Israel Birds Part 02_02 Tel Aviv to Mitzpe Ramon

Day 02

Thirteen birders, two guides and one driver loaded ourselves into a 17-seater bus/van. We had all our luggage plus extras and it was a very tight fit in the "luggage" area of the van, essentially the space between the back seats and the rear doors. It wasn't spacious enough for all the gear (and no-one was bringing more than stipulated) so some of it went onto the back seat. The bus roof was not high and the luggage racks had a very small gap (a camera would not fit in) so plenty of us had packs and cameras on our knees for the day. It is possible to snooze with your forehead resting on the back of your camera to which is attached the 300mm2.8 resting on your knees! No photo though! Not happy campers. Magically, from the next day, our luggage had its own transport!

We headed south to Mt Amasa and birded a beautiful side valley of spring flowers and a gorge of rocks and gravel. Highlight there was the Persian Wheatear; only the second sighting ever of this bird in Israel. Actually the first sighting was the previous spring when the same bird was seen in the exact same spot! How do we know it was the same bird? It was caught and banded the previous year!

Here, at Mt Amasa, are most of the members of the VENT tour with our Israeli guide, Meidad, in the red shirt. He is talking to a fellow Israeli birder, one of many sussing out sites for an international birding event a couple of days away.

Black-eared Wheatear Oenanthe hispanica melanoleuca male

 

Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus cirtensis (Sinai)

Little Owl Athene noctua

This little tacker was flushed otherwise we wouldn't have known he was there

 Alpine Swift Apus melba

Finschs Wheatear Oenanthe finschii

Wheatears were everywhere. Similar diagnostic hurdle for new birders in Israel
as LBJs or thornbills are to newbies in Australia.

 Persian (Red-tailed) Wheatear Oenanthe chrysopygia

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Across the road from the valley was Tel Krayot, an ancient "village" of holes/caves in the ground from where Judas Iscariot came (allegedly).

Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni

Crested Lark Galerida cristata

Rock Thrush Monticola saxatilis

Woodchat Shrike Lanius senator niloticus

From here we headed further south, stopping at a motorway services for fast food. Lunches for the trip were mostly a falafel wrap with salad, not a bad meal but eventually they become a tad boring. 

We then visited the Ben Gurion Memorial Park where Israel's first Prime Minister, David, and his wife, Paula, are buried. It is a small desert garden with pretty spectacular views over the Tsin Canyon and the Aviat highlands in the heart of the Negev Desert. Our base for the next few days was a hotel at Mitzpe Ramon

An international visitor

Song Thrush Turdus philomelos

White-spectacled Bulbul Pycnonotus xanthopygos

Arabian Babbler Turdoides squamiceps