30/4/04
Unbeknownst to me today was the start of my trip. I had my usual 6.00 start in my taxi and struggled with enthusiasm through the day, with a last hour lunge I ended with a reasonable tally for the day. Reaffirmed with the boss that I was now on holiday and headed home, watched some TV and on the internet found I’d made $5 for the week on the stock market. Started a Civilization game, and rang up Bev and she assured me that we have a lift for tomorrow, and bed.
1/5
Played some more of the Civilization game til mid morning then rang Bev to arrange pick up time, I told her of my two mistakes, I had forgotten to transfer money from my Rivkin account to my Westpac, and also to confirm our flight, I had tried this morning but no one had answered the phone. Bev rang the Flight Centre and rang back to say that we had missed our flight, it had gone at 0.15hrs this morning not tonight as my dumb head had computed. She got us a flight on Sunday arvo. I went and picked up the tickets, payed my $400 rent on the way. All up it will cost about $600 extra on top of the $2,200 already payed. Went to Bev’s and stayed the night there.
02/5
Up 7.00 and back to my place, Bev did some printing and I finished my packing and some last minute shopping, one of the things I had to get was some indigestion tablets for Helen, but the chemist was closed, so got them at the airport which cost $1 more. Judy picked us up and took us to the airport at 9.30, we had a long wait til 14.30 when we finally got our trip under way with a hop to Sydney, thankfully we were able to forward our luggage all the way to Tel Aviv. We got the transfer bus to the international terminal and before long we were on our way to Vienna, 21hrs, we had middle isle seats so had no views, but most of the flight was in darkness, and we had enough room to lie down and sleep, we got in to Kuala Lumpur at midnight, and dawn broke as we crossed the Black Sea, arriving at Vienna at 6.30, and escaped the terminal about ½hr later and wandered the environs for 2hrs and got Common Starling, Rook, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Great Tit, Common Sandpiper, Collared Dove, Rock Dove, Wood Pigeon, Redstart, Skylark. At 10.30 we got back to the airport to finish the flight, I got a window seat this time watching the mountains and Mediterranean Islands flow by including Rhodes. Got in to Tel Aviv at 15.30, we had to walk across the tarmac to a little bus, but before long we were out of the terminal and into Bruce and Helen’s (B&H) little hire car, and were soon in a traffic jam on our way to Rehovot, on the way there we passed a huge mount by the side of the freeway, it was the rubbish dump, we’d pass it a few times on our various transits and each time it amazed me at its size. Our little flat is just down the hallway from B&H, we had a nice balcony that overlooked some flowering shrubs, and coupled with a short stroll to the Weisman Institute across the road ended up with a good start to my bird list: Hoopoe, Common Swift, Collared Dove, White-eyed Bulbul, Syrian Woodpecker, White-throated Kingfisher, Rose-ringed Parrot, Hooded Crow, Laughing Dove, Great Tit, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Jay, Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis, Palestine Sunbird, Little swift. B&H came for dinner since we have a table and 4 chairs, exhausted by 22.00 bed.
4/5
Bev snored but I got a reasonable night’s sleep anyway, but found it hard to get up, brekkie out on the balcony where I added Common Kestrel and Turtle-dove. At 10.00 we found a message Helen had left on our door, and we went for a walk around town, I changed A$300 for 915 New Israel Shekels (nis), and got some dried fruit, they have a dazzling array of interesting sultanas, after lunch we procrastinated our way through the afternoon, I’d hoped that Helen would have the car and we could go for a drive in the country, but she wasn’t willing. After dinner Bruce decided we’d go to Jaffa and the old port of Tel Aviv, we didn’t get there until after dark and we wandered around the alleys and squares, saw one sculpture in silver and gold, that had good humour in it. Got a view of the coastline at one point. Got lost heading out of town and got on the wrong freeway. Rang up Yoav at 21.30 and organized to spend some time with him, checked my emails, and my stocks which are spiraling down, saw the eclipse of the moon through my scope, bed 23.30.
