Southern Israel 24 April - 5 May 2014 (1 Viewer)

30 April

Packed breakfast ready for the Eilat Mountains. But first a quick visit to acacias to the north of Lotan:
E. Olivaceous Warler – 3
Masked Shrike – male
Garden Warbler – 2
Blackstart
E. Bee-eaters – north
Honey Buzzard – overhead
Spotted Flycatcher – 2
Blackcap – c.40
L. Whitethroat – c.15
Sand Partridge
Barn Swallows – north

A look along the pylons for the Chanter as I headed south but no sign. Egyptian Vulture overhead.

Eilat Mountains: narrown stream below Yoash
Honey Buzzard – c .1500
Marsh harrier – single cream crown
Levant Sparrowhawk – 5

Km20 Pools
Red-necked Phalarope – 23
White-winged Black Tern – 3

Temps pretty high again; around 36C. Quick midday siesta at Lotan.

Finished the day at Ne’ot Samadar:
Ortolan Bunting – 8
Rufous Bush Chat – seemed to be one singing from every bush.
Red-throated Pipit – 4+
Barn Swallows – north

No sign of Chanter all day. Bad news for those that came a long way to see it.

Frank

1 May

Drove south to the North Beach, Eilat for first light and met Barak and his two birding companions.

Sooty Shearwater – 4
White-cheeked Tern – 2
Common Tern
Siberian Gull – imm.
Striated Heron – single

Then it was up into Eilat Mtns. Honey Buzzards visible to the west. We tracked them for around 30+kms stopping wherever we found the ‘line’. Eventually they turned east towards the Arava Valley somewhere around Yotvata.
Honey Buzzard – c.3000
Black Kite – 6+
Long-legged Buzzard – single
Montagu’s Harrier – 2 possibles
Marsh Harrier – single
Trumpeter Finch – 3+

I continued along the Ovda road stopping at the various roadside copses:
Sprosser – 2
Sand Partridge
Golden Oriole – female type
Blackcap – c.20
E. Olivaceous Warbler – 2+

As I headed south along route 90 I checked the pylons again. Nope.

Received a text from Steve about an Olive-tree Warbler at km26 roadside copse. Straight there. I then spent a combined total of around 3hrs searching for it without getting the real clinching views I wanted.
Blackcap – 5
Garden Warbler – 2
E. Oli. Warb. – single
Sprosser – single

Km20 Pools
Wood Sands – c.200

Cheers

Frank

2 May

Straight to km26 roadside copse to check again for Olive Tree Warbler.

No sign so continued on to North Beach, Eilat. Wind much stronger today F4-5 N or NW. Skies clear but usual haze.
Common and White-cheeked Terns (2) but not a great deal else.

Eilat Mtns.
Raptor free until around 0900 then Honey Buzzards noted to West. Along with Eilat birder Shachar Shalev and Dom and Rod Standing we followed them along the Ovda road until the winds reoriented them back to their more typical route around Yoash.

Honey Buzzard – c.5000 overhead but many more elsewhere.
Greater Spotted Eagle – single
Booted Eagle – single
Short-toed Eagle – single
Black Kite – 5+
E. Sparrowhawk – single
Steppe Buzzard – c.6

Headed into Eilat with Shachar and bought power supply for laptop. Then I met Dom and Rod at km26 to look for OTW once more.

KM26 Roadside Copse
Blackcap – 5
Great Reed Warbler – single
Garden Warbler – single

After a short siesta I headed to km20 Pools.
Gull-billed Tern – single
White-winged Black tern – 1+
Wood Sand – c.250
Ringed Plover – increase
Common Sand
Ruff
Greenshank
Little Stint
Turnstone – single (Steve Arlow)
Black-winged Stilt
Kentish Plover

Finished off at km19 with the Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse. Four birds came to drink at around 1945 to the NE corner.

Km19 Pool
Night Heron – 6+
Glossy Ibis – 12+
Shoverler – 12+
Little Tern
Squacco

Cheers

Frank

3 May

No wind. Another hot day in store.

Elifaz
Thrush Nightingale (sprossser) – 3+

North Beach, Eilat
White-cheeked Tern – 2
Common Tern

Holland Park – quiet. As it has been for the whole trip.
E. Olivaceous Warbler
L. Whitethroat

Eilat Mountains
Honey Buzzards – c.400 to west mainly
Black Stork – flock of c.35

Ovda Road Copses
Sprosser – c.7
Masked Shrike – single
E. Oli Warbler – 3+
Blackcap – 20+
L. Whitethroat – 6+
Sand Partridge

KM20 Pools – still reasonable number and species mix present. Been waves of arrivals and departures e.g. Ringed Plover, Little Stint, Ruff, Common and Wood Sands especially.
White-winged Black Tern – 5+
C. Swift – small numbers north
Barn Swallow – small numbers north
Wood Sand – c.250 incl at least three with buffy underparts
Little Stint
Common Sand
Ringed Plover
Dunlin
Greenshank
Curlew Sand – 1

KM 19 Pool
Gull-billed Tern – single
White-winged Black Tern
Night Heron
Squacco
Common Sand
Wood Sand
Common Swift – 3+ north
Barn Swallow – a few north
Glossy Ibis

Sat in the NE corner and waited with Yael and the Eilat Ringing Team for the Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse to arrive. Thankfully five came in to drink at last light.

Thanks

Frank

4 May

Weather had changed considerably. Sandy, hazy with southerly winds. Cooler temps but still hot.

Started outside the Kibbutz door with Sprossers calling and scuffling in all the bushes. Headed straight to Elifaz roadside copse then continued south checking copses at Kms24 and 20. The place was full of more sprossers and plenty of others birds.

