Ashdod ringing and Dead Sea nightlife

Yesterday I had a ringing session in Ashdod. It was pretty busy with good numbers of Blackcap and Lesser Whitethroat, but diversity was rather poor. Only birds of note were two Nightingales and a late or oversummering Robin.

In the evening met up with Lars (Denmark) and Stefan (Sweden) with their respective groups at Neot Hakikar. The evening was very warm and windless, and we had very strong insect activity that resulted in amazing bat activity. We saw many hundreds of bats, of which I could identify European Free-tailed Bat, Lesser Mouse-tailed Bat and Bodenheimer's Pipistrelle.

Of course we had terrific views of Nubian Nightjars on the deck and in flight, and for dessert we found the Desert Eagle Owl at his usual spot - we had breathtaking views from about 15 m - what a bird! Unfortunately I was the one holding the torch and not the camera (again!), hopefully Stefan sends me a good image when he gets back home.

Successful night tour

This evening I met up with Chris et al. (UK). Driving down south I had some very bad weather, which made me a bit worried about our chances for night watching. However, when we got to the site, the weather settled and was quite OK with no wind and pleasent temperatures. We had cracking views of two Nubian Nightjars, and quite a show by the Desert Eagle Owl. Unfortunately, I was (again!) holding the torch and not the camera...
On the way back home I stopped by the road in the N Dead Sea to take a leak. Soon I heard a male Hume's Owl calling from the cliff above me. What a way to end a great evening!

Nubian Nightjar & Desert Eagle Owl

I spent the day in the Arava Valley with our USFS partners, introducing them to the Atlas project I'm coordinating. It was a very productive day professionaly, but not too many birds around - pretty bad weather with high winds and sandstorms. The effect of last week's floods in the Arava are already evident, and green stuff is everywhere. March looks very promising.
In the evening I met up with Thijs & Paul (Netherlands), and Mike and Chris joined us too. and we had a successful evening at Neot Hakikar. We had OK views of a female nightjar, which is pretty good for this time of the year. But even better were cracking views of a Desert Eagle Owl sat on a heap 10 meters away! Unfortunately I was too slow and didn't get my camera out fast enough...