5/5
At 8.00 Helen knocked on the door, we were going to go to a local museum, but I thought we’d waste most of the day so pushed to go to Jerusalem, I won, and after finding a place to stay near lake Galilee for Thursday and Friday we headed in to get the bus, but we missed the 11.00 bus I bought some nice, but expensive smoothies, and we waited. It was a hot afternoon as we walked along Jaffa St to the old city through the Damascus Gate and to the Garden Tomb, the Church of all Nations and the Golden gate, through ancient olive trees, through a valley to look at the Wailing Wall. Helen got lost in the alley of the old city and Bev was getting frustrated, we must have asked 10 people for directions to the Jaffa gate, eventually we got there through a bazaar, some shops had some wonderful looking stuff in them, sat in a book shop and waited for Bruce to come and pick us up. Pizza tonight. There aren’t many beggars around, but the few that are, are pitiful beings, at the Garden of Gethsemane there was a boy of 10 or so that had plucked a few olive branches and tried to sell them to us in his whinging whine, it was most upsetting to refuse him.
6/5
Went to the Ayala museum, I thought it would be boring, but it was better than that, I was still falling asleep during the video, but they had a homemade bunker the size of a tennis court built 9ft underground, that made bullets for the sten gun for the war of independence, great story, it was well over 30 degrees by then, we bought some stuff in the cafe and fell asleep in the air-conditioned room. Got woken at 16.00 to find a dead cockroach at the door so the extermination whilst we’d been away for the day had worked, after a lot of procrastination we left at 18.00 and drove in to the night. There was quite a lot of squabbling between Bruce and Helen as to what to do and where to go which got on my nerves after a while. We finally made it to Kfar Ruppin, and after an extensive search for the office we finally got our room. Met David Gresner, who gave us the low down on where to find birds tomorrow, saw some large insectivorous bats and heard Scops Owl and Barn Owl, also got Graceful Prinia today.
7/5
Up 6.00 got Red-rumped Swallow, then had brekkie and went with Bev and Bruce to the dam, we got accosted by the army on border patrol, but they were cool, then around the fish ponds, got Great White Egret, Little Egret, Night heron, White Stork, Chukar Partridge, Moorhen, Common Coot, Black-winged Stilt, Spur-winged lapwing, Little Stint, European Bee-eater, Greater Plover, Pied Kingfisher, Tawny Pipit, Clamorous Reed-warbler, Greenfinch, Dead Sea Sparrow, Grey Heron and a Golden Jackal. Back 10.00 for brekkie then to the quarry near Ein Gev resort and got European Roller and Long-legged Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Jackdaw, at the resort we walked down to the water and got Barn Swallow, Pied Wagtail, Pygmy Cormorant, drove back and around the south part of the lake through Tiberius to the ancient boat museum which cost nis20, sort of interesting, added Goldfinch, Squacco Heron. Drove up to Hula Reserve and got let in by dropping names, everyone knows everyone in this country. Saw Mallard, Marbled Teal, Northern Shoveler, Purple Heron, White Pelican, and Coypu, being the Sabbath we had problems getting dinner, ended up getting a roll and iced tea. Drove to Kibbutz Dafna near Mt Hermon after more dramas between Bruce and Helen and went to bed not long after arriving, also added Black Cap, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Greater Ringed Plover, Wood Sandpiper, Masked Shrike during the day.
8/5
Our beds were a long way from each other, thankfully Bev didn’t snore much, but it she woke me up a few times, telling me I was snoring, perhaps it’s contagious. There was much ado about going up Mt Hermon, there had been an Israeli soldier shot by Hezbollah guerrillas the day before, after a great brekkie of salad and fish, yoghurt and cereal, we headed up the mountain at 9.00. We saw no evidence of the military except for at a checkpoint, where a large gate closed the road, the soldier checked us out, and let us through, it was then that we noticed a heavy machine gun in a bunker up the hill, it was trained on the car, now that made me nervous. The mountain was great but we’d arrived too late, I heard birds but there was little movement, but got Black Stork, House Martin, Rock Bunting, Black-eared Wheatear, Wood-chat Shrike, Finche’s Wheatear, Pallid Harrier. Had an ice cream at the top and drove through the Golan Heights, saw a shot up Syrian outpost and a few encampments with their massive Makerva tanks all lined up, and a UN encampment. Got to Gamla Gorge at 14.30, met Vincent De Beer, one of Yoav’s friends who took us down to the lookout and showed us Griffon Vulture, which I’d already seen as we’d arrived, but he showed us the nesting sites, Egyptian Vulture, Bonelli’s Eagle, Crested Lark, Alpine Swift, Blue Rock Thrush. Went to the waterfall and was attacked by a swarm of gnats, and saw more vulture nests and the Alpine and Little Swifts side by side, the Alpine being twice the size. Then it was time for the long drive back, stopped for a chow mien roll with squeeze on sauces, great stuff. Went straight to bed when we got back.
