Negev, Israel - Part 2 15 - 17 April

Day 5 - 15 April

Another try in the Matash area with some additional nets as we had a slightly larger team. The area was drying out a bit and we moved our base to a more convenient location. The birds began to move just as the last nets were set and we began to extract. There were still quite a few black and white flycatchers present with the first Spotted Flycatcher of the year. We had a good selection of warblers including three Barred Warblers, also new for our visit. CL brought in the first Common Cuckoo for the site.

 6M Common Cuckoo

 Spotted Flycatcher

 5M Barred Warbler

 5F Barred Warbler

The session was open to the public and some young families came early on to learn about the birds.

Later we were joined by a large group that had come up from Eilat.

Totals: 114 (9)

Common Cuckoo - 1

Nightingale -2
Graceful Prinia - 0 (1)
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler - 5 (5)
Eastern Orphean Warbler - 1
Barred Warbler - 3
Lesser Whitethroat -3 (1)
Blackcap - 85 (1)
Eastern Bonelli's Warbler -1
Wood Warbler -1
Spotted Flycatcher - 1
Collared Flycatcher -7
Masked Shrike -2
Greenfinch - 2

In the afternoon we headed into the Great Makhtesh hoping for some more species. To our surprise, and theirs, we came across a small group of Nubian Ibex on a bend in the road down the side of the crater.

 The Great Makhtesh

 Nubian Ibex

Nubian Ibex kids

We continued, finding the small wadi that had held so much just a few days before completely dry, and almost birdless, except for six Bee-eaters flying through. As we continued there were 3 Mourning Wheatear, Alpine Swift, Kestrel and Desert Lark but nothing new for the trip. The coloured sands parking area was filled with cars, campers and people - so we drove on. We parked and walked to an oasis in a gorge, that from the level where rubbish had been deposited and recent rock fall must have been a raging torrent of some depth during the flash floods.

Ein Yorge'am

There was a lot of disturbance with people attracted by the muddy waters and we saw fewer birds than expected, just Little Green Bee-eater, Blackstart, Mourning Wheatear and Arabian Babbler- new for the trip.

Day 6 16 April

Today there was no ringing at Yeruham as it was the Shabbat. We had the offer to ring at another town, but we had already planned to travel for sandgrouse coming in for a morning drink at a regular site. On the way saw a few White Stork close to the road.

 White Stork

Finding the sewage ponds was a little difficult as the track  ran from another into a dairy farm. We missed it at first, but found it on the second try then followed the track and arrived in time.

 Kmehim Sewage Ponds

The birds usually arrive between 7.30am and 9am - with no evening visit. Some people have had hundreds of birds dropping in to drink and four species (Black-bellied, Pin-tailed, Spotted and Crowned) have been seen. We saw nothing like that number, perhaps due to the recent rain that  had still not completely dried up providing many additional drinking opportunities. We only got Black-bellied and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, the two species we had already seen at other locations.

 Black-bellied Sandgrouse

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse

Migrant Painted Lady

We left just after 9am as we had other birds to find in challenging conditions. We passed the ruins of Nizzana, a Nabataean city as we travelled to check an old sewage pond.

 

 Nizzana ruins

At the very small pond there were Blackcaps in the bushes and a Montagu's Harrier hunting over reeds. A column of White Storks were rising on a thermal.

 Kettling White Storks

We began scouring the desert as the temperature soared to 32C. The vehicle was rather limiting and several tracks were out of our scope. We did manage to see Dorcas Gazelle off in the hazy distance.

The heat conspired against us and we failed to see the speciality birds we hoped, although Steppe Eagle was new for us.

 Steppe Eagle

 Arabian Babbler and barbed wire - the second being more
common than the first, close to the Israeli Egyptian border.

Steppe Buzzard 

 Recently fledged Southern Grey Shrike

This bird proved difficult, singing in the open, but on moving it was identified as a Rufous Bush Robin.

