Israel Birds Part 02_03 Nizana and Mandatory Road

Day 03

Ramon Inn, the hotel at Mitzpe Ramon, had a unique layout. It was on three levels including the ground floor and the rooms were uniquely numbered. Thus Room 12 in a typical hotel would be on the first floor, and the second room from one end of the corridor. But not in the Ramon Inn. Rooms were numbered by stairwell! Thus Room 12 is accessed from stairwell 1 and is the second room up! Truly bizarre. And all the stairwells were several miles from reception and the dining area, another plus! And there were no lifts nor concierge nor busboys so everyone had to lug their luggage (boom boom) by themselves.

First thing, well before dawn, (with breakfast on board the bus), we went to near Nitzana, northwest of Mitzpe Ramon, very near the Egyptian border to a site where the estimated 60 pairs of Macqueen's Bustard breed on the rocky desert environment. We travelled alongside the long abandoned Ottoman Railway Line built by the Turks during WW1 to transport troops to the Suez Canal with the objective of either capturing it from the British or disabling it. Neither happened and the Brits took over that part of the world in 1917.

Part of the line near Nizana has been preserved along with two railway wagons which are now the Hubara Hide at Nizana-Ezuz, one of the few places to reliably see the bustard. When we arrived there was already a big crowd present. We discovered that the annual Champions of the Flyway bird race in the "unparalleled and legendary migration hotspot - Eilat, Israel" was happening the next day, 26 March 2019, and teams were everywhere do final reconnaissance stuff. There were a few hire cars about.

We hopped out of the bus having been told to be quiet, very quiet. Those bustards are so sensitive. Well, there is only one thing wrong with 20 people trying to crowd into a metal railway wagon that is accessed by a metal stairway and balcony!! Even breathing on the thing made a bell-like sound which echoed its way across the desert in the calm dawn light. Despite all the setbacks, the bird was seen doing its headless chicken dance although about 300 metres away and with scope only. No images.

No matter where you are in the world, birds like water and what better place for undisturbed water than a Water Treatment Plant. After the bustard, we visited the WTP at Nizzana Military Base where we saw Sandgrouse coming soonish after dawn, right on cue.

Spotted Sandgrouse Pterocles senegallus

Black-bellied Sandgrouse Pterocles irentalis

Sites visited before lunch included any old Mandatory Road just in the middle of nowhere. At one of our stops, a young Scrub Warbler decided that the safest place would be on top of the rear bumper of the bus! He stayed there for quite a long time as his parents moved through the area and away. No image. A visit to a wetland at a winery finished the day off.

Mandatory Road. Egypt in the distance.

White Stork Ciconia ciconia

Common (Steppe) Buzzard Buteo buteo vulpinus

Mitzpe Ramon has a resident herd of Nubian Ibex which were gathered in a small park near the hotel when we returned. It has to be said that they are not underweight!

Nubian Ibex Capra nubiana