Gila's Nature Walks

January 2012

2012-01-03T14:04:00.000-08:00

A number of these tiny snails found on north facing hillslope up from north watercourse dirtroad, near some flowering Gagea.

1 of the two first flowering cyclamen found, unusally light coloured.

Almond blossom buds low on the largest almond tree in the valley.

clouds over Adam, to NE. on jan 4th

Wed. 4 Jan

Increase in laughing dove and bulbul vocalizations in last few days. Much house sparrow vocalization, jackdaws, feral pigeons and hooded crows about, calling occasionally, ring neck parakeets heard at least once a day visiting gardens noisily.

Afternoon in walk.. clear skies, just under 12 degrees C.
Gazelle 5, one near path from north corner valley road down to north watercourse dirt road. Another four near the north watercourse, eucalyptus grove.

Chiffchaff contact calls in pine canopies, male stonechat top of bush by dry stone wall betw cistern to windsurfer hill dirt road and olive grove. Black redstart nice view male dry stone wall forepart of gazelle field a few days back. Occasional Tristram's starling call last few days.

Wed 5 Jan,

drop in temp. about 8 degrees and dark clouds coming in from west.
gazelle 19: 1 buck in pines near bat cave across north watercourse, another at least 8 females and well grown young just beyond small cypress in open by north watercourse, a little to east of bat cave, lower slopes windsurfer hill, crossing dirtroad up hill ahead of us, 7. Three more grazing in sapling field near pumping station , headed into pines across east watercourse.

calls of Jays as we descended to north watercourse dirt road. jackdaws, hoodies about, syrian woodpecker call, graceful warbler call.. as we came back up valley road, saw hoodie make a lunge at some bird in the air, which then flew up'stream' towards pumping station.. sparrowhawk. White wagtail calls, flying over.

garden: house sparrows, laughing doves.

Sat 7 Jan

calls hyraxes slopes by pumphouse station

Sunday 8 Jan

today: birds included: sunbird in song, laughing doves, yellow vented bulbuls, jackdaws, hooded crows, syrian woodpeckers, Prinias, sparrowhawk, chiffchaffs, chaffinches.

Gazelles: 11+ 3 adult males near north watercourse dirt road, in various places and group of females and well grown young grazing just beyond the almond tree row.

Mon 9 Jan

Heard from this chair through the window so far today: white wagtails, sunbird, jackdaws, hooded crows, ring necked parakeets, cooing laughing dove, and of course, house sparrows.
On north slope.. lots of cyclamen foliage but no blooms yet, asphodel foliage getting higher, many mounds of mole rats, quite a few with holes, a couple like small volcanoes, one with two neat very small holes at top, as if punched through by front paws.. ventilation? Blackbirds heard in song in two locations.

Asphodels found blooming mid week near east watercourse! A few savyon.. spring groundsel Senecio vernalis, blooming edges of sapling field.

midweek: black redstart at pomegranate tree, another on a boulder, edge of east field.

Thurs 12 Jan

2 adult male gazelle, 1 by north watercourse, other on slopes up from east watercourse dirt road near bridge, black redstarts 1 on pomegranate tree by cistern, one on boulder, edge of east field, sparrowhawks, syrian woodpecker in euc grove, chiffchaffs, stonechats, graceful warblers, white wagtails.

~8 degrees C, winds very still.

rains on and off end of week.

Sat 14 Jan

gazelle 4: at least two subadult gazelle up shepherd's trail from east watercourse dirt road. 1 long horned adult male near east watercourse just north of sapling field.. could have been the alpha male from windsurfer hill herd. Another adult male some way farther north in woods.

blackbird in song again near central trail, also near cyclamen banks, by north watercourse. Hooded crows, jackdaws, graceful warblers, chiffchaff contact calls.

Garden: house sparrows, calls of ring neck parakeet. Some sunbird song

Sun 15th Jan

Fresh mandrake foliage found this afternoon. Cyclamens haven't bloomed yet but watched a few gazelle graze by north watercourse, by a young pine grove while chiffchaffs, chaffinches, graceful warblers, bulbuls, hoodies called in the trees. Also white wagtails flying over & jackdaws.

Mon 16th Jan

cool, sunny, clear skies, 4 gazelle, 3 subadults where watercourses meet, 1 adult male in east watercourse near look out corner, sparrowhawk over service road, hoodie brief harry, bulbuls edge neighbhourhood, covey of chukars just down from valley road, chiffchaffs pine canopies, laughing doves edge of neighbourhood, collared doves 9 up on lines edge north field by road.

Sat 21st Jan

Partly clouded, mostly cumulus, cool/mild

no gazelle about but did get great views of a large brown falcon preening and in flight, perched on cypress by bat cave, right after chasing some other raptor.. (sparrowhawk?) , after some preening and looking about, took off, circling briefly over north watercourse in open , then headed south east. After some examination of guidebook pics Akiva agrees might be Saker, (relatively rare winterer but suitable habitat)

Rich earth brown back, , signif darker larger than kestrel, quite dark head, suggestion of falcon markings on head, darker outer primaries in flight, tail darkish esp last third, no clear bars.

as well as sparrowhawk, Eurasian jay, stonechats, chiffchaffs, jackdaws, hoodies, white wagtails, Prinias and stone curlew calling repeatedly on our way back. Feral pigeon on roof, cooing laughing dove in garden earlier, white wagtail calls, lots of house sparrows.

24th Jan.

Found first blooming cyclamen near north watercourse dirt road, 2 almost white blooms. Also lots of Gagea now. (Damascus gagea?) None of others blooming yet but noticed underside of leaves almost as purple as bougainvillea.

some blackbird song and alarm call, whistle of wings of relocating collared doves in pines near cistern, black redstart on rebar there, , Eurasian jay calls, chiffchaffs and Stonechats on foliage clumps in field? distant.,

At sunset watched a group of 7 mountain gazelle running to and fro far north field, so fleet and frisky, a little mock sparring and chasing, some bounding, looked like they were running about just doing it for the pure delight of it. At least one adult male, couldn't make out others, distance and light but didn't look like bachelor group.

5 hyraxes shadiker colony, grown, on boulder facing out from centre.

Sunday 29 Jan

weather, cool, clear skies

In and about garden earlier: house sparrows, yellow vented bulbul, laughing doves on ground and cooing, calls of ring neck parakeet and yellow vented bulbuls. Feral pigeons on water boiler on roof. sunbirds heard and spotted in cape honeysuckle a number of times over the last week.

nice walk, Several gazelle, two by north watercourse like this one, a few more buck up on the hill, two sparring. Also some sparrowhawks about (they winter here), calls of chiffchaff, chaffinch, Syrian woodpeckers and a black redstart on the rubble near the cistern.

Monday 30th Jan

rained pretty much all day. Heard from house so far.. house sparrows, hooded crows, yellow vented bulbuls, ring neck parakeet, jackdaws, laughing doves, sunbirds

Tuesday 31st Jan

So far today (early afternoon) through the window: house sparrows, laughing doves, yellow vented bulbuls, ring neck parakeets and jackdaws.. we're still putting down sunflower seeds to try to tempt the parakeets to land .. on the ground or the chicken coop.. but havn't caught them at it yet. Doesn't help that two of the feral cats were hanging out on top of the coop.

we missed the 'sparrowhawk flyover' (one always flies over about the same place on the north trail around sunset) but did see a few gazelle, black redstart on the rubble, hoodies, feral pigeons, peeping probable chiffchaffs in the pine canopies and wild red amenones and white speedwell starting to bloom.

December

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lots of mole rat activity lately, notably this, north watercourse dirt road as it approaches look-out corner. 15 Dec.

House centipede, Scutigera

Thursday 1 December

4.30 p.m. to sunset:

2 white wagtails on tv antenna on Elias calling single high notes, adult male gazelle up from north watercourse trail, stonechats calling from various locations by north watercourse. Hooded crows returning singly from forage, feral pigeon flying between Shadiker roofs, House sparrows in gardens.

Sunday 4th December

Ah lovely invigorating walk back through the cool forest dusk , a waxing moon, Jupiter and Venus shining in the sky. Pretty quiet walk.. stonechats, Syrian woodpeckers, chiffchaffs, (latter, glimpsed foraging in pine canopy but no good views.. lots of contact calls) hoodies, (gathering in eucalyptus canopies near look out corner at dusk) jackdaw some calls, collared dove (left euc canopy, possibly because of hoodies, and headed across fore part of gazelle field to younger pines) , white wagtails (a couple on Elias near their favourite tree). Laughing doves and sparrows in the garden after the chicken chow.

No black redstart at rubble, no gazelle seen in usual places unless too dim to see by then.

Shabbat similar but glimpse of probable sparrowhawk over north watercourse area, and graceful warbler heard.

Monday 5th December

Just under 16 degrees C just after 4 p.m. hooded crows returning home from forage, a couple of sparrowhawk sightings, one from bat cave trees to eucs by north watercourse, then across the dirt road towards owl glade as we have seen many times about sunset, other seen flying over Pistacia orchard a short while later.. could have been same bird or another. 5 gazelle, females and well grown young, grazing on the hillside to NE, stonechat calls in field near look-out corner. Contact calls probably chiffchaffs, brief chaffinch call probably.

Tuesday 6th December

Clear skies again. Garden: laughing doves, house sparrows, sunbird calling in cape honeysuckle. Street: hoodies, jackdaws. Akiva heard Tristram's starling fly over. Woods: graceful warbler, Syrian woodpecker.

Gazelle . at least 8 today: Buck gazelle with esp. long horns euc. grove by north watercourse, Gazelle heading into Pistacias, the usual buck there. Then, as we approached the bridge on east watercourse dirt course group of at least half a dozen gazelle crossed dirt road from pumphouse end of sapling field and headed up hill.. good grazing there now. Lots of winter crocus on the shepherd's trail. No stonechats seen or heard on field today but sparrowhawk seen flying from low east field to woods.

Wednesday 7 Dec.

We found several Dianthus, in singles, by north watercourse dirt road. Most Varthemia gone to seed but I did find a flower still. Ragwort, Inula, some still flowering, some in seed. Polygonum still flowering esp. below Lev Aryeh.

At the quarry a black redstart was using a 30 m high hopper for flycatcher like tactics and Tristram's starlings were using a derelict building as home base, whistles echoing inside. We heard a kestrel, saw hyraxes amongst the rubble .. also Syrian woodpecker on tree up slope, Prinias, calls, a covey of chukars, at least 10 in file, some calls, (third way up opp. slope north watercourse) and a blackbird calling alarm in the advancing dusk below end shadiker, in pines.

plus house sparrows, (street, gardens) white wagtails, (flying over to roost) chaffinches,(calling in pines by north watercourse, and glimpsed) sunbird,(calling in cape honeysuckle, contact calls) jays, (calling in pines) jackdaws and hoodies, calls and glimpsed.

Thursday 8th December

Cold front coming in from the west late afternoon, splatters of raindrops on walk.

gardens: house sparrows, jackdaw calls. Akiva heard Tristram's starling heading over, higher.

gazelle: At least 5 bachelor males grazing near north watercourse just west of bat cave, at least 10 females and well grown young with one adult male not far east of bat cave, lower slopes.

white wagtails seen and heard flying over , building top level or higher, calling, heading to roost.

Hoodies about in singles.

Sunday/Monday 12 Dec.

up from east watercourse dirt road, treed slopes windsurfer, alarm calls, sounded like 2 European robins, two locations about 100 feet apart. A few gazelle, chaffinch call, then seen on top of cypress though white bar on wing looked very like that of hawfinch, still, chaffinch head. Do they hybridize?

House centipede on wall in house, one of Scutigera, prob. S. coleoptrata.

Tues. 13 Dec

4 gazelle: 2 adult males in pines up from north watercourse dirt road, betw. their and owl glade. Male and female in Pistacia orchard, two grazing by coral gum, gazelle field, female and young or two well grown young.

hoodies about, haven't seen jackdaws last few days, flock moved off to better foraging grounds probably. street: house sparrows, feral pigeons. Sparrowhawk fly over shortly after sunset bat cave to owl glade area, as seen in past numerous times. No stonechats or black redstarts.

Wed 14th Dec

Overcast but mild. Watched a chiffchaff forage all over an acacia, calling every now and again while a European robin bobbed silently in the middle, so I waited a while to get a good view of the latter. (first actual sighting this season though several calls heard) . Later, more chiffchaff calls in various parts of the pinewoods, an alarmed robin down by the east watercourse just upstream from look-out corner, probably territorial, prob. a second robin vying for territory there, hoodies, Prinia, sparrowhawk's usual sunset flyover.

Thur 15 Dec.

From house: afternoon, numerous white wagtail calls, some jackdaw calls, so they're back from whatever foraging excursion took up the first half of the week, house sparrows of course. Ring neck parakeet calls.

Hoodies about. On walk, other side north watercourse adult male modest horns followed, a few metres behind by one with impressive horns. Syrian woodpecker calls numerous. As we walked up dirt road to windsurfer, cypresses on our right, high pitched call 'teee teee teee' I thought maybe goldcrest? Haven't found matching call. Suitable habitat though they are relatively rare winterers. Chiffchaff calls. On the way back along valley road dusk.. 'chick chick' calls of robins, two individuals from the sound of it.

Sat 17 Dec.

From house: day: heard, for first time in a while, laughing doves cooing.. also house sparrows, calls of ring neck parakeet and jackdaws. Akiva heard sunbird/s. In valley: Syrian woodpeckers, 2 adult male gazelle, one up on ridge to north(east), another in pines near owl glade, sparrowhawk, heading from direction of hidden watercourse to pines, over north dirt road, again over Pistacias a little later. Blackbird heard chakking near pumphouse, farther south. Stone curlew from direction of hidden watercourse. Chiffchaff contact calls.

greenfinch SONG briefly midday.

Thur 22nd Dec

Today walked up to butterfly saddle betw. north watercourse and hidden watercourse, at least 9 adult male gazelle in the area, between east watercourse and ridge to NE. Two with best horns sparring for a few mins in pines betw. just down and east of butterfly area..

relatively quiet lately. Robin very brief view in cypress on slopes near gazelle today, silhouette but Akiva also heard the call. Also in last few days glimpses of Sparrowhawks, Syrian woodpeckers active and vocal, jackdaws, hoodies. In gardens: house sparrows, brief visits by ring neck parakeets pretty much every day over this week, some bulbul calls but not very much in evidence. sunbirds heard esp. in cape honeysuckle.

That castor oil plant now has multiple spikes and a few inches taller than I am!

Sat 24th Dec.

After several days of mild temps , 15 degrees C and over.. winds in afternoon , clouds coming in from west about sunset, rain in dark continuing into small hours thank God!

On treed hillslope up from east watercourse dirt road, a little south of shepherd's trail, a group of gazelle in file along contour trail to south, females and well grown young. Out on east field crossing dirt road up windsurfer hill.. 6 gazelle trailed by adult male. Has that (east field/windsurfer hill) herd split then into two distinct groups? Will be watching.

Chaffinch heard, seen close to pumphouse, top of cypress. Hoodies about, one mobbing a kestrel flying over west slopes of windsurfer hill.. which they probably see as their airspace. Chiffchaffs heard. From house, house sparrows, a greenfinch twitter early afternoon, ring neck parakeet later.

Sun 25th Dec

drizzling .. valley road.. small chat like bird hopping on ground on valley road.. as we approached flew up into acacia... and perched quite out in open middle upper branches, good view .. grey head, dull orange red underparts, dark back, general jizz robin/chat, I'd say first winter male common redstart.. first common redstart I've found in our area but probably not first here, just most prob. keep themselves better hidden.

Mon 26th Dec.

Sunny, sky pale blue, house sparrows chirrupping, ring neck parakeets by a little earlier.. Just over 10 degres C at start of walk, shortly after 4 p.m now. Feral pigeon flock over Shadiker.

3 bachelor gazelle grazing near north watercourse, an adult male by Pistacias and a group of 5 well grown young/females in field just beyond, threading their way between thorny burnet and ragwort gone to seed, jumping onto and along dry stone walls..

hooded crows over area and about, feral cats hunting amongst the hyrax rocks, latter keeping a low profile,

white wagtails were calling as small flocks of them passed over to roost, calls of bulbul and Prinia. (earlier part of report and pic below this on my profile page), Slim shining crescent of the New moon of Tevet in the western sky on our return.

Tuesday 27th Dec.

11 gazelle in east field 1 well grown young which ran into lower east field as we came through Pistacia grove.. then the rest grazing near fence, between the olive grove and NE foot of windsurfer hill, adult male off by himself closer to the hill, chaffinch call, chiffchaff contact calls, white wagtails calls as they flew over, graceful warbler near large almond, bulbuls in neighbourhood, hoodies, jackdaws and a group of some melodious brown jobs in east field, larks I think but didn't get good views but probably crested.

Wednesday, Thursday 28th, 29th Dec.

Gazelle active , a number of bucks by north watercourse, several in the new pine grove by the service road for a change. Other gazelle in east field, four young ones head of shepherd's trail. Two adult male gazelle seen sparring betw. butterfly saddle and bat cave but don't recall exactly which day. 19 altogether seen one day.

Pick-up in bulbul calls and laughing dove coos heard in last few days in gardens. More ring neck parakeet calls.

Saturday 31st Dec

Most extraordinary, as walking along east watercourse dirt road saw raptor weaving fast betw trees below canopy level, falcon, dark grey, darker head, from what we saw matches peregrine falcon best!

When we reached top of shepherd's trail Akiva saw brown bird take off from ground and fly with abrupt turn and out of sight.. from what info we could gather fit snipe, which I've seen on Jerusalem hills on winter on other occasions. Unfortunately both above views very brief for better confirmation.

gazelle and hyrax not seen though hoofprints of course, but did hear syrian woodpeckers and blackbirds, and probably chiffchaff contact calls.

Found blooming Golden drop by wall at edge of neighbourhood.. don't think we've seen them so early before but sheltered location.

November 2011

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Winter crocus, Crocus hyemalis, found blooming along saddle watercourse trail, midday on 28th

Monday 7th Nov.

Rain with thunder and lightning a couple of days ago, a fair fall. Temps have dropped a lot to just over 10 degrees C at night, today up to 18.5 degrees max. (1.30 p.m.)

Sky almost clear of clouds! Sparrowhawks at least two.. calls and fly byes.. one from trees by bat cave.. heard calls, then it crossed north watercourse and headed towards east valley, other , Akiva believed not same one, skirted edge of east field, At any rate we heard calls from north field somewhere after first had flown south so def. at least 2 in area if not three or more.

Syrian woodpeckers, calling and seen in eucalyptus grove by bunker rubble, stonechats heard around cistern, seen in fields by dry stone walls betw. us and small olive grove.. in one, male with female ,

jays active and vocal various places, jackdaws several score around open ground, buildings south end Hizmeh hill, hoodies passing over from north to south in singles, some calls, returning from forage likely, collared doves at least four up on lines over near where the watercourses meet, , some very vocal Prinias by dry stone walls by small olive grove, several gazelle, two in the Pistacia grove and other places in the valley, and the sunbird in the cape honeysuckle STILL singing.

Still no black redstart by bunker rubble , sad. None seen by dry stone walls either.

Sunbird heard singing in cape honeysuckle quite a lot lately.. house sparrows about garden, laughing doves foraging on ground quite regular and the occasional bulbuls passing through gardens, various calls. Occasional ring neck parakeet calls.

Akiva has heard occasional stone curlew call lately but not so often now.

Sunday 13th November

quite mild.. sky pale porcelain blue with scattered altocumulus, gazelle were up grazing on the western slopes of 'windsurfer hill' 2 in sight, rest probably around out of sight on western face (we were looking from north) Syrian woodpecker call, great tit churr and and chaffinch calls in the pinesnear descent to dirt road, chiffchaff (?)high contact calls (by central trail) , stonechat calls just after sunset as light fails out in the east field field, hyrax barks from their colonies, sparrowhawk glimpsed over north watercourse, and the usual jackdaws and hoodies
calls from a covey of chukars over across the north watercourse yesterday as well as most other birds as today.

Garden: house sparrows, laughing doves, sunbirds, bulbuls usual most days lately.

Monday 14th Nov.