9/5
We both snored a lot, waking each other up, it took til 9.15 for me to get out of bed and forgot to put the hot water on, went to the market on our own in the arvo and went to Tel Aviv on the train, had the usual fun getting tickets, Helen wanted to go to one part of the station but a Russian bloke persuaded her to go to another part, where there was only a ticket machine, there it took 3 people to explain what to do, we eventually got to the right platform. The train was nice but it went through some messy areas. Got off at a big shopping centre, had problems finding our way out and finding the bus 63 that would take us to the beach, but got there in the end. The only new bird seen was a Black Tern, saw some large gulls way out at sea, and struggled to ID a young Grey Heron, walked down to Old Jaffa where Bruce picked us up and had problems getting out of town again, though it wasn’t as bad as the first night. My back is really hurting today, a light dinner and early bed.
10/5
Bludge day today, we had a Khasmin day which is a hot dusty wind, so I didn’t leave the room. Bev and Helen were going to go to a safari park, but ended up not going, I snoozed in the morning and we played cards in the arvo, when Bruce came back from work we had dinner then went to bed.
11/5
Up 8.30 packed and went for a walk to the Weisman centre, it’s a much bigger complex than I thought, got Sardinian Warbler, European Serin, Greenfinch. back to room to rest, then lugged our gear down to the station getting there at midday, the guard let us through without checking our bags, just our passports, the train came at 12.30 but when we got to Lod terminal we found that we were supposed to have been there at 12.30 for the train. The girl in the office let me use her mobile phone to ring Yoav to tell him we’d missed our train, we waited 1½hrs for the next train, and finally got to Beer Sheba at 15.30. Yoav was there and took us to his place and we met his girlfriend Adra. Yoav went and got himself a new car a Renault Kangoo a minivan. We broke a plate playing with the dogs. Chatted into the eve while Yoav cooked us a rather nice chicken noodle rice vegie dinner, bed soon after.
12/5
Up 4.00 which was a struggle and headed to Nizzana, at first light we got Houbara Bustard, Brown-necked Raven, Desert Lark, Elanora Falcon, on a nearby hill we got Mourning Wheatear, Eurasian Hobby, in a dry gully filled with trees we got Spotted Flycatcher, Olivaceous Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Steppe Buzzard, Garden Warbler, Rufous Bush Robin, Redstart, on the way out we got Golden Oriole, Little Owl, Sand Partridge, Southern Great Grey Shrike, went to the sewerage ponds of a prison and got Pintail Sandgrouse, Spotted Sandgouse, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Crowned Sandgrouse, Ferruginous Duck, Ruff, Temmink’s Stint, Sand Martin, Marsh Harrier, Booted Eagle, Common Sandpiper. Went back to the dry gully for breakfast, he made a dip with a sesame base with garlic lemon juice and other spices, a potato like vegie, capsicum and bread, very different to our usual cereal or toast for breakky. Got lesser Grey Shrike, Desert Wheatear, Arabian Babbler, Thrush Nightingale, then to a dried out reservoir on the Sinai border and got Little Tern, White-winged Black Tern, Curlew Sandpiper, then drove back home, spent some time updating my field guide with all the new birds, and had a siesta. Went down to a beach just north of Gaza Strip and at a lake got Little Grebe nesting and on the beach a Lesser Black-backed Gull, there was a lot of rubbish on the road and in the reed beds. Back for a dinner of pasta with a cream sauce and bed soon after.
13/5
Up 4.00 again and to Sde Boger to do some bird banding with mist nets, we weren’t much help but got some photos of Masked Shrike, Red-backed Shrike, Banded Warbler, Golden Oriole, Black Cap, Desert Finch, Spotted Flycatcher, Olive-tree Warbler, Rufous Bush Robin, River Warbler, Little Green Bee-eater , also saw Streaked Bush Warbler, Black Kite. Back home for a bite to eat, slept for 2hrs then went to Dead Sea and got Reed Warbler, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, Little Green Bee-eater, Pallid Swift, Rock Martin, after it got dark we had a few problems but eventually found the Nubian Nightjar, spent ½hr following it around a field as it hawked for insects, saw a pair of only 8 known birds in Israel. Had a huge shawarma for dinner.
