ISRAEL 14–24 April 2018 1 BirdQuest Tour Report: Israel 2018 www.birdquest-tours.com Harlequin Duck (drake), Laxá. Sinai Rosefinch, male, Mizpe Ramon. Cover: Corn Crake, Ofira Park, Eilat (Mike Watson). 2 BirdQuest Tour Report: Israel 2018 www.birdquest-tours.com Returning to Israel for the first time in almost seek in one of the last acacia-filled wadis in 30 years was an exciting prospect. It was the Arava Valley, rose pink male Sinai Rose- once my favourite destination and was one of finches drinking at a spring on the Dead Sea the first places I birded outside the UK back escarpment, smart Desert Finches around in the 1980s. The bird-show is as good as it our vehicle at Sde Boker and Syrian Serins ever was and in some ways even better with song-flighting over us on Mount Hermon. more information available and new sites Numerous other notable encounters included discovered or created in this period. We had Marbled Teals seen by golf cart at Lake Ag- a great time on a short itinerary, which visit- amon in the Hula Valley, lots of Chukar and ed the north, including Ma’agan Mikael, Bet Sand Partridges, Pygmy Cormorants common She’an Valley, Hula, Mount Hermon and the at Ma’agan Mikael, the endangered Egyptian Golan Heights before heading south via the Vulture, Levant Sparrowhawks on migration, Dead Sea to Eilat and then completing a cir- great views of both Little and Spotted Crakes, cle back to Tel Aviv via the Negev Desert. We at least 28 White-eyed Gulls from Eilat’s fa- recorded 230 species, including many region- mous north beach, hundreds of Armenian al speciailities among a total of 46 Birdquest Gulls in northern Israel, the Syrian Woodpeck- ‘diamond’ birds and main highlights were Nu- er drumming outside our rooms in the Hula bian Nightjars in a remote corner of the Dead Valley, a strong passage of smart Masked Sea region (this subspecies, ‘Tamarisk Night- Shrikes, Sombre Tits, also on Mount Hermon, jar’, is one of the rarest breeding birds in the Bar-tailed Larks singing in the Negev, Balkan Western Palearctic), a Desert Owl spot-lit in Warblers on migration in the Arava Valley, a Judean Desert wadi, Macqueen’s Bustards the male Collared Flycatcher in a tiny clump turning themselves inside-out during their dis- of trees in the Eilat Mountains, a very showy play and Crowned and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse adult Barred Warbler and plenty of Blackstarts at point blank range at a drinking pool in the and White-crowned Wheatears from the Dead Negev Desert, the male Hooded Wheatear, Sea to the Negev, where they were joined by which investigated us, on a desolate wash in equally smart Mourning Wheatears. the Eilat Mountains, the male Arabian Warbler that finally gave up after a game of hide and Mike Watson April 2018 Crowned Sandgrouse, Ezuz (Mike Watson) 3 BirdQuest Tour Report: Israel 2018 www.birdquest-tours.com Crested Honey Buzzard, male, Eilat (Mike Watson). Migration was one of the main themes and it desert at Ezuz. We were also impressed by was the spectacle of numbers that impressed. the warm welcome we received in most plac- We started with flocks of Black Storks in the es, particularly the north. In the Golan Heights Bet She’an Valley and continued with a huge that amazing Druze Restaurant lunch stop will morning flight of Great White Pelicans in the live long in the memory and our delightful ac- Hula Valley. The passage of Steppe Buzzards commodation in pretty She-ar Yashuv is also along the Dead Sea escarpment was also worth a mention. There are not too many plac- noteworthy and included some dark morphs. es you can see a Great Spotted Cuckoo while A swarm of Yellow Wagtails at Eilat’s km20 having breakfast. saltpans was another amazing experience. Starting at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport, we Vagrants in the form of the long-staying Less- headed north on the almost empty route six er Flamingo also at km20 and a male Crest- toll road but the start of our birding adven- ed Honey Buzzard over the IBRCE were also tures was delayed by fog. We paused for much appreciated. However, for me the star some tasty pastries and coffee at a roadside of the whole show was the Ofira Park Corn services before the sun finally broke through Crake in Eilat, parading around on the short and so began another sunny day in the Med. turf of the tiny park surrounded by hotels and Our first birds of note were the dark-capped so tame it walked right up to us. I was happy Eurasian Jays in the car park. We started our to hear that it was still alive several days later! exploration of the massive