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>> Birding Reports
Southern Israel, 1-8/FEB/06 Wouter Puyk To escape the Dutch winter cold, a short winter visit was made to the Southern deserts of Israel. Being my third trip to Israel, the main purpose was not to see as many species as possible but doing some general birding focussed on Raptors and Sandgrouse. After arriving late afternoon the 1st at Ovda airport, just enough time was left to drive to the North Beach Eilat .A few White-eyed Gulls were offshore, 1 ad. Caspian Tern was fouraging and quite a lot of Little Egrets and Slender-billed Gulls were going to roost on the saltpans.
Next morning whilst taking the luggage to the car, a small group of birds was crouched close together on the pavement at the edge of the car park of kibuttz Eilot. With my hands full, being unable to reach for the binoculars, I could only guess what these birds were until they took flight calling as Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse. After breakfast the nearby wadis were searched in order to relocate the sandgrouse . They were found in the nearest wadi to the kibbutz giving close views. Next day was spend at the fields along the Ze’elim-Urim road mainly by walking, since the tracks were to muddy to drive through. The ad. Saker was sitting most of the time in one of the pylons and took flight twice to steal prey from a Common Kestrel and a Black Kite, with ease. The fields were full of Larks, mainly Skylarks, and also Corn Buntings, Spanish Sparrows and Pipits.
On the 4th of February an early start to Nizzana was made. The sewage pools attracted ducks (Shelduck, Shoveler, Common Teal, Mallard), waders (Little Stint, Redshank, Spur-winged Plover, Green Sandpiper) and 3 Little Grebes. Runners in between the Nizzana Project and Nizzana Fortress flushed 3 Macqueen’s Bustards.
On sunday the 5th some birding was made near Sede Boqer. A few kilometres north of there, a Black Vulture was soaring with 2 Griffon Vultures and an ad. Bonelli’s Eagle was hunting above Ein Avdat. A small flock of Syrian Serins were flying to a roost near the entrance of kibbutz Sede Boqer.
At Ein Gedi and surroundings, on the following day, the best bird was a male Cyprus Warbler in the wadi near the nature reserves.
Last morning some sites in Eilat were made with the regular birds.
Wouter Puyk, Holland
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