14/5
Up 6.00 though I woke up a lot earlier and tossed and turned. Went north of Be’er Sheva a short distance to a hill reserve with low prickly shrubs, found a Jerusalem Cricket, looks like a beetle/cricket/ant. Added Long-billed Pipit at the hill top and Spectacled Warbler at the bottom, also got Short-toed Eagle, Spanish Sparrow, drove to a road cutting and got good views of Lesser Kestrel. Back and packed up. Down to the station, Yoav got a call to say there was no room at the Lotan Kibbutz but we eventually got a room at the Ketura Kibbutz just across the road for the first night, this just as we boarded the bus, we weren’t sure where to get off. Yoav gave the driver instructions as to where to drop us. On the way down the rift valley I noticed a lot of car bodies in the wadi below, at one stage I saw 10 in a 200m stretch, the Israeli’s just don’t know how to keep their countryside beautiful. the driver forgot to notify us, we had actually started to get off at the right spot, but when he drove off we thought we’d got it wrong, he put us off at the next stop and we had a ½hr wait in the searing heat of a Khasmin wind it cost another nis14.20 to get back and walked up to the guest flats and eventually found our very nice room for nis270 a night and nis40 for dinner a nice chicken with canned vegies which surprised me on a kibbutz, I thought they’d grow all their own vegies.
15/5
Today being a Saturday is the Sabbath, so nothing happens, even the front gate is closed, there is a press button to get out, so we had a wander around the date palms and orchards and sewerage ponds, adding Little Ringed Plover. By 10.00 the birds were becoming inactive and the sun hot, so we snuck through the gate behind a car but we’d missed lunch. There is no phone anywhere so went looking for our host, Barbara but couldn’t find her not even at dinner, played some cards and went looking for her again, found her and phoned Jonathan from her house and arranged to meet him at the gate tomorrow morning, bed soon after.
16/5
Met Jonathan at 6.15 and we drove down to the hills around Eilat in his little yellow hire car, but there were no raptors on migration, went to the ponds meeting Reuven Yosef who had caught a Common Nightjar in his amazing net trap. Nearby we got White-crowned Wheatear and Lesser Whitethroat. on k19 and k20 ponds we got Gull-billed Tern, Kentish Plover, Slender-billed Gull, House Crow, Black Cormorant, Curlew Sandpiper, Red-backed Shrike, Namaqua Dove, Widgeon, Corn Crake, Shelduck, Upcher’s Warbler, Barbary Falcon, Collared Pratincole, Greater Flamingo, Pied Avocet, Red-necked Phalarope, Marsh Sandpiper, Black-headed Gull, Honey Buzzard, Dunlin, Broad-billed Sanpiper. Back for lunch which was better food than the Ketura kibbutz but at nis300 it’s more expensive for a smaller crappier room. Organized our trip to Petra which at US$139 plus US$35 for a visa means an expensive day, and we’re not allowed to take water with us. Late in the arvo we went for a wander around the place adding Common Whitethroat, Spanish Sparrow, Stone Curlew. We ate some of the food left over from Ketura and went to look for a Desert Hedgehog, but couldn’t find one.
17/5
Went up to the hill desert near Ne’ot Smader getting Whinchat, then to near an air-force base and back getting Hooded Wheatear, at the kibbutz lake got Little Bittern, Sedge Warbler, then to circular fields near Eilat and got Northern Wheatear, by then it was getting hot, so came back, after lunch I had a nap until 16.00 and went back to Eilat. The tourist place was closed so went to North Beach which is a ratty place with locals who camp on the beach and catch fish that escape from the fish ponds 500m off shore, spent an hour here adding Sooty Shearwater, Whiskered Tern, Little Tern, Caspian Tern, White-eyed Gull, Green-backed Heron, Osprey, the Osprey we spotted from a long way off as it made its way up the Saudi coast made a pass then made off down the Egyptian coast, One bird three countries. Went for a look at k20 pond but nothing new at k19 we sat at the large pond in the north corner and on cue at dusk got Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse which Jonathan reckons is as good a sighting in Israel as a Nubian Nightjar. During the day we had more of the bad side of Israel. In some places it’s really very messy, they just leave stuff where it lies such as the car bodies in waddies, some areas are run down, in one place we checked out a sewerage pond that was due to be shut down soon, it was in a poor state, the sludge was sitting on the surface, and birds were landing on it thinking it was dry and falling through to an oily mess below the surface that then coated their feathers, we saw 2 Honey Buzzards that were unable to fly that had escaped the pond, but another one was stuck in the middle, Bev and I were upset, Jonathan was angry and went to the local offices and saw a major there who said he’d do something about it.
