Israel 7/3-13/3 2010

13/3
Left Kibbutz Mash’ Abbe Sade at 0445 in order to get to Nizzana before sunrise. Weather conditions were far from perfect with fog and high humidity. We got to Nizzana at 0530 and placed ourselves just south of the big power lines crossing the road near Esuz. The fog made conditions very bad with a limited sight of 200 meters. Only birds calling or singing were noted. The fog lifted at 0900 and soon hereafter we found our first Macqueen’s Bustard east of the road. The bird a displaying male was seen for the rest of the observation period. Displaying Cream Coloured Courser (7) were seen on both sides of the road. Other good birds included Thick-billed Lark 2, Pin-tailed Sandgrouse 21, Spotted Sandgrouse 15, Little Owl of the race Lilith.

At 1020 we left the Nizzana Area to get to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv in time. We had few stops on our way to the airport and arrived at 1320. Remember to get to the airport at least two and half hours before scheduled flight as security checks can take a while.

Little Owl of the race Lilith



Cream Coloured Courser

Cream Coloured Courser

Israel 7/3-13/3 2010

12/3

Left our hotel in Eilat at 0600 and headed north to KM33 for one last try with the Asian Desert Wablers. Unfortunately we could not locate any of the two birds seen by others and had to settle for the trips first Bar-tailed Desert Lark, a singing male. Continued north to Yotvata were KO located an Oriental Lark which everybody saw at close range. Another good bird was a female Namaqua Dove which only half of the group saw. Two group members lacked Hooded Wheatear on their life lists so we decided to give it a try at the sewage located one kilometre east of Shizzafon (Neot Samadar). Two hours of searching did not produce any wheatear but the sewage did have good numbers of Isabelline Wheatears.

Continued our way northwest and stopped at KM59, Hameishar, which is a green spot in the desert. The area is a military area and you might get asked to leave if the military personel see you. Luckily for us they did not spot or at least they did not ask us to leave so we had two hours of excellent birding. The area holds good numbers of a great variety of larks, including Thick-billed (1) and Temminck’s (9 birds, several singing). This was also the area where we finally caught up with Asian Desert Warbler. Two birds were seen at close range. One of the birds gasping in the immense midday heat (>35 degrees celcius).

The afternoon was spend birding Mitzpe Ramon which is a wintering site for Syrian Serin. We saw two males in the small park near the football field. Other good birds included Mourning Wheatear 3♂♂, Redstart 2 ♂♂ of the race samamisicus. Nubian Ibex come into the small town just east of the football field allowing very good photographic opportunities.

Slept in Kibbutz Mash’ Abbe Sade.

Oriental Lark at Yotvata

Looking for Asian Desert Warbler. No luck at this minefield (KM33).

Blackstart

Blackstart

Hot like hell!

KM59

Roughtail Rock Agama (Laudakia stellio stellio) Mitzpe Ramon

Nubian Ibex at Mitzpe Ramon

Nubian Ibex at Mitzpe Ramon

Nubian Ibex at Mitzpe Ramon

Israel 7/3-13/3 2010

11/3

Morning spent at North Beach which produced excellent views of the second calendar year Brown Booby that had been wintering at the site. Other than that there wasn’t much migration to be noticed. A total of seven White-eyed Gulls were seen. Visits to Amram’s Pillars and Ketura Sewage did not produce anything spectacular. An adult Peregrine was seen just north of Eilat perched in a power mast.

At Ketura we got news of a male Pied Wheatear at Neot Samadar (Shizzafon) which we ended up twitching. The Kibbutz also held good numbers of Caspian Stonechats.

Birded the afternoon in Kibbutz Lothan were we finally saw a smart male Namaqua Dove near the Dairy Farm. Other good birds included Pallid Harrier 1 ♂ and Cretzschmar’s Bunting 1 ♂.

The last hours were spent at KM20 Saltpans. A Greater Sand Plover and a Richard Pipit were both nice finds. Other birds noted Marsh Sandpiper 3. At dusk we saw the Licthenstein’s Sandgrouse at KM19 again.

Brown Bobby at North Beach

Indiana Jones and  Amram’s Pillars

KO, EDY and a praying KAA

RSN at his favorit location

Pied Wheatear at Neot Samadar (Shizzafon)

Steppe Eagle (Aquila nipalensis)

Sinai Agama

Namaqua Dove near the Dairy Farm

KM20 Saltpans

Israel 7/3-13/3 2010

10/3

Slept until 0930 and had a relaxing morning. A quick stop at the Eilat Ringing centre did not produce anything other than Marsh Sandpiper 4.Went to the Date Palm Plantation and ticked of the wintering female Crested Honey Buzzard. We flushed the bird twice before it flew off to Jordan. This seems to be the normal procedure with this bird so be sure to arrive early in the day. We met up with Rasmus Turin and Henrik Kisbye at the Ringing Centre and they informed us about two Asian Desert Warblers at KM33. A most wanted species for most of the group.

At KM33 we did not see the warblers but had fine views of Indian Silverbill 7 in the nearby date palm plantation. The silverbills can be quite difficult to find as they seem to disappear in palm trees but in the end we all had very good views.

Just south of Yotvata we saw several of the endangered Acacia Gazelle which is a subspecies of Mountain Gazelle only found in the southern part of Israel. At Yotvata we had a small lunch break at the visitor centre. The afternoon was spent birding the Northern Circular Field in Yotvata. Birds seen included Pallid Harrier 1 ♂ and Bimalculated lark 5 among the hundreds of Greater Short-toed Larks.

At dusk we had a successful encounter with the Licthenstein’s Sandgrouse at KM19. The birds (2♂♂+2♀♀) came in to drink at 1800, precisely. The evening was spent spotlighting at Yotvata but again without Egyptian Nightjar and Desert Eagle Owl. We did see Cape Hare 2, Lesser Egyptian Gerbil (easily caught by EDY) and Desert Hedgehog. Spent the night at Eilat.

