Birding Israel

BIRDING ISRAEL

February 20-March 8, 2010

Mishkenot Sha’ananim

 

Saturday, February 20-21 – My trip to Israel is prompted by an invitation to make a presentation at a conference at Hebrew University. The El Al flight from JFK is scheduled to leave at 10 minutes before midnight, an arrangement that apparently permits the Israeli national airline to avoid flying on the Sabbath! This is, as I discover, the Flight of the Black Hats; when I try to go to the bathroom at the back of the plane, there are dozens of religious men in black, bowing and intoning their morning prayers and blocking the way! The flight is 10 hours, cutting across southern Europe including Italy, the Peloponnesus and Greek islands (I can see the island of Crete out the window and snow on the Greek mountains). To the flying time you have to add 7 hours of time difference, which results in a late afternoon arrival time at Ben-Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv. I take the shuttle bus to Jerusalem where I am staying in the Mishkenot Sha’ananim, a guest house, conference center and musical institute just outside the Old City. This is a picturesque place that has been fashioned out of an old almshouse (read: poorhouse) founded by Sir Moses Montefiore in 1869; there is a copy of his patent from Queen Victoria on display in the lobby. The whole precinct was the first Jewish settlement outside the walls of the Old City. The buildings of the guest house and surroundings include a windmill that is one of the landmarks of Jerusalem. Like everything else in the city, it is all built out of the white stone that is the city’s trademark.

                        I am, inevitably, the last passenger to be dropped off by the shuttle bus and, as it is now after 8 pm, the day’s conference events are over. After checking in, I climb up some hidden steps, cross a city square, and find a place improbably named “Cuppa Joe” which has WiFi and a classic fish-dairy-and-veggie menu. Israeli restaurants mostly follow the traditional dietary laws, separating meat (invariably chicken and beef) from dairy. Dairy turns out to mean lots of veggies for breakfast, lunch and dinner: olives, chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, a whole panoply of salads including various kinds of pickles, hummus, etc., plus fish (pickled herring and chopped tuna).

 

Sunday, February 21 to Thursday, February 25 – My room gives onto a terrace lined with gardens and, as I discover bright and early the next morning, it faces the Church of the Dormition (one of the pilgrimage sites of Jerusalem) and the walls of the Old City. As I step out of my room, I am greeted by a tiny and musical bit of glitter perched on a branch of a leafless tree literally right in front of my nose. It is, I realize instantly, the fabulous Palestine Sunbird, Israel’s answer to our hummingbirds. The gardens – which surround the whole place and are starting to leaf out and bloom – are amazingly birdy and the denizens include little groups of Yellow-vented (or Spectacled or White-spectacled) Bulbuls (one of the most widespread birds in Israel as it turns out), a pair of Sardinian Warblers seemingly getting ready to breed, singing Greenfinches, a Hawfinch perched out in the open on top of a cypress, Song Thrush, Common Blackbird and various other wintering birds and residents, all seen early in the morning over the course of the next few days. After birding comes a breakfast of eggs, pickled fish, piles of veggies including olives, and lots of dairy (fromage blanc or white cheese, yoghurt, etc.) and piles of rolls and bagels. Then a shuttle bus arrives to take us Mishkenot Sha’ananim residents to Hebrew University. The conference, entitled “Visual Sounds”, is mostly devoted to music-and-the-visual-arts but also includes presentations about music-and-dance as well as music-and-stage-design. I am basically the only representative of new music-theater so I have a nice little niche of my own to present material about my own work in this field and the book on the subject that I have written with Thomas Desi.

                        But this is a report on birds, not on the conference, so I will end this entry by pointing out that the main campus of Hebrew University is beautifully landscaped and has quite a few birds (European Goldfinches, Pied or White Wagtails, Chaffinch and so forth). A botanical curiosity: one of the main flowering trees of early spring – gorgeously bursting forth on the campus and all over Jerusalem – is Redbud which the Israelis call the Judas Tree from the belief that it was from this tree that Judas hung himself (more likely the name comes from the French name ‘arbre du Judea’); it is very similar to our Eastern Redbud and I thought it was the same tree but it is apparently a real native. The local trees, shrubs and flowers, all leafing out and starting to bloom, are a mixture of native and introduced species. The most famous example of the latter is the “sabra”, the name originally applied to native-born Israelis, even though it actually refers to a botanical family that is quite all-American: the sturdy and prickly cactus!

Thursday, February 25 to Friday, February 26 – The conference ends at midday on Thursday and that afternoon we are given a tour of Jerusalem including the Church of the Dormition (which I have been looking at all week) with its odd layers of masonry and architecture from different periods, and the picturesque and slightly scary Old City with its Muslim, Jewish, Armenian and Christian quarters. We are taken to the Temple Mount (the Dome of the Rock with its golden dome and Al-Aksa mosques are on top and the Wailing Wall – here called the Western Wall -- is below) and down into the tunnels and excavations beneath, showing the construction of the First and Second Temples of early Judaism. But the most unbelievable sight is the severe and terrifying Church of the Holy Sepulchre, purporting to have been built over the hill of Golgotha where Christ was crucified and also the scene of his entombment and resurrection. Everything in Israel is biblical but this place defies even scriptural sense. The church, which is on various levels with a multitude of apses, niches, chapels and crypts, is split up between various Christian sects and cults that quarrel constantly with each other; the whole complex is divided and managed by a set of rules so complicated and ridiculous that almost nothing has been changed or altered in centuries for the simple reason that it is impossible to get everyone to agree on anything. The place is filled with tourists and pilgrims, the latter lining up for the opportunity to worship on their knees and kiss the sacred stones where Christ did this or had that done to him. There are people praying in the attitude of early Christians with their arms held high and spread apart. Various steps and corridors lead up and down and to various niches and apses, creating a sense of complexity and confusion that perhaps adds to the mystery and feeling of awe that motivates the faithful but strike me as confusing and even grotesque.

