David Schoneveld

Today, I went out with Thomas Krumenacker and Frank Moffatt to bird around Lotan, and in a radius of about 5 kilometers.

We started out around the Lotan wetland, where there were over 60 White Wagtails, about 40 Water Pipits and about 15 Red-throated Pipits. The Green Sandpipers that have been around were still there. The one lone Grey Wagtail we have had for the past four days was hopping between pool no. 1 and pool no. 3. Two Little Ringed Plovers that had been about for days were still there. One Sardinian Warbler was hopping about in the bushes nearby. The Bluethroats are still about, also some which do not have their full plumage. From there, we walked towards the organic garden where we saw a beautiful Ruppell’s Warbler, about 10 Short-toed Larks, and quite a few Chiffchaffs. In addition, the first Blackcaps have arrived here in Lotan. The obligatory House Sparrows and Spanish Sparrows abound, as do the Collared Doves.

[Credit: Photo of Ruppell's Warbler by Daniele Occhiato]

Drove then round the back side to the Lotan fields. We stopped first at the compost pile that was being watered. A few Crested Larks were about, as were some Spur-winged Plovers. We saw another Ruppell’s Warbler at the same site and many more Chiffchaffs and Lesser Whitethroats. A pair of Little Green Bee-eaters was about on the wires too. One Steppe Buzzard was migrating north, as was a Common Kestrel.  We spent about an hour and a half there before heading down. Thomas got a report from Jonathan Meirav that there were two Dunn’s Larks and over 350 Thick-billed Larks in Wadi Terashim, in the Meishar. Since this area is a military training area they were kindly asked to leave the area.

We proceeded from the Lotan fields to the Qetura Sewage. At first we did not see much going on, but all of a sudden a variegatus subspecies of the Eastern Stonechat showed up. It had apparently just gotten there and was exhausted. It was quite approachable, and Thomas could take some very good pictures of the bird. Aside from that there were three Red-throated Pipits and two Green Sandpipers. A small group of birders showed up, to whom we showed the stonechat. They told us that there was one Cyprus Wheatear at Qa es-Saéddin (Km 76) at the pumping station. Frank proceeded further south to the Yotvata sewage, and we headed north past Yahel to Km 76. We saw the bird almost immediately, and Thomas got to take a few pictures. It then flew into the fenced-off area of the pumping station, and stayed there for quite a while. Playing the appropriate bird calls did not have much effect, but eventually it did fly to the fence on the other side, and Thomas could get a few good pictures of it. While waiting, we followed a Sardinian Warbler and several Lesser White-throats into one of the bushes.

Meanwhile, Frank saw a male and a female Citrine Wagtail at Yotvata sewage, in the area beyond the ponds, where the run-off goes. There were six Squacco Herons in the reeds, over 30 White Wagtails, one or two Reed Warblers were calling, five or more Bluethroats and over twenty Green Sandpipers.  The Palestine Sundbird could be seen quite well. We headed back to Lotan from there for lunch.

There was almost no overhead migration to speak of today, as an easterly wind started to blow, whipping up quite a bit of sand. Temperatures today were about 25 degrees Celsius and clear skies.

David Schoneveld

Licensed Tour Guide and bird guide

… First of all an apology goes out to Dan Alon of the Israel Ornithological Center regarding the Cinereous Vulture. As a result of false information, I thought that he had seen the pictures. After speaking to him and to Yif’at Delzus (that is the correct spelling of her name), it turns out that it was Itai Shanni who had seen the pictures. I ran the pictures by Thomas Krumenacker, German bird photographer par excellence, and he also confirmed that it was the same bird. On one of the pictures there seem to be some white markings reminiscent of an Imperial Eagle, but after consulting with Yif’at that there was no second bird around (“an Imperial Eagle at the same time would have been icing on the cake!”). In one of the pictures, the neck of the vulture is clearly visible, and the box-like wing in addition to the sheer size of the bird make the identification clear.

It has been quite a week of birding here in the Lotan area. Some of the highlights first: A Cyprus Wheatear was sighted on one of the compost piles at the Yotvata circular fields (thank you Thomas Krumenacker), in addition, there was a Citrine Wagtail at the Constructed Wetlands in Lotan. This particular area is turning out to be a great bird magnet. We have the Green Sandpiper there along with the Common Sandpiper. In addition there are a few Water Pipits, Bluethroats (both the Svevica and the Cyanecula subspecies). In addition there still are some Stonechats about, as well as the first Northern Wheatears, two Isabelline Wheatears, White Wagtails in large numbers.

The Chiffchaffs have come in as well as the first Lesser Whitethroats, but they will become much more numerous in the coming weeks. Barn Swallows, House Martins, two Red-rumped Swallows, Common Swifts and Pallid Swifts are about. Apart from the Common Swifts, the others are not yet in great numbers. I was out with a group of birders for a day of birding, and without really having to try very hard, we saw close to forty species of birds. At Km 19 we saw one lone White Pelican in the large pond, hundreds of Shelducks, well over fifty Pintails, one Shelduck Ruddy flying overhead, over 40 Great Cormorants, a Little Egret, several Grey Herons, and of course the obligatory Collared Dove and the Laughing Dove. They are so common around that area because of the cattle quarantine station. At Km 20 we saw of course the Greater Flamingoes in the salt ponds, but also saw a few Avocets, a large number of Black-winged Stilts, Little Ringed Plovers with the distinctive yellow eye, Kentish Plovers, Black-headed Gulls, Little Stints. I looked for the seven Spoonbills I had seen few days earlier, but no luck this time.

From there we went to the Yotvata Sewage works. There was relatively little activity, but we did see and hear the Graceful Prinia, the Palestine Sunbird (an especially iridescent male), the Little Green Bee-eater, some more Green Sandpipers that flew away, making their characteristic sound. Beyond the pools of the sewage works there is another lake that has formed from the run-off. After looking for a short time, we found the Squacco Heron hiding among the reeds. It did fly off, displaying its magnificent white wings, but kept returning to the reeds. We all had good views of it.

Back on Lotan, we went out birding in the residential area of the kibbutz. We saw here both the House and the Spanish Sparrows in the trees. There were three Hoopoes, who did not want to be photographed easily. The three Arabian Babblers that have made Lotan home were out and about too, calling out to each other whenever they saw a cat in the vicinity. We went further to look around the swimming pool (still closed for maintenance) and saw a Rock Thrush. It was displaying well on some of the poles, but did not let us get too close. We did see the first feldegg subspecies of the Yellow Wagtail.

A few weeks ago I had seen an especially large raptor that landed on one of the light posts on the perimeter fence of the kibbutz. I did not have my binoculars with me, so I could not make an identification. Yif’at Zelzus, birder from the north of the country and a frequent visitor here, saw the bird as well and had the good fortune to have a camera handy. She took a few pictures while it was in flight. She had seen it at rest, but was scared away by a vehicle. She realized that she had to take the pictures before it disappeared out of sight.

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The pictures are therefore not very clear but from the flight pattern and the markings it can be deduced that we have a Cinereous Vulture. Furthermore, Yif’at has shown the pictures to Dan Alon of the Israel Ornithological Center and concurs with the estimation. The bird was seen around the southern part of Lotan for a few days more, and then no more. I have been searching the area and have not found it (I did see the Imperial Eagle again). I am including some of the photos for your enjoyment, and would be happy to receive comments about the identification.

David Schoneveld
Licensed Tour Guide and birder