Desert Hedgehog at Yotvata

Acacia Gazelle which is a subspecies of Mountain Gazelle is only found in the southern part of Israel.

Bimalculated lark at Northern Circular Field, Yotvata

Lesser Egyptian Gerbil (easily caught by EDY)

Israel 7/3-13/3 2010

9/3

Left early (0530) to go to the Shizaf Reserve again. A quick stop at the Shaqaq Reserve to look for Arabian Oryx did not produce any animals beside few Dorcas Gazelle but we did see the first Desert Finches of our trip. Saw the lizard again on our way. At the Shizaf Reserve we quickly found a male Arabian Warbler. We had great views of the bird for the next hour as it sang from the top acacia trees. Having had such a successful morning we decided to go for KM 76 to strike gold with the larks.

At 1000 we arrived at very green area in the desert. It looked promising for larks. The next four hours were spend in company with Temminck’s Lark 2 ♂♂ + 1 ♀, Thick-billed Lark 6, Greater Hoopoe Lark displaying, Bimalculated Lark 3, Caspian Stonechat 2 and Cretzschmar’s Bunting 4♂♂+1♀.

We left KM76 and headed back north as we had an appointment with Barak Granit in Arad at 1730. A quick stop at the gorge near Idan did not produce any Desert Eagle Owl. Be careful of the landmines and stay on the road! Near Mount Sodom we saw a very nice adult Barbary Falcon among the thousands of pallid swifts.

Met up with Barak Granit who was going to show us Hume’s Tawny Owl. We heard an individual quite close but we did not see the bird. Even though not seeing the owl we had an amazing night including Striped Hyena, Iranian/Indian Wolf 2, Desert Hedgehog 3, Golden Jackal 5-8 (Yotvata) and Caspian Plover 2 (Yotvata). The plovers were all seen on the North Circular Fields. After finishing up at Yotvata we drove to Eilat. Arrived at Eilat 0500 and went to bed at 0545.

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Desert Finch (Rhodospiza obsoleta)

Arabian Warbler (Sylvia leucomelaena)

Thick-billed Lark (Ramphocoris clotbey)

Spiny tailed lizard. Pretty cool lizard!

Cretzschmar's Bunting (Emberiza caesia)

Bimaculated Lark (Melanocorypha bimaculata)

Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris)

Iranian/Indian Wolf

Nebo hierichonticus

Israel 7/3-13/3 2010

8/3

Left Neot Hakikar at 0530 to eat breakfast at little lake just south of the Dead Sea. The lake is situated one kilometre north of the Harava Junction on the eastern side of the road. Reedbeds surround the lake and these need to be scanned thoroughly in order to find Clamorous Reed Warbler and Dead Sea Sparrow. We found a big flock of Dead Sea Sparrows roosting in the south-western part of the reed beds. The birds flew out of the night roost at 0615-0630. Clamorous Reed Warbler sang during the entirety of our visit but we had to work hard to see one. The lake should also be a good place to spot spotted/little crake though we did not see any during our visit. A Ferruginous Duck was a nice find though.

Some big cliffs extending for kilometres along the south-western shores of the Dead Sea holds a large breeding colony of Pallid Swifts and we saw 1000’s of birds as we passed going north during the morning.

A small lake near Nehe Sowar (there is a gas station) should be a good place for Dead Sea Sparrow but we did not have time to check this.

En route to Wadi Mishmar we passed several small wadies and added Tristams Starling, Blackstart, Rock Swallow, Nubian Ibex and Dorcas Gazelle but do not use time here even though it might be hard. These species were all common later on.

Wadi Mishmar is probably the best and most unspoiled of the wadi’s south of Ein Gedi. Be sure to go the end of the dirt road to park the car next to a small fenced area. Fan-tailed Raven, Arabian Babbler, White-Crowned Black Wheatear, Cypress Warbler, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Bonelli’s Eagle, Scrub Wabler, Blue Rock Thrush and Rock Hyrax. Half of our group also saw Mountain Bunting. The Wadi should also be good for Sinai Rosefinch.

Ate lunch at the visitor centre at Ein Gedi which did not produce anything new. Did some shopping in the Kibbutz and headed southward. Near Masada we found two Pale Rock Sparrows.

In Shizaf Reserve we met up with Oded Kenyan. Shizaf Reserve has several breeding pairs of Arabian Warbler. On our way to the warblers Oded showed us a Spiny-tailed Lizard which was truly amazing. Unfortunately we could not locate any warbler maybe do to the fact that we arrived late in the afternoon. Remembering Odeds youtube-videos that he had send us while we were still in Denmark we quickly decided to give it a go again the next morning.

In the evening Oded gave us spotlighting trip around the Shizaf area. It was quite productive with Arabian Wolf (probably of the small desert subspecies), Cape Hare and Lesser Egyptian Jerboa 2 being the highlights. Spent the night at Harezeva

Fan-tailed Raven, Wadi Mishmar

Cypress Warbler, Wadi Mishmar

Blackstart, Wadi Mishmar

Tarucus rosaceus, Wadi Mishmar

Golden Spiny Mouse, Wadi Mishmar

Sand Partridge, Wadi Mishmar

Southern Grey Shrike, Shizaf Reserve

Near Masada we found two Pale Rock Sparrows.

Nubian Ibex

Rock Hyrax, Wadi Mishmar

Tristams Starling, Ein Gedi

Yellow-vented Bulbul, Ein Gedi

Just south of the Dead Sea

Arabian Wolf (probably of the small desert subspecies)

Dead Sea

Pallid Swift, Dead Sea

Together we will find everything!

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