Western Negev - Nizana and Urim area

A short, but worthwhile, detour from the main road between Central and Southern Israel will bring you to the vast plateaus of the Western Negev

What to expect?

Nizana is the place for Houbara Bustards, the four species of Sandgrouse (Crowned, Black-bellied, Spotted and Pin-tailed), Cream-coloured Courser, Lesser and Greater Short-toed Larks, Bar-tailed Desert Lark, Spectacled Warbler, Desert Warbler, Desert Wheatear and Southern Grey Shrike of the subspecies elegans. Bimaculated Larks may also be seen here during late autumn and early spring.
Urim is one of the most fantastic winter birding places in the Western Palearctic and absolutely a must! Thousands of birds spend the winter time in this area. Among them are the critically endangered Sociable Plover, the largest concentration of the vulnerable Imperial Eagle (up to 35 birds), Both Lanner and Saker Falcons (up to 9 birds!), Peregrine (up to 20 birds including the 3 subspecies of WP: the Mediterranean brookei, the European peregrinus and the large Siberian calidus), Barbary Falcon, Merlin (up to 50 birds in good winters), Pallid Harrier, (and in some winters all four harrier species), Long-legged Buzzards and more.
There are several records of Tawny Eagle and one was even observed building a nest (winter 2000)!
Apart for the many wintering raptors, this place is also famous for the huge flocks of Pin-tailed Sandgrouse (1500-4000 birds in most winters), Dotterels (sometimes several hundreds), Calandra Larks, Finch's Wheatear, and thousands of Cranes. In recent years there are two roosting places of Black Kites with more than 7000 birds.