                        Last days in Jerusalem; after a couple of jovial farewell dinners, I procure a rental car from Hertz. I am ready for my big whirlwind bird tour of Israel.

 

Saturday, February 28 – I head south on Israel’s only toll road, Highway 6, to the town of Beersheba (or Be’er Sheva as they spell it) and the Negev desert. The weather in central and northern Israel has been lightning-and-thunder stormy with substantial downpours and there have been rain and flash floods in the desert. North of Beersheba, there is quite a bit of green to be seen but the landscape gradually grows more and more barren. Besides the occasional fighter jet that shoots by from a base hidden somewhere inside the rocky sands of the Negev, the road itself, and an occasional sign pointing to a kibbutz, there are fewer and fewer signs of human occupation. South of the town of Mispe Ramon the road carries down and through the middle of the imposing Ramon Crater (apparently not volcanic but what is known as an ‘erosion crater’, a phenomenon endemic to the Negev and the Sinai) with huge cliffs looming all around. A side road to the east heads toward the Jordanian border and then meets the Rift Valley and Route 90 coming from the north (this is the longest road in Israel, running from near the top to the very bottom of the country). In spite of all the appearance of stony aridity, there are birds all along the way: Syrian Serins at the Ben-Gurion tomb (after he left office, he and his wife retired to a kibbutz in the Negev), White-capped Black Wheatears and Brown-necked Ravens at the stony and severe Ramon Crater; Crested Larks, various wheatears and pipits at a flooded place near the Jordanian border (Km. 76); and, in a wadi or canyon near Eilat called Abram’s Pillars, another White-crowned Wheatear accompanied by two Asian Desert Warblers. It took me almost two weeks to figure out this last ID; originally, because of the company they kept (and because of the white edges to their tails, I

White-crowned Black Wheatear in the stony Negev Desert near Avram’s Pillars (Asian Desert Warbler was hopping around underneath but did not show in the photo)

 

            thought they must be female-type wheatears! What I did not find here was the hoped-for Sinai Rosefinch.

                        My destination is Kibbutz Yahel, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) north of Eilat. Most Israeli kibbutzim have now been privatized and in additional to their agricultural activities (Yahel runs a big dairy operation) and other enterprises (industrial, technological), they often serve as tourist resorts. Some, as we shall see, cater to birdwatchers or are themselves ornithological centers. Yahel is not one of these but it has some pleasant guest cottages and a contingent of recent arrivals to Israel from Great Britain and elsewhere (it is common for new émigrés to spend their first few months on a kibbutz, learning Hebrew and participating in the active communal farm life of these fabled places). Yahel is not particularly birdy but there are tame Chukars wandering around the premises. Staying in various kibbutzim is a very attractive way for visitors to see the country and far preferable to hotels; I highly recommend it.

 

Sunday, February 28 – The southern part of Israel, encompassing the Negev desert, is the apex of a sharp-angled triangle with the port city of Eilat at the very narrow tip on the Gulf of Aqaba, the northernmost extension of the Red Sea. Immediately to the east is the Jordanian border and the very visible city of Aqaba (there is an open border crossing here). A little further west, at the end of Route 90, is the border crossing (also open) to the village of Taba and the Sinai peninsula of Egypt. On the east side of the Red Sea in the misty distance, the mountains of Saudi Arabia are visible.

                        Eilat is famous for its collection of ziggurats, also known as resort hotels, which were built on the once-extensive marshes that marked this part of the coast. My goal for this morning is a remnant piece of marsh that was not developed, apparently because it was the city garbage dump. An Indian-born Israeli ornithologist by the name of Reuven Yosef has restored (or, one should say, is in the perpetual process of restoring) this marsh as a haven for birds. Yosef, one of the great personalities of Israeli ornithology, has established an operation -- the IBRCE or International Birding and Research Centre in Eilat – with a team of volunteers, students and disciples from all over the world (recent students come from Scandinavia, India, and Mongolia). Bird ringing or banding here is accomplished on birds caught with the so-called Heligoland traps (as opposed to the more common mist nets) but there were few birds in the traps this morning.        

Map of the main African/Eurasian migration routes (a lesser route through Greece is not shown and, no, I don’t know what a “Womb” might be)

                        To understand the importance of Eilat, you have to look at a map of the region.         Migrants who travel up and back between Europe and Africa, use one of three or four           routes: Gibraltar, Italy and Malta, Greece and the Greek Islands, and Israel. All of the          birds wintering in sub-Saharan Africa have to cross the Sahara but only the Israel route       does not require a water crossing. This is particularly important for the daytime migrants             – raptors, storks, cranes and pelicans – who depend on heat thermals rising from the            ground (the passerines fly at night and use exclusively wing power but many of them,           particularly those that nest in Eastern Europe, use this crossing as well). The raptor migration at Eilat is second only to Veracruz in numbers and far exceeds it in variety of   species (a dozen species of eagles alone and up 35 different raptors are possible!).

