Trip Report | Israel – March 2009
We had a mixed Finnish/English group for our early spring tour of Israel and all enjoyed some fantastic birding and an unforgettable trip. Covering the Negev Desert, Beit Shean Valley, Dead Sea, Tel Aviv and Eilat areas we really did manage to pack in everything the southern two thirds of the country has to offer.
The Beit Shean Valley, Mount Gilboa and Kfar Ruppin area was our first destination and gave us some wonderful bird-filled days. Luckily several Great Black-headed Gulls were lingering on from the winter as were single Greater Spotted and Eastern Imperial Eagles. Other notable sightings included Great White Egret, Glossy Ibis, Short-toed Eagles, Ospreys, Pygmy Cormorants, Black Francolins, Garganey, Scops Owl, Barn Owl, Little Crake, Armenian Gulls, Temminck’s Stint, Pied, Common and White-breasted Kingfishers, Alpine Swift, c500 Short-toed Larks, Clamorous Reed Warbler, Moustached Warbler, Savi’s Warbler, Eastern Bonelli’s Warblers, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Cetti’s Warblers, Dead Sea Sparrows and Cretzschmar’s Buntings. A productive night drive saw us marvelling at a Porcupine as it sauntered along the lane whilst a brief Jungle Cat was a little less obliging.
The steep mountains and wadis of the Dead Sea region are always one of the trip highlights and this year was no exception. Sand Partridge, Griffon Vulture, White-crowned Black Wheatear, Fan-tailed and Brown-necked Raven, noisy Tristram’s Starlings, the perky Scrub Warbler, Blackstart, Desert Lark and Rock Martin all obliged as expected but more tricky species such as the beautiful Sinai Rosefinch, Mountain Bunting, Trumpeter Finch, lingering Cyprus Warblers and a migrating Steppe Eagle also gave themselves up amidst the breathtaking scenery. Our stake out for the endangered ‘negevensis’ race of Arabian Warbler came up with the goods too with 2 visits and 2 sightings!
Real desert birding in the Negev was truly outstanding and the first experience of this type of birding for several members of our party. Early morning at Nizzana saw us watching 2 displaying MacQueen’s Bustards, a sight that once seen will never be forgotten as these amazing birds turn themsleves into balls of white feathers on legs! 8 Cream-coloured Coursers, 2 Bar-tailed Larks, Desert Wheatear, several Eastern Mourning Wheatears, c40 Black-bellied Sandgrouse, 8 Crowned Sandgrouse, 2 Peregrines, Barbary Falcon, Lesser Spotted, Eastern Imperial and Short-toed Eagles, Long-legged Buzzard and a ‘saharae’ Little Owl were the undoubted highlights for us all.
And what is there to be said about the Eilat area when migration is in full flow?! It is amazing! The highlights are almost too numerous to mention but the prize has to go to the splendid male Black Bush Robin we were enthralled by at Hai Bar. The gasp when this bird cocked its tail to reveal the white-tipped feathers of the undertail was audible to say the least! Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse, 2 Oriental Skylarks, Greater Sandplover, 2 Caspian Plovers, Terek Sandpiper, Ferruginous Duck, White-eyed Gulls, the lingering overwintering Oriental Honey Buzzard, a very late Striated Scops Owl, Daurian Shrike, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Siberian Stonechat and Indian Silverbills all deserve special mention. It is also the vast numbers of migrant passerines such as Redtsarts, Bluethroats, Ortolans, Cretzschmar’s Buntings, Eastern Olivaceous, Eastern Bonelli’s, Ruppell’s and Eastern Orphean Warblers, shrikes, wheatears, larks and wagtails that help make this corner of the Western Palearctic so special.
A magical evening tour of Yotvata and the Eilat Mountains will linger long in the memory. The heart-stopping views of Hume’s Owl in a remote and dramatic territory, 3 Egyptian Nightjars, Stone Curlews and Caspian Plover (!) were experienced with a superb local guide who really knew his stuff. Mammals that night were good too with Gerbil, Ethiopian Hedgehog, Cape Hare, Red Fox and Dorcas Gazelle.
For the real connoisseur there were the added highlights of Nanday (aka Black-hooded) Parakeet, Vinous-breasted Starling and Common Myna near Tel Aviv where a great find of a male Semi-collared Flycatcher was a fitting way to wrap up the tour.
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