A new spring is born!

18.2.15

If you are reading this in Europe you will be very familiar by now with all the wintering birds around you, but change is on its the way.

It’s increasingly visible down here in Eilat, and it looks like an exciting spring is on its way. This season seems to have kicked off with high energy early on.

The sky above the newly renovated lake at the bird sanctuary is full of hundreds of Barn Swallows, House Martins, Sand Martins and Pallid Swifts. In the reeds, the calls of Sedge and Reed Warblers (tens of each) bring back the familiar sounds of migration, and hundreds of Chiffchaffs are already fluttering high above the vegetation, catching flying insects attracted to the early bloom.

Some early arrivals noted were Little Swift, Lesser and Common Whitethroats, Eastern Orphean Warblers, and the raptor watch points report days with hundreds of Steppe Eagles, and some early Imperial and Short-toed Eagles too.

This year we will be focusing on surveying migration and developing services for visiting birders. After more than 20 years we have resumed the raptor migration survey. From the 1st of February we have had 2 watch points located in the Eilat Mountains. In order to be able to compare it to past data we opened the 2 good old raptor count station in "Low Mountain" just above town and "High Mountain at Mt. Yehoram.

Every day, an hour after sunrise till sunset, we have 2 birders counting every raptor they see migrating towards Europe and Asia. Our main focus is on the Steppe Eagles, which are reported to be declining in their breeding range due to habitat destruction, hunting, poisoning and nest thefts. In the past some 3 million raptors were counted here, so we are all very excited to repeat this important work. In the Arava valley we are also conducting a migration survey that will count migratory birds along the main birding sites in Eilat and southern Arava.  The ringing station continues its long term monitoring of physical conditions of the migratory birds.

Along with the research and nature conservation efforts, we are trying to improve the services for the visiting birders. The Eilat Bird Sanctuary’s habitats have been improved and a new hide has been built. Anita Lake (fresh water) has been widened and the water is now much shallower and more inviting for Waders, Herons, Gulls and Passerines.

Our office is now also operating as an information center for birders, both gathering information and happily giving it out, helping birders locate their desired species. The entrance is free.

If you are in our neighborhood and feel like giving a hand with the survey, just message us at ibrce.office@gmail.com. We would appreciate it very much.

The Return of the Striolated Bunting to the Eilat Mountains

20.1.15

The Striolated Bunting is one of the most beautiful and interesting birds of the desert.

The males, with their painted black and white faces and brown striped bodies, sit atop gigantic cliffs and sing their long trill at the sky and beyond.

Due to their nomadic nature they also come and go where the wind takes them. In dry years they are absent whilst in rainy years, when their favorite weed grows, they arrive out of nowhere, although they are never common.

In the Dead Sea area, in deep canyons and along the rift valley cliffs, the Striolated Buntings populations are steadier, with tens of birds in Wadi Dragot, and at a small spring in a remote valley that very few people know of. In the other wadis they are rare and difficult to see. It looks like they are declining as it has been harder and harder to see them the past few years.

In the Eilat Mountains, the Buntings used to be a scarce resident. Generations of visiting birders from all over the world used to come to the small cemetery above town to view this beautiful species that loved to feed between the graves or in the vegetation. In good years there were tens of them reported from different remote locations, mainly next to the legendary cemetery and near Neot Smadar (Shizafon). But since the late 90's the observations decreased to nothing. They were always on the list of birds of Eilat, but every birder would have told you to forget about them. They are not there anymore.

Nobody but a few enthusiastic birders that had bad luck in the Dead Sea mentioned them to me, and I had no good advice to give.

In the last few years scattered reports of single Striolated Buntings arrived every few months. I saw a male drinking in Neot Smadar Sewage last spring, Shachar Alterman saw one at the same location a year before and foreign birders reported that one bird showed up a few time in the cemetery, but it was very difficult to repeat these observations.

Two weeks ago, Christoph Gruneberg, an intern from Germany helping me with special projects at the IBRCE, reported to me that on the way to look for Pallid Scopes Owls, he had discovered a small flock of Striolated Buntings. He visited the flock every few days and they grew to number at least 15 birds. I joined him one afternoon and there they were - singing, jumping and so tame, letting me take pictures from 4 meters away, exactly like they always are - great birds. A small circle from my childhood is closing for me. The forgotten bird of Eilat is back.

The Buntings are just next to the main road of the Eilat Mountains (road 12) and are easy to find. Because they stay very close to a military camp's fence I'll give detailed directions with some safety advice, to whoever wants to see them in the new birding information office at the bird sanctuary.The desk will provide free information to all birders about rare or hard to see birds in the area and will gather new observations every evening.

See you in Eilat

Spring is just around the corner

Noam