                        Unfortunately, my visit was not well timed to see this migration. I was a bit too early and the weather was marked by high winds – too high even for migrants that we might think of as wind-borne. The raptor observation post in the Eilat Mountains was shut down early in the day; I think we saw a total of two birds of prey all day. Still there were birds at the refuge itself and in nearby salt pans: Chiff-chaffs, Greater Flamingos, Black-winged Stilts, Little Grebe, Ruffs, Green Sandpiper, various ducks including Shelduck, many herons and shorebirds. Down at the shore – on the undeveloped North Beach and in front of those aforementioned ziggurats – there was a Caspian Tern, a single White-eyed Gull among Black-headed Gulls and, in water courses slightly back from the sea, Little Egrets, Common Sandpiper, Greenshanks and other waterbirds.

 

Monday, March 1 – A visit to the Kibbutz Lotan, north of Eilat on the Jordan border. This is one of the kibbutzim that specialises in receiving birders (I would have probably stayed there but it was apparently full on the weekend because of the Purim holiday). David Schoneveld from the kibbutz takes me around to the local hot spots including sewage ponds and salt pans. At one point, we go right to the border to look for Hoopoe Larks, which have a territory here. And, sure enough, a bird is calling but on the Jordanian side

 

 

                  Peering across the Jordanian border                                    nearby Jordanian guard post

                          looking for Hoopoe Lark

 

            of the fence. Since we cannot exactly sneak under the fence, we try climbing up on the sand dunes of the Israel side, straining to look across for this hard-to-find bird, which keeps calling. There is a Jordanian guard post not very far away and one wonders what the Jordanian soldiers there might think about two suspicious characters peering over the fence with binoculars. We’ll never know the answer as the two guards were sleeping on the ground in the shade of their guard post. And, no, we never saw the bird (at least I don’t have to decide whether to put it on my Israel or Jordan list!).

                        Another day in the Eilat area would have been desirable (I not only missed the mountain outlook but also a visit to the West Negev for various desert species). Alas, the schedule calls for travel back up north – exactly the reverse of the way I came but with more limited stops for birdwatching. Even so, I reach my new destination, a place called Shoresh in the hills west of Jerusalem, after dark and in heavy fog. Shoresh is or was a kibbutz, now converted to a Holiday Resort. Typically, it is not well signed (or perhaps signed only in Hebrew) and in the misty darkness, I go up and down the hills without finding anything that looks like a Holiday Resort (let alone the office of a Holiday Resort). Eventually I find a bunch of children whooping it up in Purim costumes. They know enough English to understand my questions but don’t really know how to give me good directions. Finally they all just pile in the back seat and direct me down the hill, back around the roundabout and up the opposite hill to a wide dirt parking lot below some cottages where they all jump out and run back. I’m still not sure where to go so I climb on foot back up past rows of cottages to another parking lot and then still further up to what turns out to be the office. Yes I am in the right place and my cottage for the night turns out to be back down the hill, just in front of where I parked the car.

                        I should add that all major signage in Israel is in at least two languages (Hebrew and English) with Arabic often added as well. The problem is that, at the local level, it is not always obvious where you have to go and the central offices – where you have to go to check in – are not usually placed in an obvious spot. First you pass through a security gate (sometimes open, sometimes closed) and then face a warren of roads winding through the kibbutz in all directions. Somewhere inside is the office and the cottages where you will stay. Often as not, you have to find someone to ask; fortunately, most people have at least a smattering of English and many speak English very well (many Israelis come from English-speaking lands and, in any case, English is widely taught in the schools).

 

Tuesday, March 2 – Jonathan Merav, one of Israel’s top young birders and the person responsible for the planning for my visit, comes by to pick me up. We are going to pay a visit to the Latrun International Center for the Study of Bird Migration and Latrun Radar Station, run by another of Israel’s great bird personalities, Yossi Leshem. Leshem’s accomplishments are many but his great achievements (to date) are (1) the establishment of Barn Owl and Kestrel nest boxes all over the country as substitutes for pesticides in agricultural regions, (2) a series of general studies of bird migration using various techniques; and (3) the operation of the radar station at Latrun to monitor migrating birds, not only for scientific purposes but also to prevent bird/plane collisions.

                        The radar images translate into running data on where the birds are, at what heights they are flying and in what numbers; this information is then instantly disseminated to flight control towers around the county and even to the pilots who are taking off or already in the air. Bird-plane collisions have consequently been reduced by an impressive 76%    

Yossi Leshem, r., and assistant (a former Soviet army officer)

 at Latrun Radar Station

 

                        After the very impressive demonstration of how things work at the radar station, Jonathan takes me to a local reservoir which holds, among other things, White-headed Ducks, a declining stiff-tail duck that is in trouble everywhere. Raptors seen included Short-toed and Spotted Eagles.

