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After a five-hour flight from London Heathrow we arrived at Tel Aviv in the early afternoon, where we met the sixth member of our party. Our first destination, once we had collected the mini-bus from the Hertz, was the fishponds at Ma’agan Michael, about an hour and half drive from Tel Aviv. Only although a short stop was possible, we managed to start our trip with a variety of herons and egrets. Even before we got to the fishponds, birding from the mini-bus produced White Stork, Black Kite and White-breasted Kingfisher. The ponds at the southern end of Ma’agan Michael held Green Sandpiper, Cattle Egret and, as dusk approached, several Night Heron. We arrived at our overnight accommodation at Kibbutz Nahsholim ready for a meal and bed, although, as most of us had been up for around 18 hours, I don’t recall which was the correct order!
15th January – Ma’agan Michael
The morning of the 15th commenced with a brief scan through the gulls and waders on the beach. A solitary Turnstone fed amongst Little Stints and Dunlin, but the gulls warranted closer attention with Great Black-headed, Slender-billed and Yellow-legged present. After breakfast we departed for a full day’s birding at the Ma’agan Michael fishponds. Virtually before we got out of the minibus we found a roost of around 30 Night Herons in the Tamarisk bushes. Overhead hundreds of Cormorants and Egrets flew around and Pied Kingfishers hovered over the ponds. The morning was spent examining the waders and egrets on the ponds and along the shoreline, where a small party of Penduline Tits frequented the coastal bushes. A single Griffon Vulture soared overhead. After a picnic lunch we headed for the southern section of the fishponds. The fields just outside of the fish ponds held around 30 roosting Black Storks, whilst over 200 Great White Egrets stood around one of the fish ponds. Several Marsh Harriers quartered the coastal strip and a party of Spoonbills was found at the edge of one of the ponds. By the end of the day we had seen 67 species including several new birds for various members of the group.
16th and 17th January – Hula Valley
After a brief look at the beach in the morning, where both Great Black-headed and Slender-billed Gulls were seen we atE a hearty breakfast and set off for the Hula Valley, where we were to spend the next couple of days. However we had only just left the confines of the Kibbutz when our next good bird, a Great Spotted Cuckoo was seen. Putting the vehicle into reverse the "Hertz Warbler" went into full song, but did not disturb the cuckoo, allowing everyone excellent views of this rare winter visitor to Israel. We arrived at the wetland creation scheme in the Hula Valley at lunchtime. The Hula Valley was once a vast lake, but the ever-present problems of mosquitoes and malaria resulted in the draining and reclamation of the area for agriculture. Today a re-wetting project is returning areas of the valley to a mosaic of wetlands and reed-beds with great success. We were hard pressed to decide whether to watch a Bluethoat feeding around the rubbish bin, photograph a very tame Kingfisher, eat our lunch or watch the assortment of soaring birds of prey. And that was before we looked at the water body with attendant waders and wildfowl or the fields full of Common Cranes, Pipits and Larks! We decided to eat our packed lunch whilst watching White-tailed, Imperial and Greater Spotted Eagles soar overhead whilst Marsh and Hen Harriers quartered the fields. After lunch we started to walk around the small lake. The fields held thousands of Common Cranes, whilst passerines included Red-throated and Water Pipits, Bluethroats, Skylarks and Crested Larks. On the water White Pelicans roosted and ducks included Shoveler, Wigeon. Birds of prey continued to soar overhead and Long-legged Buzzard and Lesser Spotted Eagles were added to the day list. We ventured to our overnight accommodation, Kfar Blum to check in and freshen up before going to look for roosting Black Kites. Our search was not in vain as we soon found a vantage point where we could see around 2,000 Black Kites coming into roost on the irrigation equipment. Two Golden Jackal headed off in the direction of the Kites – no doubt hoping for their evening meal. Despite only spending four or five hours in the Hula Valley we saw 78 species of bird (including 13 raptors) and two mammals – Golden Jackal and Coypu.
For our second day in the Hula we planned to visit the Hula Reserve in the morning and then return to the new lake in the afternoon. Unfortunately two of our party were starting to feel under the weather with heavy colds and flu-like symptoms so they decided to stay in their room for the day. Prior to visiting the Hula Reserve we stopped at a Night Heron roost were around 100 birds could be seen (and photographed) as they roosted in Eucalyptus trees by the side of the road. The Hula Reserve itself is a fine example of the integration between visitors and conservation. A concrete footpath leads you around the reserve to a covered walkway through the reedbed and over the water before ending up at a high-level watchtower. From the watchtower we were able to see hundreds of Shoveler and other wildfowl, whilst several Marsh Harriers hunted over the reedbeds and surrounding cultivated fields. The Shoveler appeared rather restless and eventually the cause of their unease was apparent as one, then two White-tailed Eagles started to fish over the lake, whilst a further two White-tailed Eagles soared overhead, with the odd Great Spotted Eagle and Imperial Eagle for company!! Smaller birds included a nice first winter Citrine Wagtail, Bluethroat and Water Pipit. Lunch was taken in the reserve and a brief further look for Marbled Duck was made. We then made our way back to the new lake for a further (fruitless) search for Marbled Duck was made, before we headed round the back of the reserve to watch the Harriers arrive to roost. Marsh, Hen and a single Pallid Harrier were seen along with three Merlin and several thousand Common Crane. As we slowly drove back along the track a Long-eared Owl was seen to leave its daytime roost and two more Golden Jackal were seen. Another impressive day: literally thousands of birds of 83 species seen.
