Spring – summer

European Bee-eaters, southern Negev, Israel, May 2012.

by YoavPerlman on July 1, 2012 · 3 comments

in Birding Western Palearctic

Yoav Perlman enjoys massive late spring migration and cool breeding birds in Israel

In my previous post I went mental about what happened here in March and April, and May was just as good. The massive flood of migrants continued to pour over southern Israel. Huge numbers of migrants were on the ground and overhead. Until mid-month birding was very very busy, there was so much to see.

Only few foreign birders experience Birding in Israel in May. Most European birders are too pink and soft. Temperatures are very high, so birding is tough and limited to the early morning hours and late afternoon. But it can be very rewarding indeed. For instance, I did a one-day trip in early May to the southern Negev and Eilat area. The first place I stopped, Neot Smadar, provided me one of the most spectacular and busy birding experiences I have ever experienced. I witnessed an amazing fall of migrants – in a small area with some wee fields and orchards I had many thousands of common migrants, including numbers such as 150 Spotted Flycatchers, 250 Tree Pipits, 70 Red-backed Shrikes among the thousands of Blackcaps, Lesser Whitehtoats and Ortolans.

Red-backed Shrike

Red-backed Shrike, Negev, Israel, May 2012

Lots of colour was added to the scene by exhausted European Bee-eaters feeding on bee hives in the orchards. The flock below was especially aesthetic. Possibly one of these bee-eaters made it into the international headlines – one bird carrying an Israeli ring was found dead in a small village in eastern Turkey last month. Apparently one of its nostrils was unusually large, which led the locals to suspect it was carrying a spying device installed by the Israeli Mossad. Check the full story here for instance. In fact I am going birding near that village in E Turkey this coming weekend; wish me luck – I hope I’m not on their black lists after I was quoted in various media sources on this matter.

Christmas Tree

European Bee-eaters, southern Negev, Israel, May 2012.

After birding there for about an hour I felt I had to leave – there were so many birds that I didn’t know what to look at first, and I had this bizzare feeling that because there were so many birds about in fact I was seeing very little. I drove away and tried hard to find a place with fewer birds, where I hoped to find something good, but I failed – the whole Arava Valley was just jammed full with birds on the ground.

Overhead the sky highway was very busy too – it was a peak day for Honey Buzzard migration. I did not count them but it is not unusual to have 100,000 birds or more on such days.

Eurasian Honey Buzzard

Eurasian Honey Buzzard, Arava Valley, Israel, May 2012

I still managed to see some good birds down south. Black Bush Robin, nicknamed in Israel “The Black Prince”, is always fun to watch but this specific individual performed an interesting behaviour of jumping around spreading its wings and tail continuously.

Black Bush Robin

Black Bush Robin, southern Negev, May 2012

Black Bush Robin

Black Bush Robin, southern Negev, Israel, May 2012

Arabian Dunn’s Lark is quite an enigmatic bird. It is highly nomadic, and breeds in Israel only during exceptional rain events in the desert, like in winter-spring 2010. This year our deserts didn’t receive a single drop of rain, so these rare larks didn’t breed here, but I managed to catch up with a lone individual in Yotvata:

Arabian Dunn's Lark

Arabian Dunn's Lark, Yotvata, Israel, May 2012

Breeding fun

In recent weeks I was lucky to study, monitor and photograph some of Israel’s best breeding birds. While massive migration takes place, the breeders have no time to waste and in fact breeding is almost over now in Israel. This competition on resources between migrants and breeding birds has been well studied and described, and leads to some interesting interactions; see i.e. here.

Upcher’s Warbler might not be the prettiest bird on our planet, but it’s rare and certainly a ‘good bird’:

Upcher's Warbler

Upcher's Warbler, Lakhish, Israel, May 2012.

Spectacled Warblers are very cute  - especially the juveniles.

Spectacled Warbler

Spectacled Warbler - juvenile, Lakhish, Israel, June 2012.

I spent many nights recently with “my” Nubian Nightjars – the threats on their last remaining habitat are intensifying but at least they had a good breeding season this year.

Nubian Nightjar - adult

Nubian Nightjar - adult, Neot Hakikar, Israel, June 2012

Nubian Nightjar - juvenile

Nubian Nightjar - recently fledged juvenile, Neot Hakikar, Israel, June 2012.

 

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Tagged as: Arabian Dunn's Lark, Birding Israel, Black Bush Robin, European Bee-eater, Nubian Nightjar, Red-backed Shrike, Upcher's Warbler, Yoav Perlman

Article by Yoav Perlman

I have been birding since the age of 9, and from the age of 15 I started working professionally in birding. I have been working for the Israeli Ornithological Center since 1998. This is a branch of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, which is the largest NGO in Israel. I ran two ringing stations - Kfar Ruppin (1998-2001) and Hula Valley (2004 - 2007). I was a member of the Israeli rarities committee between 2001 - 2007. I have an MSc in Ecology from the Ben Gurion University. I did my research on the ecology of Nubian Nightjars in Israel, and spent hundreds of nights with these fascinating birds. I lead tours in Israel, and especially focus on Nubian Nightjars obviously. I traveled and birded Asia extensively, and also Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and North America. I am married to my lovely wife Adva and father to two sons - Uri and Noam.

Yoav has written 6 awesome articles for us.

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  • Birdernaturalist

    Astounding photos. Great job Yoav. I know exactly what you mean by the feeling of somehow missing something when there is so much around you in such a spectacular fall. I experienced that at High Island in April 1997. Standing in one place, you’d see more in an hour than in a typical entire year, yet somehow I stupidly felt the need to rush around and check out every place on the peninsula.

  • Roaminoz

    I agree .. astounding photos and I just love your posts Yoav.
    Jude

  • http://www.hews-tours.com/ Barbel

    What a beautiful post and most amazing pictures …. I just loved it. If you ever come to the Caribbean, visit Trinidad and Tobago. The islands are situated
    in in the southern Caribbean Sea and are in close proximity to the South
    American continent. Owing to this, the variety of birds that can be discovered
    and observed in T&T is with its 430 bird species large and holds excitement
    for the bird watching beginners as well as for ornithologists and the bird
    watching enthusiast. The Scarlet Ibis is a species of ibis that occurs in
    tropical South America and Trinidad and Tobago. The largest habitat of the
    Scarlet Ibis is the Caroni Swamp in central Trinidad. The Cocrico (Red tailed
    Guan or Rufus -tailed Chachalaca) is a native of Tobago and Venezuela, but is
    not found in Trinidad. The blue crowned Motmot is seen in Trinidad as well as
    in Tobago. I could go on and on but the best thing to do is to visit Trinidad
    and Tobago yourself! Hews Tours in Tobago (www.hews-tours.com)
    will be happy to find the best birding spots and the best birding guides for
    you.

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