Thrush Nightingale – c.25
Spotted Flycatcher – 6+
Golden Oriole – female type
Blackcap
L. Whitethroat
Barn Swallows – north
C. Swift – north

The highlight by far was a stunning Olive Tree Warbler that performed beautifully for me. In fact it was one of the first birds I saw in there. Made the most of it and lapped up the opportunity to observe it perform. Corker.

Continued to the Eilat Mountains.
Lesser Spotted Eagle – 3
Booted Eagle – single
Steppe Buzzard – 5+
Levant Sparrowhawk – single
Honey Buzzard – c.50 to the west.

KM20 Pools
Similar mix to previous days but a single Broad-billed Sandpiper was a nice find. There were two more later.

North Beach, Eilat
There is always the expectation that warm southerly winds will deliver the unexpected and so the beach beckoned but as usual it didn't really happen for me. I'll keep trying however.
White-eyed Gull – c.40
Common Tern – c.40
Sandwich Tern – 2
White-cheeked Tern – min 1
Common Sandpiper – 6
Baltic Gull – single

More to follow.

Frank

5 May

My last opportunity before I head north this afternoon to connect with my evening flight from Tel Aviv to Manchester.

Elifaz Roadside Copse:
E. Olivaceous Warbler – 6+; notable increase
Garden Warbler – 5; increase.
Blackcap – present but numbers reduced.
Thrush Nightingale – several but an obvious reduction.
Rufous Bush Chat – 2; reduction.
Masked Shrike – single.
Spotted Flycatcher – 2
C. Kestrel – single

Message from Shachar Shalev to say the ‘possible’ Menetrie’s Warbler was still present near Yahel. I headed up there. The trend in arrivals and reductions was reflected there.
Golden Oriole – 6
Masked Shrike – 2
E. Bee-eaters – north
C. Whitethroat – 5+ arrival
L. Whitethroat
Garden Warbler – 4+
E. Oli Warbler – 10+
Purple Heron – north
Little Bittern – 4
Barred Warbler – single
Red-backed Shrike – single

Looking forward to seeing Steve’s photos of the ‘warbler’. I've seen daylight images but it'll be nice to see it in detail on the big screen. In the interim it’s been identified as a 2nd calendar year male Ruppel’s Warbler which is interesting. A good bird but disappointing all the same. It would be a very late date for either Sub-alpine (not unprecendented) or Menetrie’s Warbler.

Began heading north around 1130hrs. Called in at Mitzpe Ramon forest:
Spotted Flycatcher – 4+
E. Oli Warbler – 2

Didn’t stay long as preparations were underway for Independence Day and the place was a hive of activity. Some interesting things on display.

Cheers

Frank

Summary

Thoroughly enjoyable trip. My third during this time period.

The weather was hot for the duration (virtually) with the southern Arava experiencing a bit of a heat wave. Typical daily temps were 35 - 38C but it got above 40C on at least one occasion. Tough to bird all day - quite draining - but perfectly fine for at least 8 hours a day which should be more than enough for most people but we all 'toughed it out' on several days.

Passerines; No two springs are the same. They've been in 'relative' short supply in the Southern Arava throughout most of this spring period. I stress 'relative' because there was always plenty to occupy a keen birder. There have been similar springs in the past and various theories have been put forward as to where the mass of birds was/were this time. Reports from the north suggest they arrived in very good numbers so the thinking is many of them either hopped over the top or arrived via a different route e.g. from a westerly direction.

Raptors: On several days the Honey Buzzards seemed to come up from the south and arrive in the Eilat Mtns several kms further west than is typical, but certainly not every day, and there were still tens of thousands of birds to enjoy. Often they reoriented to the east over km19/20 or Yotvata

Waders: reasonable numbers were observed at KM20 pools.

Highlights: loads as usual but for me it was the Dark Chanting Goshawk, Olive Tree Warbler and the spectacle of the Honey Buzzard migration.

The possibility of something outrageous turning up, as it did this spring, should be enough to keep birders thinking positively whatever's going on.

Cheers

Frank

Hi Frank

I sent the warbler pic to the email address you provided, if you've not got that I'll post here later.

I finished up at Nizzana on my final morning and whilst I saw a McQueens it was the sandgrouse bonanza which really was the highlight here. at least 70-100 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse came to drink on the deep pool at the back with many at close range, using the car as a hide. probably around 30 Spotted Sandgrouse but a little more jittery than the Pin-taileds but some remained fairly close and only 4 Black-bellied Sandgrouse came in. The Pin-tailed would fly around the pit in sizeable flocks calling all the time.

Also added several birds to the trip here with Purple Gallinule, Whiskered Tern, Temminck's Stint, Hobby, 5 Alpine Swifts over the pool. Great way to end the trip.

Must make another end of April trip as the HBs were fantastic.

And new just in a Ruppell's Vulture found at Gad, 1st for Israel.....return trip beckons.

Hi Steve,

Sounds like a great way to end what was a great trip. Yes, got the news on the Ruppell's Griffon Vulture. Heck of a find.

Good to meet you and do some birding with you.

Cheers for now.

Frank

Dark Chanting Goshawk

Looking at the info provided by BirdLife International, and assuming it's accurate it shows:

Pale Chanting Goshawk: Least Concern
Range extremely large - south
Namibia, Botswana, South Africa

Eastern Chanting Goshawk: Least Concern
Range extremely large - (central) Eastern
Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania

Dark Chanting Goshawk: Least Concern
Range extremely large - NW in Morocco; NE in Yemen; Huge area incorporating a belt stretching west coast to east coast across central Africa (maybe fragmentation) where it meets the range of ECG. And then stretching south through Africa where it meets the range of PCG.

Looking at the range of each it's perhaps not so surprising that it was Dark Chanting that made it back to Israel again. Then again you wouldn't rule out the chances of Eastern making it next time.

Cheers

Frank