18th January – Kfar Ruppin
Our original plan had been to visit Mount Arbel for Wallcreeper and Alpine Accentor, but due to illness (four of the five participants now had heavy colds and flu-like symptoms); it was decided to travel straight to Kfar Ruppin. Here those that wished to could take to their sick beds and those that didn’t could bird watch.
David Glasner, who operates the birdwatching centre there, met us at Kfar Ruppin. Armed with information on Little Bustard and Kittlitz’s Plover we set off. The Little Bustard proved to live up to its name by remaining hidden in a field of wheat where it had been seen a few days earlier. The Kittlitz’s Plover was to prove just as elusive and no amount of searching through the numerous Little Stints and Kentish Plovers on the drained reservoir could summon it up. Despite the lack of the two target birds, we did see several Pygmy Cormorants, more Water Pipits – around fifty fed on the turf fields – Pied Kingfisher, Hen Harriers and Merlins; the latter two as they came in to roost at dusk.
19th January – Kfar Ruppin
Our leader ventured out pre-breakfast in search of the Little Bustard – the rest of the party was not feeling up to early mornings. Although the Little Bustard failed to show, Paul saw two White-tailed Plover alight in one of the arable fields. By the time he had returned to the Kibbutz it was breakfast time, so it was decided to look after stomachs first and then return and search for the Plovers. Only Arnold and Ann felt well enough to join Paul in the wet after breakfast. The White-tailed Plover appeared to have departed but birds of prey seen included Hen and Marsh Harrier, Osprey and Black Kite. With the rain continuing, a further search for the Kittlitz’s Plover was made on the reservoir and after about 20 minutes Paul’s vigilance paid off with the bird seen on the far wall of the reservoir. A slow drive round brought us almost on top of the bird and those present enjoyed good views of a rare winter visitor to Israel and the Western Palearctic. We will never know if we simply missed it the day before, but didn’t really care as we compared its russet tones against the more contrasty tones of the slightly larger Kentish Plovers with which it fed.
A visit to some nearby fishponds after lunch rewarded with the addition of a Whiskered Tern to the trip list along with small numbers of Great Black-headed Gulls. On the banks of the ponds White and Black Storks stood, whilst in the drained ponds Spoonbills fed amongst egrets and a couple of Greater Flamingos.
20th January – Ein Gedi
The next three days were to see a change of scenery and bird species as we headed off for the Dead Sea and then to the edge of the Negev. The Dead Sea is the lowest point in the World – some 450 metres below sea-level. The birding here is best described as quality not quantity with several species available here not seen elsewhere on the trip. Noisy crowds of Tristram’s Starlings in every car park greeted us at Ein Gedi. At the entrance to the Nahel David reserve Blackstarts and aerial Pale Crag Martins joined them. The car park and reserve entrance also contained several Ibyx, the males looking splendid with their long sabre shaped horns. Upon entering the reserve we saw Black Redstarts, more Blackstarts and a single White-crowned Black Wheatear. Another mammal, the Rock Hyrax was added to our mammal list inside the reserve. After checking in at the Kibbutz Ein Gedi we drove a little further south to another wadi on the edge of the Dead Sea were more new birds awaited: Cyprus, Sardinian and Scrub Warblers were soon added along with several Hooded Wheatear, a single Desert Lark and two Brown-necked Ravens. The following morning a pre-breakfast visit to the entrance of the Aguadit Wadi enabled us to see Sand Partridge and Arabian Babbler as they scavenged for scraps around the waste bins. Overhead Griffon Vultures started to climb on the developing thermals from the mountains and two Little Green Bee-eaters appeared as if from nowhere.
21st January – Western Negev
After breakfast we set off south via Beersheba, complete with its absence of roadsigns! After a couple of circuits of the town we found our way out and headed for Urim, on the edge of the Negev. The day seemed destined not to go to plan and on arrival at Urim the soft ground swallowed up the rear wheels of the minibus. Passing locals offered assistance and one eventually called her brother, who came out with his four-wheel drive and a towrope. Problem soon solved but not the embarrassment of the leader! Whilst trying to get the vehicle out of the mud we were watched by an Imperial Eagle perched up the power pylons. After checking in at the Kibbutz we returned to the fields as hundreds of Black Kite and the odd Long-legged Buzzard drifted over to roost. On the pylons a Saker was seen perched, but the pouring rain made viewing difficult, in fact it was only identified as it flew off and away. Altogether around 1,000 Black Kite were estimated at the roost, which was located at the local refuse site! On returning to the Kibbutz, two Egyptian Geese flew over. The origin of the geese is somewhat suspect – Egyptian Geese are extremely rare stragglers to Israel, although a feral population was established in the 70’s and 80’s.
22nd January
A pre-breakfast trip to a nearby wadi in search of Sandgrouse proved fruitless, however a Great Spotted Cuckoo was seen along with Chukar and hundreds of Black Kite and smaller numbers of Common Crane. The plan for the morning was to spend time looking at the various semi-arid and cultivated fields for birds of prey, sandgrouse and plovers. We spent a couple of hours slowly driving around with frequent stops (on terra firma). Several Hen Harriers, Long-legged Buzzards and a single Pallid Harrier were seen. Smaller birds included hundreds of larks and the final trip ticks of the holiday in the form of Linnet, Northern Wheatear and Isabelline Wheatear. By the time we arrived at Neve Ilan for the final overnight stay, time was only left for a walk around the Kibbutz. Never the less we still saw Palestine Sunbird and White-spectacled Bulbul, two species we had become familiar with, yet would not now be seeing until our next trip to the Middle East.
Birds Seen
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