18/5
Jonathan dropped us off at the Red Sea Hotel, I went down to check out the Youth Hostel nis240 a night, went back and had a look at the Red Sea Hotel room but it was awful even at nis150 a night it wasn’t worth it so went to the youth hostel, we went and got nis1,200 each for tomorrow’s trip and another night at the hostel from the bank, then rested the rest of the day and eve.
19/5
Got the customary breakfast box with bread, tomato, cheese, cucumber, jam, honey, pear, and drink and out to wait for the bus at 7.15. nis350 for the one day visa to Jordan and nis1,250 for the tour to Petra. The bus drive was spectacular through dry rugged mountains along the King’s Hwy. One thing I noticed here is that it’s even more messy than Israel, there were even more abandoned hulks of vehicles on the side of the road, saw a burnt out bus which got me thinking, there have been a lot of attacks on buses in Israel, but there was no sign of them amongst all the abandoned vehicles, so they must be cleared away. When you get on a bus at a terminal or go in to a building you are searched, but if you get on a bus at any bus stop you aren’t searched, since soldiers use buses to get around in, in their uniforms they are an obvious target, even though they carry their guns with them, they have the magazines out, though I’ve been told that they have a round in the breach. Walked down the mile long canyon where I got Sinai Rosefinch, the guide Achmed chattered on throughout the walk. The exit of the canyon to the treasury at Petra is one of those moments you’ll never forget, the acoustics in the urn tomb were amazing, went and had a look at the mosaic on the church floor, then the long walk in the heat back up the canyon, Bev got a headache, at 15.30 we had lunch at a hotel nearby, it was all you could eat so we had 3 helpings and bought a 2L bottle of water for 1 dinar, stopped at Moses’ well which was a non event and then back to Aqaba, back to the hostel at 20.00 and called the Christie’s. Shower, bed.
20/5
We had some noisy kids outside our room during the night, slept in then went and hired a Ford Focus from Avis for US$30 a day, picked up our gear checked out the sewerage ponds where the buzzards were stuck, the birds were gone, but the muck was still there. Stopped at Lot’s lake near the Dead Sea, but found nothing new, on to Masada and up the chair lift nis61 each, great views and interesting ruins including tiles, cisterns, bathing room and swimming pool, the eroded ramp the Romans used to attack the place was mind boggling to see. Saw White-crowned Wheatear, Tristram’s Grackle saying “over here”, Fan-tailed Raven playing in the updraught, Barbary Falcon, got the last cable-car down and booked in to the hotel at Masada nis248, the room’s a bit small but new, dinner nis78 for the two of us. Watched the sparrows vs grackle battle.
21/5
We were the first in for brekkie at 7.30, took some bread and a small container with fish and cheese for lunch and left at 8.15, had a look at Ein Gedi Kibbutz but found nothing new, it was 9.30 by the time we got to the nature reserve and there were already a lot of people there, the reserve was really nothing fantastic, but waterfalls in the desert are a bit of a novelty, took a photo of some Rock Hyrax, there were also Nubian Ibex, soon the track and the pools at the base of the falls were filled with people, well over 1,000, we saw some Fan-tailed Ravens hassling a Common Buzzard, and then a much larger Common Raven. Drove further up the coast and after spotting a Hooded Wheatear in a gully, and a quick look at a House Bunting before it scarpered, we drove up into the hills and spent a long time scanning the Judean Wilderness fruitlessly. Drove back to Ein Gedi hostel which we’d booked in to last night and got a 7 bunk room to ourselves for US$78 including dinner and brekkie, and went for a swim in the Dead Sea, which was some experience, the buoyancy has to be experienced to be believed, floating upright in deep water, my chest was above water, it was hard to float on my stomach because my bum came out of the water and wanted to roll me over, Bev plastered herself with the mud and posed on a rock for a photo. The taste of the water wasn’t salty but bitter, it swirled like cordial and felt turbid, had a zizz before dinner which was adequate.
