Israel Birds Part 02_07 Wadi Hemda, Kibbutz Samar, Amran Pillars, K19 and K20

Day 06

The day entailed a very pre-dawn start so as to arrive at Wadi Hemda in the Arava Valley where the Great Hoopoe Lark can be found. This bird is rare and has a magical advertising flight whereby the male sits on a bush then suddenly flies vertically for 15-20 metres whilst calling then circles back to bush. Our guides heard the bird soon after arrival but it took an hour to actually locate one. A bit of triangulation was used to pinpoint it but once we got onto the bird, the experience was magical.

Greater Hoopoe Lark Alaemon alaupides

Whilst there, the wagtail, warbler and raptor migration cloud was continuing.

Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava feldegg

This subspecies is restricted to the Balkans, Caucasus and Turkey

Common (Steppe) Buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus

Breeds in eastern and north-eastern Europe

Ruppell's Warbler Sylvia rueppelli

The other special bird at this site was a Pallid Harrier which quietly breezed past almost not being seen. The image is from 100 metres +.

Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus

After a bus breakfast, we went to Kibbutz Samar, a working dairy kibbutz which has a very small but mature "jungle" in which was a very special bird, a Black Scrub-Robin (Bush Robin), which usually breeds south of the Sahara or in Arabia. The species has been a breeding resident of Eilat since 1994. Why? Good question. We very quietly snuck into the jungle (30m x 20m), sat down and waited. Soon enough, just like a Grey Shrike-thrush or a Common Blackbird, through the undergrowth, the bird came into view looking for food by flicking the leaf litter.

Black Scrub-Robin Cercotrichas podobe

From there we went to Amran Pillars, a dead-end canyon up in the hills to the west of Eilat where there are spectacular rock formations and colouring. Two great birds were seen here.

Sand Partridge Ammoperdix heyi

White-crowned Wheatear Oenanthe leucopyga

Back at the hotel Heather and I went for a stroll specifically looking for that potential scourge of Western Australia, the House Crow.

House Crow Corvus splendens

After another session at K20, our day finished at the K19 ponds where we (and plenty of others) gathered to see Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse. When we arrived, there were a small group sitting on the top of the wall (Point A). We went over and were told this was the spot from where the Sandgrouse were best seen the previous night. As we were settling in, a brash lady came over and told us in no uncertain terms that this was the wrong place to wait and we should be around the corner of the bank 30 metres or so to not spook the birds (Point B). Our group splintered with most and eventually all but me, going over to Point B. From where I was sitting on the ground, it seemed to me that I was in the much better place to see the birds as I had a full view of the rocky area upon which they were alleged to land and then walk down to the edge of the water for a drink. I thought that from Point B it was quite difficult to see the landing point and impossible to see the drinking point. 

And so it proved to be, especially in the deep dusk when they finally came in. I saw two birds land, was able to distinguish the red chest and the black, Collingwood stripes on the head in front of the eye. Bingo. No image I am afraid. The camera only goes to ISO 32,000!!

Israel Birds Part 02_06 afternoon tea to Eilat

Day 05

Once we had finished on the plain, we motored south to Eilat. We sidetracked/doubled back to get a glimpse of an Egyptian Goose then decided to cut across from the motorway to the world famous Pools of Eilat. A 4WD would have been better value so we ditched the bus and walked across country to the Pool KM20. These pools are part of the waste water treatment of Eilat. They are essential to the existence of ponds and lakes which provide sustenance and habitat for the small migratory birds and, of course, the birds which prey upon them and ensure the existence of the IBRC.

On our way across to KM20, I managed to espy a Eurasian Thick-knee (Stone-curlew) chick which someone walking in front of me just missed stepping on. Talk about cryptic. I shouted for us all to stop, which we did, and those who were within a foot of the bird could not see it despite me precisely describing its position! Parents were not to be seen.

Eurasian Thick-knee Burhinus oedicnemus

We soon reached the ponds and a smorgasbord it proved to be.

 Northern Shoveler Anas clypteata

Northern Pintail Anas acuta

Greater Flamingo Phoenicopteriformes roseus

Melanotic bird in the middle. Well known resident.

Black-winged Stilt Himanoptus himanoptus

Name stolen from Australia in 2018.
We now have the Pied Stilt or White-headed Stilt!

 Little Ringed Plover Charadrius dubius

Little Stint Calidris minuta

 Ruff Philomachus pugnax

Slender-billed Gull Chroiocephalus genei

This is a USAF plane landing on the runway of the King Hussein International Airport in Jordan. It is literally only 2 kilometres from where we were standing with the border in between. Close enough.

