A Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land Newsletter From Israel | No. 12 | June 2013 Barn Owls of Peace: For the first time in the region, a female Barn Owl (right) with a Jordanian ring nested with an Israeli-ringed Barn Owl male (left) at Beit Shean Valley. The pair was monitored by Kobi Meyrom, and successfully raised seven healthy chicks (Photo: Motti Charter) Dear Friends, The Hoopoe Foundation, established with a generous gift from Racheli and Moshe Yanai, completed its second year of operations in 2012. The annual $250,000 donation is slated to promote birding in Israel with an emphasis on education and preservation of birds and habitats, as well as research to support these goals. The Foundation recruits resources and new ventures and expects to triple its reach through additional donors and government support. This year, Mark Gelfand, a supporter for many years joined the foundation’s major donors with a $100,000 gift. Moshe Yanai doubled his yearly donation with edition $250,000 in order to advance the pilot for “The Army for the Protection of Nature”, designed to lead a major process in the Israel Defense Forces which will encourage officers and their troops to take responsibility for their surrounding environment. The idea gained momentum and the Hoopoe Foundation will be adding another goal to its program for 2013, having decided together with the IDF General Staff to bring all of Israel’s green organizations into the initiative. In our second year we succeeded in expanding the foundation from 13 projects in 2011 to 30 projects in 2012, an increase of 230% in scope of activity and number of projects. Some of these projects are presented in this newsletter. As part of the annual plan we established the “Hoopoe Library” with the publication of two books in Hebrew and Arabic. Our goal is to publish three more books in 2013. In addition, we produced our first movie and hope to continue this tradition this year too. For the first time, we held a highly-successful lecture day led by the Hoopoe Foundation in cooperation with the Fisher Institute for Air and Space Studies and the Israeli Air Force. This seminar will become an annual event. Five research projects were approved by the Hoopoe Foundation in 2013. At this juncture, we would like to thank Moshe and Racheli Yanai and Mark Gelfand as well as an additional anonymous donors who were vital to the establishment of the foundation. Also, several other donors contributed sums starting at hundreds of shekels and as high as Hiltrud Oberwelland’s NIS 25,000 in honor of the Bruno H Schubert Award awarded to Yossi Leshem in her home country of Germany. A special thanks is also in order for Foundation Chairman Moshe Yanai and board members Professor Yoram Yom Tov, Profesor Ido Yitzhaki, Dan Alon and Adi Shai, who have worked tirelessly on approvals for projects and research, and SPECIAL EDITION ensured that the foundation operated in a professional manner. FOR BIRDLIFE Enjoy reading the newsletter! CONFERENCE, Prof. Yossi Leshem Dan Alon OTTAWA, CANADA, Director, The International Center for the Study of Bird Migration at Latrun Director, Israel Ornithological Center JUNE 2013 Visit our website: www.birds.org.il National initiative to use Barn Owls and Kestrels as pest control agents, 2008-2012 The organic pest control venture using Barn Owls and Kestrels began as the whim of a few die-hard advocates and grew into a tremendous success story. The project managers - the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel through the Hoopoe and Beracha Foundations and Tel Aviv University – created a venture that both protects the environment and biological diversity as well as providing a solution to a serious problem for farmers: rodent damage to crops. Everyone wins. Although the venture began with the modest goal of doubling the number of nesting boxes in farmland from 730 in 2008 to 1,500 in 2011, five years later, we now have over 3,000 nesting boxes in the field and hundreds more in the planning stages. The professional Seven Barn Owl chicks hatched by the “Mixed Pair,” an Israeli male and a Jordanian female. (Photo: Motti Charter) staff monitor the boxes and provide consultations, information and assistance to farmers. The venture operates unique study programs for farming There are now hundreds of farmers using this organic method of pest communities, becoming a partner with real influence on public opinion control against rodents. It is practiced in almost all farming areas in and decision makers. Israel from Beer Sheva in the south through the country’s northern We have also succeeded in recruiting the Arab farmers in Israel to join the border. Many farmers are switching to Barn Owl-based pest control, Barn Owl project despite ingrained superstition, still