Walked back from Pisgat Zeev mid morning, via saddle watercourse. a mature shaggy coated hyrax on sentry duty near pumping station, where, to my amazement, some mullein still blooming, or blooming again, second wind due to rains. Jerusalem autumn crocus many places western slopes of windsurfer and in one place, a little blooming thyme
stonechats calling in fields, sunbirds, bulbuls in gardens, white wagtails over street, jackdaws, laughing doves and others about.

quite a few white butterflies seen, surprisingly also a salmon Arab right by foot of stairs to our entrance.

Afternoon: chaffinch calls near pumping station, east watercourse flowing, had reached about level with ascent up shepherd's trail when we got there.. jays, jackdaw flock up hill, hoodies,
15 Nov. Tuesday

Cooler today, misty in the east, Max 15 degrees C today, just over 12 degrees for most of walk, humidity about 50%.

street: house sparrows, laughing doves, bulbul
woods: Jay, Syrian woodpecker, those high pitched contact calls again but still couldn't get a glimpse, but clearly seasonal.

gazelle: At least 3 well horned bachelor males euc. grove/bat cave north watercourse area.

Hooded crows mobbing large hawk, mid/pale even brownish mostly rather than barred but not good view.

East field no gazelles noticed, whistle calls of small jobs but not seen, prob stonechats but didn't hear the chak chak call, covey of chukars filing away from us on one of the trails, towards the hill

Wednesday 23 Nov

4 p.m. and it's about 16 degrees C, up on yesterday

some gazelle behaviour at least 6, group lower north hill slopes, at least one buck but most females and well grown males.. one female looked very skittish, running about, nervous, several high back kicks.

Two more near bridge treed slopes to east of east watercourse dirt road.. both snorting, clear view of one, adult male, other presumably also, snorted in turn.

sparrowhawk seen and heard calling in trees by bat cave, chaffinches calls, chiffchaffs, presumably high contact calls, stonechats in fields by north watercourse, hooded crows tree tops and flying over, singles, jackdaw flock again absent. Stone curlew heard about 5.20 p.m. already dark.

House sparrows seen and heard in the garden, prob also laughing doves but not seen. Bulbuls or sunbirds not heard at all last couple of days. Feral pigeons on roof tops, still, just perched.

lots of autumn crocus

Thursday 24th November

Black redstart - on a dry stone wall in the east field.. not many metres from the cypress grove. first definite sighting of the season, finally! Also, several gazelle, (one buck in field betw. olive grove and cypress, other with the longer horns over near fence. Stonechat on shrub mid field, and song heard, hoodies singles , passing over, another perched on wires post, wing lifting, soliciting? , jackdaws calls over neighbourhood, Prinias calls, white wagtails calls heard various places, Syrian woodpeckers calls near cistern and Pistacia orchard, collared dove flew from pumphouse into dense eucalyptus.

Tristram's starling heard calling from house a few days later.

Monday 28th Nov

clear skies, temp ~12 degrees.

singing great tit heard! Late morning Pisgat Zeev, by 'tayeret haducifat', a major road along the edge of the neighbourhood.

Most significant and sad today.. shortly before noon fox found lying in east watercourse (dry), just 'upstream' from bridge.. still but breathing, yellow staining on thighs, upper tail.. saliva noticed coming from mouth but not foam.. then we saw it have convulsion as in strychnine poisoning.. sometimes put out for stray dogs. We had noticed a pack a few days before and wondered if they had been reported and poison put down for rabies control. Unfortunately we didn't have a good means available to put it out of it's misery and hoped it was ''out of it'' enough not to be suffering too greatly and would die soon. We all felt horribly helpless and frustrated and sad we could do nothing for her. On our return about 4.30 p.m. she was gone from former position but had managed to drag herself several feet under the bridge, into the concrete tunnel. She was also still alive, poor thing. It occurred to me then that she could be in final stages of rabies infection. On our return Akiva called our vet who referred us to city vet. Our vet said rabies was indeed a possibility. Instinctively neither of us had got close to her so we had no significant exposure. About forty minutes later he was in the neighbourhood .. Akiva took him down to show location. The vixen put up a surprising amount of fight and resistance for her condition but was clearly unable to flee. Vet took her away for testing. He said no rabies in neighbourhood. We shall be in contact to find out result of tests and post here when/if we learn something.

House sparrows, calling sunbird, laughing doves, bulbuls in gardens, also graceful warblers, Syrian woodpecker calls, a sparrowhawk over north watercourse later afternoon, hoodies, jackdaws, white wagtails on Elias about their favourite tree and on rooftop, various small unidentified jobs about.

Tuesday 29th November

sparrowhawk flew over north watercourse to mid woods.. regular! , several gazelle north field, lower hill slopes 1 buck, two females.. watched female scratch herself on side of neck/chin area with her left back hoof, other licking her flanks.. common gazelle thing, , black redstart about 10 ms up on spikes on one of power pylons in that field, blackbird alarm calls in woods.. as also yesterday, forgot to mention him above, sunbird calling in cape honeysuckle, jackdaws .. and the coral gum saplings have been hit by some kind of infection. Below.. notice exit holes.. some kind of insect. Most leaves hit relatively low on the saplings, higher leaves could be clear or almost clear, lower leaves entirely covered with reddish purple discoloration.

Lots of purple crocus in those fields, no white, some autumn squill in parts.

Wednesday 30th November

8 gazelle, 2 groups, 4 bachelors eucalyptus grove by north watercourse near bat cave, grazing, 4 females/well grown young about foot of twin pylons, male black redstart at the bunker rubble, hurray! First seen in that location this season, stonechat calling near the bachelor gazelles, hoodies flying over in singles, sparrows about gardens, feral pigeons about roofs, white wagtails, Akiva noted flying over edge of neighbourhood, Eurasian jays alarm calls in woods by north watercourse, Prinias calls.

1 winter crocus near north watercourse, rest purple. (Jerusalem autumn crocus)

6th Oct to end of Oct.

2011-10-06T12:26:00.000-07:00

White breasted kingfisher at JBO pool , 30th Oct.

Blooming castor oil plant, by valley road.

By pool at JBO .. pair of Laughing doves,

Bulbul , JBO.

Female chaffinch.. first individual seen this season! By pool J.B.O.

male blackcap close to pool in great willowherb and other veg.

Thursday 6th October
‎
16+ gazelle today, (10 or 11 NE foot of windsurfer, usual grazing place) , another two a little farther down the field, 2 just up from Pistacio grove, 1 very fine adult male buck between bat cave and north watercourse.

also flock of jackdaws very active and vocal over east valley as dusk fell, hoodies accompanying the jackdaws, Eurasian jays heard and seen active various parts aroundwoods, masked shrike calls just down from trail from north corner valley road to east watercourse dirt road, Tristram's starling calls over north watercourse area, Prinia calls, greenfinches calls around look-out corner, and quite a few Syrian woodpeckers active and vocal esp. eucalyptus grove near cistern.

Garden: house sparrows active esp in Bauhinia, sunbird song in garden. subsong.. young male practicing?

Sunday 9th Oct

25 gazelle today, I think that's a record!

1 adult male, long horns north watercourse near where trail comes down from north valley road.

6 more adult males further east along that watercourse, near bat cave including two coming down from owl glade area, one bounced across road, joined others.
1 more adult male near cistern
5 in pistacias including 1 adult male.
shortly after (as we were heading up dirt road leading up windsurfer hill on other side of Pistacia orchard) the male broke from that group to join two adult females, attempted to mate with one of them, brief contact.. kept on sniffing, she squatted as if to defacate though none seen...he continued to sniff and follow, she decided to speed up and head towards look-out corner, buck in pursuit. (7 total in Pistacias, so 15 so far.. )

Usual grazing area betw foot windsurfer and olive grove N/S , betw. bipass road and dirt road up hill E/W several, joined by a few more crossing dirt road ahead of us towards east, joining others making total of ten counted at one time including adult male.

Several adult hyrax spotted on dirt road leading off north valley road, down from Shadiker, some older immatures but no small ones, 1 shaggy older one closest to us.

Birds: feral pigeon over, hoodies over and vocal, noisy jackdaw flock over east valley esp sunset, some great tit calls by north watercourse, brief syrian woodpecker calls, blackbird call near look-out corner.

Monday 10th October

around 20 gazelle, 4 bachelors browsing on young pine leaves on the hillslopes as we headed down, more bachelors in eucs near north watercourse, several in the Pistacias including 1 adult male, and small herd of at least 7 females and well grown young making its way around windsurfer hill west to east, the alpha male between them and us,

bulbuls, a falcon, Eurasian jays active many places, Syrian woodpeckers, greenfinches bunker area, jackdaws flock, hoodies- hyrax across from pumping station, corner sapling field, on the way back in the gathering dusk. Several collared doves around the cistern.

Weather unusually warm, low 30s much of the day.

Tuesday 11th October

4 gazelle grazing about half way up north west slopes windsurfer hill, perhaps more, another seen earlier nearer top and we know at least 10 use that area . Hyrax on rock down from valley road.

Prinias heard, jays , some activity, jackdaws, hooded crows about, ring neck parakeet heard on street.

Saturday 15th October

white wagtail heard! over Shadiker area.

Sunday 16th October

25 gazelle. Again! Adult buck gazelles spreading out more, seen in numerous places, rubbing horns repeatedly against vegetation but no sparring noticed. Females and well grown young herd grazing lower north slopes of windsurfer usually.
small group of up to half dozen in Pistacia grove regularly seen

white wagtail heard?

Monday 17th October

20 gazelle. Kestrel call up in neighbourhood, directly up slope from pumphouse station.

sunbird singing in garden almost every day lately. Bulbuls, laughing doves, house sparrows, ring neck parakeet calls.. great tit aggressive calls and contact calls of various kinds but no song yet, esp in pines near north watercourse.

Tuesday 18th October

11 gazelle today.. 3 bachelors amongst eucalyptus north watercourse, 2 more in the small olive grove, much rubbing of horns against vegetation, group of at least 6 females and well grown young north west slopes of 'windsurfer hill' . Lots of Syrian woodpeckers, Prinias, a neat dramatic hobby call and fly by, jackdaws, hoodies, jays and such

Wednesday 26th October

Castor oil plant by valley road blooming.. (ad pic)

Stonechats have arrived! Seen in east field on 24th, 25th
Gazelle: regular group in Pistacias, buck, mother and kid and a few others, usually 5
White wagtail heard : 23rd & 26th
Garden: house sparrows, laughing doves, sunbirds
street: feral pigeons, hooded crows, jackdaws, ring neck parakeet (latter three also in and over valley)
valley: greenfinches, syrian woodpeckers, Prinias

Sunday 30th October

JBO hide by Gan Sacher (just south of town centre) : watched European robin bathing and a female chaffinch (both first of season), blackcap and Prinia foraging in the Great willowherb by the waterside, white breasted kingfisher hunting, also bulbuls, jays, sunbirds, blackbirds there, white wagtails, jackdaws, hooded crows on the fields. Calls of ring neck parakeets? But none seen.

Monday 31st October

Ten gazelle in two groups: 4 relatively young then 1 female and young heading south of and parallel to central trail, crossing it and heading to woods/gazelle field edge. Four more in the Pistacia orchard including female and young and an adult buck.

Kestrel (?) over valley and one more definite from direction of Hizmeh, bipass road, sparrowhawk heading south well over canopy level, large dark Buteo of some sort circling low over woods next to gazelle field, white wagtails- calls over road earlier, hooded crows heading south various heights over canopy level at dusk, low speed heading to roost, jackdaws calls from direction Hizmeh hill, jays harsh calls amongst trees, stonechats east field various places as light faded, Prinias long shrill calls bunker/cistern area.

no hyrax or syrian woodpeckers heard today. Looked out for black redstart but still none.

End of September, Oct beginning

2011-09-25T09:12:00.000-07:00

Castor oil bush sprouted right by valley road.. several other trees at the top of the bank, none between, first one I've noticed along that stretch.

Bat flittering round over valley road today not long after sunset.. we need to find out how to get a better image!

25th Sept Sun

Flowering Varthemia - most not ready but one blooming, as I had anticipated, at edge of butterfly saddle betw north watercourse and hidden watercourse. Also in that area a group of 6 bachelor gazelle heading north, hobbies on the wing, two, heading west, short clipped calls, another individual calling from trees a little farther west.

On way up hill from north watercourse much vocalization from great tits in the pines, breezes pleasant, slightly moist, scattered cumulus.

jackdaws and hoodies .

27th Sept Tuesday

5 bachelor gazelle in pines near north watercourse, another coming out of it, two more in the Pistacia orchard, plus jackdaws, hoodies, a hobby, Prinias, Tristram's starlings' whistles heard and hyraxes at one of the colonies.

30th Sept Friday

First autumn squill noticed alongside shepherd's trail from top to bottom, numerous but only on southern side.. 1 Dianthus noticed at top.

feral dog, all reddish brown colouration, gay tail, chasing bachelor gazelle herd on hillslope other side of northern trail, about a dozen males. About 5 a.m. earlier than usual. Males noticed last few days north watercourse area.

hooded crows, jackdaws seen and heard all days, Tristram's grackles also heard every day as well as great tits, bulbuls,

Feral pigeons, laughing dove seen active street and garden, sunbird heard. hobby over north field.

Oct 1 Saturday

heard: great tits, Eurasian jays, Syrian woodpecker. Two adult male gazelle seen near shaft, one noticeably younger than the other based on horns, hyraes about.

Oct 5th Wednesday

7 gazelle total today : 2 by north watercourse in the open , adult females , 5 in Pistacia grove , 1 adult male, rest, females and well grown young.
hyraxes, hoarse repeated bark up from pumphouse at dusk. Bat flittering around at base of ramp from valley road to back of buildings, regular place.
Hooded crows: heard, about jackdaws, heard, flocks seen about, over valley and by Hizmeh, Eurasian jay calls in woods.
Syrian woodpeckers, heard, seen in woods, graceful warblers heard, vocal.
Tristram's grackle heard. Sunbird, in song in cape honeysuckle late afternoon as we left.
ring necked parakeets, heard around midday, garden row. House sparrows chirps,
about , bulbuls, harsh calls (young?) heard today, melodious yesterday.

(yesterday similar in most respects, minus Tristrams and parakeets)

Lots of Inula viscosa in bloom now esp banks below Shadiker.

September observations, end of the dry season

2011-09-12T10:01:00.000-07:00

Small chameleon, whole individual about three inches long.. found crossing snake path (through terraced gardens) in our neighbourhood, released onto Bauhinia tree in our garden.

Below, an Eryngium, of a species I hadn't noticed before.. near ruins middle of east valley.

Monday 12th Sept.

4 gazelle noticed when coming up shepherd's trail from east watercourse dirt road.. first, up and over to right (south) appeared to be an immature, alone.. then over to left running up slope Akiva saw three individuals.. one disappeared and we both watched a female followed by well grown young make their way across mid field and head down to grazing area between hill and olive grove. No others seen down there.

Also about: jackdaws, many calls, feral pigeons, hobby call, hoodies in neighbourhood on the look out for tasty scraps thrown on ground.. kids' litter.. but has been very quiet lately. Yesterday hardly anything seen and heard but after dusk a number of bats around pumphouse station at least half a dozen, crickets

Tuesday 13th Sept

Garden: laughing doves seen flying to ground, house sparrows, ring neck parakeets calls.

three night herons! Good views this evening in high trees by east watercourse dirt road.. left trees and circled around a few times, increasing height and radius, a few calls, resonant croaks like something between a crow and a duck. Confirms what I've suspected for weeks. (We have seen them in the past earlier in the afternoon)

Plus three gazelle in Pistacia grove, male and two others, hyraxes repeated bark, like hoarse chuckle, high cypress slum bank, jays heard and seen, great tits heard, masked shrike heard near Pistacia grove/look out corner, jackdaw calls. .

Wednesday 14th Sept.

No herons on walk but did hear them at about 10.30 p.m. (from direction of east valley) when we went out with the dog. Usual other birds. Notable rise in humidity late afternoon lately.

Thursday 15th Sept.

No herons so far.. hoodies in tops of eucs, Eurasian jays, syrian woodpeckers active and vocal.. group of four gazelle , adult male, 1 horn, two others.. prob the olive grove gang, under pines near central trail.
Garden: ring neck parakeets heard, laughing doves about as usual.

Photographed an Eryngium near east valley ruins I hadn't noticed before.. habit about three times higher than usual bluish Eryngium, clusters of inflorescences, all green/olive green foliage.

herons heard calling on evening walk , 10.30 p.m.

Monday 19th Sept.

Fox with very nice coat spotted north west corner east field, heading to trees, we'd spooked it. Female gazelle there with well grown young, heading across the other direction from trees towards grazing grounds between olive grove and hill, another individual nearby and another three farther down the hill towards the fence. Three more gazelle in Pistacia grove, adult buck and two more. Light was getting dim so could not see if one horn amongst them though I'd expect that. 9 in all.

Falcon mobbing much larger bird of prey over bipass road north of olive grove, mainly dark, around sunset so got no more detail. Otherwise, hoodies, not much more seen about. Sunbirds and ring neck parakeet heard in and near garden.

21st September

16 gazelle today! herd of adult male with 12 others in east field, a mother and young (the little one already visibly larger than the last time we saw him) in Pistacias and an adult buck by north watercourse.

Birds including masked shrikes, jackdaws, collared doves, syrian woodpeckers, hoodies. Wheatear in east field? Sunbird in garden.

August end & s Start of September. .

2011-08-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

thistle species not noticed before, mid slopes windsurfer hill, facing west. whole plant betw 2, 3 feet high, just the one.

Seen lately, a number of bats at dusk, earlier, dragonflies over east watercourse dirt road.

Shabbos August 27th

From house: sunbird song in Bauhinia in hottest hours of day, some alarm squeaks, later, some melodious calls. Psittacine calls, probably the ring neck parakeets,

Not long before sunset, flock about 30 large raptors heading south, prob honey buzzards, pale under but for shoulder markings

after that two more loan buzzard types soaring about, lowering, terminal tail band.

gazelle: 1 in pistacias, another 4 in field betw. olives and cypress including adult buck and 1 horn (female) 7 in field not far from fence nr ne foot slopes windsurfer.

graceful warblers (also from house), Syrian woodpecker calls. 1 Eurasian jay spotted.

Monday 29th August

7 adult male gazelles grazing amongst eucalyptus near bat cave, north watercourse area.

Tuesday 30th August

mature hyrax on boulder on the way down below the school,
mother and young gazelle (of this year!) in terebinth grove,
pair of hobbies aggravated that some much larger raptors wanted to roost in 'their' trees,

also, hoodies, Eurasian jay.

Wednesday 31st August

50 raptors migrating slow over to south as we waited at light rail station at ammunition hill at about sunset . Didn't have binocs with us at the time but I think they were honey buzzards. They were high!

Thursday 1 September

‎13 gazelle - 3 bucks near shaft area.. 2 there, one fully adult male, one somewhat younger, then farther around hoopoe corner saw one more in pines to right.

10 grazing betw north slopes windsurfer and olive groves, closer to slopes, more in centre of field, away from fence, all then started moving around base of hill to west. No

hobby, jackdaw, graceful warbler calls, saw Eurasian jay, collared dove, and bat on way back, and shining crescent of the new month!

Sat Sept 3rd

sunbird heard singing in garden.

Shrikes heard in last few days.. on Sat saw 1 masked shrike low branch near north watercourse. Individuals heard there, one or two, another one or two by new pine grove towards north watercourse and more by eucalyptus grove by east field.

Gazelles: 1 buck and two others near olive grove, several over in field near base windsurfer hill.

hobby calls heard from house, graceful warblers heard, bat seen at dusk, valley road.

Sun Sept 4th

laughing doves on garden ground, calls ring neck parakeets not long after 7 a.m.

Thurs Sept 8th

8 gazelle, five of them adult male, three groups, group of three coming out of north watercourse, farther on to east in new pine grove male following female and looked like well grown immature, a little later near far end of Pistacia grove another adult male following female.

masked shrike about, making scritchy scratchy noises in the low branches, we've been hearing them almost every day this week esp. near watercourses and Pistacia and eucalyptus grove.

also blackbirds alarm call, jays vocalizations, collared doves silent but on lines or flying between trees, graceful warblers calls, and a nimble bat on the way back.