fishpond complex Almost twenty years had passed since Bird- Ma’agan Mikael towards the northern end but quest’s last visit and in that time a lot has were disappointed to find the beach devoid of happened in Israel. Probably the most sig- any birds, maybe owing to the ravers camped nificant ornithological event is the coloniza- there? Back inland a little we started to see tion by Common Myna. Believe it or not this some interesting species. One of the high- was a ‘write-in’ on this tour and was the first lights of our visit was the Pygmy Cormorants, and last bird I saw in the country. They are which are obviously doing very well here, they almost everywhere now, even in the remote were a constant sight, perched next to a fish- 4 BirdQuest Tour Report: Israel 2018 www.birdquest-tours.com Great Reed Warbler, Ma’agan Mikael (Mike Watson). pond, fishing in one or flying from one feeding Lesser Whitethroat and Black-headed Wag- spot to another. Despite their small size, the tail hinted at migration and our first Eastern hyper distinctive long-tailed profile does not Black-eared Wheatear and Palestine Sunbird pass in a crowd. Other notable species here as well as the much less welcome Common included excellent views of both Great Reed Myna were noted. Our first significant mam- Warbler and Cetti’s Warbler. The latter is nor- mals included an Egyptian Mongoose and mally much more skulking and allowed a very the introduced Coypu. We also saw our first nice look. The only lingering waterfowl were Roughtail Rock Agamas Laudakia stellio sun- Northern Shoveler and Mallard but there were ning themselves on an old stone bridge. lots of herons and their relatives. Glossy Ibis As the heat turned up we moved on inland, was common alongside Black-crowned Night where we saw our first Eurasian Hobby, Short- Heron, Squacco and Purple Herons. Our first toed Snake Eagle and Red-rumped Swal- of very many Spur-winged Lapwings were lows. Off the beaten track, we made a stop at also noted. Gulls included the sought after a small, gated settlement where there was a Armenian, mostly second calendar year birds small Lesser Kestrel colony. The kestrels put but some near adults showed the character- on a great show, the males returned with offer- istic four-coloured bill. A young Caspian Gull ings of grasshoppers and small lizards, wel- allowed a good comparison and we also saw comed by their screaming partners. Fantastic a classic adult Yellow-legged Gull and sev- stuff! eral black-backed adult Baltic Gulls. A Com- We searched for a late lingering Pallas’s Gull at mon Kingfisher was outnumbered by its Pied Ma’agan Mikael to no avail but there had been cousins and the first of at least one million some in the Bet She’an Valley a few days be- White-spectacled Bulbuls appeared. Sedge fore so we diverted there on our way north to and Eurasian Reed Warblers sang from the Galilee. Driving numerous back roads and ac- reeds between the ponds, where Graceful cess tracks we checked a lot of fishponds and Prinias joined them. Single Northern Wheatear, reservoirs between the village of Emek Harod 5 BirdQuest Tour Report: Israel 2018 www.birdquest-tours.com and Bet She’an itself. Again to no avail but we onist workers but was abandoned during the did see a lot of large gulls, mostly Armenian 1948 Arab-Israeli war when it fell within range and Caspian plus our first Eurasian Spoonbill, of artillery fire from the nearby Golan Heights, Great Egret, Western Osprey, Black-winged then part of Syria. In 1949 it was resettled by Stilt, Little Ringed Plover, Black-tailed God- WW2 holocaust survivors, mostly from Hun- wit, Ruff, Common Snipe, Marsh Sandpiper, gary. For decades later it came under fire Common Greenshank, Wood Sandpiper and periodically until Israel occupied the Golan White-throated Kingfisher. We also got our Heights in 1967. The Moshav is now a picture first real taste of migration on the flyway here of tranquility with pretty orchards by the Ba- in the form of the flock of Black Kites, which nias stream, one of the tributaries of the River had put down to drink, about 250 in all. There Jordan. Red-rumped Swalllows flew around were also at least 20 Black Storks in this area, our chalets each morning and while having including some smart adults but the biggest our tasty basket breakfasts of local produce, ‘wow!’ was reserved for a flight of 85 Great a Great Spotted Cuckoo flew over and landed White Pelicans that flew in as we were leav- in the orchard behind the guesthouse. Without ing. We made one more birding stop today, at doubt the nicest place we stayed on the tour.