Rufous Bush-Robin

Day 7  17 April

We moved to an area where Mulberry trees had begun to fruit. Several nets were put up at half the usual height again. The nets caught well and we topped the hundred mark again.

 Here we go round the mulberry trees.

 5M Tristram's Grackle

 Collared Dove

 Palestine Sunbird age 3

 Golden Oriole 5M

 Thrush Nightingale

Totals: 114 (2)

Collared Dove - 2

Thrush Nightingale - 3
Graceful Prinia - 1

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler - 5

Eastern Orphean Warbler - 1

Barred Warbler - 4

Lesser Whitethroat -5

Garden Warbler - 1
Blackcap - 71 (2)

Collared Flycatcher - 1
Palestine Sunbird - 1

Masked Shrike -1

Tristram's Grackle - 15
Golden Oriole - 1
Greenfinch - 2

After ringing and a rest we headed to some nearby fields at Sede Boker and hoped to have more luck than we had had on our first try in the rain. We had some good views of Desert Finch, Bee-eater, Eurasian Sparrowhawk and more White Storks.

 Desert Finches, plus one Greenfinch

Bee-eaters with White Storks in background.

On the drive back we came across a rather late Isabelline Wheatear.

Negev, Israel - Part 1 11 - 14 April

After our stay in Cyprus, we flew directly to Tel Aviv, met up with Michael Holdsworth (who has also ringed with us in Portugal and Georgia in the past) and travelled to Yeruham in the Negev desert. For the next fortnight we will be ringing with Darren and Yoram, with additional help from Eyol, Ronnie and Francis.

Day 1   11/04/2016

Revivim Wadi and lake side.

After a 4.15am alarm we met with Darren, Francis and Yorum at a site by Yeruham Lake to set up the nets. It was quite hard as we had never seen the site in daylight and half the nets were partially or completely in the water - but everything was up by 6am as the daylight dawned.

There had been a thunderstorm the evening before and the number of birds around seemed to have dropped. The locals had not been sure how the storm might affect the birds and apparently there had been a clear out.

 Orphean Warbler

 Pied Flycatcher  5M

Totals: 60 (15)

Nightingale - 1
Cetti's Warbler - 0 (3)
Sedge Warbler - 6
Reed Warbler - 9 (8)
Great Reed Warbler - 2
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler - 3 (1)
Eastern Orphean Warbler - 0 (1)
Lesser Whitethroat - 9
Blackcap - 29 (1)
Pied Flycatcher - 1
Spectacled Bulbul - 0 (1)

In addition we saw Night, Squacco and Purple Heron, single Little and Spotted Crakes, single Gull-billed Tern, two Wryneck, Syrian Woodpecker, Graceful Prinia, Palestine Sunbird and Tristram's Grackle.

In the afternoon we met with Darren to try a catch at Yeruham Garden, a site that is in the process of development. There is irrigation and Darren has been adding new plants and trying to get them established.

Yeruham Community Garden

As unpromising as the area looked, we captured 30 birds, mostly Greenfinch and House Sparrow, but with no Desert Finch, a species that have been caught here in the past.

Totals: 30

Nightingale - 1

Lesser Whitethroat - 2

Blackcap - 3

House Sparrow - 12

Greenfinch - 12

We did have though a couple of Pale Crag Martins flying round and a Masked Shrike, plus a few non-native Common Myna.


Day 2  12/04/2016

The next day we were back at the lake, just a short distance along the shore. We had seven nets outside the perimeter of tamarisk with several more closer to the lake, with some partially or completely over water.

 Nets sited by the lake.

There were lots of crakes around the lake margins although none were caught. Highlights were three Collared Flycatcher, four Common Sandpiper, Masked Shrike and Hoopoe with an extremely early Upcher's Warbler.