Garden today: laughing doves foraging on ground for chicken food, sunbird singing in Bauhinia

Saturday 10th September

Pistacia orchard 3 gazelle 1 adult male and two others, including one horn .. as seen from dirt road from cistern to windsurfer hill.

Masked shrike: at least two individuals heard in trees cose to north watercourse dirt road.

Hobby, graceful warblers, syrian woodpeckers heard, Tristram's starling heard from direction of hidden watercourse.

4 ring neck parakeets seen flying together up and down our street last couple of days, heard from inside house of course, a number of times , mentioned lately.

At least 3 bats around bright lights by pumping station, also around ramp from valley road to back of buildings.

August continued

2011-08-10T10:34:00.000-07:00

Black nightshade Solanum nigrum has sprouted spontaneously all around our garden. Central areas mainly goosefoot and purslane.

Wednesday 10th August

13 gazelle,

1 adult male near bat cave, by north watercourse
1 individual up south of north dirt road in woods towards owl glade
8 down near foot north east slopes windsurfer, by fence , usual place.. females and well grown young
1 adult male: crossing windsurfer dirt road ahead of us, heading to east woods.
2 relatively young individuals near head of shepherd's trail

about 50 bee-eaters flying about eucalyptuses by north low end of east field, first a group of about two dozen, then with clatter of leaves the rest flew out.. wheeled about over cistern area for a while as one flock, then split into two flocks again

syrian woodpeckers calls, hooded crow calls, Eurasian jays spotted here and there, hobby heard, sparrowhawk (?) glimpsed, grey back, whitish rump? Flew to cypresses by bat cave. collared dove on line, hyraxes twilight bark, pumphouse colony.

Garden: sunbird song around midday, later, alarm calls for a while, more song later. Bulbul calls, some laughing dove coos.

Thursday 11th August

gazelle several over beyond cistern where Ailanthus saplings.. disappeared into watercourse, Eurasian jays, several active, some calls graceful warblers some calls, flock of 30 plus bee-eaters as we approached look out corner from north trail heard them, then 9 appeared , then another group joined in, much calling.
hoopoe 1 flew over fore part of gazelle field to top of pines bunker rubble pines, jackdaw flock 80 plus SW windsurfer/saddle area, Syrian woodpeckers lots of calls, heard hyrax twilight barks pumphouse area. Ring neck parakeets heard from house earlier.

Saturday 13th August

Field by small olive grove produced 4 gazelle, at least two of them adult females. Not the usual group. No bucks. Soon after ahead of us 2 more gazelle crossed the dirt road leading up the hill from direction of east woods.

2 dozen bee-eaters in two groups moving from over woods towards edge neighbourhood late afternoon. Ring neck parakeets heard in street, sunbird singing in garden about midday.

Woods: hobby call high trees east valley, hoopoe flew across central trail approaching look-out corner, small group greenfinches into eucs there, wheatear far edge east field in herbage, female or juv. prob black eared, hooded crows, Syrian woodpecker call,

Sunday 14th August

9 gazelle, 2 separate nr north watercourse, the others in fields around small olive grove and farther south east towards fence. Adult male between dirt road and olive grove looked like the larger horned male of that area.. seems he's brought his herd into area that previously the (slightly) smaller horned buck and those three youngsters (including 'one horn') were using.. expanding his domain north and driving the group of four to the woods and north gazelle field)

about 30 bee-eaters, in single flock as dusk was descending, quite high. syrian woodpeckers, lots of calls, greenfinches again between look-out corner eucs and bunker pines area, also graceful warbler, hooded crows, blackbird alarm (latter east watercourse dirtroad near sapling field, haven't heard blackbirds in a while) , hyraxes twilight bark amongst others, and Varthemia foliage coming up, will produce tiny bright yellow blooms come the first rains.

It did actually rain lightly and briefly saturday morning. Was somewhat overcast.

Two hobbies over north watercourse, spooked some jays who were very vocal at that.

Wednesday 17th August

11 gazelle NW slopes windsurfer, all females and well grown young.. they made their way round north slopes and down in direction of their usual grazing grounds. Young individual seen near head of shepherd's trail, may have been a 12th.. No adult bucks seen.

several seen yesterday including one horn seen near service road edge of young pines, some way from her usual haunts.. perhaps the larger herd drove her in that direction.

Flock of bee-eaters in eucalyptus, as yesterday .. settling down to roost, didn't come out so no count. Syrian woodpeckers, great tit and graceful warblers heard.

Flock jackdaws heard. Tristram's starling and ring necked parakeets heard from house earlier. laughing doves in the garden, foraging on ground.

bat on way back, hyrax on garden wall on way down.

21st August sunday

Bee-eaters heard from house earlier, sunbird in cape honeysuckle, laughing doves

17 gazelle. 13 grazing near fence including adult male. Other male and one other small individual not far behind him, between olives and cypress grove. 2 more , 1 w thin horns, one with no visible horns, just up from north watercourse dirt road up behind owl glade.

hyrax calls dusk.

Sparrowhawk over. , jackdaws heard, garden and street, collared doves on lines near cistern, male acting amourously, puffed chest etc. Hoopoe, syrian woodpecker calls, A number of hooded crows over but not coordinated flock .

Monday 22nd August

9 gazelle, 2 minimal horns up from north trail as yesterday, 2 in field between olives and cypresses, adult male and 1 horn. Second adult male with longer horns near fence just south of olive grove and nearby adult female. 3 females? /well grown young up on north west slopes windsurfer.

2 sparrowhawks flying same direction not far from each other so prob associated, near service road. Syrian woodpeckers, graceful warblers heard, Eurasian jays about and active, Hoodies and jackdaws flying south to roosting areas around villa hill , latter vocal, collared doves on line near service road as yesterday prob. same two.

carpenter bee black with yellow end abdomen seen by dirt road by east field.

First Week of August

2011-08-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

Diminutive viper's bugloss (Echium) on way up out of sapling field, near pumping station

(add here also black nightshade pic * )

Monday 1st August

Akiva heard bee-eaters over neighbourhood earlier in afternoon.

Walking up windsurfer hill dirt road from cistern: saw 3 gazelle including one horn betw. road and small olive grove. Farther up, turned right at slope, group of six gazelle headed up hill ahead of us, adult male in rear. Then saw two more running by tree line, same group separated, or two of group down by olive grove.. I consider less likely.

Calls from east field, larks? or wheatears but more of tril but didn't see. More likely to be larks as male wheatears would have been much easier to spot.

Falcon over field and road, mostly dark.. hobby most likely but didn't see any white under.

Sparrowhawk earlier over north watercourse dirt road/service road. Lots of Syrian woodpecker calls.. Eurasian jays about.

Tuesday 2nd August

Walked up to the hidden watercourse and circled around slopes north hill, back down to look-out corner and east watercourse..

bee-eaters, between 2 dozen and 30 first saw over Hizmeh or road, then headed over valley, over edge of our neighbourhood.

Gazelle, 2 or 3 bucks between bat cave and hidden watercourse area. North field: another buck and at least 3 females and well grown young. As we got down to hoopoe corner, another adult male ran into pines.

a fox, up by hidden watercourse chukars, at least two on open ground, hoopoe, north field, flat area where chukars, flew down to pines. Collared and turtle doves, former various open places, latter, cooing in trees, greenfinches some twitters in pines look out corner area, black eared wheatear male bunker ruins as the other day, and nearby field. Akiva tried to get pics, Syrian woodpeckers calls in Eucs, circling hobby over cistern area and north fields.

Jackdaw flock, calling, coming down from Ar Ram upper slopes, hooded crows about, house sparrow flock working edge of neighbourhood where garbage. Young or female sunbird brief visit to bougainvillea near edge of neighbourhood.

Wednesday 3rd August

hyraxes, by valley road, saw a number of gazelle.. 9- 1 by fence favoured area, 2 by olives, 4 betw olives and road, 2 more in centre woods east valley. One was standing repeatedly on its hindlegs to nibble at olive branches.. the olives are ripe enough now! Also hobby, stone curlew, calls black eared wheatear at bunker rubble, several bedraggled looking jays cistern area, jackdaws flock north of windsurfer, collared doves cistern area, great tit off valley road.

Thursday 4th August

4 gazelle in the Pistacia orchard, 1 adult male in company of three others including 1 horn, as seen before in that area, from there to small olive orchard.. though yesterday more gazelle there, looked like members of the larger horned gazelle's herd also using that area. chukars, (somewhere near north watercourse) stone curlew, calls from north field; hobbies, as dusk approached.. much fuss over east watercourse.. short calls and repeated high calls.. sounded alarm. Another raptor call amongst them, not sure what.
hoopoes, at least 4 around hoopoe corner, foraging on dirt road and/or flying into pines. Prinia calls. Prinia calls around fore part of gazelle field, Jays active, Looked for black eared wheater but not around rubble, perhaps we just got there too late, already sunset, same considerations as with the black redstart.. gets too late for them to hawk for insects there. bee-eaters, flock heard, didn't get count, quite high over Pistacia orchard area, ring neck parakeets around street on and off all day, bulbul, in ours or next door's garden.

Saturday 6th August

1 gazelle, buck, amongst saplings just across northwatercourse near shortcut from valley road to dirt road

From house: ring neck parakeets a few times, bulbul melodic calls now and again, laughing doves through the day pretty much, simplest coos, brief Prinia call, jackdaw flock

On walk: flock 9 bee-eaters, several hoopoes in region of hoopoe corner but not together, nice view hobby perched near top of pine.. Syrian woodpecker a couple of feet down from it apparently frozen in place.. Eurasian jays seen flying, 2 , jackdaw flock 30-40 plus, graceful warbler by stone wall forepart north gazelle field, greenfinches twittering bunker pines, collared doves, cistern area

stone curlew calls dusk, bats , several flitting close to us over valley road and around pines on bank.

Black nightshade Solanum nigrum growing in many places in the garden, cropped up by itself.

Sunday 7th August

Canid in pines to west of dirt road ascending from cistern to windsurfer hill, dark saddle like markings, taller, more dog like than fox, higher off ground though very pale tail tip (which I did not think jackals had) and solitary, not such a bushy tail as fox.. a jackal?? But solitary? Do they hybridize with foxes? Every time we've seen these ''dark foxes'' they have been *solitary* but different look from the red/grey foxes. We have also not heard howling typical of jackals.

bee-eater calls, Eurasian jays active, collared dove brief coo near cistern, Syrian woodpecker calls, graceful warbler calls, ring neck parakeets heard earlier,

23 July > 31st July

2011-07-23T10:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday 23rd July

Gazelles: 1 adult male with good size horns grazing low on the slope near the trail leading from valley road north corner to north watercourse dirt road

Another with short horns seen from hoopoe corner, in woods towards owl glade

Low part east field two individuals running from open field towards small olive grove.

Looking towards windsurfer on upper field adult male, farther towards fence in that favoured grazing area south east corner of the field, at least six.

Birds: graceful warblers vocal and active, 3 young birds flew over north watercourse dirt road from watercourse acacias and into pines.

hoopoe from open area ''hoopoe corner'' flew into pines.
hobby calls from ahead of us over young pine grove, called shrilly, repeatedly, rose and circled, a sparrowhawk took off, seemed because of hobby, flew off toward look out corner and east valley woods.
another raptor over to north east, large buteo type circling, long legged buzzard? too far to get detail.
some turtle dove coos, collared doves active but not cooing, though some coos of them heard towards sunset last week. Eurasian jays active and vocal, just down from shadiker
greenfinches twittering in eucalyptuses look out corner.

Sunday 24th

5.18 a.m. bulbul

At least 5 gazelle in the Pistacia orchard, none with adult male horns.. one of them smaller than others.. this year's young? High spirited, every now and again jumping about and kicking as if wanted to play and trying to get the others involved in it. Akiva said he saw a couple of others respond briefly.

turtle dove coos, hoopoe by 'hoopoe corner' , graceful warblers very vocal and active, stone curlew calls briefly. cicadas. Eurasian jays. Greenfinches and Syrian woodpeckers quiet today. Hobby short vocalizations as it grew dark, from trees by east watercourse. View of fox near hawthorn, dark sided, running to and fro between pauses.
Hooded crows, house sparrows, jackdaws pretty much as usual.

Monday 25th

reacheda bout 34.5 degrees C today.. when we set out , just after 7 p.m. was just over 30 degrees and 30% humidity.

Hyrax sprawled on valley road, looked like road kill! Then picked up only its head and looked at us.. then lolopped off..
gazelle, 1 short thin horns head of shepherd's trail, moved off towards windsurfer.

Birds: bulbul in garden, laughing dove coo in street, hooded crow heard, in woods, collared dove flight call, a number of graceful warbler calls, brief blackbird alarm, stone curlew calls, distant falcon call, Syrian woodpecker calls.

cicadas, black millipedes

Bat on way home,

Tuesday 26 July

Shortly after return: about 27 degrees C, humidity ~50% and rising.. (max earlier about 35 degrees C) lots of hyraxes including youngsters at Shadiker colony,
several gazelle v short horns by north watercourse, 1 adult buck,

5 hoopoes dirt road 'hoopoe corner', (near rock flats where north watercourse dirt road turns to meet central trail) , turtle and collared doves cooing, stone curlews, sunbird, bulbul, greenfinches betw. bunker rubble and eucs of look-out corner, syrian woodpecker calls, cicadas in cypresses up from east watercourse dirt road

Wednesday 27th July

not more than about 31 degrees C today, down a few degrees from yesterday's peak
.. some gazelle in the dry oats field, east field, short thin horns, including young. Adult male near north watercourse.
turtle dove cooss, Syrian woodpeckers, blackbirds, hoopoe on dirt road usual place.

Shrike also operating near there.. didn't get good view but mode of movement, perching , flying down returning and white outer tail feathers.. not a masked. Red backed young?

Thursday 28th July

a few gazelle in the oat fields and pine woods, stone curlews, collared doves, blackbirds, Prinias, Syr. woodpeckers, hobby, jackdaws, hoodies

Saturday 30th July

Gazelle, about 10 in east field in various places, mostly lower slopes though didn't see the alpha male, or not clearly.
Hyraxes; several active by valley road around sunset, only adults seen.

Hoopoe: 1 near cistern, several collared doves on ground around cistern, one turtle dove on top of pomegranate tree, two wheatears hunting insects around bunker rubble, really nice views, using barbed wire and rebars for perches, one adult male, other was juvenile or female. Much more like hispanica subspecies than the melanoleuca we usually see.. much more buff/orange, and almost grey grown.

As we headed down saw flock of bee-eaters heading over lower neighbourhood, about a dozen, soon followed by about another two dozen. Syrian woodpeckers, many calls, Eurasian jays spotted active in many places, Prinias active and vocal. greenfinches calling in trees euc grove near cistern. stone curlew calls from north field, relatively early.

cicadas, again esp in trees up from east watercourse dirt road, past orchard, almost at saplings.

Sunday 31st July

As ascended shepherd's trail group of gazelle including one with adult male horns ahead of us, headed into field. Soon after saw the usual two groups.. the one with the larger horns between windsurfer hill and small olive grove, though only a few females/young visible, and a little later, the male with slightly shorter horns between small olive grove and cypresses in company of a few short horned individuals including one horn. Groups keeping consistently within known regions.

Hyraxes on and by valley road, a number in the acacia at foot of ramp coming down from back of buildings, scrambled down on our approach.

At least one hoopoe about, foraging mainly along edge of valley road. Possibly (flight) lame pigeon near head of ramp, grey rump as original rock doves of area, Eurasian jays, hooded crows, in garden, laughing doves, still cooing, by valley road, bulbul. Quiet day! Cicadas.

Peak today about 33 degrees C, about 27 when we headed out, 50% humidity and climbing, winds light north westerly.

11 July > 21st July

2011-07-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

Monday 11 July

Cicadas last few days even up till sunset , heard in cypress and Pistacias but not located, well camouflaged. Temps to low and mid 30s C peak time of day.

Gazelle: 9 in east field.. 6 between small olive grove and windsurfer north slopes, another three between olive groves and trees, lower part.

graceful warblers very vocal lately, Eurasian jays about, short sharp calls of hobbies in tree tops and brief glimpses.,

strange call in garden tree.. sounded like slow soft but carrying trill.. as if a bulbul were imitating a turtle dove . Sunbird calls. Laughing doves, house sparrows,

Tuesday 12th July

Several gazelle seen in various places about the woods, 1 over on path near cistern, alone, not adult male,
Hyrax active and vocal

Hoopoe, jay, turtle dove calls, stone curlew, blackbirds active and vocal but not singing, short low contact notes, graceful warbler and bulbuls around garden. Graceful warbler calls approach to look out corner.

Shabbat 16th July

Several Gazelle seen almost every day esp in east field, usual places. Today three down near fence foot NE windsurfer slopes.
Hyrax activity by street

Graceful warbler, at least two in our garden and adjoining garden active lately. Bee-eaters late afternoon heard from house. In woods Syrian woodpecker, wheatear on a sapling tube in Pistacia orchard.. another a few days ago same area. stone curlew heard.. Eurasian jays more in evidence lately.

Bulbul and sunbird calls also garden, house sparrows, laughing doves.

Sunday 17th July

6 gazelle in total, hyraxes, hoopoe, hobbies, stone curlews, much greenfinch activity between eucalyptuses of look out corner and the bunker pines, Syrian woodpecker calls and glimpses, blackbirds spotted though not singing, occasional relatively soft alarms. Turtle dove and collared dove coos, hooded crows.

Bulbul and sunbird in the garden.

Monday 18th July

8 gazelle grazing in favourite place south east of east field, down near fence and foot of slope. Great tit calls heard, Syrian woodpecker calls, some stone curlew calls as it got dark, sounds like collared dove and turtle dove coos mostly abated now but replaced by numerous insects.. cicadas of low pitch end of afternoon, various crickets as the day darkened. Hoopoe by road near pumping station, flew off to tree in sapling field.

Laughing dove coos, melodious bulbul calls, Prinia calls and occasional sunbird calls in the morning. Forgot to mention a few days ago a couple of lizards noticed amongst fence pieces by patio.

Wednesday 20th July

Hoopoes, at least two around hoopoe corner, usual other birds in woods, blackbirds, stone curlews, (from direction north fields) , great tit scolds, graceful warblers, syrian woodpeckers. As most days this week, cicadas buzzing at various pitches, pitch lower towards sunset.. temps in low 30s early afternoon but humidity down to about 25% at hottest time of day climbing up to about 50% at night

Thursday 21 th July

10 gazelle grazing around windsurfer mountain, on high north west slopes and low down by foot of north east slopes including adult buck who I observed on hill trail up from us repeatedly rubbing his horns against stones or bush or ground, hard to tell. . Also including two in the forest just south of central trail, female and young. Could have been twelve if we didn't count two twice. There were two running to and fro on mid west slopes, apparently chasing each other, fast, almost like play, not significant horns, we didn't know if these joined the others on the north slopes or not.

Quite a bit of hyrax activity by valley road, some juveniles out, adults of various ages.

Syrian woodpecker calls, blackbird alarm, great tit alarms, glimpses of raptors, probably hobbies but very quick views, could also have been sparrowhawk. stone curlew calls. Some collared dove cooing in pines by north gazelle field. Some greenfinch twitters, lark (?)calls in east field. Didn't see for confirmation, may have been wheatears. Akiva heard bee-eaters from house mid afternoon. I heard ring neck parakeets shortly after dawn when I went out to feed the chickens.

Street: laughing doves cooing on roof edges,

July 1st-9th

2011-07-02T16:10:00.001-07:00

Garden gets regular spraying and interestingly the kind of vegetation we get there we don't necessarily see in the valley. Most of it is goosefoot but recently this , above, began to bloom. I appealed to facebook friends for I.D. and one of them, Kyron Hanson positively I.D. it as common purslane, also known as pigweed. Portulaca oleracea, likely accidentally seeded by birds from other gardens.

Saturday 2nd July

Gazelles: As we came up shepherd's path three ahead of us, subadults from the look, females/young females, and a group of that constitution has been seen in that area a number of times.