                        In the afternoon I leave Jonathan and drive up to Ma’agan Mikha’el, a well-known kibbutz that operates a coastal refuge on the Mediterranean south of Haifa. It was here that, in 1979, a boatload of terrorists came ashore, killed Gail Rubin, an American/Israeli photojournalist and wildlife photographer, and blew up a bus killing, among others, a dozen or more children before being killed themselves. Since that time, things are much quieter and the fish ponds and coastal marshes have been managed so that pisciculture co-exists with a sanctuary that attracts many birds and many birders. Here I meet with Dan Alon, director of the Israel Ornithological Center, a branch of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, as well as Asaf, a local birder from the kibbutz. The birding here is mostly in the marshes and managed ponds, and on the Mediterranean shore. This area is notable for its variety of gulls including Slender-billed, Yellow-legged, Armenian, Baltic, Black-headed, and Pallas’s gulls. I managed at one point to pish up a Clamorous Reed Warbler (something of an accomplishment considering that European birders often claim that only American birds respond to pishing). The three local kingfishers -- Smyrna (or White-throated), Pied and Common -- are common. An oddity is a Parasitic Jaeger that has become tangled in the nets that protect some of the fishponds from avian predation; the bird is quite dead so I don’t get to count it.

                        Afterwards, Dan Alon takes me to an inland town in the Alona Valley near Mt. Carmel (yes, everything in Israel has a biblical ring) where Lesser Kestrels nest under the eaves of the houses in a rustic setting. Dan has been active in promoting the retention of nesting places for this species which is declining in many areas but are seemingly healthy here.

                        Afterwards, a rather long solo night drive takes me to the Gonen Kibbutz at the foot of the Golan Heights overlooking the Hula Valley.

 

Wednesday, March 3 – Early morning meeting with Zev from the ringing (or banding) station at En (or Lake) Agmon. Unlike Ruben Yosef’s operation at Eilat which uses the so-called Heligoland traps, this station uses mist nets. I am given a pair of boots and we trudge out into swampy, reedy terrain to set the nets. A few minutes later, Zev’s assistant goes out to check the nets and starts bringing birds in to be banded (or to have their bands checked) and measured for wing length, overall length, weight and fat content. There are Reed and Cetti’s Warblers, Bluethroat, Penduline Tit and Sedge Warbler. As the Cetti’s Warbler is being processed, another Cetti’s Warbler starts calling in the bushes right next to the station and even comes into view. It was as if it knew that its comrade or mate was being captured.

 

Penduline Tit mistnetted at Agmon

 

                        In addition to being a major ringing station, En Agmon is the world capital of cranedom. Over 30,000 Eurasian Cranes winter here and, although many of the birds have just left for Scandinavia and Russia, at least 15,000-20,000 still remain – for the moment at least (I am told that most will leave in the next day or two). The whole story of this area is fascinating. In the past, the Hula Valley was a malarial swamp fed by the Jordan and other streams from nearby Mt. Hermon and the Golan Heights. Due largely to the malaria, there was only a small population in the valley and, in the early days of Israel, the draining of the swamps became a major national objective. The drained area was turned over to agriculture and several kibbutzim were established in the neighborhood. Originally the main crops were wheat and other grains but later the agriculture shifted to peanuts and other crops that proved to be attractive to migrating cranes.

                        The Hula is part of the Rift Valley – bordered by the Golan Heights to the east and and the northern extension of the Galilee Mountains on the west. The Rift Valley extends the entire eastern length of Israel and provides a migrational corridor from Africa and the Red Sea up through the Jordan River Valley including the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee, to the Hula. As the cranes discovered the new riches of the valley they scattered over the agricultural fields and, to the farmers’ dismay, began to stay for the winter instead of moving on to Africa. Another problem was that the use of pesticides and the exploitation of water resources in Hula had begun to cause major ecological problems downstream. The battle over these resources was one of the events responsible for the founding of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and the country’s first national park was a papyrus swamp in the southwest of the valley. Later on, restoration efforts were expanded to a wider area including two newly created small lakes replacing the original, much larger lake on the site.

                        At the same time, a local farmer conceived the idea of feeding the cranes to lure them away from the agricultural fields and also came up with the idea of a moveable hide – pulled by a tractor – to provide close-up viewing of the birds. Against the odds, this plan was hugely successful and resulted in increasing numbers of wintering cranes and increasing numbers of tourists who come to see them. In addition to the cranes – the winter population has now reached 30,000 and is still growing – there are storks, pelicans, kingfishers, shorebirds, ibis, herons, larks and lots of other things.              

Papyrus Swamp, Lake Hula (Golan Heights in the distance)

 

                        Later in the day, David appears and suggests a visit to the Hula Lake, the original reserve somewhat to the south. This part of the restored area contains the remaining papyrus swamps – a tiny fraction of the original but still impressive (this is the northernmost stand of papyrus which is basically an African species). Besides the presence of flocks of cranes flying about and huge numbers of Hooded Crows coming to roost, this area is filled with Marsh Harriers, Hen Harriers and Merlin, with a remarkably high percentage of males (in other areas, most of the birds seen are females and sub-adult males). At dusk, the harriers drop down into the marsh but the Merlins come to perch in dead trees in numbers, with three and four birds in some trees.

                        Back to Gonen for the night.

 

Thursday, March 4 – An early morning ride up Mt. Hermon, close to the northern tip of Israel, produces few birds but it is an impressive ride nonetheless. The mountain has three peaks

Mt. Hermon with the Druze town of Majdal Shams on its slopes

            over 9000 feet and its slopes are in three countries (Israel, Syria and Lebanon) with Druze towns on its slopes (the Druze are nominally Muslim but follow their own, possibly more ancient, practices). It is from these snowy peaks and from the nearby Golan Heights that the Hula Valley water mostly derives; Hermon is snow-capped all year round and at the top of the road is a ski resort! You can go no further (I started up a side road to pursue a calling bird and an Israeli soldier popped out of a guard house and warned me not to go any further, the only incident of the kind on the trip). I have effectively traveled the whole length of the country from bottom to top.

