This morning I revisited an atlas box in the Arava, to confirm breeding of birds I saw there on my previous visit. Weather was good early in the morning, and quickly I found a family of Dunn's Larks - both parents with a fully grown juvenile. They were very mobile and I didn't manage to get close to them at all. They flew west, and later I found in that direction the same or another family, again very mobile birds.
Bar-tailed Lark was the most dominant species in the box, with two families, several more singing males, and this cool female I found incubating on a nest under a small bush:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAmt6pdOLpDUqc_3w2fE6gkIdIsa9FrVmGmkbHObPETPCpZbMzChNrFi8ioe-d-RJjSc4fWXqVcZB-OTY6ruumPGzw_McLeYdhCuhqkeT9Y_TpZz7Cy9ts-mbVvGxpIN07gCFnX5I1TRIw/s400/bartail.jpg)
I was curious to see the Thick-billed Lark nest that I saw a few weeks ago. After making sure that the nest was abandoned, I had a close look, and it's quite an amazing nest, the size of a tennis ball, lined with toilet paper!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBogoAToz6WyY4Zc85s86cABu9czpuk_6wgudMz1dlt_kvPV-ltjQVfoSe01L1B1HGOKeXrSx823UWEdbMhA70XVM4iZx2qlsm1QHzwayQ6FyRTz3NDO-f2YEVzk6n8UxXYxy2asCZ9piK/s400/thick_nest.jpg)
Soon the weather deteriorated, and a strong dust storm began. I headed back north early, and on the way back I followed up on a nest of Temminck's Larks at Hameishar found by Jonathan Meyrav 9 days ago. As expected, I found three fully grown juveniles flying together not far away from the used nest; no sign of their parents around. Damn, these larks breed so fast!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNhCtX6YCYNtz7eoTWC91xts-x9K5tGIlwyhn-NuXDwIuFc-M1x63f1wK2XLGLzEAgqaMU-JjD6QcCWk_srZggrcL0WzOMbzU9hyphenhyphenEWxCdS1LInQcoYQkr5CVALqeAML5fY9ks6Aw1eNQP_/s400/temmincks_juv.jpg)
I checked the hills near Sde Boker for Hill Sparrows, and indeed I saw quite a few birds, including a female (?) feeding two fledglings. They must be breeding in their thousands all over the Negev.
Hi Yoav,all yours photo are beautiful
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