Also consistent.. in field just north of small olive grove adult male licking flanks, nearby two females or well grown young grazing nearby in old oats and by thorny burnet. As we were speaking I spooked a fourth gazelle, female with only 1 right horn, she ran towards the other three.

Another 4 grazing over beyond the almond tree row

Birds:
stone curlews quite vocal as dusk came.
greenfinches: some alarm calls
syrian woodpeckers: calls
collared doves: some coos, quite a number of flight calls.
falcon over field just north of windsurfer hill, brown back and wing coverts, not as russet as those of kestrel.

garden: sunbirds, bulbuls, laughing doves, house sparrows.

psittacine calls.. last week we noticed three lovebirds lose end of Shadiker, calling to each other between pines, a fig tree and ailanthus.. we've been hearing them over the last few days up and down the local streets including this morning.

Sunday 3rd July

Gazelle.. buck spooked on way down from valley road north corner and north watercourse dirt road. Later: in east field betw. small olive grove and pines again the buck in company with the four young females including one horn.. I get the impression all young pre breeding immature females which would explain why they're with him and not in the main herd with the longer horned male closer (and around) windsurfer hill.

Lots of hyraxes active in Shadiker colony area including young ones.

Garden: 5.10 a.m. bulbul, a few minutes later, sunbird. Later, laughing doves and house sparrows, former coos and feeding on ground.

valley: greenfinch twitters usual lowest altitude pines.. lots of Syrian woodpecker calls and some sightings. Hoopoe on dirt road north watercourse turn off (favourite place for spotting these) , Graceful warbler calls, stone curlew calls, bee-eaters about above calling. Hooded crows about. Collared dove coos and flight calls, also plenty turtle dove calls today.

globe thistles have the usual blue/green and red beetles as in last season, the bluer and fresher, the more infested, probably enjoying the pollen.

Monday 4th July

Hyraxes by valley road very active, otherwise day pretty quiet in terms of birds, unusually so.

Tuesday 5th July

At least three hoopoes at and around the usual dirt road turn.. I had the impression more.. Turtle dove coos in pines by north valley dirt road, collared dove coos and calls as we approached look out corner area.. brief view of chase, only fraction of second but looked to me like hobby chasing off sparrowhawk.

Several gazelle, 5: 1 adult male close to north watercourse , treed area, two more, females/well grown young on hillslopes north east, two more in woods just south of central trail.

Graceful warbler calls .. in garden again and also up by fence by north gazelle field. Sunbird calls in garden numerous times. Syrian woodpecker calls, greenfinch calls. stone curlew calls north fields/low hill slopes shortly after sunset. No bee-eaters today and crows low profile.

As usual lately calls of geckoes heard on buildings in the evening.

Wednesday 6th July

Following gazelle trails around west and north slopes of windsurfer hill. surprised some chukar partridges and a couple of small groups of gazelle including adult male who later made his way down to his usual grazing area near fence, along with at least six females and well grown young.

Hooded crow harassing raptor, long tail with subterminal dark band like kestrel but seemed a little larger , but not sparrowhawk, which has three bands. Crow repeated attacks, two separate incidents separated by at least fifteen mins.

stone curlew calls after sunset. Syrian woodpecker calls. No bee-eaters today. Plenty hyrax activity by valley raod.

Warm, temps even late afternoon 28 degrees C.

Globe thistle and thyme still flowering though many of former finished, those not are heavy with the red beetles.

Thursday 7th July

On way down from valley road to north watercourse dirt road adult male gazelle grazing on slope as a few days ago, prob same one. Three more gazelle grazing amongst Pistacias, females/well grown young.

Turtle dove coos, some collared dove vocalizations. house sparrow flock edge neighbourhood.

At least two hoopoes in usual area near the rock flats/dirt road turn off. Graceful warblers very vocal. Also near there some nice hobby sightings and vocalizations.. at least two individuals in the area. Syrian woodpeckers also very vocal. Jackdaws and hooded crows also heard and some greenfinch calls. Woodpecker also heard in /near garden at dawn as well as graceful warbler in cape honeysuckle. Sunbird and bulbuls also heard, latter from about 5.10 a.m. , later laughing doves as usual.

Jays, bee-eaters, blackbirds, stone curlews not seen or heard on walk.

As we approached pumping station calls from hillside I thought chukars, Akiva thought hyraxes.. the latter do have some vocalizations very similar to chukars.. habitat for both..

Saturday 9th July

MUCH vocalization of hyraxes on rocks by valley road, 'cypress slum' colony but we couldn't make out what the fuss was all about.. no dogs or cats about , much high pitched shrilling alarm calls, barks and bark snorts from many individuals but they weren't alarmed by us, and a mother was nursing three kits on a rock nearby unpeturbed. Perhaps a ground predator in one of the dens, like a snake?

No gazelles seen in any of the fields though one without horns just south of central trail shortly after sunset.

Sunbird garden, melodious calls, on street: laughing doves, bulbuls, house sparrows, woods, Eurasian jay activity. Also hooded crows, jackdaws, graceful warblers.

Hot today, got to 36 degrees C max, dropped below 30 after 6 p.m , cicadas still going at sunset though later, 10.30 p.m breeze picked up and clouds coming over from west. Easterlies were only for a couple of hours this morning but enough to really pick up the temperatures.

16 - 26th June

2011-06-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

Jumping spider on underside of blooming globe thistle. As I circled the globe thistles, (getting lots of histamine inducing pricks from all the blue tuft thistle foliage around it) the spider evaded me by circling away. They have good eyesight! However, since there are two of us it was a simple matter to hand the camera over to Akiva and he wasted no time getting this neat shot!

Thursday 16 June

Early morning garden: sunbird calls in the garden and calls of ring neck parakeet somewhere close in neighbourhood.

Peering through young pines by service road to field beyond, saw a number of bee-eaters skimming low over the grasses, also a hoopoe flew into tree

In the valley far end of Pistacia grove three sub-adult gazelle sproinging in a circle, frisky, taking it in turns to gambol about lightfooted , delightful to watch.

Hyraxes heard chittering up by pumphouse, calls similar in some ways to those of kestrel.
Fox sighting:

Also heard/seen: Graceful warblers, greenfinches, turtle doves, collared doves, Syrian woodpeckers, jackdaws, hooded crows, bulbul (calling loop /bridge area)

As night falls I hear a gecko not far off outside our window, as many evenings and nights lately.
No more luck with lampyrids since those found.

Saturday 18 th June

10 gazelle, all in east field.. adult male joined females in oat field near small olive grove, seemed to be almost herding them, nudged one that was low on the ground, made her get up and move on, then moved to another to move, in direction of windsurfer hill. Was he anxious about our proximity perhaps?

Graceful warbler lots of calls, greenfinches usual area, some Syrian woodpecker calls, jackdaws, hooded crows, bulbuls, bee-eaters,

hyraxes, some chukar like calls.

Sunday 19th June

4 gazelle in east field, adult male, indiv. with just one thin right horn and other female. Another nearby.

Several graceful warbler calls, greenfinches usual place, several hoopoes. Stone curlew calls direction of hidden watercourse, hobby in flight.

fox sighting.
Monday 20th June

8 gazelle : mainly eastern field.. two groups, one near fence usual area, other between olive grove and N/S dirt road. One male over there crossed into field from Pistacia grove, another male, limping, down in east watercourse pines down from valley road not far from sapling field, limping.

hyrax: 1 going into den up from pumphouse.. no other activity noted.

Bee-eaters: several low over north field or twice canopy level.. at least a dozen prob more.

hoopoes: several about east end of north watercourse dirt road and squatting on dust near cistern.

greenfinches singing in usual pine area, turtle dove coos in pines by north watercourse, collared doves, syrian woodpecker call, stone curlews, hooded crows, graceful warbler calls, jay calls

Tuesday 21st June

Graceful warbler calling repeatedly in cape honeysuckle about midday.
Walk: gazelles 4: adult male and another individual on skyline up on NE slope windsurfer hill. Another no visible horns in dry oat field betw small olive grove and cypresses. 4th edge field /dry area north of almond row.

collared doves active, no turtle dove coos today, some blackbird song, plenty syrian woodpecker calls, jay activity, bee-eaters active and vocal over both valleys, greenfinches calls and song in the usual areas.

Wednesday 22nd June

Gazelle: 8 east field windsurfer north slopes 4 indivs, females and well grown young running round to west slopes.. adult male big horns by thorny burnet near fence. On way up to east field three in cypresses, adult male slightly smaller horns with the one horn gazelle and another. 8th gazelle was at edge of young pines and north gazelle field, a female or well grown young.

Hobbies: cypresses by rock flats, at least one, very vocal, flew up and around, also one seen over north watercourse east end, same?

Hoopoes again near rock flats, north watercourse dirt road turn off.. at least two. Also Syrian woodpecker calls, blackbirds, great tits, collared and turtle dove coos, Jays incl. juveniles, jackdaws, hooded crows. In garden: house sparrows, bulbuls, sunbirds. Feral pigeons about as usual. No bee-eaters today, or swifts.. latter soon to leave.

Thursday 23rd June

Gazelle: adult male 'loser' moving from cistern area by Pistacias towards east field.
Hyraxes: a few of Shadiker colony and pumphouse colony active
fox: north watercourse, heading up opposite slope.

Hoopoes: at least two usual place beginning turn of north watercourse dirt road, flying from burnt area to pines and one taking dust bath on dirt road.

Syrian woodpecker calls, hobbies aloft, active, turtle doves and collared doves cooing, , graceful warblers calling, and also active around rock flats, some greenfinch calls in area, bee-eater calls, great tit calls.

garden: laughing doves coos, bulbul melodious calls, house sparrows.

Saturday 25th June

9 gazelle, mainly east field, bulbuls, stone curlews, hooded crows, hoopoes, Syrian woodpeckers, hobbies, greenfinches, jays.

Sunday 26th June

Gazelle briefly spotted up on windsurfer hill near top. Hyrax on wall of garden, back of buildings, top of bank, reaching up against fence to nibble tree leaves (fruit trees).. as we approached it ran surprisingly fast along wall towards tree on bank side, probably it's access to wall. Fox spotted at bridge just past pumphouse, jumped down into water channel under the bridge, (dry now of course)

Wind blowing briskly from west, coolish with that.. peak today just under 28 degrees C.
Great tit calls, Syrian woodpecker calls, brief hobby sighting, stone curlew calls from north fields and hillside, hooded crows about, Blackbird alarm, brief turtle dove coos, collared doves about. Bee-eaters heard just before we left the house .. at about 7 p.m. bulbuls.

9th -15th June

2011-06-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

Pistacia orchard looking nice and green while the ground level dries out.

The 'Blue tuft' thistle started to bloom on the 14th, this was near the turn off of the north watercourse dirt road.

9th June

Peak temp. 30 degrees C, definitely a rise on recent temps

8+ gazelle incl. 3 adult males: 1 male crossed north dirt road from woods to watercourse, Another from pine grove by eucs into east field (where later seen by thorny burnet clump licking his flank and grazing.. they may lick flanks to cool themselves?) , then female seen in woods as we ascended onto lower windsurfer slopes through the wooded area past Pistacia grove.. then at least five including an adult male grazing near top of windsurfer.
hoopoes, At least four in area of young pine grove esp around the bare burnt central area and past there to the rock flats (where little oak and cistern pit) on way to look-out corner.

Tristram's starling, I heard one call to north when we were on north dirt road, direction of hidden watercourse... Akiva heard another when we were in east field, from somewhere to north or north west of us.

stone curlew: some calls from direction of north field,

bee-eater: at least one about, calling, flying over us beginning of valley road,

nightjar: flew over lower part of east field, quite low from woods where we saw the female gazelle/ collared dove corner area , flew to almonds or olive in the small grove.

turtle doves: cooing in many places. Some collared doves about also. (laughing doves in garden as usual)
Eurasian jays: calls, individuals seen various places through the woods.

Syrian woodpecker calls, greenfinch calls and twitters around look-out corner, brief call sounded like ring necked parakeet from trees around east watercourse,

Gardens: house sparrows, bulbuls fledgelings.

Sat 11 June

Lots of hyraxes active by valley road. A few gazelle grazing high up on windsurfer hill. A fox ran up from east watercourse dirt road, up treed slopes. We looked for him when we got to top of shepherd's trail but didn't pick up sight of him again.

2 hoopoes dustbathing on dirt road, circle near cistern. Syrian woodpeckers. Bee-eater heard, 1 seen. Stone curlew calls up north of north gazelle field.
Collared dove flight calls and some activity, laughing doves on street, house sparrows. Hooded crows many places about valley as usual. Hobby aloft high over Pistacia grove soon.
before dusk. blackbird song, great tit calls, some graceful warbler calls.

Sun 12 June

House sparrows started up in garden about 5 a.m. still dark.

Hoopoe by rock flats again, heading into pines.. hobby calling, 2 circling high in flight earlier, Graceful warbler calls, greenfinches, turtle doves,

Lots of hyraxes including young by Shadiker colony rocks, 3 adult male gazelle grazing around north watercourse.. another in lower east field, couldn't see what , already light dimming by then. Stone curlew calls north field, 16 bee-eaters as we headed down..

Mon 13th June

Weather a little cooler, breezier, moist air, clouds blowing in from west, long thunder roll.
House sparrows, laughing doves, bulbuls in garden including fledgelings wing fluttering at dawn in Bauhinia, quite well grown but still asking for food.
Flock just over half dozen bee-eaters, flying about over valleys, calling, brief stone curlew calls,
Hobby calls and seen aloft, Jays about, young jay heard calling for food, graceful warbler calls, greenfinch calls around bunker area as usual, lots of Syrian woodpecker calls.

Gazelle: north watercourse a couple bachelors, another young adult male in woods near central trail, another couple ran up hill near batcave, spooked by some boys training on hillside, Lots of hyraxes, one climbing half way up acacia near pumping station, descended as we approached, lots by Shadiker including little ones,

Main flower in bloom visible now is globe thistle. Polygonum also blooming fresh, wild carrot finishing, blue tuft thistle foliage up but not blooming yet.

Tuesday 14th June

clear day today, mild, low 20s, humidity about 60% in the late afternoon

Gazelle: 3 in view grazing near fence east field nr foot of steeper windsurfer hill north slope.
Hyraxes: chittering calls near pumphouse

bee-eater calls, hoopoe over north gazelle field, headed into pines. Much twittering of greenfinches in a number of pines, some blackbird song, syrian woodpecker calls, great tit calls, turtle dove coos, collared dove coos. (garden coos of laughing doves and feral pigeons) , hobbies glimpsed.

(swifts and stone curlews quiet today)

Wednesday 15th June

clear skies, mild temps.. 28 degrees C earlier dropped to lower 20s later afternoon.

bee-eaters , flock about 18 hawking over edge of neighbourhood. Collared doves coos and display flight. Graceful warblers.

repeated sounds of ''hhan.......... hhan .......... hhan'' from down in pines , then spotted adult male gazelle , noticed when he made that noise, uplifted head and whole body momentarily stiff. Then he moved on with distinct tail wiggle, also acts as signal.

Vipers bugloss and fennel also in bloom

June 1st > 8th

2011-06-01T12:02:00.000-07:00

Above 'on', below, front view and 'off'. Same individual . I love these shots! Nice job Akiva!

Wednesday June 1st

Weather late afternoon mild/cool, breezy

Gazelle: 1 male ran across path north watercourse dirt road..

Then two more, prob also bachelors, emerged from north watercourse to graze on banks..

A 4th gazelle buck seen running through Pistacia grove

2 more, (female and well grown young?) moving uphill treed slopes windsurfer away from east watercourse dirt road

birds: turtle dove coos, collared dove coos, greenfinch chaws eucs by bunker rubble, Syrian woodpecker calls, hooded crows.. tall cypresses north of way to look out corner, rattling croak call from two close quarters.. territorial or between mates? Other calls

golden thistle blooming in north watercourse

Thursday June 2nd

Gazelle: upper NW slopes windsurfer, four gazelle loosely grazing together, appeared to be two groups of two, mother and well grown young. foot of slope near security fence flatter area.. three more , male and two with much less pronounced horns. Same story in field between smaller olive grove and cypresses. 10 in all

Hyraxes: by valley road

Birds: turtle doves cooing, two on line over east valley, farther along, two collared doves.. also still active cooing.
(laughing doves continue in the garden and yesterday middle of the day a feral pigeon was cooing quite emphatically from a window sill)

Delighted when Akiva spotted a wheatear in the sapling field. Good chance they are still breeding there despite all the foliage changes! Was a female or perhaps an immature, hard to tell, was quite dapper. Probably a black eared wheatear.

Look out corner greenfinches as usual, occasional call of Syrian woodpeckers, calls of stone curlews, Akiva spotted two in flight beyond ploughed area, on stony patch but when landed, invisible to both of us. Akiva also thought he glimpsed a hoopoe flying over at about almond line into pine grove. Likely he did. Hobby heard. Hoodies about as usual.

Saturday 4th June

Gazelle: Several seen grazing east field near fence betw. small olive grove and slopes, treed slope windsurfer up from east watercourse dirt road.. a female. sub adult betw olive grove and trees.. Akiva affirmed ten total in that area

Hyrax: numerous active along valley road, quite a few youngsters out and lively.

Birds: Most interesting, two nightjars flew over foot main north windsurfer hill slope, one a few seconds after the other but in line, headed into woods up from east watercourse.

wheatear call from somewhere in east field but no good views of the bird.

Otherwise: jackdaws, hooded crows, great tit fledgelings? greenfinches, much stone curlew vocalization north of gazelle field, stony area but didn't see. Syrian woodpecker calls. No bee-eaters again. Collared doves cooing esp in usual sw corner of east field but no turtle doves today.

(cooler, breezier than usual for this time of year lately, peak about 28 degrees C). mainly north/northwesterlies but for easterlies a few hours in the morning. Humidity, 30 , when easterlies of course, to 85% later in the afternoon.

Sunday 5 June

Hobby over nr. Bat cave. 2 bachelor gazelle betw north watercourse and trees just nw of bat cave. A third buck gazelle in young pine grove by service road.

Much singing of ground, ground fire around north watercourse and around bat cave area but still good patches of grazing even there.

Couple hoopoes seen separately, one by Akiva, one by me, first was in the pine grove mentioned above, second over gazelle field. Turtle dove coos, some collared dove coos, swift calls over valley road area between sunset and dusk. Blackbird song. Much greenfinch chawing and twittering around bunker area. Akiva glimpsed Eurasian jay. No woodpeckers, Prinias, wheatears or other regulars today.

Around buildings: house sparrows, bulbuls, laughing doves, hooded crows and jackdaws.. latter two also throughout the valleys.

Found two female larviform glowing lampyrids ('glow worms') on our walk.. one in grasses on bank .. we had found another a few days before but not had camera, so have carried ever since. On our way back into neighbourhood found another one by foot of steps up to our street on a chunk of conglomerate.. I carried it home on this and Akiva got a couple of pics above.. taken in salon in relatively low ambient light. Soon after she switched off. I released her in the garden.

Monday: 6 June

House sparrows, bulbuls, hooded crows: in woods, singing blackbirds, some graceful warbler calls, some great tit fledgeling calls, Eurasian jays making fuss near Pistacia grove, stone curlew calls north gazelle fields area,

Gazelle: 2 north eastern slopes windsurfer near fence, female & well grown young, later, adult male ran out of cover of cypresses we were approaching, headed out into field between small olive grove and us.. a short while later a fourth gazelle in Pistacia grove. As we approached the cistern, fox spotted headed into the Pistacias, lean, mainly greyish, tint of reddish, tail straight out behind.. then stopped to gaze at us as did the buck gazelle. Foxes usually do this.. they trot or walk to distance they consider safe, then stare at us.

Wednesday 8th June

Circled windsurfer hill clockwise from our side.. near top one of dirt roads watched male black eared wheatear (melanoleuca race, or was it a pied? dang don't remember if the back was black.. so used to seeing black eared hadn't occurred to me to check that obvious detail but only had good view against foliage for fraction of a second- shows importance of getting such details esp with this family ) in song, perched on boulders, every few minutes changing his location to cover more of his territory.

Male gazelle sighted near saddle watercourse where we descended.. another glimpsed.. snorts heard.

