Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Egyptian and Nubian!

Met up with a Hungarian team this evening at Neot Hakikar. Weather was quite bad with lots of dust in the air and strong wind. However we had an enjoyable afternoon with Imperial Eagle, Little Crake, Clamorous Reed Warblers, Black Storks and Cranes.
After dusk we started our nightjar mission. Very quickly we had great views of a pair of Nubian Nightjars. They flew across to a field and we followed them there. I was amazed to find foraging with them an Egyptian Nightjar! We had wonderful views of both species feeding alongside, and compared the different foraging techniques of both - the nubians locating a specific moth and jumping to catch it, then returning to the ground. The Egyptian just kept flying and flying, catching insects on the wing. 
This is only my second record of Egyptian nightjar at Neot Hakikar, after many hundreds of nights I have spent there in recent years. It is a rare migrant, and most records in Israel are from Yotvata in March.This was a unique opportunity to observe both species together. Many thanks to Attila for holding the torch while I was taking photos :-)

Egyptian Nightjar




2 comments:

  1. Nice shots, i'm very envious AND you know somebody called........Attila!

    Laurie -

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  2. Quite amazing.Great effort taken.Thanx for sharing

    ReplyDelete