A couple of weeks ago my mate Meidad found a stunning Wallcreeper inside the scenic Ein Avdat gorge – a site where it had not been seen for over 20 years. Many birders connected with it, but I had no time to make it down south till today.
Before a meeting, Amir and I met up with Meidad and we gave the gorge a thorough scan. Soon after walking in we had great views of the local Bonelli’s Eagle pair. This species is Critically Endangered in Israel, with less than 10 breeding pairs nationally.
I hope this pair will breed successfully this year. The female is a bit young, about 4 years old – hope she masters the skills of successful breeding soon.
The male is a bit older:
Several pairs of Eurasian Griffons breed in the gorge – they were busy mating and collected nesting material.
There are few sites in Israel that are remote enough to claim ‘pure’ Rock Pigeons – Ein Avdat is one of them. Impossible to tell whether they are actually pure or not – I’m sure the local Bonelli’s Eagles and Lanners don’t care.
We searched hard but there was no sign of the bloody Wallcreeper. The sole curve-billed species present was Water Rail:
This Grey Wagtail was working the waterfall for small inverts:
Classic Blackstart
Nubian Ibex
Ein Avdat gorge
Yoav Perlman
I have been birding since the age of 9, and from the age of 15 I started working professionally in birding. I have been working for the Israeli Ornithological Center since 1998. I was a member of the Israeli rarities committee between 2001 - 2007. I have an MSc in Ecology from the Ben Gurion University. I did my research on the ecology of Nubian Nightjars in Israel, and spent hundreds of nights with these fascinating birds. I lead tours in Israel, and especially focus on Nubian Nightjars obviously. I traveled and birded Asia extensively, and also Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and North America. I am married to my lovely wife Adva and father to two sons - Uri and Noam, and one daughter - Libby. Currently I live in Norwich, where I am starting a PhD project at UEA.
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