                         

Sea of Galilee opposite Tiberias

 

                        After heading back through the Druze town of Majdal Shams, I continue south on the Golan Heights, eventually turning off to Yam Kinneret or the Sea of Galilee. On the way down, there is a sign marked ‘Sea Level’; the Sea of Galilee, like the Dead Sea, is below sea level but unlike the Dead Sea it is fresh! A couple of stops along the lake – directly opposite the Roman town of Tiberias (founded by Herod’s son and named for the Emperor Tiberius) – produce a few gulls and other water birds. South of the Sea, the road approaches the border or rather the border approaches the road (at this point, Jordan has replaced Syria as the border country). This is the Beit She’an Valley (named after the principal town in the area. Not far from here, right off the road to the local border crossing, is the Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin, one of the kibbutzim that specializes in hosting birds and birdwatchers.

                        It is still midafternoon when David Glasner, the local bird guide, appears and takes me around the establishment, which is full of fish ponds and fish-eating birds. The highlight is Black Stork (it is a kind of symbol of the kibbutz) but there are lots of other birds including White Stork, Great White Pelican, various ducks and shore birds. David explains how the kibbutz water tower was hit by a shell during the Six-Day War, draining the water and leaving a gaping hole. That evening I hear a Scops Owl calling right outside the cottage where I am staying and try without success to see it in the dark shade trees in front of the building. Eventually I walk up to the water tower and notice that there is something sitting in front of that gaping hole. Not a Scops but a Barn Owl.

 

Friday, March 5 – Early morning in the local hide. With a little patience I get good looks at Bluethroats (including a first-year bird), Chiff-chaff, Willow Warbler, Graceful Prinia and, to top it off, Great Spotted Cuckoo and Wryneck. Afterwards I drive south on local roads, passing the fish ponds of another kibbutz (Marsh Sandpiper among other shore birds), crossing Route 90 and eventually climbing up Mt. Gilboa. As the road climbs up in switchbacks, a sign informs me that I am once again rising above Sea Level.

 

On the way up Mt. Gilboa

 

                        This mountain, really a ridge, is yet another biblical locality (with the Palestinian West Bank town of Jenin on the other side, visible from the top). The slopes on the way up are a stony grassland with singing birds (Corn Bunting, Sardinian Warbler, Crested Lark), raptors overhead (Spotted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, one of the buzzards) and, above all, flowers. For once, my timing is perfect; entire slopes of the mountain are carpeted in flowers of many different species including, notably, the Mt. Gilboa Iris or Haynei Iris which is restricted to these slopes and makes a spectacular showing.

 

Wild flower garden with Mt. Gilboa Iris

 

                        The top of the slope is mostly forested and, since these are probably all planted trees, there is little bird life (mostly Eurasian Jay and Great Tit). Descending the mountain and driving south on Route 90, I realize that the road is entering the territory of the Palestinian Authority. But all the road signs here point to Jerusalem and there appears to be no problem about driving through this area. In fact, these far slopes of the West Bank, facing the Jordanian border, are relatively uninhabited and there are few signs of the local population beyond the occasional shepherd with flocks of sheep and, in a few places, black (Nubian?) goats. Although the slopes are, at first, relatively green, the landscape soon turns to pure desert. Just past Jericho (yes, that Jericho) and short of the Dead Sea, there is a turn east towards Jerusalem and, after a stretch of roadside vendors selling pottery (each stall with its own camel), the road enters the Judean Hills and heads for Jerusalem. After struggling with the outskirts of the Holy City, I find my way back to Route 1 and the Shoresh Interchange a few kilometers west of town. This time I know where to go and how to get installed. Dinner at an Arab (‘Oriental’) resturant in the nearby Arab town of Abu Gosh was marked by the extreme friendliness of people and the only taste of lamb that I had on the trip.

 

Saturday, March 6 – Jonathan Merav picks me up in the morning and we head out in his car for a visit to the Jerusalem Bird Observatory. This is a ringing (banding) station and a park that has been established right in the middle of the city, with a small pond and wet area overlooked by a blind, a visitors’ center and the ringing station itself. The visitors’ center is new and has been built on ecological principles with a wild flower garden for a roof. It is named for Gail Rubin and features an exhibition of her nature photographs. The whole Observatory was constructed, almost entirely with volunteer effort, by the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel around an old cemetery and a waste area situated between the Knesset and the Supreme Court. It has turned out to be amazingly productive from a wildlife point of view with a bird list of over 175 species and several surprising species of mammals including hedgehog and porcupine. The banding operation is open to the public and has an enormous educational value as school kids and the casual visitor can see the bird in the hand, which, for instructional purposes and for most of the public (if not for birders), is definitely worth more than two in the bush. This project has stimulated interest in birding in Israel to a remarkable degree. While there are perhaps 50 high-end birders in the entire country, you see many amateur birders at the Observatory and elsewhere thumbing through – back to front as it looks to us! – copies of the Hebrew translation of the Collins Guide (which includes Israel along with the rest of the Western Palearctic) as they try to identify the birds flitting by outside the nearby blind.

