Paul Chapman
Well-known member
With a few local birders, I have a May trip in the diary but had nothing else fixed for the year.
Cafebirder had been scoping a northern owl weekend but hadn’t quite pulled the logistics together successfully. Similarly, I had wanted to pull together a short Dutch trip with a plethora of WP ticks originally available to push my WP list up from a stagnating 791 closer to 800 (Little Whimbrel, Bar-headed Goose, Black Swan, Alexandrine Parakeet & Vinous-throated Parrotbill). But again nothing had fallen in line mainly as my thoughts were dwelling on non bird-related things against a background of stories of distant views and then the main prize had departed as my mind cleared.
So with patch birding seeming grey and wet, when news came through of Pharaoh Eagle Owl and Egyptian Nightjar at Yotvata on 10th January, Cafebirder suggested a short break in Israel to get some sun and see some birds. I fancied the break but with three previous trips to Israel – between 14th February and 29th March – and a cumulative 235 species from those trips, there were plenty of good birds to relish but little new to target. This was a holiday not a trip for WP additions.
My three possible new birds were:-
Pharaoh Eagle Owl – a bogey species now missed from Kuwait, Israel, Morocco & Western Sahara. By the time of departure, ebird showed sightings from the southern date palms at Eilat on 24th (two) and 30th January (one). However, there had also been several stories of dips from Yotvata in poor weather.
Basalt Wheatear (dark morph Mourning Wheatear) – there had been seven individuals seen in the Uvda valley in January but as with last winter, there appeared to have been a bit of a clearout from mid January onwards.
Cyprus Warbler – there had been several sightings from the southern wadis but sightings were generally relatively thin on the ground. I am told that they occur on Cyprus and I now needed to go there for an owl in any event.…….. That seemed a better plan.
Cafebirder had been scoping a northern owl weekend but hadn’t quite pulled the logistics together successfully. Similarly, I had wanted to pull together a short Dutch trip with a plethora of WP ticks originally available to push my WP list up from a stagnating 791 closer to 800 (Little Whimbrel, Bar-headed Goose, Black Swan, Alexandrine Parakeet & Vinous-throated Parrotbill). But again nothing had fallen in line mainly as my thoughts were dwelling on non bird-related things against a background of stories of distant views and then the main prize had departed as my mind cleared.
So with patch birding seeming grey and wet, when news came through of Pharaoh Eagle Owl and Egyptian Nightjar at Yotvata on 10th January, Cafebirder suggested a short break in Israel to get some sun and see some birds. I fancied the break but with three previous trips to Israel – between 14th February and 29th March – and a cumulative 235 species from those trips, there were plenty of good birds to relish but little new to target. This was a holiday not a trip for WP additions.
My three possible new birds were:-
Pharaoh Eagle Owl – a bogey species now missed from Kuwait, Israel, Morocco & Western Sahara. By the time of departure, ebird showed sightings from the southern date palms at Eilat on 24th (two) and 30th January (one). However, there had also been several stories of dips from Yotvata in poor weather.
Basalt Wheatear (dark morph Mourning Wheatear) – there had been seven individuals seen in the Uvda valley in January but as with last winter, there appeared to have been a bit of a clearout from mid January onwards.
Cyprus Warbler – there had been several sightings from the southern wadis but sightings were generally relatively thin on the ground. I am told that they occur on Cyprus and I now needed to go there for an owl in any event.…….. That seemed a better plan.