Akiva found another 'glow worm' which he attempted to photograph but she turned off before he got a good shot. That also placed in the garden. Hopefully they might breed there given flighted visiting males!

May 2nd Half

2011-05-30T11:45:00.000-07:00

above: Broom, in bloom here and there not far from east watercourse.

Beetle on pomegranate leaf.. many were flying about the tree near cistern between sunset and dusk, as well as lacewings (further down the page). Below, this species of ladybird (or ladybug but of course really a beetle) seems the most prevalent right now. Its larvae also found on milfoil, thistle and some other plants. (Black aphids also quite common now on fennel and various composites)

Below, mating robber flies on thorny burnet. I realised these seeding composites by the burnet are actually fleabane.. they're everywhere.. given the small size of the flower itself the seedheads are unexpectedly spreading. Caper bugs about, many nymphs seen but still plenty healthy capers.

30th May

Much earlier vegetation starting to dry out now, grasses turning yellow, most thistles and fleabane going to seed and we're picking up 'caterpillar burs' and nasty sainfoin seedpods on our walks, but other vegetation just getting green, such as mullein and Varthemia sprouting up fresh everywhere. First blooming thyme noticed today! The thistle which has small blue tuft blooms has come up everywhere but not bloomed as yet. Caper vegetation esp along valley road.. we noticed blooms more at night than day. Wild carrot is everywhere, Polygonum has put forth fresh green, fleabane making surprisingly spreading seedheads and a large purple late thistle noticed, not milk thistle. Hawthorns produced more fruit than last year (which was none) but far from their best. Pomegranates in full bloom now. Horehound and Ballota now in bloom. Thorny burnet berries mostly brown.

Birds: Prinias very active and vocal, hobbies about , calling esp. round sunset. Blackbirds in song then too. Some stone curlew calls. Hooded crows as active as usual and jackdaw calls on and off through the day when their flocks are active. Collared doves less now, intermittant, more muted. Turtle dove coos sometimes heard. Greenfinches twittering and chawing around bunker rubble area but seem somewhat fewer than previous years.
Around the buildings: house sparrows, bulbuls, sunbirds, laughing doves, feral pigeons and several times a week noisy calls of ring neck parakeets heard.. they fly from forest to/around neighbourhood and back, favouring the eucalyptus by east watercourse. Syrian woodpeckers today heard around north watercourse. In last week various young birds heard calling for food, some of them sounded like young great spotted cuckoos but didn't get sightings. Bee-eaters heard a few times, but not in notable numbers, the odd large brown job passing through, stopping by to roost overnight (honey buzzards?) , occasional Tristram starling calls, chukar partridges spotted on rocks around the area .

Plenty gazelle grazing activity noticed lately.. up to at least a dozen gazelle active in east field and windsurfer hill slopes, various bachelors still seen between north watercourse and hidden watercourse. Hyraxes active in the usual colonies and some young seen. Hedgehog heard on our walk the other night, snuffling in vegetation close to valley road. Occasional fox sightings in various places but no more cubs spotted.

Insects: see above. .Bath white butterfly spotted yesterday, various small blues and Satyrids but not good close views. More grasshoppers, the one with lateral broad stripes and crimson underwing. More black millipedes. Cicadas heard at the zoo last week but not up here yet. Crickets at night.

More gecko activity on building walls at night heard. No agamas seen yet. Correction.. Akiva saw agama in small park near central bus station early afternoon yesterday. I

This blog is four years old now! Wow so much discovered in these few years, more than we realized could be here since we arrived in north Jerusalem about 18 years ago..I feel like I only actually LIVED the last four from a natural history point of view.

31st May

Yesterday evening, 30th May we spotted 'glow worm' (really a beetle) on rock not far from valley road, low bank.. it was dark and no camera for pic.. but looked like she was arcing front part of her body up and backwards.. the last three segments of abdomen glowing steady light green.

Another hedgehog making its way through milk thistle, didn't see, just heard.

Spookiest thing, this evening (31st) after 10.30 7 (or 6, we were so astonished we both totally forgot to count) appeared to be large white birds appeared over east valley, about twice canopy height and together silently flew over us, slightly fluttering (against wind) somewhat up and over the neighbourhood, looked ghostly white reflecting all ambient light, quite large .. only thing that remotely fit were egrets but not quite like them either and at such a late hour. Couldn't make out head shape but broad wings. Entire owl family? Never saw so many owls flying together and only thing that would look so light would be barn owls which I don't think are here.

Italian Anchusa in bloom on upper valley road (from edge neighbourhood to below pool), also broom near east watercourse(above, top)

Today's afternoon walk (31st May) .. Hooded crow with great spotted cuckoo juvenile on electic cable post, crow hopped right over the cuckoo which was calling incessantly.. ignoring it. As we approached to take a pic the cuckoo flew into some nearby pines but crow remained. Singing blackbirds various places east valley, Prinias, jackdaws, Syrian woodpeckers.

May: First half

2011-05-05T01:28:00.000-07:00

The white sage discovered in the ploughed field area behind the almond row.. now overgrown with oats, golden thistle and an assortment of other vegetation. Above, close up, below, whole plant. A number of these in a patch there, not noticed in previous years.

Grasshopper nymph on Kickxia.. lots of these about now by roadside and plenty little yellow blooms on the Kickxia.

Firebug on fleabane. Fleabane pretty much past its prime now, gone to seed. Below, a related firebug on fresh mullein foliage. This is the one near the pumping station, already has a flower as of yesterday.

Wednesday 4 May

Hiked up to the quarry. Tristram's starlings whistling all about, settling on rocks around quarry Akiva saw for sure 6 individuals at once and had impression from all the calls that there were more about.

Chukar partridges also around quarry environs and lip of quarry itself, we didn't count how many. Akiva had impression their backs are paler and greyer than those back around east watercourse, that the latter were browner. The grey would certainly give them more camouflage in this open stony environment. He also thought the hyraxes looked paler and greyer too though the ones we saw were the more mature individuals which tend to be more blonde and shaggy than younger breeding individuals and young.

Buteo over the valley, had terminal tail bar though thin, much banding but no noticeable dark shoulder areas. Hobbies not noticed yesterday though have been seen and heard this month.

An unfamiliar lark noticed on approach to quarry, had shorter crest than crested lark and hardly any striation, body tending to rufous buff. salmon coloured legs , not sure about bill, also salmon I think.

Swifts about, jays in woods, singing blackbirds, great tit fledgelings heard within 100 feet of bunker rubble, greenfinches twittering in that region, collared doves active and heard and on some days also turtle doves,

Gazelles: Saw two adult bucks by north watercourse with one much younger buck , same party of three I suspect we saw a couple of weeks ago. Are these those two males we used to see frequently around north watercourse in vicinity of bat cave, the younger male having attached itself to them, mini bachelor herd?
Gazelle snorts also heard lately from time to time. Gazelles noticed lately tend to have been grazing dispersed over any of the fields, not herding so much.

Saturday 7 May male and female blackcap foraging for food in scrubby/eucalyptus area between saplings and pumping station. Another blackcap pair in trees half way along from there to cistern, as well as family of great tits and one pipit like striated job perched and quite still half way up tree, striated on breast, back with stripes about eye and white fleck on shoulder.

Other birds similar to sunday.

Sunday 7 May
Bee-eaters at least two groups, largest about three dozen .. as yesterday favouring eucs by look out corner as settling place, they had not used those in previous years. , swallows, big brown jobs, Buteos? Several about, passing through, swallows zipping through two small groups

8 male gazelle grazing between bat cave and north watercourse, walking about, two practice sparring,

then saw fox moving from bat cave, followed north of north watercourse east betw. rock shelf and thorny burnets, then headed across watercourse into young pine grove by service road, stopped by wall, appeared to have caught something, sat by there for a while on haunches then headed off towards north gazelle field

Also greenfinches, collared doves, turtle doves, blackbirds but not singing, masked shrike heard in a number of places, one seen in pine near where north watercourse dirt road angles towards central trail. Syrian woodpeckers.

Masked shrike also seen late last week and others heard.

Lots of marbled whites about, counted at least 8 settled out of wind in a patch of thistles and mustard by north trail,

Now in morning in garden bulbuls and sunbirds starting up about 5.40 a.m. laughing doves also. House sparrows earlier . bulbuls also like hunting around the tamarisk over the storm drain.

16 May Monday

Hidden watercourse area , fox family working upstream near acacias far side, vixen with two , Akiva believes three cubs , she was relatively dark but cubs much paler, quite well grown. Another fox around a bit of a distance away.. the dog? Managed to get glimpses of young ones .

Also about: plenty hyraxes including fairly well grown young Shadiker colony very active at dusk as we came up, some barks heard. Also gazelle, at least 5 adult bucks butterfly area before you get to hidden watercourse, amongst the cypresses.

Increasing foliage of goldilocks, thyme, caper, polygonum, mullein, Kickxia.. this is the time their greenery really fills out while the milk and Syrian go to seed and wither back.. but for the summer thistles.. the blue tuft thistle which is also coming into green. Yesterday got a number of shots of various arthropods on this foliage.. always worth checking out the various flower heads for insect life. Wild carrot is also flowering everywhere now and still some milfoil here and there.

Yesterday it had rained earlier in the day . . in the relatively low flat area east field near the fence , between the small olive grove and north hill slopes, amongst pale yellow sea of dried oats 8or 9 gazelle behaving friskily, running, chasing, leaping.. two (juvenile males) in mock spar, another one from grazing group rushed at one of the combatants, chase ensued to and fro.. more chases as we watched.. seemed they all just wanted to be playful and were running about just for the sheer joy and exercise, amazing speed and nimbleness.

Birds now: graceful warblers noisy and active, much purring of turtle doves, occasional calls of greater spotted cuckoo youngsters calling as hoodies forage for them and wait on them, masked shrike in the Pistacia grove yesterday just after sunset, jackdaws, blackbirds, Syrian woodpeckers esp in eucs by Pistacias, chukar partridge up by hidden watercourse today, larks heard in that area and also east field yesterday but no sightings or definite calls of black eared wheatears this season yet, surprising.

Quite a few Buteos (or other big brown jobs, likely honey buzzards) passing through lately wanting to roost but the hoodies harass them when they see them. Yesterday another much smaller raptor joined in the harassment but didn't get a good view of what it was.

Two new species of white sage like flower found lately.. one bushy and branching with basal leaves with more elaborate lipped flowers growing in the ploughed field area behind almond row (head of page) found a week or so ago, and this one, below, foliage and flower, growing by rocks . I have seen neither in previous seasons but too easy to overlook white flowers.

Tuesday 19th April-30th April

2011-04-19T20:25:00.000-07:00

Checkered beetle on Achillea

Tuesday 19th April

Gazelle: adult male west heading into woods after crossing dirt road from windsurfer hill to cistern. Small individual at the foot of this trail near cistern.

Fox: heading into woods west of gazelle field.

Two hobbies flying high over valley road. Greenfinch call and twitters around look out corner about sunset but not as much as previous years, just a few individuals, not a flock. Graceful warbler calls. stone curlew calls at dusk,

Garden: sunbirds, bulbuls, house sparrows, laughing doves as usual.

2 black veined white butterflies clinging to a Syrian thistle on the way to the cistern as dusk set in.

Wednesday 20th April

Headed to 'butterfly meadow', between north watercourse and hidden watercourse. On the way heard turtle doves, first I've heardthis season. On the way we saw a number of marbled whites, first I've noticed this season.

On the way back small flock on the hillside , didn't get good view but seemed to be linnets as far as I could make out.

A number of gazelle, both male and female, scattered and grazing on hillside beyond hidden course, in twos and threes.

Tristram's starlings calling up near wall, near head of hidden watercourse. Chukar partidges seen and heard. Shrike heard on the way back near north watercourse.. probably masked. European cuckoo heard. Glimpses of hobbies and sparrowhawks.

Thursday 21st April

Linnets on bank, got good view of one , corroborating yesterday's linnet sightings. More turtle doves.

Windsurfer hill: lots of clumps of Cistus on north and north west slopes, very light almost sandy soils there. pink butterfly orchids found withered with well developed seed pods on western slopes.

Several gazelle seen on the hillsides.

Monday: 26th April

Plenty gazelle seen today: east field in olive grove, long horn male, from horns I think the east field harem alpha. A female nearby behind. A couple of others, looked like well grown young, in field between grove and cypresses at foot of hill. North field: a second adult male up on back near fence, up from watercourse. A third adult male with several females and well grown young, at least five, in the field behind almond row. Further confirmation both areas have adult male with male/young group as well as a spare male between the two, none belonging to the bachelor herd, though the middle male may have been part of that herd, hard to know without marking. At least a dozen individuals seen today.

Hyraxes about and active forest side of valley road.

Buteos , 3 soaring high over east field. terminal tail bar, dark shoulders , otherwise nondescript brown barring on off white.

Hobbies, seen last few days over valley, sometimes one, sometimes pair, also calls.

turtle dove and collared dove coos in woods, laughing dove coos about houses. House sparrow flock by almonds/cistern, at this season they go into fields for grass seed.

Graceful warblers very vocal by east field east watercourse and other places. Blackbird song late afternoon. Stone curlew calls after dusk saturday. Syrian woodpecker one call.

Achillea, bright yellow relative of yarrow, blooming in many open places. One by valley road had largest crab spider I've seen, very camouflaged, had ambushed and grasping not sure what, hoverfly? Or bee, didn't see too close, didn't have camera for shot.

Sat: 30 April

More on Achillea.. on one small stand by north watercourse late last week found a marbled white, several green caterpillars, a checkered beetle and various larvae that may have been ladybird larvae or of some other beetle as well as ants on the stalks.

Gazelles: 3 up near top windsurfer hill, buck following female centre forest and couple females/well grown young lower treed slopes windsurfer.

Fox on one of the rockpiles just north of centre trail, in shade of woods, walking about, investigating. Looked our way a couple of times. Briefly saw another mammal just behind another rockpile beyond it.. got only two very brief glimpses , seemed to be avoiding encounter, got impression it was another fox.

Birds: Flock about 30 bee-eaters around cistern, settled in cistern pine and then took off together, wheeling around, calling. Hobbies about, multiple calls, appearances. Thursday: also hobbies, had nice view of sparrowhawk landed on branch just beyond north watercourse dirt road.. grey wings, top head, back, breast horizontally streaked pale and light rufous.
Also swifts, greenfinches twittering between eucalyptus and bunker pines on sat late aft. collared doves, turtle doves thursday but not sat, latter cooler, that's perhaps why. They seem to prefer cooing on warmer sunnier days but the cooler days don't put off the collareds.

16th,17th April

2011-04-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

North gazelle field, approach to shaft.. fields yellow with wild mustard.
Pistacias looking a lot better after their pruning, much more growth and greenery.

Nigellas by north valley watercourse dirt road.

Below, Syrian thistles with black and white spotted beetles.. many blooms had these visitors.

Below, A rose chafer visits a Syrian thistle.

Saturday 16th : Gazelles: At least 10 between north and east fields, in small groups or twos.. adult males seen in each field, in north following a female , in east by himself though probably associated with the females there.. ( they often prefer to graze apart from the females and young and can still be the alpha male of the harem ) . This could mean a buck with females in each area? Possible.

Neighbour Rabbi Goldwasser recently observed sparring behaviour in Pistacia grove area.. looks like there's a challenger to the east field male. Same one as a few months back or another one from bachelor herd trying out? Can't know for sure without marking them some way.

Sunday 17th : Adult male near north watercourse, quite close to us, good size horns.

Interesting behaviour in rocks above bat cave.. Akiva first noticed a fox there.. as I zoomed in with binoculars noticed there was a hyrax sitting on the rocks there. The fox circled but the hyrax stayed completely still, apparently unfazed. Then suddenly, after the hyrax moved a little, though not obviously threateningly , not from our point of view anyway, the fox ran off toward the east. The fox is nearly twice the size of the hyrax but the latter can be quite feisty fighters and the fox had no interest taking on a mature adult. This is also the first time we've ever noticed a hyrax on those rocks. A nomad? No colony over there. Later, hoarse hyrax barks heard at dusk from direction of cypress slum colony.

As the fox moved off we heard much agitated calling from stone curlews.. probably a pair had a nest out on the hillside there and the parents were raising the alarm. They would probably want to distract the fox away from the eggs or chicks.

A call drew my attention to the cypresses just west of the bat cave. A hobby was perched up there, nice look out position. A short while after we watched a pair circle over the watercourse, not very high but quite a bit higher than canopy level. No chasing behaviour so we took them to be a bonded pair. They then headed off towards the owl glade.

Jackdaw flock roosting in eucalyptus, look out corner. Relatively new roost due to building on south west slopes of windsurfer hill, disrupted their usual haunts and behaviour patterns.

Much calling from graceful warblers heard, some greenfinch calling though not as much as previous years, calls of bee-eaters heard earlier , (bee-eaters also heard friday afternoon over edge of neighbourhood, about a dozen spotted) , collared doves in trees usual north western corner of east field, some blackbird song, hooded crows about as usual. Shrike heard from near pumping station.

Garden: bulbul and sunbirds heard before 6 a.m. but still later than first house sparrows. Laughing doves cooing later. No Orphean warbler. Unusual unfamilar high pitched call heard earlier on saturday but could not find cause.. single notes repeated insistently. Not psittacine, too thin but loud.

Much pollen in the air! Most of north gazelle field has wild mustard neck high or higher along with wild barley and oats, along with pine pollen. Yellow Nigella found in a number of patches along north watercourse dirt road, had never seen so much of it there before.. as well as much blooming Syrian thistle. Gundelia flowering is finishing, more Acanthus than I've ever seen before, Asphodel is making seed capsules and its foliage turning orange, very obvious on the hillsides. We'd noticed caterpillars but as yet no marbled whites about. Many Umbellifers like Ainsworthia, though florets fewer, more sparse. not sure of ID at all, so many self similar of those.

Some flowers on hawthorns.. not as many as a few years back but improvement on last year when we found no blooming hawthorns at all.

23 March > 9 April

2011-03-23T09:42:00.000-07:00

Happily Nurit/ Persian (or Turban) buttercup are back! We didn't see any last year but this year they are blooming in many places.

Wednesday 23 March

First corn poppies seen! three on woods side just past pumping station, amongst wild wheat, mustard and other vegetation, a bunch more on the verge of east valley dirt road, in usual place near sapling field but notably double or triple numbers in any previous season as far as I've noticed. Other usual site for them is by bunker rubble but didn't check there today.

Adult male gazelle seen just south of olive grove moving towards it, long horn one. Shortly after saw adult male heading into pines and cypress at very north end of east field though uncertain if same one or if it was the 'losing' male that has haunted that stretch in past.. Could have been switch over in olive grove region, light already getting dim.

As we passed look out corner I said ''look out for foxy!'' as we had seen one in that area passing by at dusk. Akiva expressed his doubt we'd see one in the failing light then seconds later pointed as a fox crossed the east watercourse dirt road and headed into the Pistacia orchard a few yards ahead of us! Second time this week that has happened.

Bats over valley road, a few spotted in last week.

As we came down from the hill I heard a European cuckoo call from direction of east watercourse and as we passed look out corner, several more calls from direction of owl glade/shaft. Also heard yesterday.

More calls of stone curlews after dusk today and yesterday and jackdaws, hooded crows making big noise over larger trees along east watercourse as usual these days. Collared doves some coos.

Also heard, great tits, Syrian woodpecker (yesterday) , blackbird song and graceful warbler calls by valley road both days.

Garden: melodious sunbird calls around dawn, house sparrow chirps before dawn from about 4.30 a.m. when still v dark. Laughing dove coos.

Saturday 26th March

Gazelles: 5 in the field beyond the almond row, (which , like most of the forepart of gazelle field is now a yellow riot of wild mustard of at least two different species. ) 3 more gazelle in east field just south of the small olive grove. All females and well grown young, no adult males visible.

Birds: garden, house sparrows, sunbirds, laughing doves, bulbuls, linnet call?

Forest: blackbird song, European cuckoo calling at the corner of the bank, near where the bee orchid grows (must check on that plant)

Now more clover about.

