Negev, 21/Oct/06

Amir Ben Dov

On the morning of October 21st, Ehud Dovrat and I met with Rony Livne at the Bahad 1 sewage. The place, though dry (due to the military base’s decision to stop pouring the sewage there), was not disappointing, as usual.

Red-backed Shrikes, Willow Warblers, Spotted Flycatchers, many Common Redstarts, 2 Red-breasted Flycatchers (probably the same seen the day before by Avner Choen), Red-throated Pipits, some White Wagtails, Bluethroats, singles of Whitethroat, Lesser Whitethroat and Blackcap, and some local and migratory Wheatears, which were observed in the desert surroundings.

We left the place at around 08:30, heading to the Ramon football field and the opposite park, the Ramon cliff and of course the Ramon sewage.

Unfortunately, the football field, the park and the cliffs produced nothing special. The surprise waited for us at the sewage, which offered, aside from the common migrates that are seen everywhere, 3 Red-breasted Flycatchers and a Yellow-browed Warbler.

Also, 3 Crag Martins flying with the many Barn Swallows and quite a few Rock Martins were "nice to see" birds.

A visit to Sde Boker field school, Ben Gurion grave, the inner Kibbutz, and HaRoe Stream entrance, produced some ordinary migrants: Masked Shrikes (including late adult male), Common Redstarts, 3 Eurasian Sparrowhawks, Red-backed Shrikes, 2 Little Green Bee-Eaters, some nice Tree Pipits and others.

Over 60 Nubian Ibexes seen in the area, not fearing humans, were a colorful addition.

Nubian Ibex

Our last stop was at Yeruham reservoir and the surroundings, arriving there 1 hour before sun set.

After some dilemmas of where to start, we parked the car at the far North West end of the trees, near the water.

The hour long observation ended with an extra 4 Red-breasted Flycatchers, which brought us to a daily total of 9 birds - a record count for 1 day in Israel.

In general the area was very lively and several Chiffchaffs were heard calling. Some Ducks, Grebes and other expected birds were seen there, though we had no time for them.

A nice day which started at 04:30 came to its end, leaving Ehud Dovrat awake for 33 hours (due to his Long-Eared Owl biological clock) – another Israeli birders record.