In a 12 months that won’t be remembered fondly in Israel, 2023 did have some highlights price celebrating – not less than when it comes to birdwatching.
Sitting on the junction of three continents, Israel is likely one of the world’s finest locations to witness chook migrations within the fall and spring. About half one million birds fly over, and plenty of keep for the winter. This 12 months’s migratory spectacular began early, with 30 flamingos arriving in August.
Ornithologist and ecologist Yoav Perlman, director of BirdLife Israel of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI), says many birds this 12 months found SPNI’s Start-Up Nature wetlands reclamation websites at Kfar Ruppin within the Jordan Valley and Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael within the coastal Carmel area.
“We were surprised how quickly they identify these new opportunities and utilize new resources becoming available in the restored sites,” he tells ISRAEL21c
“We monitor the restoration work and we even see rare species breeding there — a good indication that things are going well.”
Since October 7, many of the rewilded areas at Kfar Ruppin on the Jordanian border should not accessible besides with navy escort, so SPNI has been monitoring chook exercise there remotely. The most important birdwatching middle at Kfar Ruppin stays open to the general public together with birding centers in Jerusalem, Eilat, Ma’agan Michael and a number of other different places.
War’s impact on birds
As for the conflict’s influence on birds, Perlman says it is just localized. Because birds are cell, they’ll flee from harmful areas and from locations the place habitats have been disturbed or broken by tanks and different heavy autos.
“I hope that after this horrid war is over, the IDF and Defense Ministry will work to rehabilitate these habitats,” says Perlman. “I hope by breeding season in March and April, things will be better.”
He added that SPNI is working carefully with the IDF, by the Nature Defense Forces mission, to attenuate long-term impacts.
While the same old hordes of international birdwatchers couldn’t come to Israel in October and November, Perlman says “many of our friends worldwide are very supportive, working with us on collaborative projects. Migration is continuing, habitats are still beautiful, and birds are singing. Birders from North America and Europe miss coming to experience it.”
Meanwhile, Perlman says, “it’s a difficult time for us and many people are really eager for some beauty, so we are promoting birding where it is safe and possible. We are working with displaced communities all over the country, trying to use nature as a healing agent. We do whatever we can to take people out to nature for a bit of peace and quiet and beauty.”
Birdwatching highlights of 2023
SPNI reported some uncommon chook exercise over the previous 12 months.
Pied bush chat: This particular visitor from Central Asia was the primary rarity noticed in 2023. It was present in a uncared for lot behind a fuel station close to Moshav Maor in north-central Israel. This is just the tenth sighting of a pied bush chat in Israel; the earlier one was in 2018.
Leach’s storm petrel: At the start of February, mega storm “Barbara” hit the shores of Israel. It was welcomed by Israeli ornithologists as a result of the winds blowing from the depths of the Mediterranean pushed uncommon seabirds like this one towards our coast. On February 8, greater than 100 Leach’s storm petrels had been counted from the shores of Jaffa Beach and Palmachim Beach.
Masked wagtail: February 21 marked solely the fourth sighting in historical past of a masked wagtail in Israel. It’s a really uncommon subspecies of the white wagtail, native to Central Asia. The good-looking male made himself at home within the sandy parking zone of Ma’ayan Zvi Beach close to Zichron Ya’akov till departing for hotter climes in early March.
Black-faced bunting: The first sighting of this small songbird in Israel was within the fall of 2021. The subsequent sighting was final February 21 in Kibbutz Ma’ayan Zvi. It remained solely a few week and a half. On November 29, one other black-faced bunting was seen in Sorek Stream close to Rishon LeZion.
Yellow-billed stork: Three birders from The Netherlands reported seeing this African chook within the Ma’aleh Gilboa ponds within the Valley of Springs of the Lower Galilee on March 28. While the yellow-billed stork is frequent within the Mara River that flows by Maasai Mara Reserve in Kenya, the bizarre sighting in Israel was trigger for pleasure.
European storm petrel: Noam Weiss, director of the International Birding and Research Center in Eilat, has been monitoring seabirds within the Gulf of Eilat for a few decade and extra not too long ago in collaboration with the Marine Unit of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. This effort has paid off in beautiful discoveries such because the July 9 sighting of a European storm petrel that breeds on islands within the North Atlantic Ocean. It’s the primary sighting of this species within the Gulf of Eilat and solely the sixth in Israel.
Booted warbler: The small sandy-grayish-brown booted warbler is a rarity right here, noticed solely 4 instances in Israeli historical past earlier than this one was seen on August 24 within the new birding park at Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael.
Gray-headed swamphen: Since the Fifties, this West Asian chook was noticed simply as soon as in Israel. But in October 2023, three birdwatchers snapped pictures of a gray-headed swamphen in very completely different locations: as soon as within the swimming pools of Kibbutz HaMa’apil in central Israel, as soon as in Rishon LeZion Lake Park, and as soon as within the swimming pools of Kfar Masaryk within the Western Galilee.