Monday 28th March

21 (+) mountain gazelle: Bachelor herd 16 grazing by north watercourse in eucalyptus grove near bat cave, varying ages from fully mature males to a younger males, horns only about a quarter the size. A little farther east more out in the open a group of at least 5 females and well grown young.

While viewing the females picked up sight of a fox which was making its way along the banks of the north watercourse, then headed across the field in the direction of the shaft.

Birds: greenfinches chaw, cooing collared doves, chatter of great spotted cuckoos every now and again, a Buteo overhead..

Sunday 3rd April

Several more Buteo seen, generally very dark body.

Today, 5 gazelle, north hillslopes, an adult female, an adult male, both by skyline though not together, then group of three we spooked, headed down hill.

Fox, yesterday heading down hill a little north of shepherd's trail under trees, brown/red body, paler face.

Crested larks on hillside, a few individuals seen, calling from rocks, flitting about, flying low. Collared doves, greenfinches about and vocalizing, Jackdaws , hooded crows foraging on ground on hill near top, Graceful warbler calls. Pair of great spotted cuckoos flew over hill, may have been scouting olive grove or other trees to north for suitable nests.
Stone curlew vocalizations after dark.

Vegetation: Persian buttercups (Nurit) (most not great condition compared with two years ago but blooming many places) , pink (hairy) and yellow flax on hill, Alcea various places, full variety of clovers over hill esp. star clover. Gundelia starting to open. Most of rest, wild grains and grasses.

yesterday: that nice specimen bee orchid found near old machneh up from corner picnic site same place third season now, several more on trail across valley road from there and down slope, but much shorter individuals. Also near there: toothed orchid and Ajuga.

Sat. 9 April.

Bee-eaters! First time we saw this season and first time I heard though Akiva thought he had been hearing them a few times over the past week. First about 12 over valley road and neighbourhood shortly after we went out and later about two dozen over neighbhourhood and pumping station closer to sunset.

Blackbird song in two places on the bank, one atop a cypress, another in an acacia farther toward the pumping station.

Also graceful warblers about, jackdaws and hooded crows as usual. Pair of kestrels flying over neighbourhood up from pumping station, circling over/about buildings.

Gazelle: 2 bucks in view near bat cave grazing in open. Those two bucks we've seen before in association or were there others of bachelor herd out of view? Aggravated sounding hyrax barking from atop a boulder up from pumping station. Could be just territorial, no fox or cat in view.

Garden: consistent over last few days: Bulbul heard melodious shortly before 6 a.m. sunbird soon after, house sparrows early, from around 5.30 , laughing dove later, around sunrise. Listening for the Orphean warbler we heard last year but not heard.

Haven't been out much over past week due to fall on hillside, smashed knee on rock, decided better to rest it till worst pain gone.

Vegetation blooming now: milk thistle, purple and white , more viper's bugloss, yellow milfoil

15 -21 st March

2011-03-15T09:36:00.000-07:00

Micromeria type, (?) what I call ''minimint'' since the flowers are so tiny, barely 2mm across.

Borage family species found in middle of forepart of gazelle field, level with the bunker rubble.. Anchusa or related but could not find a satisfactory match on Sarah Gold's site so far.

These gorgeous little yellow jobs flourishing more than I've ever seen before around the edges of gazelle field, looks like member of Ranunculaceae , striking butterfly flower shape. In contrast the one Egyptian campion plant had very imperfect flowers this season. Neither seen last year due to the ploughing but this year all other vegetation doing very nicely, at least double the height of two and three years ago. Common mustard species, buckler's mustard, pheasant's eye, and now the chamomile daisies are starting to bloom, and a variety of Geranium and Erodium.

Tuesday 15 March

weather dryer, slightly warmer ~16 degrees C

Gazelle: 1 alpha male treed slopes lower windsurfer. Then saw three subadults in field, ran off down towards olive grove where we saw 7 individuals, females and well grown young, but not sure how much overlap of the three and the seven. One or two probably counted twice- so 9-10 individuals

fox ran into Pistacia grove dusk by look out corner.

Row of mandrakes just off upper shepherd's trail about three quarters way up, hadn't seen them previous years, half a dozen.. All now have green berries.

Birds: hooded crows, jackdaws, swifts, blackbird song, collared dove coo,

Sunday 20 March

European cuckoo heard 4 x direction of Pistacia grove/east watercourse as heard from valley road dusk yesterday, also today from direction of shaft as heard from look out corner.

White breasted kingfisher? Heard several times in the last week along east valley watercourse, today up the hill to the east a little.

Two gazelle: up slopes shepherd's trail

Several blackbirds in song, great tit calls, jackdaw calls, also more stone curlew calls heard from the perimeters lately.

The firecrackers of Purim season seem to get louder every year, I really hope it does not cause significant nest desertions.

Monday 21st March

Well, the firecrackers don't seem to have disturbed the blackbirds who regularly sing so beautifully in the late afternoon in various parts of the woods and bank. Great tits and Graceful warblers also heard. Near the cistern, in the pine grove/eucalyptus grove area collared dove flight call heard for the first time this season. Jackdaws, Jays, hooded crows also seen.

About a week ago neighbours Dumas and Broide noticed flock of large white birds heading over. Dumas reported clear vocalizations so from that they'd be common cranes. Seems a bit early for storks. I need a number estimate yet.

Two gazelle seen grazing in field near security road, between small olive grove and windsurfer north slopes. Akiva caught glimpse of probable fox on ramp back up from valley road to back of houses, very brief but he thought he saw white tail tip. A few fox sightings lately but only very brief glimpses and when already dark or getting dark.

Meanwhile, plant growth continues to grow luxuriantly everywhere. I noticed many grape hyacinths popping up wild in front gardens, Palestine vetch festooning roadsides and many of a tiny mint, probably veined Savory, Micromeria nervosa, by valley road as well as mustard, chamomile, that long season common short yellow flowered legume flowering yet again. (above)

March : first two weeks

2011-03-02T09:29:00.000-08:00

View by sapling field, looking roughly north along east watercourse Sunday 13th afternoon.

Bulbous Cranesbill, Geranium tuberosum

Above: member of cress/cabbage family blooming near shepherd's trail

Above: one of the vetches found on thorny burnet. One of Lathyrus or closely related? Other similar species blooming now are off white or salmon in colour.

Wednesday 2nd March

Gazelle: 1 seen near north watercourse, near bat cave. couldn't see if horns. Second was adult male in Pistacia grove.

porcupine: some scat found on trail from valley road north corner to dirt road. They tend to make scat on sloping trails like that.

Lots of flowering Euphorbia now, also a flowering broom by north watercourse in open, only broom seen yet, no foliage.. not spiky broom though. White broom is also in bloom now.
Stone curlew, jackdaws, graceful warbler, Tristram's starling, Syrian woodpecker
Have been hearing faint swift screams over the last few days, nothing definite, but this morning, thursday 3 March, Akiva saw one on his way out to work, just 1 over entrance to our street.

Thursday 3rd March

Saw my first swift of season definite! Flying over valley road. Also about, jackdaws, hooded crows, first cooing collared dove near pumping station. graceful warblers.

Searching for wild tulip western windsurfer slopes above treeline. Did find those single stem lilies as well as a very nice stand of Ophrys lutea and some pink butterfly orchids and patches of the blue purple cress. These four first seen of season. Still lots of asphodel and anemone. Every red flower was approached in hope of tulip but no luck today.. will try again! Most vetches now are the salmon coloured and pale but today found a nice deep purple one.. prob one of Lathyrus.

Saturday 5th March

gazlle? ch

First noticed Carmel bee orchids (by shepherd's trail) , small iris (on hillside above shepherd's trail)

noticed blooming over past week: pheasant eye

swifts heard, syrian woodpeckers, hooded crows and jackdaws about. Laughing doves and collared doves cooing.

Wednesday 9 March

Last few days was a mild chamsin. This broke this morning with cool, blustery winds, later also some hail. At time of our walk temps were down between 6 and 7 degrees C. winds about 6 knots, westerly/north westerly.

5 gazelle on hillslope under trees just south of shepherd's trail, females, well grown young including a subadult male, horns growing nicely, stopped and marked the place with scat..

Jays, jackdaws heard. No hyraxes out, we didn't expect them to be out in this damp and cold.

the small purple flowered Figwort, Scrophularia peyronii growing by side of valley road. I had seen those on hillside to north but first time I've seen it down nearer to home. Also noticed lately, in last week or two, a white Silene growing by our street.

Sunday 13 th March

Bulbuls again heard regularly in the garden esp. around dawn. Sunbird melodious calls, house sparrows chirps, laughing dove coos and foraging on the ground. Still hearing linnets in early mornings but not as much as before.

In the woods: Eurasian jays, Syrian woodpecker calls occasional, jackdaws and hooded crows esp. around dusk, blackbird song, graceful warblers in usual habitats,

3 adult male gazelle seen just west of bat cave, woods across from north watercourse, including one male with particularly long magnificent horns, larger than any I recall seeing, including the east field alpha male.

Bulbous cranesbill photographed today (above), various other Geraniums and Erodium blooming. Now wood sorrel and Palestine vetch now blooming. Cyclamen, asphodel, anemone, shepherd's purse, roman squill continue.

Thurs 17 Feb to end of Feb

2011-02-17T08:06:00.000-08:00

Thurs 17 Feb
Lovely walk over north watercourse to hidden watercourse, across, then over hillside to service road and back through young pine grove.

1st noticed of season : LOTS of Roman squill on hillsides to north, white speedwell (in north watercourse) , blooming buckler mustard,

Peak of asphodel, more red anemone & cyclamen. (First cyclamen noticed day of mandrake)
Thorny burnet male flowers noticed also in past few days.
First time found a beautiful small fern in rocks near hidden watercourse. Only other fern I've found was maidenhair, this different species.

Fox: near flintstone saddle area, adult male gazelle, just west of bat cave.

Birds about: singing blackbird at dusk. Yesterday Akiva heard one mid afternoon 3 p.m. but then was overcast. He also noticed hooded crow carrying stick for nest,
Graceful warbler calls,

Noticed yesterday late afternoon, white wagtails on rooftop by Elias and about their roosting tree, linnets assembling next door cypress. Stone curlews after dark from direction of east field.

Saturday 19th Feb

Insect life is getting underway: over the past week or so we have seen increasing numbers of caterpillar ground tents and on thursday we found a small praying mantis in a thyme bush. Akiva has also seen grasshoppers, a hummingbird hawkmoth, hoverflies.

linnets still about, sunbird getting more active in the cape honeysuckle, all the food I put out on the table was gone by lunchtime, probably mostly by sparrows but perhaps linnets got some.

Gazelle: 4: Today, three over in the north field ploughed area, a lone (adult female), lower slopes north windsurfer hill by security road.. up from the small olive grove, an area they have favoured in the past.

Black redstart present at bunker rubble, Syrian woodpecker heard. Jackdaws, hooded crows, collared doves about, latter in their tree south west corner of east field.

Round leaf geranium and deadnettle starting to flower by the road side, savyon and fumitory still blooming.

Some kind of escaped psittacine about, mostly calling, single calls but gave a couple of phrases of almost song quality early morning. Didn't get a view.

21st Feb

Gazelles: 5 heading up treed west slopes windsurfer hill short way south of windsurfer.

calls of blackbirds, great tits, jackdaws, blackbird chaks at dusk, stone curlews just after and also, remarkably from down near east watercourse, repeated call of European cuckoo.. this early! Perhaps it overwintered like those turtle doves, and just kept low profile. Swifts are due now a few days, but none seen or heard here yet. Lark calls on east field but no good views. Tristram's starling calls over neighbourhood, up from pumping station.

A nice size spread of tiny blue borage types growing by valley road on way to pumping station. I had not seen them there previous season but had photographed this species just above tree line windsurfer hill.

Wednesday 23rd Feb

11 gazelles, 8 east field, (low part just south of small olives) including two subadult males sparring, 3 ploughed area beyond almond row north field also including 2 young males sparring, general playful mood amongst gazelles, high sproinging, running about.

linnets in trees next door, heard 6 am. Also about house, cooing laughing doves, house sparrows, sunbirds.
In woods.. blackbirds, syrian woodpecker call. Hooded crows, jackdaws about. Seep of chiffchaffs? On east field sibilant calls, lark like but none spotted. Looked for stonechats, not.

Saturday 26 Feb

14 gazelles! 7 by north watercourse near bat cave, at least three had long horns (adult males) so bachelor herd. 6 running through pine grove by service road including one adult male, 1 lone adult male looking down at us from about head of shepherd's trail, up from east watercourse dirt road, looked like alpha male of the east field group. Given we didn't see his females and well grown young, would mean probably still 20 plus gazelles in the area.

Garden: sunbird melodious calls, house sparrow chirps, laughing dove coos, linnet twitters next door.

Also about: jackdaws, hooded crows, some jay calls, blackbird chatter at dusk near look out corner, stone curlew call from direction of north fields/hidden watercourse.

still no swifts! late this year.

hyrax coarse barks from valley road area approaching and at dusk, bat over valley road just after dark.

flowers: now two kinds of fumitory, the many flowered pink and the longer white and purple. Also wood sorrel in association with the latter, round leaf geranium. Buckler mustard and shepherd's purse already making seed pods, asphodel, roman squill, anemone all over.

Monday 28th Feb

11 gazelle: Two adult males and a juvenile near north valley watercourse, eucalyptus area near bat cave. A group of at least 7 near a small stand of small trees farther east along north watercourse, more open area.. frisky, some playful head butting , jumping , kicking behaviour.
1 more heading up away from Pistacia grove.

Great spotted cuckoos heard for the first time this season, from near bat cave and from near cistern. Akiva spotted cuckoo in flight. Much jackdaw and hooded crow noise and restless pre roost circlings over tall trees by east watercourse.. possibly displaced from their usual place south west slopes of windsurfer due to building there so we have many roosting non breeders interfering with season's breeders in those trees. Also heard, graceful warbler in acacias by north watercourse,
Gardens: sunbirds, linnets, house sparrows, laughing doves. Haven't heard bulbuls in a while. Feral pigeons about rooftops.

Found flowering Bongardia by Pistacia grove, also some foliage of more near foot of shepherd's trail. Two kinds of vetch blooming, the salmon coloured and the pale off white. Lots of foliage of pimpernel, but no flowers yet, around foot of path from corner valley road to north valley dirt road. Possibly bloomed earlier in our veg patch due to better soil conditions. More blooming wood sorrel and fumitories. Got I.D. on the fern we found last week in crescent of rocks facing hidden watercourse, Cheilanthes pteridioides (thanks to Sara Gold of the site I use for plants. I had e mailed her a pic and she kindly obliged with I.D. ) , one of our pics below

February 1st half

2011-02-06T08:40:00.000-08:00

14 Feb: Mandrake flowers: This plant was found close to the north watercourse, though these days this stream only flows during substantial rain so it is relatively dry. This is the third mandrake plant we have found in the area, whole plant radial habit and about 2 feet across. I noticed when I handled the leaves, which were thick and almost leathery, a strange pungent aroma was immediately released into the air and lingered on my fingers for about quarter of an hour.

We looked for the plant by the long trail down to north watercourse dirt road but without success.

Sunday 6 Feb:

Blooming asphodel everywhere.

Today: gazelles: 1 female ran across central trail near look out corner, heading towards east watercourse area, looking over her shoulder frequently as if she expected something following her, at us, or at another gazelle farther back? We didn't see

Male adult on slopes up from east watercourse dirt road, between trees, heading south.

yesterday: gazelle spotted in small olive grove

Last week, sightings of a few sub adults

singing birds heard last couple of days early morning and sunset in tall trees of garden next to us and also in trees up from bridge.. sounded like same song. Too dim to see but linnets my best guess from song quality.

Blackbird heard in song occasionally over last week.

Stone curlews now heard frequently after dark calling from east valley. One day at look out corner as dusk approached heard three voices, from beyond orchard, north field and somewhere by east pine grove.

Syrian woodpeckers heard in woods.

Sunbird: this morning, calling, active in Cape honeysuckle.

Hooded crows, jackdaws, house sparrows about as usual. laughing doves foraging in garden.

Tuesday 8 Feb

Group gazelle up on skyline up from hidden watercourse 5 plus

Wednesday 9 Feb

Gazelle, (females/well grown young) group on west slopes windsurfer hill moving about together. A fourth seen nearby a little later, not part of that group.

Buteo, pretty nondescript browns, greys, no distinct barring, heading slowly north. Not harried.

Great tit calls. Tristram's grackle calls from somewhere up in neighbourhood.

Lark calls, two pairs over north slopes windsurfer hill.

Much more foliage lately.. spring groundsel , Senecio vulgaris (savyon) blooming in sapling field esp as well as a mass blooming of the tiny orange composites and some flowers of the delicate purple wild geranium Erodium acaule

Jackdaws and Hooded crows about, stonechat on thorny burnet, blackbird, stone curlew

Thursday 10th Feb

gazelle: 1 single adult male near bunker/look out corner area, two others, (sub-adults ?) near shepherd's trail.

Saturday 12 Feb

Linnets confirmed:) Small group twittering on top of tree next door, got good visual on three of them but from movements were more that moved away within the tree as we approached.

Gazelle: None visible in north and east fields but Akiva did spot one in the trees up slope imm. west of east watercourse dirt road.

Also seen and/or heard: Hooded crows, graceful warblers, blackbirds, stone curlews,

red anemone blooming amongst asphodel off valley road.

Sunday 13 Feb

Linnets again morning and evening choruses in next door trees. Sunbirds active, also house sparrows and laughing doves in garden.

Two gazelles, sub adults at top of shepherd's trail, including that individual with bent right horn.

Sparrowhawk glimpsed, blackbirds, hooded crows,

In fore part of gazelle field the Malcolmia is back in force and looking good, some lilac, as well as shepherd's purse in flower though latter looking smaller petalled and more delicate than I remember.

Monday 14 Feb: Linnets already arriving in the trees next door in several groups of twenty or so, flying in from north and east as we left the house , about 4.45 p.m.

plantlife stepping up- vegetation increasing all the time, wonderful! I love this time of year for the verdancy, green seems to glow from the ground in all its many forms. Fumitory already blooming by the street, first cyclamen blooming by long trail to north watercourse. Large mandrake found by north watercourse most significant.

No gazelle today but plenty hoofprints and some scat seen. One fox seen, darkish markings, heading into trees just west of bat cave.

Syrian woodpecker calls, various other usual birds, stone curlew very vocal just after dark.

Cool, rainy January days

2011-01-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

Asphodel foliage back on 26th December, now blooming.

Sat. 8 Jan.

work has been done lately central east forest, preparation for new planting, esp by crossroads where many trees felled, the 'bare patch'

Cool, raining on and off last couple of days, east watercourse trickling today and many little pools along the way.

Gazelle: 10 in east field between olive grove and steeper north slopes of windsurfer, grazing, running, including one adult male.

Hyrax: not about, too damp.

East field on boulder near hill/cistern dirt track: immature wheatear )?)
Black redstart: none seen in last few days in usual places

Chaffinch: some calls, glimpses

Chiffchaff: contact calls

European robin:tacking calls heard from bank briefly

Stonechat: east field, end of last week

White wagtail:some calls heard, one seen flying into dense tree on Rchov Elias

Blackbirds: calls at dusk some days lately

Chukarpartridges:

Collared doves: again between ground SW east field and trees, and between trees. Not calls but heard wings, glimpses.

Eurasian Jays: occasional calls in trees.

Eurasian sparrowhawk:occasional glimpses last few days, end last week

Feral pigeons: on, over buildings.

Graceful warblers: today, calls by bank

Great tits: calls in pines down from valley road today.

Greenfinches: some song(?) or similar bird

Hooded crows: calls, in tops of cypresses by SW east field

Laughing doves: foraging on ground in garden

Stone curlews: heard from house end last week

Sunbirds: some calls in garden

Syrian woodpeckers: some calls in woods end last week

Tristram's starlings: calls and flying over street

House sparrows:chirps in garden

Jackdaws: flock and calls, flying over and congregating on windsurfer hill

Monday 10th, Tuesday 11th Jan

cool/cold, raining on and off.

Gazelle: Mon: east field, three subadults. Tues. Adult male chasing female by small olive grove, another gazelle near them, female?