                        Among the birds being caught in the mist nets at the time of my visit were Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, a European Robin, a handsome Redstart (Euro variety) and a Wryneck (see bird list below), all netted, banded and released right on the spot. Israel has a high standard for giving banding licenses and volunteers have to be trained for several years before they can qualify. It seems to me that it would be a great idea and a superb educational resource to establish a banding station in, say, Prospect Park, that would be open to the public.

Cars and camels at a Bedouin residence in nearby caves

                        After this visit, we drive across Jerusalem back down to the Rift Valley by the Dead Sea and afterwards up into the Judean Hills. These are nearly pure desert areas

 

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves like these

 

            inhabited by Bedouins as well as Palestinians. There are stony cliffs pockmarked by caves (the Dead Sea scrolls were found here) and, lower down, the flat desert and salt lake that marks the bottom of the world. In spite of the apparent aridity, there is drip agriculture, date plantations. and a surprising number of birds (it is the northernmost outpost for many desert birds) including Desert Finches, Desert Larks, Mourning Wheatear, Sand Partridge, and a Little Owl sitting right out in the open on a low barrier right next to the road. The Little Owl belongs to a desert subspecies known as Athene noctua lilith, a monicker that packs in both a Greek goddess and a Sumerian/Hebrew goddess or demon in the same name (both associated with owls; see the bird list below for Jonathan’s photo of this bird). As I later figure out, the Desert Finches in a date plantation by the Dead Sea are my 3500^th species.

                        Back at Shoresh, I find that the management has provided me with four huge breakfasts in my refrigerator – apparently because I left early in the morning without eating breakfast and will leave early again tomorrow with the additional assumption that I am two people.

 

Sunday, March 7 – I am up early at Shoresh and, after eating as much salad as I can manage so early in the morning, I pack up and leave for the airport. I deposit the car (fending off comments about the mud underneath) and catch my flight to JFK. Again this is a Black Hat Special, kosher food and all. The trip this time heads through Greece, the Balkans, Vienna, Germany, The Netherlands, central England and Ireland, and over the North Atlantic. Just before landing, we are served a huge blintz for a meal. Welcome back to New York!

 

 

BIRD LIST

 

For this list I have followed Yoav Perlman and Jonathan Merav’s “Checklist of the Birds of Israel” (Society for the Protecton of Nature in Israel and the Israel Ornithological Center).

 

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) – widespread in wetland ponds

 

Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus) – Lake Agmon, Kfar Ruppin

Great Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) – numerous is all larger wetland areas

 

Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus) – Ma’agan Mikha’el

Black-crowned Night-heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) – Ma’agan Mikha’el, Hula Valley

Cattle Egret (Bubulcus ibis) – Route 90 (small flocks in West Bank area)

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) – widespread and common in all wetlands

Great Egret (Ardea alba or Casmerodius albus) – widespread and common in wetlands

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) – widespread and common in all wetlands

White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) – flocks on the move in many locations in Rift Valley

*Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) – Kfar Ruppin fish ponds

 

Black Storks at Kfar Ruppin

 

Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) – a few in Rift Valley wetlands

Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) – widespread in wetlands

 

Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) – flock in salt pans north of Eilat; Ma’agan Mikha’el

 

Common Shelduck (Tadorna tadorna) – salt pans near Eilat

Gadwall (Anas strepera) – several wetland locations N & C

Eurasian Wigeon (Anas penelope) – several wetland locations N & C

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) – common in wetlands

Northern Shoveler (Anas clypeata) – very common in wetlands S to N (most common duck seen)

Northern Pintail (Anas acuta) – fairly common near Eilat; a few elsewhere in wetlands

Common Teal (Anas crecca) – fairly common and widespread

Common Pochard (Aythya ferina) – a few in C & N

Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca) – a few in Hula Valley

Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) – common from S to N

*White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala) – on reservoir west of Jerusalem

 

White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) – Hula Valley

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) – Kfar Ruppin

*(Greater) Spotted Eagle (Aquila clanga) – several locations from S to N

Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) – 1 record near Eilat

Short-tailed Snake-eagle (Circaetus gallicus) – several locations including Judean Plains (west of Jerusalem) and Mt. Gilboa

Black Kite (Milvus migrans) – lives up to its Latin name by being the most common raptor migrant seen; many locations

Western Marsh-harrier (Circus aeruginosus) – often seen in Hula Valley

Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus) – many birds, with an exceptional number of males, mostly in the Hula Valley; numbers of birds coming to roost in the marshes of the Hula Lake

*Pallid Harrier (Circus macrourus) – 1 bird seen on slopes of Mt. Gilboa

Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) – seen several times in C. & N.

*Steppe Buzzard (Buteo vulpinus) – at least one seen and identified near Eilat

Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus) – perched bird in Hula Valley; also in flight at Mt. Gilboa

Eurasian Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) – bird in flight seen at the Hula Lake

Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) – colony in a town in the Alona Valley; also in the Judean Hills east of Jerusalem

Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) – most common raptor throughout

Merlin (Falco columbarius) – numbers coming to roost at Hula Lake

Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) – flying bird seen (but where?)