22/5
Drove to Jerusalem which being Saturday the traffic was light, went to the Mt Scopus Hospital to find a phone and rang Itamon and got directions to his place, Bruce and Helen met us at a nearby kosher McDonald’s, and we followed them back to the house, de-bugged the car and went for a drive, first to a Russian monastery where on the way out I got a nail in the tyre from driving over a fireplace, drove in to Jerusalem and had a look at the YMCA and an ancient tomb with the stone rolled back and got a Common Chameleon crossing the car-park it was bright green to start with, in 5 mins it was mostly black, went to Abu Gosh and got some shawarma, Bruce didn’t order right so we got 2 lunches each, first bread and dips with fresh cooked very yummy falafel, then a turkey kebab with chips and salad, B&H had to head home, we went and watched TV til late, went down to the shops in the balmy evening and got an ice-cream for dinner, and bought a few supplies like cereal and peanut butter.
23/5
We slept in separate rooms so I got a peaceful night’s sleep. We got caught in a traffic jam going in to Jerusalem at 8.30. Did the wall walk for nis25 each, sort of interesting. Went to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, but they were having a service and as the man bearing the standard walked in they closed the door and wouldn’t let us in, Bev was quite upset and said that Jesus wouldn’t do that, went to the Israel museum but it was closed, so didn’t get to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. Went to the holocaust museum which wasn’t as horrifying as I’d expected. One thing I found out is that Jews in N Africa were also persecuted by the Nazis when they were there. Back to the house at 16.00. Itamon came and told us that we’d have to move to his flat that he uses for his practice and then left. We went to the shops and got a huge roll with humus, salad and meat for nis20 each for dinner. At 19.00 there was a tap on the window, it was B&H, they had found out that we were being moved but weren’t sure where to, they knew that the person coming wouldn’t want us around and had come to find out what was going on, Helen had tried to call but had being ringing the wrong number, once they were happy with what was going on they left. The move was effected at 21.30, the flat wasn’t far away. I spent the night kicking Bev to stop her snoring.
24/5
Up 7.00 and went through Beer Sheva down through the Negev on route 40, went through some spectacular countryside including the Ramon Crater and Paran Cliffs, took some photos, found a young Long-legged Buzzard. We put some petrol in the car for the first time, and it took us ages to find where the fuel cap release was, we eventually found it in the glove box. The last stop was at 16.00 on top of Mt Yoash near Eilat. Checked in to the Field School for nis187 no fridge, drove in to Eilat and bought food for sandwiches.
25/5
Up 5.30 and to the banding station. Reuven didn’t arrive til 7.00 then left us in the parking lot, not a good start, when he came back we helped with the processing, Bev did the secretary work, we went out on the second round and had a go at getting the birds out of the cages at the end of each funnel trap, there was a lot of shouting and clapping to get the birds from the funnel in to the cage. I was a bit disappointed at the damage the netting did to the birds, the chicken wire damages the front and beak as they try to force their way though, he’s in the process of changing it to a black plastic which is supposed to be more bird friendly. He said he’s caught one Bulbul 187 times so it can’t be too bad for the bird’s long term health. In the arvo we went down to the Egyptian border but it was full of cars so went back to the room and ate in air-conditioned comfort. Went for a snorkel at 15.00, saw Bump-head Wrasse, a huge pipefish nearly a metre long, Sunfish, Cod, Triggerfish, parrotfish, some beautiful orange and some blue fish, under one pier there were hundreds of fish including one that had a go at me. Bev refused to go in as it was a bit choppy and cool, I was in for over an hour and was cold when I came out but the hot northerly wind soon warmed me up. At the start I made a mistake and was swimming where I wasn’t supposed to, I heard the loudspeaker, but it wasn’t til he shouted in English that I realized he was shouting at me. Back to North Beach at 18.00, nothing new. Did a round of laundry, back at 20.00 for a feast for some holiday which is why the place is so busy.