Tristram's starling: about and flying over lower part of neighbourhood, calling again.
Black redstart (?) female or immature up on line edge of buildings, near start of ramp down to valley road.

Garden: laughing doves foraging on ground, house sparrows as usual.
Hooded crows, jackdaws, feral pigeons about as usual. Today hoodie flock perched top of windsurfer hill.

Sunday Jan 16th

more raining off and on.

Observations pretty much similar lately.

Today, 6 gazelle: Two adult males together in woods nr bat cave, eucs by north watercourse, likely those males we've seen together in that area before. A female alone a short way west of them, a fourth grazing alone close to watercourse, two more by central trail.

End of last week, several subadults west slopes windsurfer hill.

blackbird in SONG in woods near central trail. light drizzle falling, almost sunset.

about a dozen white wagtails flew into that round dense tree on Elias, shortly after 4.30 p.m.

Almost 6.15 p.m. and raining again , thank God.

In garden earlier, laughing doves foraging on ground, alarm calls of sunbird in cape honeysuckle.

Sat 22 Jan

Some rain on and off, weather, cold to mild.

Gazelle, a few sightings midweek, brief of the longer horn male gazelle in east field in proximity with at least 1 female. Also the other male gazelle in cistern area, He seems to use area from forepart of gazelle field, through cistern area to olive grove.

No foxes at all sighted recently.

Birds: today in forest: some great tit calls, blackbirds at dusk, black redstarts seen, one at rubble and one on dry stone wall by cypress grove, by cistern/windsurfer trail, where seen before. I think we can assume both these birds have been holding these territories continuously even though we have seen them intermittantly, we have often arrived at their habitats too late or when it was too windy. I also expect there are many more black redstarts about that we have not located, on bank, forepart of gazelle field, shaft area and other suitable habitat. Collared doves SW corner of east field as usual, also jackdaws, hooded crows, latter getting more vocal.

Stone curlews have been calling lately, have been able to hear them from the house evenings.

Sunbird calls in garden, laughing doves

Sun 30th Jan

cool/cold, rain on and off last couple of days. westerlies

Today still some flow in east watercourse late afternoon and some flooding onto field around look-out corner

Adult male gazelle seen crossing central trail approaching look-out corner, north to south.

Asphodels seen in bloom for the first time today! By valley road and in woods alongside. Also, graceful warbler heard, jackdaws, blackbird song yesterday. Hooded crows restless flying over east woods, white wagtails calling overhead, heading to roost. black redstart and hyraxes not seen, no doubt somewhere dryer, in deep foliage, under rocks.

More stone curlew calls after dark, lately, increasing.

Turn of the Year

2010-12-26T07:06:00.000-08:00

The autumn crocuses usually occur in twos and threes so I was amazed to find this cluster, just off central trail in the middle of east valley pines.

Most autumn crocuses already passed but plenty white winter crocuses about. Also asphodel foliage coming up everywhere in the woods. On the bank, right by valley road approaching the pumphouse, foliage of the wild geranium Erodium acaule (Stemless storksbill) is starting to spread.

Sunday 26th December

weather: 8-18 degrees C, no rain in last few days, winds shifted round to south easterlies all day, sky pretty much clear

however: more stuff sprouting, more purple autumn crocuses in more places, asphodel sprouting everywhere, first seed leaves of milk thistle coming out on the bank.

Gazelle: last thursday 7 seen crossing hidden watercourse just beyond bat cave, adult male taking the rear. None since.

Hyrax: plenty activity late afternoon by valley road, nibbling new thorny burnet leaves

Foxes: ?

Feral cats: one today in woods

Black redstart: none in usual places

Eurasian Jays: call near sapling field today

Eurasian sparrowhawk:one flying over central trail, look out area today

Feral pigeons: on roofs

Stonechat: song in north gazelle field about sunset

White wagtail:

Great tits: calls around sapling field area

Blackbirds: calls about sunset yesterday

House sparrows:calls in garden

Jackdaws: calls, small number flying over from neighbourhood to windsurfer hill

Hooded crows: plenty activity about valley, yesterday nine came down onto end of street to investigate small polythene bag of crumbs, was probably some kind of tasty treat, bisli or bamba or something like that, which crows love.

Laughing doves: foraging on ground in garden

Stone curlews: calls yesterday dusk, direction of north edges of forest

Sunbirds: many calls today in garden

Syrian woodpeckers: calls yesterday in pines

Tristram's starlings: calls yesterday and recently, one or two flying about over our street late afternoon

forest work lately has been more litter gathering, picking up a few saplings blown over, recent winds racing down east valley shoved down quite a few tubes in north field, the soft sapling wood had just bent rather than broken but had to be pulled back asap or they would stay bent. Akiva hammered the stakes in firmer with a rock. We also put out a brush fire by the east watercourse dirt road with rocks so that it would not spread farther along that slope.

Monday 27th December

Gazelle: 3 subadults grazing between olive grove and windsurfer/cistern dirt road. Two together, one short distance away

Hyrax: some active on boulders by valley road, cypress slum colony, some shrill calls also heard

Black redstart: none in usual places

Chaffinch: several on cypress tops near sapling field

Chiffchaff: contact calls

Feral pigeons: roofs

Stonechat: on thorny burnet, east field near small olive grove

Eurasian Jays: some calls

Blackbirds: pre roost chatter

Tristram's starlings: calls and flying over our street

Hooded crows: about as usual, and foraging on valley road

Laughing doves: foraging on ground in garden

House sparrows:chirping in gardens

Jackdaws: calls, flying over

Sunbirds: calls in garden

Sat 1 January 2011

good rain on and off last day or so

Gazelle: 4 north windsurfer where slope gets steeper, four, adult male last, moving from direction of fence to western slopes.

Hyrax: cool and damp, stayed indoors

Black redstart: seen last thursday (30th Dec) on rubble but none since

Stonechat: glimpsed on thorny burnet east field lately

White wagtail:less about lately, perhaps local population have moved toward town as temps have fallen

Blackbirds: calls at dusk off central trail

Eurasian Jays: calls

Eurasian sparrowhawk:1 flew into bunker pines, caused reaction amongst hoodies, cawing and flying about.

Feral pigeons: flocks about rooftops lately

Graceful warblers: glimpsed bank area

Great tits: calls in pines

House sparrows:chirping in gardens

Jackdaws: calls frequent but big flock moving not noticed lately on our walks.

Kestrels: call from direction of neighbourhood

Laughing doves: foraging on ground in garden

Syrian woodpeckers: calls in pines and eucs

Tristram's starlings: calls and flying over lower neighborhood. Prob still using the half built large synagogue

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls in garden

Sun 2 Jan 2011

Gazelle, hyrax: none seen today

Foxes: 2 foxes just beyond bat cave, sitting, grooming, one seemed to be drinking, rock has depressions there that can hold water. Did not see them interact but were just a couple of meters from each other and tolerant of each others presense so likely be mates. After a few minutes both had slipped from view.

Feral dogs: Much barking, several on west hill slope Hizmeh hill. Seemed to dogs lower on slope belong to one pack, 7 or 8 (hard to see, light and distance, this was just after sunset) , but three others higher up belonged to separate Hizmeh based pack and a shepherd's trail along the contour of the hill was the boundary line.. the valley pack had ventured across briefly and the hill pack were letting them know not to come higher. The upper dogs stayed on the shepherd trail, did not want to come farther down , they were outnumbered, but were holding their ground.

Black redstart: none

Stonechat: male seen on thorny burnet in east field, probably quite a few about but did not search, we were lookign for gazelle, saw him incidentally. Did not hear them

White wagtail:no calls

Eurasian Jays: calls east valley

Great tits: calls in north valley near watercourse

Hooded crows: about as usual, jackdaws, calls, and about as usual

3rd Jan 2011

Foxes: 1 by security fence, ran down road, slipped through barbed wire roll ?

Hyrax: heard chittering call but didn't see any active

Black redstart: none

Chaffinch: finches on cypress tops but didn't see which.

Blackbirds: dusk calls

Great tits: calls

Feral pigeons: flying about rooftops over road

Collared doves: 1 out in open east field SW corner, took off to trees as we approached windsurfer/cistern path.

Jackdaws: calls

Hooded crows: about as usual,

Laughing doves: ground, garden

cool, damp, sunny, our tortoise was wandering about garden again at noon.

Week leading to winter solstice

2010-12-16T09:59:00.000-08:00

Thursday 16 Dec.

cool, clear, a few high altitude clouds, otherwise cloudless, peaking at 21.5 degrees C

Gazelle: 9 today. 6 in view grazing same place we've seen them lately, east field near fence foot of windsurfer. Another three, well grown young by dry stone walls by small olive grove.

Hyrax: several adults on rocks by valley road

White wagtail:calls. Also Akiva has noticed them again around central bus station mid afternoon.

House sparrows:gardens, buildings

Feral pigeons: around tops buildings

Sunbirds: heard in cape honeysuckle

Black redstart: none in the usual places despite good conditions.

Syrian woodpeckers: calls

Great tits: scolding calls near pumping station.

Jackdaws: flock of at least 80 heading south to windsurfer hill , vocal

Hooded crows: foraging on ground around olives. Old fruit?

Tristram's starlings: heard whistling up in neighbourhood mid afternoon.

Friday 17 December

Sunny 10-18 degrees C

House sparrows: active in garden
laughing doves: active in garden, foraging on ground
white spectacled bulbul: various calls
sunbird: calls in cape honeysuckle
jackdaws: calls, hooded crow calls

Friday 18 December

Clear skies

Gazelle: at least 6 about, mid north slopes windsurfer hill, including adult male, others females and well grown young, grazing together. As we reached top of shepherd's trail two sub adults were watching us, they moved towards fence to join the others, as did the adult male, then all proceeded towards west slopes.

Foxes: as we watched the adult male gazelle a fox walked up onto the top of some boulders just behind him and stared at us, then ran quickly behind. Gazelle and fox ignored each other

Judging by mounds just beyond top of shepherd's trail as it emerges from trees, fresh mole rat activity lately, line of mounds leading to large boulder, and around it

Black redstart: none in usual places despite good conditions, nor chaffinches or stonechats.

White wagtail:calls

Chiffchaff: contact calls

Blackbirds: calls around dusk

Collared doves: 19 on lines, over NE of gazelle field, where watercourses leave area

Hooded crows: calls, activity

Great tits: calls and two different songs around pumphouse area

Jackdaws: calls, activity

Syrian woodpeckers: calls in pines

Tristram's starlings: calls

Monday 20th December

Cool/mild, almost clear skies, some high altitude cloud.

Gazelle: 4 in all. betw windsurfer/cistern dirtroad and small olive grove, 1 adult male with good size horns, I think same buck that was with the herd. Soon after, two subadults together. A little while later another adult buck betw large almond, hawthorns and pine grove in mid north field. I think this latter male is the same male we have seen lately grazing in the small olive grove, moved over NW as the more dominant larger horned buck moved towards olives, but just speculation.

Hyrax: none noticed by valley road

Foxes: 5 sightings though probably just 3 individuals. (1#) was seen just a few feet away from the first adult male gazelle, also gazing back at us, great sight to see, the two of them looking at us and the second time within a week that we have noticed fox near adult male. One wonders if it might be one of those associations you get between species.. like friendships between dogs and horses. Different location , last time it was up near where shepherd's trail comes out of trees but almost definitely same fox and buck. Then shortly after I saw (#2,#3) two running down alongside dry stone walls around small olive orchard, towards fence. Likely that first fox was one of them though not necessarily. A few minutes later I saw another one (#4) ahead of us heading off windsurfer/cistern dirt road and into Pistacia grove. This was a third fox if first fox was part of the duo, or it could have been the first fox. Then Akiva saw #5 by dry stone wall across north field near large almond, likely that was same individual as (#4) . Speculation based on timing and location but clearly at least three individuals involved.

Feral dog: 1 nice red colour on his own, working his way along east watercourse, foraging.

Feral cat: sitting on rock off central trail

Black redstart: finally a sighting again! 1 male looking rather still and a bit fluffed on bunker rubble, not bobbing or hawking, sitting a bit more horizontal and low than usual but clear view.

Chaffinch: female top of cypress. Other small finches about but not clear views

Chiffchaff: contact calls

Stonechat: nice view of male on thorny burnets mid north windsurfer slopes.

Graceful warblers: call by valley road, edge of neighbourhood

Great tits: calls

Hooded crows: calls and flying over, one foraging ground top of ramp leading backs buildings to valley road

Jackdaws: at about sunset flock about 150 birds heading north to south towards Pisgat Zeev, returning from forage to roost, shortly after another ~50

Sunbirds: male seen in willow

House sparrows:about buildings

Tristram's starlings: calls, two seen flying quite high over valley road, changing direction a few times for no apparent reason, and calling.

Tuesday 21st December - winter solstice

Am I feeling the solstice? Something in the air, a sense of excitement, expectation, the sense of turning point, the promise of spring. It seems the trees and earth speak of it and rejoice. Cool/mild, sunny, mostly clear skies.

Gazelle: Lower slopes of hill to north, 4 grazing, females, well grown young. Adult male also in area. In east field, two subadults pretty much where we saw them yesterday, between olive trees and cistern/windsurfer dirt road. Then we saw adult male coming from western slopes following female, he stood for a while at the place the dirt road starts to get steeper. Female continued into open field in direction of young ones but did not join them, grazed in place.

Foxes: 1 on north hill slopes moving west, quick pace along limestone ridge line.

Black redstart: none around bunker rubble

White wagtail:calls

Chiffchaff: some contact calls

Great tits: whistle churr calls in north watercourse acacias

Hooded crows: about as usual

House sparrows:gardens

Jackdaws: the usual large flock 150 +, foraging mid northern hillslopes on the ground, spooked by a rambler, wheeled around but weren't ready to head to roost yet, must be good ground forage

Syrian woodpeckers: calls in pines

Tristram's starlings: calls from hidden watercourse direction, at least two birds

Second quarter of December

2010-12-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

Coming down windsurfer hill lower slopes dirt road leading to cistern, facing roughly north east. East field to the right.. this is where the gazelle herd prefers to graze lately.

Thursday 9th December

late afternoon, between ~4 p.m. and 5 p.m. cool, mild. Sky, lots of altocumulus

Gazelle: 8 1 group of 3 sub adults just beyond top of shepherd's trail staring down at us, then a lone adult female grazing down towards the fence near where we saw the small herd yesterday, then two more sub adults on the olive grove side of hill dirt road, then one adult male by himself farther down, then another female in the lower field between the olive grove and cypresses.

Hyrax: a bunch moving quickly oh hillside up from pumhouse

Foxes: 1 heading up shepherd's trail, greyish flanks, reddish head and tail, redder than the individual we've been seeing around the cistern.

Black redstart: none noticed in the two places we've seen them.

Chiffchaff: contact call

Stonechat: glimpses (?) in thorny burnets lower north windsurfer slopes

White wagtail:calls

Eurasian Jays: 1 flew over valley road

Feral pigeons: street, roofs

Great tits: calls in pines

Hooded crows: about, and again, a number perched on tops of cypresses along tree line up from east valley dirt road

Jackdaws: calls

Laughing doves: gardens

Sunbirds: in *song* in Bauhinia midday , sun shining

Syrian woodpeckers: calls

Tristram's starlings: calls

White spectacled Bulbuls:

Saturday 11 December

Gazelle: 15! All in east field. First noticed an adult male grazing in the olive grove area. Shortly after another adult male with slightly longer horns farther towards windsurfer hill, with female not far away. These two moved towards the hill to join a group- now 12 in all, ran down closer to the fence to graze. Shortly after two relatively young gazelle emerged from the woods near the top of shepherd's trail and moved in the direction of the herd.

Black redstart: none in usual places but not surprising since whether windy, probably too much for winged insects to fly or come out at all.

Strangest bird of the day was coo of a *turtle dove.. we both heard it, close by central trail in the pines. Akiva thought he heard an answering call farther off but I missed that. It's possible some remained due to the long warm autumn.

Chiffchaff: contact calls

Great tits: calls in pines

Jackdaws: overhead about sunset, calling

Hooded crows: milling about over us, disturbed, after sunset as we approached pumping station. Akiva theorized that they were unhappy about their roosting trees, blowing about a lot in the breeze.

White spectacled Bulbuls: melodious calls near pumping station shortly after sunset

Sunbirds: some song in Bauhinia midday

Syrian woodpeckers: some calls

Laughing doves: some cooing.

Wednesday 15 December

cold winds and intermittant rain of the last couple of days has cleared up, sunny day with altocumulus and slightly warmer.

Gazelle: 15 today: first, 12 including adult male with long horns, grazing near fence foot of windsurfer hill again. Adult male with slightly shorter horns grazing in olives again, female appeared in his area and they both headed off down through Pistacia grove. Interesting.. though probably the loser of the sparring match and herd, he still gets company. A third adult male then seen north east field beyond cistern on slopes near fence there.

Black redstart: none about in usual places

Chaffinch: at least two about, tops of trees.

Chiffchaff: contact call about sunset

Stonechats: several about, on tops of thorny burnets in east field, active

White wagtail:several calls

Hooded crows: small flock about, perching tops of trees or flying about, cawing

Jackdaws: flock of 100-150 flying about near road or perching on olives, very active and vocal

Laughing doves: garden

House sparrows: garden,

Sunbirds: 4 in cape honeysuckle, prob family of this year

Vegetation: More asphodel sprouting, one winter crocus seen near top of shepherd's trail, also a 3 spot dianthus amongst thorny burnets same area. More autumn crocus on hillside and shepherd's trail,

December begins

2010-12-01T07:47:00.000-08:00

Coral gum fresh growth.. by east watercourse dirt road.. several little coppices of new growth sprouting around the trunks of felled trees.

First Jerusalem autumn crocus! Found near the top of the shepherd's trail, where it emerges from the shade of cypress and pine onto the hillside. I saw no others anywhere but I had a feeling I'd find one there, seems to be a relatively rich patch, reliable for autumn squill, orchids and clover variety.

Wednesday 1st December:

Another utterly clear sky, no sign of rain, air cool/mild. 14-24 degrees C, winds extremely light, E/SE, humidity 10-25 %

Gazelle: 3, grazing at treeline up from east watercourse dirtroad,

Hyrax: some activity on boulders by valley road

Black redstart: 2nd sighting, male again hawking on boulder rubble, bobbing, flitting about at sunset.

White wagtail:many calls throughout day heard from house and on walk, definitely seem more numerous than last year

Chiffchaff: contact calls

Eurasian Jays: glimpsed in pines

Feral pigeons: over street

Graceful warblers: call in gardens

Great tits: calls in pines by valley road

Tristram's starlings: calls from up slopes west of pumping station

Jackdaws: calls and flying over heading to roost

Hooded crows: calls and overhead heading to roost

Sunbirds: song and activity in Bauhinia

Saturday 4 December

Weather continuing dry- another clear day, no clouds, winds SE light to non existent. temps 14-23 degrees C. humidity, low, generally under 20%

Gazelle: 4 - 3 grazing down by fence east field, amongst long dry grass and Inula

Hyrax: a number active on boulders by valley road today and thursday

Foxes: 1 coming from dry stone wall near fence, small olive grove, made its way quickly into field, disappeared into scrub or watercourse

Black redstart- none since wednesday but probably arrived too late.

Stonechat: 1 on long hard stem emerging from thorny burnets, east field

White wagtail:calls heard throughout day

chiffchaff: contact calls in pines thursday, didn't notice today

Blackbirds: alarm calls dusk

Hooded crows: heading over to roost, calls.

Great tits: calls in pines

House sparrows:chirping in garden

Jackdaws: large flock heading over windsurfer hill about sunset

Laughing doves: foraging ground garden

Sunbirds: garden

Syrian woodpeckers: calls various parts of woods

Tristram's starlings: 2 flying from neighbourhood to Hizmeh early afternoon thursday

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls garden

Sunday 5th December.

cooler

Gazelle: At least 4 gazelle grazing around almonds and hawthorns in north field around sunset, including adult male.

Hyrax: not out today, though we went by cypress slum area at the usual time. Perhaps it's a little chill.