 

Chukar (Alectoris chukar) – several locations N & S; there is essentially no hunting in Israel so these birds are quite tame

Chukar (Yahel Kibbutz)

 

*Sand Partridge (Ammoperdix heyl) – Wadi Quelt (Judean Hills)

*Black Francolin (Francolinus francolinus) – Hula Valley (two birds by the road, early morning)

Common Quail (Coturnix coturnix) – Mt. Gilboa (‘heard only’ in at least 2 places)

Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) – common in many wetlands

Common Coot (Fulica atra) – very common in wetlands throughout

Common Cranes at En Agmon

 

Common Crane (Grus grus) – thousands of birds in Hula Valley

Black-winged Stilt (Himantopus himantopus) – fairly common in many wetlands

Pied Avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) – a few birds in Hula Valley wetlands & Ma’agan Mikha’el

Spur-winged Plover (Lapwing) (Vanellus spinosus) – Very common in all wetland areas

 

Spur-winged Plovers at Agmon

 

Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) – back of beach in Eilat

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) – good numbers in many wetlands S to N

Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) – several birds seen near Eilat; also Kfar Ruppin

Common Redshank (Tringa totanus) – common in all wetlands

Marsh Sandpiper (Tringa stagnatillis) – 1 bird seen on fishpond near Kfar Ruppin

Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularis) – back of beach in Eilat

Green Sandpiper (Tringa ochruopus) – sewage pond north of Eilat

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) – back of beach in Eilat

Little Stint (Calidris minuta) – very common, particularly in wetlands near Eilat

Ruff (Philomachus pugnax) – common in all wetlands

 

*White-eyed Gull (Larus leucophthalmus) – one bird with Black-headed Gulls in Red Sea (Gulf of Aqaba) at Eilat

*Armenian Gull (Larus armenicus) – split from the Yellow-legged Gull; easily distinguished by black mark on the bill; Ma’agan Mikha’el, Sea of Galilee

Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahelis) – breeding on rocky island off Ma’agan Mikha’el

*Baltic Gull (Larus fuscus fuscus) – eastern, dark-backed form of Lesser Black-backed Gull; Eilat, Ma’agan Mikha’el

*Pallas’s Gull (Larus ichthyaetus) -- also known as the Great Black-backed Gull; Ma’agan Mikha’el

Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) – most common gull everywhere

Slender-billed Gull (Larus genei) – salt pans north of Eilat and at Ma’agan Mikha’el

Caspian Tern (Sterna caspia) – North Beach at Eilat

Sandwich Tern (Sterna sandvicensis) – beach at Ma’agan Mikha’el

 

Rock Pigeon (Columba livia) – flocks in Judean Hills may be the ancestral type breeding in a natural cliff environment

Eurasian Collared-dove (Streptopelia decaocto) – very common & widespread everywhere

Laughing or Palm Dove (Stigmatopelia senegalensis) – very common and widespread

 

Great Spotted Cuckoo (Clamator glandarius) – west of Jerusalem (just off Route 1); Kfar Ruppin (in the kibbutz and also seen perched and calling from the hide)

 

Barn Owl (Tyto alba) – Kfar Ruppin (emerging from shell hole in water tower)

Common Scops-owl (Otus scops) – calling in trees at Kfar Ruppin; ‘Heard Only’

Little Owl (Athene noctua lilith) – on a guard rail, Wadi Quelt; also seen perched on the roof of a house in the Alona Valley (ssp. uncertain)

 

Athene noctua lilith in Wadi Quelt (Photo by Jonathan Merav)

 

Alpine Swift (Tachymarptis melba) – over West Bank settlement in Wadi Quelt, Judean Hills, with the following two species

Common Swift (Apus apus) -- fairly common over Mishkenot Sha’ananim and in a number of other places around Israel

Little Swift (Apus affinis) – over West Bank settlement in Wadi Quelt

White-throated (Smyrna) Kingfisher (Halcyon smyrnensis) – most common kingfisher in wetlands, especially C. & N.

Common Kingfisher (Alceo atthis) – fairly common and widespread

Pied Kingfisher (Ceryle rudis) – fairly common, especially in C & N wetlands

Little Green Bee-eater (Merops orientalis) – Eilat and Dead Sea areas (subspecies cyanophrys with bright blue face and throat; endemic to Israel and Jordan)

Eurasian Hoopoe (Upupa epops) – the national bird of Israel; common in Jerusalem area and elsewhere

 

Rose-ringed Parakeet (Psittacula krameri) – Jerusalem, Hula Valley etc.; generally considered to be introduced but may have spread from further east

 

*Syrian Woodpecker (Dendrocopos syriacus) – The only ‘real’ woodpecker in Israel; seen in Jerusalem and Jerusalem area

Eurasian Wryneck (Jynx torquilla) – Kfar Ruppin (from blind); also netted at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory

 

Wryneck netted and banded at

the Jerusalem Bird Observatory

 

Greater Hoopoe-lark (Alaemon alaudipes) – ‘Heard Only’ in dunes at Jordanian border, Eilat

*Desert Lark (Ammomanes deserti) – Wadi Quelt (Judean Hills)

Eurasian Skylark (Alauda arvensis) – a few in various locations (north of Eilat, Ma’agan Mikha’el)

Crested Lark (Galerida cristata) – widespread

 

Crested Lark at En Agmon

 

Sand Martin (Riparia riparia) – north of Eilat in agricultural fields

*Pale Crag-martin (Hirundo riparia) – north of Eilat in agricultural fields & in the Judean Hills; the taxonomy of this bird is confusing; it appears to be the same bird described in the Collins “Birds of Europe” and the Princeton “Birds of the Middle East” as Rock Martin or African Rock Martin (Ptyonoprogne fuligula)