occasionally noted, reducing the use of poisons against rodents without reducing crop yield. associating owls with bad luck. The successful project was also exported to The organic control of rodents through owls and falcons improves Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Throughout the project, substantial yield, increases profits and has health and environmental benefits for research has tracked owl populations, collected vital biological data and everyone. The venture has become a model of cooperation between monitored their effective use to benefit the human population. farmers, conservationists and scientists. First year of the national project number of nesting boxes year Following the success of the project, the number of Yossi Leshem lectured on the project at Oxford University on Oxpeace Conference, May 11th 2013, under the title: Birds as Peacemakers in the nesting boxes nationwide raised from 730 in 2007 to Middle East. Left to Right: Prof. Yossi Leshem,Dr. Azzam Alwash (from Iraq), about 3,000 in 2012. Dr. Andrew Gosler (Oxford) and Chris Naylor (A-ROCHA, Lebanon) 2 Sooty Falcon: A pleasant surprise in Israel’s desert regions Meidad Goren, Birdwatching Center Ramat HaNegev The Sooty Falcon (Falco concolor) is a small, blue-grey bird of prey. This conducted for the elegant falcon has particularly narrow wings and is an excellent flyer, past 30 years, specializing in midair hunting of migrating birds such as swallows, martins and because this and swifts as well as bats and insects. The Sooty Falcon is different from species of falcon is most birds of prey in timing nesting coincide with the autumn migration. disappearing from The Sooty Falcon has a long migration route and its winter habitat is mostly its nesting areas, in Madagascar, although it can also be found wintering in Mozambique it was decided to and to a lesser extent in South Africa. The falcons arrive in Israel in May conduct another and June, and set up fairly permanent colonies. In Israel, they nest in comprehensive the desert region ranging from Eilat through Mount Negev and into the survey. This survey Judean Desert. They nest in crevices in cliffs, on rock steps and even in aimed to determine the abandoned nests of other birds. About three weeks after the fledglings a more exact picture leave the nest in October, the falcons leave for their wintering site in Africa. of the current The Sooty Falcon is on the global endangered species lists. Recent population size and data indicates a substantial the trends that have drop in the world population taken root in the past The Sooty Falcon after catching a migrating Sedge Warbler in the Negev Desert. in the past two decades and three decades. (Photo: Hadoram Shirihai) it is possible that Israel’s The survey was part desert regions are the of the Nature and Parks Authority, Society for the Protection of nesting grounds for as much Nature in Israel and the Israel Electric Company’s “Taking the as 10% of the global Sooty Vultures under our Wings” project. The survey was launched in the Falcon population. The only fall of 2011 and is the only such survey of an inland Sooty Falcon previous comprehensive population. The first part of the Sooty Falcon nesting and distribution nesting survey of the Sooty survey began in August 2011. To date, we have found 46 nesting Falcon in Israel’s desert pairs of Sooty Falcon. According to this data, we believe the Sooty region, was conducted in Falcon population to number about 100 nesting pairs, however the 1980-1984. That survey survey is not yet complete, with another nesting season ahead of us. found about 100 nesting Interim results indicate that Israel’s Sooty Falcon population is healthy About 100 pairs of Sooty Falcon nest in pairs. Because no survey and important and, unlike the global population, it is not shrinking. the Negev Desert. or other monitoring of This very encouraging data emphasizes the importance of substantially (Photo: Hadoram Shirihai) the population had been preserving the Sooty Falcon nesting grounds in Israel. Plan for protection of the Collared Pratincole in Israel. Nadav Israeli, Hula Valley Birdwatching Center The Collared Pratincole is a part of the Charadrius family. Until the Hula Valley Nesting Season 2013 1960s, hundreds of pairs of Pratincoles nested in central and northern At the beginning of the season, a nesting ground was prepared for Israel. However, in the late 1960s and 1970s, a drastic drop in their the Pratincoles, however as has been true in the previous three years, numbers led to the disappearance of Praticole nesting grounds in Israel. they chose to nest in agricultural land north of the Agamon-Hula Lake. Today 50-100 pairs of the Collared Pratincole nest in Israel. The colony, the largest in Israel, included 30 nesting pairs.