BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Farnboro John" data-source="post: 3558895" data-attributes="member: 36432">We thought we were in as we drove towards the places where the mountains narrowed to a single ridge and saw a kettle of Steppe Buzzards rising (with an Egyptian Vulture massive among them), only to find they were over a peak on the Egyptian side without a convenient parking place. Some of the mountain road is sensitive, with big concrete markers indicating places where you are not allowed to stop. We obeyed these - we were perhaps lucky someone mentioned their meaning to us, because it isn't obvious: they haven't got "No Stopping" on them or anything helpful like that!Anyway, there were other flocks of Steppe Buzzards spiralling up and for that matter individuals advancing on a broad front, so we found a place where you evidently are allowed to park and had a look from there: but soon found the birds were everywhere but where we were and moved back to what seemed a better overlook. Needless to say as soon as we got there, a bunch of raptors went through right over where we had just been, including a Steppe Eagle. This wasn't a tick for me but unfortunately the other two latched onto a couple of Steppe Buzzards and by the time we had sorted out the confusion (you can imagine my indignation at the suggestion I can't tell an eagle from a buzzard....) it had gone past and the back end views were very unsatisfactory to Steve and Jeff. By way of a change Jeff spotted a couple of Black Storks moving but they were very distant and quickly disappeared behind a ridge: I got a blip view of the slower one.There were literally hundreds of Buzzards on the move but you can get bored with them even as a spectacle quite quickly. Black Kites were moving in smaller numbers - twenty or so at a time rather than two hundred or more - and really not much else. We carried on down the road to a site for Striolated Bunting near a helipad we had not noticed on the way up. This was a much better landmark on the way down, and after parking up it wasn't long before we heard a male Striolated Bunting singing. Unfortunately it turned out to be right on top of one of the hilltops (we were right at the end of the mountains now) above us and not only that but it quite soon flipped over the top out of sight. We resolved to try again at a more favourable time of day for passerines. At this point my interest in military history cut in as I noticed rolls of barbed wire all over the hills around us and began to spot bunkers dug into each and every one - not just OPs at the summits but every hill had dug-outs for all-round defence, given away by firing slits a few inches wide. Blimey. So the Israelis do have border defences - they just aren't obvious...... Continuing to follow team instructions I took no pictures.We did have a close Blackstart that allowed us decent pictures. However it was now really very hot, the heat haze was limiting for bins let alone cameras and we decided it was time to have a break back at the hotel., following which we would go for a swim in the Red Sea (Steve said he couldn't face going back and being asked whether he had done so only to admit he hadn't: we already had an intention to do the Dead Sea experience as well). Back at the ranch Maz agreed the sentiment and after a bit of a siesta we headed out to North Beach, where there were more holidaymakers and fewer birds. Out to sea a party boat was blasting loud rave music and imbibition of alcoholic beverages was going on at pace - all far too cramped, loud and generally yuk for me, and its not because I'm getting old.....Jeff elected not to swim, so the other three of us made our way towards the water's edge and prepared to enter the water. The beach is not so great: memories of Bognor Regis and painful shingle underfoot rather than golden sand..... because the heat was so fierce, the water felt cold! Not quite the North Sea but definitely colder than we expected. Once you were in your body quickly recognised it was actually not cold at all, but the initial contact was a surprise (no, more of a shock really).Enough of this tourist stuff. We returned to the beach, dressed, and rejoined Jeff for something of a seawatch. We wanted better views of White-eyed Gulls and anything else we could get hold of. I hadn't realised Jeff is a bit of a gull enthusiast, but as large gulls began to come in from the sea he was in his element picking out Baltic Gulls and barabbensis ssp with evident delight. I did my best to take an interest but I have to be honest, its not my scene really.As the sun sank in the West we did have several flybys from White-eyed Gulls heading off to roost in the Dolphin Reef area, and one did one's best with them although they were mostly distant. They also inevitably kept passing an Israeli gunboat that motored up and down seemingly all day. There was a Jordanian one in the distance but it looked small, shabby and less heavily armed. Small flocks of ducks and Terns were flying around out to sea, seemingly waiting for dusk before heading inland: they included Shoveler and Common Terns though we had to wait ages for a close enough view to ID them. On the beach Tristram's Grackles made a brief appearance but shot off unphotographed: House Crows came down to see what the tourist had left and gave nice opportunities in the evening light.We started a conversation with a British couple who were assisting with the ringing programme at IBRCE and had come down to the beach for the gulls. The bloke particularly was a full-on doom and gloom merchant: as we discussed with them our programme for the holiday he was full of helpful comments like "you won't see that then", "no hope", "oh, you're going out with him? If the first owls don't respond he gives up and assumes the others won't either, good luck!" His wife wasn't so bad but she wasn't impressed with one of the ringers at IBRCE who openly admitted the free accommodation and travel opportunity rather than the ringing per se was her reason for being there, she was lazy/incompetent at Acro ID and not much better with the rather easier Sylvia warblers - the couple had corrected some fairly gross errors. For our own conversational shorthand for the rest of the holiday, as we shot down successive predictions, they became The Chuckle Brothers.As the sun left us for the night, two Lesser Pied Kingfishers began fishing at the mouth of the stream and despite the decreasing light I couldn't resist having a bash at them. The results were better than I thought they might be and they provided a fine ending to the day.Incidentally I did say we were going to recce the sandgrouse site this evening - evidently we didn't - in fact we had programmed it for the next evening. This error is what happens when you write a report without sufficient reference to your notebook....JohnEilat Mountains looking across to Jordan (the Egyptian border is only a few hundred yards behind your photographer)Blackstart X 3House Crow</blockquote>

Verification