26/5
Up 5.30 again. Got 41 Sand Martins in cage 2, it took me ages to catch them all. A shrike had got in to one cage and torn off the heads of all the other birds, which is one of the problems of this set and forget system versus mist or cannon netting where the birds are processed immediately. Chris from S Africa took us to where he works at a fish farm and showed us Abalone, Sea Urchin, fish and the bio-filters. back to the room where I went to sleep til 18.00, during the arvo the a/c went off, Bev tried a few things but then did nothing, just sat around, I told her I was disappointed by her lack of gumption to go to the office to find someone to get it fixed. The evening birding was unsuccessful though we did get a Little Green Bee-eater, I tried to photograph it, but it was too dark. Back to the room and sandwiches for dinner which is our usual fare when we’re not buying dinner, they give us so much food for the take away breakfasts that it mounts up. The woman came and got our a/c going again, we couldn’t read the fuse box, numbers 1&2 were down (off) which we thought were for rooms 1&2, three was up (on) which we thought was our room but one of the off ones was our a/c which had tripped off.
27/5
Dropped the car off and went to the bus station where I watched a garbage man attack a heap of rubbish with a dust pan and brush and a box, he still hadn’t completed the task when Bev came back, we had missed the 9.30 bus as we’d slept in and only just got to breakfast. So after letting Yoav know we were on the 11.00 bus once we were on it we watched the scenery roll by. The bus stopped just short of Beersheba for 20min, why they couldn’t have the break in town I don’t know, but I did add Common Myna around the the cafe, which isn’t one of the birds I wanted to see. Got the washing done and played cards since Yoav was busy in the arvo. At 16.00 we headed out and got an Eagle Owl that Yoav knew of, I found it after following the sound of Hooded Crows that were hassling it. The bird was in a lightly wooded area near the prime minister’s residence, who arrived with his motorcade as we did. It wasn’t long before the security boys with their magazines in their guns came to check out these people with binoculars and cameras, thankfully we’d seen the bird by then as we were asked to leave, and you don’t argue with people with machine guns.
28/5
Yoav had a meeting at Sde Boger so he dropped us off at Lake Yeroham, most of the birds were pedestrian though I did add Trumpeter Finch. He was an hour late picking us up. In the evening some of his friends and his mother came around and we had dinner. Most of the conversation was conducted in English which was good of them, the few times that they lapsed in to Hebrew someone translated for us. Went to bed early in preparation for an early start.
29/5
Up 4.30, that’s more like it! Drove up to Ma’agen Mihael but couldn’t get in to the main area because of a bike race so went a bit further up to Neve Yam near Haifa, went to help someone out of the sand, but he didn’t want help. Found Zitting Cisticola, Greenshank, Ruddy Turnstone, then headed back to the main area which was now clear and got Armenian Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Little Gull, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Spoonbill. On the way back we had a traditional Yemen Saturday morning’s breakfast of rolled dough served hot with tomato and hot green skhug dip. He drove us to Rehovot and said our goodbyes. We had assumed we were staying at Orly’s but plans had changed again and we ended up being dropped back at Itamon’s practice. B&H came late and they took Bev to the Jerusalem zoo, it was a very hot day, but I went for a walk, I didn’t go far and sat down in the shade and watched the world go by, took some photos of a suburb perched on top of a hill in the dust and heat and wind and powerlines. Played cards in eve.
31/5
B&H came at 13.30 and we went to Avshalom or Soreq caves, not very spectacular, but they have some fine formations including a great wall and a stalagmite and stalactite that had dried up 5in apart, then to a tank museum where they had 3 Makerva tanks all three marks of Patton’s (Magach), Centurions, AMX, a Panver IV and all sorts of paraphernalia, and some captured Russian tanks up to T70 series but no T34. Then to a lake where we got some waders and a Northern Shoveler.
1/6
The long flight home.
If you would like to contribute the the well being of this world, our world, your world, an easy and effective way to do it is to join a quality environmental group. There are many spread across the world all plugging away trying to make the world a better place for wildlife. We belong to Birdlife Australia, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC). You can donate your time and or money to these and many others knowing that the world will be a slightly better place because of your effort.