To Australians, for whom going to another country involves some sort of meaningful travel (plane or boat), it is a lesson in the fragility of the relationships in this part of the world and how countries are rubbing shoulders with each other geographically, religiously and culturally how and borders move with conflict resolution, over-riding religious and cultural connections!

Israel Birds Part 02_05 Mitzpe Ramon to afternoon tea

Day 05

We said farewell to Mitzpe Ramon and birded south to Eilat. Mitzpe Ramon is situated on the northern edge of a very extinct volcanic crater. Almost immediately after leaving the town and heading south, the road does a number of slow switchbacks to descend to the plain. We stopped, just a few kilometres from the hotel and birded the Nekarot Wadi. This river course was dry, despite the recent rain, with plenty of shrubs and bushes growing in the wadi and on its banks.

Blackstart Cercomela melanura

Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca

Cretzchmar's Bunting Emberiza caesia

We then returned to the hotel for a final breakfast and retraced our initial steps back south but stopping at the top of the crater rim to observe an out-of-town flock of Nubian Ibex, much fitter than the urban flock near the hotel. 

Whilst there we had the first of the day's encounters with a Champions of the Flyway team. Yes, it was race day.

We descended back down onto the crater plain and birded here and there as we went. There were plenty of fighter jets flying overhead and tanks and military personnel moving along the roads. There was a bit of sabre-rattling going on politically and the Palestinians in Gaza had fired some rockets into Israel. 

The spring migration was in full swing too. A lot of birds from Europe migrate into Africa via Gibraltar and Italy but do their return trip via Israel. They channel up to the northeast corner of Africa following the Rift Valley which actually continues most of the way up Israel ending at Mt Hermon which is the northern border of Israel with Lebanon and Iran. Jordan is on the east side of the Jordan River which sits in the Rift Valley and ends in the Dead Sea, 400 or so metres below sea level! The migrating birds choose to channel across the Sinai Desert and end up flying into Israel at Eilat and the Negev Desert.


The migratory birds we were keeping an eye out for included wagtails, warblers and raptors, storks, basically anything that moved! At one site, a CotF team stopped (I think they knew Meidad) and we pointed out a bird on the other side of the road to which we were looking. They went a tad ga-ga, ticked it and zoomed off. It turned out they were the winning team and they won by one bird: obviously the bird they saw with us!

The White Storks numbered into the thousands.

White Stork Ciconia ciconia

Flocks/swarms of wagtails and swallows were at ground level.

There were plenty of raptors chasing a meal on their way north.

Eurasian Sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus

Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus

Common Eurasian Kestrel Falco tinnunculus

Israel Birds Part 02_04 Ein Advat, Sde Boker and Midreshet Ben-Gurion

Day 04

It rained overnight. A lot. One of the dangers of Israel, especially the desert regions of Southern Israel is the real danger of flash floods. There is not a lot of vegetation to hold waters back. Thus our plans were changed at the last minute to sites we could actually get to and without much risk.

Our first stop was Ein Avdat, a canyon in the southern Negev. We went to the top of the gorge which had a walk along the edge and great views of the gorge itself and its resident birds. The locals were excited about the river but it was not 10/10 on an Aussie scale of volume or ferocity. Plenty of potential to inflict fatal damage though. The river "fell" off the top in a series of spectacular drops to the valley floor.

The most famous locals here are breeding Eurasian Griffons. We were able to spot three nests on the canyon walls and saw three vultures flying around. They even have their own cameras. Each bird is individually numbered. Here are my photographic efforts.

Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus

We then went to Kibbutz Sde Boker (basically walked around the village) and then on to Midreshet Ben-Gurion, the kibbutz next to the Ben-Gurion Memorial Park. Meidad, our guide, had lived here for several years and had only left just a few months earlier. He knew everyone. We did some birding, had lunch and birded some more, headed off to the Southern District before returning to Mitzpe Ramon.

Palestine Sunbird Cinnyris osea

White-spectacled Bulbul Pycnonotus xanthopygos

Booted Eagle Aquila pennata

 European Turtle Dove Streptopelia turtur

Crested Lark Galerida cristata

Our last stop of the day was just a random gateway to a winery but it pulled up two special birds. Heather and I had already seen a Siberian Stonechat (in Ethiopia, as you do) but the Bluethroat was way better, a beautifully coloured bird. A male for us and the Northern European sub-species to boot with the extra red line through the blue. Top spotting Andy Whittaker, our VENT guide.

Siberian Stonechat Saxicolatorquatus maurus

Bluethroat Luscinia svecica svecica