 Masked Shrike 5M

 Eastern Bonelli's Warbler aged 4

 Wood Warbler aged 4

 Orpean Warbler 5F

Suspended moult of 5F Orphean Warbler

 Ortolan Bunting 6M

 Collared Flycatcher 5M

 Common Sandpiper aged 5

Upcher's Warbler aged 4

Totals: 109 (5)

Scops Owl -1
Common Sandpiper - 4
Masked Shrike - 1
Kingfisher - 1
Hoopoe - 1

Nightingale -1
Sedge Warbler -2
Reed Warbler -7 (2)
Great Reed Warbler -2
Upcher's Warbler - 1
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler - 0 (2)
Wood Warbler - 3
Willow Warbler - 1
Eastern Bonelli's Warbler - 1
Eastern Orphean Warbler - 1
Lesser Whitethroat -13
Blackcap - 74 (1)
Collared Flycatcher - 3
Ortolan Bunting - 2

 Yeruham Lake

We had a fly over Black Stork and Short-toed Eagle, two Spotted plus a single Little Crake,Water Rail, two Common Terns and a Wryneck.

After a bit of lunch we headed out to a nearby kibbutz with some fields. By this time it was raining and the sand had become wet and claggy. We decided not to risk a walk due to threatening clouds so drove around looking for birds. At Mildreshet Ben Gurtion we had a flock of c15 Bee-eaters and around Sde Boker there was little to see other than sparrows, Spectacled Bulbul and Crested Lark. Our best birds were Montagu's Harrier, Hobby, Southern Grey Shrike (aucheri) and two Desert Finches plus a rather sandy coloured Red Fox.

 Southern Grey Shrike aucheri

 Camels on the skyline

Day 3 13/04/2016

Heavy rain at 4am seemed much more persistent than the showers that were forecast. After a quick call to Darren we all got a few more hours sleep. The rain continued until early afternoon. We took the opportunity, once the rain finished, to get out into the desert and do some birding in the cooler tempertures. Birds seen at Great Makhtesh included Little Green Bee-eater, Desert Lark, Blackstart, Eastern Mourning Wheatear, Scrub Prinia and Brown-necked Raven.

 Eastern Mourning Wheatear giving a quick flash of white primary bases.

 Laughing Dove

 Little Green Bee-eaters

 Desert Lark

 Blackstart

We also saw a Red Fox as we headed back to the apartment.

 

Red Fox

We expected that the lake level would be higher so went to see what the situation was. All the dry rides were now wet and the level had risen to the point that water was now flowing over the dam. With four streams flowing into the lake we don't expect the sites to become useable until after we leave.

Water flowing over Yeruham Dam with onlookers

The previous day we have walked up this track, made our base
round to the left and been some 25 metres from the lake.

Site of two 12 metre nets that had been dry.

 Whilst  checking the site out we manged to flush a Brown Hare.


Day 4  14/04/2016

A great day at the Upper Matash site with 213 birds in total. Most were Blackcap (163), with a good range of other species including Nightjar, Hoopoe, Masked Shrike and Graceful Prinia.

 6F Nightjar

 Male Hoopoe

 Graceful Prinia 5F

 Fat Sand Rat

We saw our first Fat Sand Rats. The animals were busily attending to their burrows after the flash flooding - but mostly feeding. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_rat

Totals: 210 (3)

Nightjar - 1

Hoopoe - 1
Nightingale -4
Graceful Prinia - 2 (2)
Eastern Olivaceous Warbler - 17 (1)
Lesser Whitethroat - 6
Blackcap - 163
Collared Flycatcher - 9
Pied Flycatcher - 1
Spanish Sparrow - 1
Greenfinch - 2
Masked Shrike -2

We also saw Cuckoo and Wood Warbler, plus another two Masked Shrike.

In the afternoon we set out for Mitzpe Ramon to see Makhtesh Ramon. The landscape was stunning - and we added White-crowned Wheatear and Sooty Falcon to the trip list.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makhtesh

Wadi Havarim