Lesser Short-toed Larks

This morning I went surveying/working/birding with Jonathan and Piki southwest of Be'er Sheva, in an area of Loess plains and low hills, called Neot Hovav. It's a unique bit of open semi-desert, in the backyard of the horrible petrochemical industrial estate, Ramat Hovav. This is one of the few places in Israel where Lesser Short-toed Lark breeds regularly, and now is the time for male song and display. We arrived there shortly after dawn. Stepping out of the car, the scenery first strikes as rather unimpressive:

After a quick coffee and couple of minutes of listening, we heard and then saw our first lessers, circling high up in the sky:

Then, with some patience, we found them on the ground, feeding, displaying and running around; rather difficult to photograph well.

Often flying up, giving their scratchy call:

The males were busy displaying an courting. When they chased one after another, they often briefly landed on bushes to sing, again not cooperating for photography:

And off again...

Perhaps not the most spectacular lark of Israel, I find them very attractive. Small, pallid, delicate, elegant and unique. In Israel it's regarded as Vulnerable, due to it's shrinking population as a result of habitat loss, especially in the Loess plains of the northern Negev.

Lesser Short-toed Lark was certainly the dominant species at this habitat. We counted 22 birds. Other than that not too many other birds (eBird checklist here), Spectacled Warblers, and this lilith Little Owl:

On the way back home we stopped briefly to greet the Lesser Kestrels back on their roadside cliff along the Be'er Sheva Bypass:

Empty skies

I had a strange day yesterday. I was very fortunate to visit one of Israel's remotest corners, Ardon Valley in the central Negev, which is the southeastern section of Ramon Crater. This nature reserve is strictly closed off to the public and is visited by NPA rangers only few times a year. Yesterday I joined the local NPA ranger for a thorough scan of the mighty cliffs surrounding the pristine desert valley, in an attempt to find the last few breeding pairs of Golden Eagle in the desert. Sadly, despite our best efforts, we found nothing at all. In fact we saw no raptors whatsoever yesterday. Really depressing. It is possible that yesterday we were unlucky (again), but the state of many breeding raptors in Israel is dire and I fear that our experience yesterday reflects the overall situation.

With the absence of raptors, we had to focus on the beauty of the valley - scenery is truly stunning. We had quite many mammals - again large numbers of Dorcas Gazelle, and also Onager (Asian Wild Ass). We saw only one but by the enormous amounts of their poo it is evident they are doing well there.

Besides absent raptors, bird activity was slowish but OK. Some quality birds seen were Sinai Rosefinch, Striolated Bunting, Asian Desert and Cyprus Warblers. This 'lilith' Little Owl was the closest thing to a raptor I saw yesterday:

Burrowing Owl wannabe

eBird checklist here.

If I were a botanist or geologist, yesterday would have been a fantastic day. There were some lovely desert flower along the wadi:

Astragalus dactylocarpus

Desert Lotus (Lotus lanuginosus)

 Retama raetam

Dike - vertical magmatic intrusion

My trusted Swarovski ATX95 was jobless, but is always photogenic

Coffee time

Ardon Valley panorama

Many thanks to Yedidya and Naama from NPA for a beautiful day, despite the negative results. Hope for better luck next time.

Recent updates

Here in Israel spring is already evident, with more and more migrants appearing, and in the desert breeding is already taking place in some species. 

This is going to be a busy spring for me. I am coordinating to breeding bird atlas surveys - one in open scrub habitats ('Batha')n in the N Negev, and another on Mt. Hermon. On Wednesday had a look at Lahav reserve where the atlas project will take place. Just checked some different methods so didn't see much but found already three pairs of Spectacled Warbler nest-building and incubating, and a few Finsch's Wheatears.

Thursday evening and Friday morning I helped Meidad guiding his bird-guide training course at Nizzana. I gave a couple of presentations to his excellent trainees, and led a morning field excursion. At night, near our camp, we had a few singing Lilith Owls. In the morning I took them to my favourite hill overlooking some pristine, beautiful habitat south of Ezuz. We had there three dancing male MacQueen's Bustards. This hill has some ancient Nabatean rock carvings - really spiritual feeling to think how 2500 years ago people sat on the same hill and shared their observations with me.

Nabatean rock carvings

Later on we had another two dancing bustards, giving us all great views (but still to distant to photograph). Apart for that some coursers and Pin-tailed Sandgrouse. Enjoyed my first Eastern Black-eared Wheatear of the season. The desert is very green as a result of good rainfall - looking forward to another good breeding season.