Barn Swallow (Hirundo rustica) -- widespread

Northern House-martin (Delichon urbicum) – north of Eilat in agricultural field & elsewhere

White or Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba) – extremely common in all locations; the most common passerine migrant seen

Citrine Wagtail (Motacilla citreola) – single bird seen in wetland at Ma’agan Mikha’el

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) – flyover, Jerusalem

Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris) – Km. 76 and other sites north of Eilat

Tree Pipit (Anthus trivialis) – common migrant in various sites

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis) – Km. 76 north of Eilat

*Red-throated Pipit (Anthus cervinus) – Km. 76 north of Eilat; also Dead Sea area

Water Pipit (Anthus spinoletta) – Dead Sea area

*White-spectacled (Yellow-vented) Bulbul (Pycnonotus xanthopygos) – one of the most common and widespread birds in Israel

European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) – Jerusalem Bird observatory

Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica) – widespread migrant from S to N

Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) – Jerusalem, Dead Sea area

Common Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) – Jerusalem Bird Observatory

 

Common Redstart being banded

 

Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) – a few in various locations  

Common Stonechat (Saxicola torquata) – very common migrant from S to N

*White-crowned Wheatear (Oenanthe leucopyga) – Ramon Crater, Avram’s Pillars

 

White-crowned Wheatear at Abram’s Pillars

 

Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) – common n. of Eilat; a few in other locations

*Mourning Wheatear (Oenanthe lugens) – Judean Hills (Wadi Quelt)

*Isabelline Wheatear (Oenanthe isabellina) – Km. 76 north of Eilat

*Blackstart (Cercomela melanura) – common near Eilat; also Dead Sea area

Eurasian Blackbird (Turdus merula) – common everywhere in settled areas with gardens

Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) -- Jerusalem

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) – Jerusalem Bird Observatory

Common Whitethroat (Sylvia communis) – Jerusalem Bird Observatory

Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca) – Jerusalem Bird Observatory (in same bush an preceding

*Arabian Warbler (Sylvia leucomelaena) – found by song in acacia trees by Rt. 90 north of Eilat and subsequently seen flying and perched; one of the rarest birds in Israel

Sardinian Warbler (Sylvia melanocephala) – Jerusalem & Mt Gilboa

*Asian Desert Warbler (Sylvia nana) – one or two small birds accompanying a White-crowned Wheatear at Avram’s Pillars; these birds showed pale eye and legs as well as white outer tail feathers on an otherwise brown-and-black tail; basic gray/olive (not brown) body color (lighter below); short-billed; short, twittery or trilly calls; these birds are known to winter in the area and often accompany Desert Wheatears (and, according to Jonathan Merav, have also been known to accompany White Crowned Wheatears)

*Graceful Prinia (Prinia gracilis) – everywhere; one of the most common birds is Israel

Cetti’s Warbler (Cettia cetti) – Hula Valley (singing bird emerging from reeds just as a netted Cetti’s Warbler was banded and released)

Sedge Warbler (Acrocephalus schoenobaenus) – Hula Valley

(European) Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) – several wetland locations

*Clamorous Reed-warbler (Acrocephalus stentoreus) – well seen at Ma’agan Mikha’el; singing birds in reeds at almost all wetlands locations

Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) – a few birds mostly in C & N

Common Chiff-chaff (Phylloscopus collybita) – very common in many locations; apparently migrates earlier than preceding

 

Great Tit (Parus major) – Jerusalem and other places in C & N

Eurasian Penduline-tit (Remiz pendulinus) – Jerusalem; also Hula Valley

*Arabian Babbler (Turdoides squamiceps) – acacia trees north of Eilat; also Dead Sea area

Lesser Grey Shrike (Lanius minor) – Dead Sea area

*Palestine Sunbird (Nectarinia osea) – common & widespread throughout

Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) – common in inhabited areas in center; this is atricapillus, the distinctive white-faced, black-capped Middle Eastern form

 

Eurasian Jay (middle eastern form) on a picnic table chair by the Shoresh parking lot

 

Eurasian Jackdaw (Corvus monedula) – flocks seen in farm fields w. of Jerusalem

House Crow (Corvus splendens) – Eilat; right on coast

Hooded Crow (Corvus cornix) – very common and widespread

*Brown-necked Raven (Corvus ruficollis) – Ramon Crater, north of Eilat, Dead Sea

Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis) – near Jerusalem

*Tristram’s Starling (Grackle) (Onychognathus tristramii) – rest stop north of Eilat; Dead Sea area

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) -- everywhere

*Spanish Sparrow (Passer hispaniolensis) – rest stop north of Eilat; Dead Sea area

Eurasian Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) – Jerusalem; many places throughout

European Serin (Serinus serinus) – Jerusalem

*Syrian Serin (Serinus syriacus) – gardens by Ben-Gurion’s tomb, Negev

European Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) – Jerusalem, elsewhere

Eurasian Siskin (Carduelis spinus) -- Jerusalem

European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) – common in Jerusalem & elsewhere

*Desert Finch (Rhodopechys obsoletus) – small flock in Dead Sea area; this was my 3500^th species

Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) -- Jerusalem

Corn Bunting (Miliaria calandra) – common singer at Mt. Gilboa

 

155 species (3 ‘Heard Only’)

30 lifers

 

Flock of White Storks riding thermals above an abandoned

mosque near the Sea of Galilee