Black redstart: we arrived at bunker rubble just after sunset, light fading fast so probably just missed him heading up to roost.

White wagtail:many calls

Chiffchaff: some contact calls in pines, less than usual.

Blackbirds: alarm calls at dusk

Eurasian sparrowhawk: Akiva saw over east valley woods, crows putting up a racket there, perhaps because of the raptor

Feral pigeons: over street

Graceful warblers: calls

Great tits:calls in pines

Hooded crows: over as usual and windsurfing off the hillside, south west slopes, now a building site. At least three tiers are being prepared below the level of the houses on villa hill and extending onto south west slopes of windsurfer hill, this development straddles the saddle watercourse so that may be disrupted, hopefully most of it will be spared.

House sparrows: garden

Jackdaws: over valley

Laughing doves: garden

Syrian woodpeckers: calls

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls by Pistacia orchard/look out corner area

Monday 6th December

Rain by 7 a.m.! Skies overcast and drizzling then, ground somewhat damp, hard to know for how long it had been raining.

By late afternoon no water still flowing in east watercourse but plenty evidence it had. Air heavy with scent of eucalyptus oils, cool/mild. Sky partially overclouded, large cumulus.

Gazelle: none seen in north field

Hyrax: calls heard

Black redstart: too late again

Chiffchaff: contact calls in pines

White wagtail: many calls throughout the day

Blackbirds: 1 in *song* somewhere past the bridge

Feral pigeons: cooing and active

Graceful warblers: calls

Great tits: calls

Hooded crows: active and vocal up in eucs and other tall trees by east watercourse dirt road

House sparrows:active and vocal in gardens

Jackdaws: active and vocal over hills

Laughing doves: active in garden and cooing earlier

White spectacled Bulbuls: harsh calls heard toward sunset

Wednesday 8 December

First autumn crocus of the season!, and only one I found, near the top of the shepherd's trail.

Damp, and eucalyptus aroma still strong along east watercourse dirt road

Gazelle: at least 11 in east field: at least 8 grazing close to fence near north foot of windsurfer hill, another four between the hill dirt road where we were, and the other gazelle.

Hyrax: calls, but not seen out and about

Black redstart: none at bunker rubble but one male on dry stone wall in east field, just beyond the cypress grove, I would assume a different male, territory too far from bunker.

White wagtails:calls heard

Great tit heard in *song* up somewhere in trees on slopes beyond pumping station

Hooded crows: much calling, birds heading over to roost

Blackbirds: calls heard

House sparrows:chirps in garden

Jackdaws: flock betw 100 and 200 birds fanning sky, heading over from neighbourhood toward Hizmeh

Syrian woodpeckers: calls

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls

Laughing doves: garden, but now it's wetter the sunbirds are keeping relatively low profile.

Asphodel foliage coming up in some places, fresh coral gum growth in many, most Inula gone to seed.

Week starting Sunday 21 November

2010-11-21T07:24:00.000-08:00

Sunday 21st November

temp 13-22 degrees C, cooler, breezier, looks like wind is changing. Looking at weather reports, winds shifted from easterlies to north westerlies about noon time, and picked up. Still light breeze. Also scattered small cumulus noticed coming in.

Gazelle: Adult male grazing in middle of gazelle field, amongst the saplings. Another 2, female and/or well grown young, grazing in ploughed area beyond almond row.

Feral dogs: apparent family group of 4 just north of sapling field near east watercourse, smallest dog with harness, strangely enough, interested in a bitch that seemed to be lactating, alternately trying to get milk and trying to hump her but without success at either. The dominant dog and bitch barked at us, and the dog came quite close to us barking threatengly, clearly wanting us to leave his territory but hesitant to attack as we turned to face him down. Picking up a rock clearly made him more cautious. I only intended to use the rock if he would actually attack but would keep it as a threat as long as he threatened us, basically giving him the message that we would pass through his territory at our own pace. He desisted as, it seemed, we left his borders not far from the Pistacia orchard. I've never seen the feral dogs this aggressive before, could be times are hard with the extended dry season.

No winterers noticed but for white wagtail, some calls heard.

Graceful warblers: calls heard from nearby gardens or across street.

Greenfinches: calls heard from garden next door?

Hooded crows: passing over towards sunset
Jackdaws: calls heard
Sunbirds: song heard in Bauhinia from early, before 9 a.m.but sounded scratchy, younger male practising, not the usual male.

Syrian woodpeckers: calls heard

Monday 22 November

Gazelle: 1 adult male grazing by the large almond and hawthorns, another individual, well grown young or female also by hawthorns.

Reptiles: 1 Lacerta lizard by flowerbeds upper part of neighbourhood, the brown and green kind with thin stripes down the flanks.

Black redstart: none

Chaffinch: several, on cypress tops near pumping station.

Chiffchaff: contact calls in pines, as have been heard every day lately.

White wagtail:many calls all day, and seen flying over

Blackbirds: no calls today

Eurasian Jays: active in pines

Eurasian sparrowhawk:glimpsed over pumping station (?)

Feral pigeons: rooftops

Hooded crows and jackdaws, much milling about and calling of several hundred birds over east woods/Pistacia grove area not long before sunset, more than the usual excitement but cause not seen, no large raptors or anything else unusual noticed. Syrian woodpeckers: calls

House sparrows: chirps in garden early afternoon,

Laughing doves: cooing and foraging on ground midday

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls

Tuesday 23 November

Temps cooler, westerlies. 10-21.5 degrees C

Gazelle: 3 in ploughed area behind almond row.

Foxes: 1 sniffing about near cistern before sunset, probably the regular individual.

White wagtail: calls, around building roofs, chiffchaffs: contact calls in pines.

Great tits, greenfinches, jackdaws, hooded crows, Eurasian jays : active and vocal

Sunbirds: young male outside window

stone curlew: calls

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls?

Wednesday 24th November

Gazelle, hyrax : none noticed

Foxes: 1 on north dirt road, not same individual we have seen around the cistern, this one has darker fur.

Black redstart: still none

Chiffchaff: contact calls, White wagtail:some calls

Eurasian Jays: calls, Blackbirds: alarm calls at dusk

Eurasian sparrowhawk: glimpse

Feral pigeons: some about roofs

Greenfinches: calls, Hooded crows: flying to roost

House sparrows, laughing doves :gardens

Sunbirds: garden subsong

Tristram's starlings: calls from betw neighbourhood and windsurfer hill somewhere, over pumping station or farther south

Thurs 25th November

Gazelle: at least 9: 1 adult buck then 2 groups of three (females and immatures) in sapling field moving gradually to north. Then two adult bucks, one chasing other, came down hill south of pumping station, ran swiftly over dirt road near bridge and on into sapling field. After this saw several individuals as we made our way north but no way to know if these weren't ones already seen.

Hyrax: churring calls from up slope near pumping station

Foxes: none, Feral dogs: barks

Feral cats: 2 on boulders by road cypress slum colony area, possibly trying their luck with the hyraxes

!Black redstart: 1st of season, seen at sunset on concrete blocks of rubble, male, bobbing and a flight

Chiffchaff: ~contact calls

White wagtail:calls heard all day

Blackbirds: alarm calls, Eurasian Jays: seen in pines but quiet

Feral pigeons: rooftops,

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls?

Graceful warblers: calls, gardens

Great tits: calls in pines

Sunbirds: calls, Jackdaws: calls

Syrian woodpeckers: calls and glimpsed

Hooded crows: over, and on windsurfer hill, flock on ground.

Monday 29 November

Felt cooler today but still dry, 16.5-22.5 degrees C

Gazelle: Today, adult male up on skyline viewed from east watercourse dirt road. Yesterday about sunset, adult male crossing valley road from bank, then down into pines. Also a couple grazing in north end gazelle field, backs to me.

Hyrax: some activity lately

Chiffchaff: contact calls in pines

White wagtail:calls flying over and about neighbourhood.

Eurasian Jays: about pines as usual.

Blackbirds: alarm chatters at dusk

Feral pigeons: about roofs

Graceful warblers: some calls.

Hooded crows: flying over, heading to roost, tops of trees, over pisgat zeev, over windsurfer hill

House sparrows:gardens, some chirps heard some days. but relatively quiet lately

Jackdaws: calls from Hizmeh hill, also flying over pisgat zeev and windsurfer hill

Laughing doves: some coos, about gardens.

Sunbirds: song in Bauhinia from mid morning, calls in cape honeysuckle

Syrian woodpeckers: calls in pines and eucs

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls?

Week starting Sun 14 November

2010-11-14T11:42:00.000-08:00

Sunday 14 Nov.

Temps: mild, 18-28 degrees C, clear skies, low winds, SE, low humidity. 12-35 sharavi

Gazelle: 2 East field, grazing between trees and olive grove, not far from dirt road down from hill
Fox: on central trail ahead of us, headed towards east watercourse, looks like the individual we usually see in that area.

Bats: over valley road, have been seen almost every evening last few weeks.

Black redstart: still no sign

Chiffchaff: contact calls in pines. Other forest winter birds not noticed but for White wagtail: calls throughout the day

Blackbirds: calls, Eurasian Jays: calls, Hooded crows, over, heading to roost, jackdaws calls

House sparrows: calls in garden trees, Sunbirds: activity in Bauhinia, at least two, chase. White spectacled Bulbuls: calls
Monday 15th November

Gazelle: 2 in pinewoods woods by owl glade, mother and well grown young. Then adult male seen grazing in gazelle field amongst the saplings, near centre watercourse.

Foxes: heard barking hoarsely and repeatedly north west of gazelle field/direction of bat cave. Mating season?

Feral cat: 1 hunting by rocks, cypress slum hyrax colony, possibly hoping for chance of hyrax kit.

Chiffchaff: contact calls
White wagtails:calls heard from house

Greenfinches: calls

Hooded crows: heading over to roost
Sunbirds: singing in Bauhinia again before 10 a.m. calls in the 3 pines by bunker rubble

Syrian woodpeckers: calls

White spectacled Bulbuls: social hoarse calls, settling down to roost, from bank.

Tuesday 16 Nov

Gazelle: 1 grazing way down north east gazelle field, too far to see gender

Hyrax: Akiva saw on his way down, photographed.

Fox: 1 through barbed wire betw pine grove and fence, down from olive grove, stopped and sat on haunches, watched us, moved on a few paces, haunches again, then lay down on ground, watching us.. feeling too self conscious to hunt?

Black redstart: looked for at rubble and gazelle field, still none . No other winterers but for white wagtails, frequent calls through day over street, and heading over late afternoon to roosts.

Lark like bird but no crest noted, dark stripe through eye, paler supercilium, coarsely striated upper parts, pale under, squatting low on boulder lower north slopes windsurfer hill.

Blackbirds: alarm calls sunset

Collared doves: 1 in flight, no calls

Eurasian Jays: calls

Eurasian sparrowhawk:1 over central trail heading south.

Greenfinches: calls

Hooded crows: numbers on top of windsurfer hill.

Jackdaws: some flying over towards neighbourhood and calling

Sunbirds: calls and song in Bauhinia from mid morning

Syrian woodpeckers: calls in woods.

Thursday 18 Nov

Weather similar, clear skies, dry, south easterlies, warm, just under 16 degrees C to just over 26 degrees C

Gazelle: adult male. Yesterday adult male and another individual seen, perhaps a third, a little earlier by cistern but didn't see where it went.

Hyrax: some activity last two days.

Feral dogs: 2 on north watercourse trail heading for shaft

Feral cats: 1 near hidden watercourse.

Bats: dusk, over valley road

Black redstart: no sign, nor other winterers but white wagtails frequently heard both days.

Blackbirds: alarm calls about dusk

Eurasian Jays: calls

Eurasian sparrowhawk:1 passed over look out area both days approaching sunset, today a little later and closer to eucs, glimpsed again as we walked up east watercourse dirt road. Also heard from direction of shaft yesterday

Hooded crows: calls, flying over

Jackdaws: calls and flock moving at sunset towards PZ?

Laughing doves: ground, garden

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls garden

Sunbirds: calls in garden

Syrian woodpeckers: calls

Tristram's starlings: calls yesterday over windsurfer to south

Sat 20th November

16-26 degrees C , winds E/SE/S and light. Much dust and pollen in the air

Gazelle: none seen anywhere in north or east fields in hour before sunset

Hyrax: activity around cypress slum and pumphouse colonies

White wagtail: calls heard. No other winterers noticed.

Blackbirds: alarm calls heard various parts of pine woods shortly after sunset

Jackdaws: calls heard various times of the day

Eurasian sparrowhawk: seen flying over east pinewoods, large individual, grey.

Graceful warblers: calls

Hooded crows: heading over to roost.

Laughing doves: coos heard about gardens and buildings late afternoon, haven't heard much lately

*Stone curlews: calls heard at dusk, first in a while

Sunbirds: song heard in Bauhinia, calls various parts of garden.

Eurasian Jays: calls

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls

A rather sorry looking hyrax noticed by Akiva, some way north of cypress slum colony, perhaps an exile unless there is still a small colony in that area by the school.

Several of these noticed in ploughed area beyond the almond row, roughly 'furred' leaves, largest examples whole rosette over 1 metre diameter .

Early Kislev, week round-up brief reports

2010-11-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

Sunday 7 November, Rosh Chodesh Kislev

Gazelle: 1 ploughed area, female

Hyrax: chittering alarm calls pumphouse colony

White wagtail: heard frequently during the day over the street, group of a dozen plus seen flying over Shadiker.
none of other winter visitors seen or heard

Feral pigeons: on and over buildings

Graceful warblers: calls, also heard from house so in garden or nearby garden

Great tits: some calls

Jackdaws: calls, about

Hooded crows: about, heading to roost

Hoopoe: 1 seen flying to end of Shadiker

House sparrows:about buildings and gardens, chattering, settling to roost

Laughing doves: on ground in garden foraging after food we put out for guinea pigs

Sunbirds: active and vocal, song in Bauhinia over hottest hours of the day

White spectacled Bulbuls: 1 seen around buildings, Shadiker

Tuesday 9th Nov

Gazelle: 1 crossing look out area as we approached from central trail.. young adult male from horns. Lots of tracks and some dung on the way from shaft to bat cave along recent man made trail (dirt buggy?)

Fox: repeated barks from direction of small olive grove, glimpse of dark individual running in tight arc over there.

No good sights or sounds of winter visitors in last couple days, has been quiet, clear skies, mild weather

Blackbirds: some alarm calls dusk east watercourse

Feral pigeons: about buildings, roofs as usual

Graceful warblers: some calls

Hooded crows: flying over towards dusk to roost, straggling loose flocks and individuals, relatively quiet
Jackdaws: calls on and off throughout day and yesterday.
Sunbirds: active, vocal in cape honeysuckle, singing in Bauhinia

Wednesday 10th Nov

Gazelle: tracks esp at Pistacia orchard

Hyrax: did not pass colony

Fox: usual greyish individual around the cistern, crossing to and fro, sniffing for food, then some barks from towards fence, pine grove,

Black redstart: Might have been, on bunker rubble saw shape, moving head, distance but no bobbing or flights.
Stonechat: calls from just beyond Pistacia grove

White wagtail:calls throughout day on and off heard from house.

Blackbirds: alarm calls about dusk.

Eurasian sparrowhawk: wheeling over look-out corner towards sunset

Hooded crows: heading to roost
Jackdaws: calls various times during day
Sunbirds: calls in pines by bunker rubble

Syrian woodpeckers: one on eucalyptus by us while we looked for black redstart
White spectacled Bulbuls: calls in garden midday

Thursday 11 Nov.

again, clear skies, mild, much pollen in the air probably mostly Inula.

Gazelle: 2, first up slope by east watercourse dirt road, tree line, short thin horns, other grazing near cistern pine.

small winter birds, no show but for white wagtails, heard frequently through the day.

Blackbirds: some alarm calls at dusk in woods, Eurasian Jays: some calls. jackdaws, calls several times through day. Syrian woodpeckers, some calls in woods,

laughing doves, foraging on ground in garden. sunbirds: active, melodious calling in cape honeysuckle, White spectacled Bulbuls:some calls in gardens

Saturday 13th Nov

Weather, a little cooler but still mild 17-27 degrees C, various altitude clouds passing over since thursday afternoon but no rain.

Gazelle: None in any of the usual places, Hyrax: did not pass colonies

Interesting softbill noticed on line near ramp down from back of building to valley road past acacia. Took off numerous times hawking for flies and landing again. Pale underside, pale brown, perhaps reddish tints on top, no streaking noticed, if anything, nightingale like jizz, not right for a spotted flycatcher, don't know if they'd hawk in open like that and so near houses, didn't see for long and light not favourable, and hardly saw wings and back.

Blackbirds: seen, heard around dusk alarm calls. Eurasian Jays: calls heard in pines,

Eurasian sparrowhawk: flew over flood garbage area (north watercourse dirt road) about dusk, from north gazelle field towards woods to south. Notable because we've seen this flyover there at this time numerous times in last seasons.

Black redstart, still none. Chaffinch: none noticed,

Chiffchaff: contact calls heard in pines, Stonechat: possible, by north watercourse, White wagtail:calls heard

Great tits: calls in woods near valley road.

Greenfinches: some twittering calls,

Hooded crows: heading overhead to roost, some calls

House sparrows:twittering heard from house in trees, Graceful warblers: heard from house, in or near garden.

Jackdaws:some calls heard

Laughing doves: about house, on ground

Sunbirds: calls and twittering heard in garden trees.

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls heard in garden, also active by valley road.

Hot start of November, camping in Old city.

2010-11-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

Inula in watercourse, coral gum, many saplings planted early last spring now 6/7 feet high.

Monday 1 Nov

Gazelle, 1 male adult good sized horns, 1 younger male judging by male type horns but half size of other. Under pines north of central trail, peaceful with each other, just walking and grazing together.

Fox, in woods just west of gazelle field, I think same one we saw the other day, looked at us.. as I was taking pics of Inula in the watercourse it stared curiously at us. When we looked at it again it turned and trotted off under the trees.

Blackbirds, jackdaws, hooded crows,

In garden: bulbul, melodious calls.

Tuesday 2 Nov

Just before 3 a.m. distinct ticking sound in the garden or nearby garden, sounded like European robin! first of season heard.

Sky totally clear, wind low, temps cool/mild.

No gazelle in north gazelle field but found adult male grazing in the small olive grove, not far away, an adult female. Then three young adults/well grown young out in the field between the gove and WS hill. 5 altogether.

Foxes, two, one apparently chasing another fast along dry stone wall around the small olive grove and by security road. That was dramatic!

Brief and not completely distinctly heard sequence of calls in thorny burnet area between us and grove.. sounded like stonechat.

Also about: jackdaws (calls, in flight in open) , hooded crows (overhead, about hill, relatively quiet) , collared doves (betw. ground and pines, v quiet) , syrian woodpeckers (calls, brief view) , graceful warblers (typical habitat), chiffchaffs (foraging pine tops, some contact calls.) ,

garden: sunbird singing since shortly after 9 am in bauhinia, very active, feral pigeons on rooftops and over, some melodious bulbul calls, white wagtail calls, also on walk.

rubble and stone walls repeatedly scanned for black redstarts, no luck. Also still no sight or call of chaffinches in treetops. Climate change factor?

Wednesday 3 Nov.

early afternoon: Butterflies on Inula - whites, a small blue and salmon Arab, several more of the latter seen over the next few days various parts of town.

active and vocal: jackdaws, great tits, syrian woodpeckers, Eurasian jays, graceful warblers, chaffinches ? robin up south slope tick tick?

watched half a dozen chukar partridges across north watercourse making their way single file amongst the rocks. A little later approaching quarry area a larger covey, at least double, took off from ground ahead and to south of dirt road and headed up the slopes. hoopoe flew into pine behind.

gazelle across watercourse under pines, buck, then another two together, female and well grown young or two subadults, not good view

Sat and watched a hooded crow extracting pine nuts from a cone on top of a boulder just a few metres away. Tristram's starling whistles coming from direction of quarry several times.

Kestrel calling stridently, wheeled about, landed on one of quarry hoppers, alarming a flock of feral pigeons that usually perch up there. Soon they realized the kestrel was not a threat and came back to settle back on the other hopper. (a little earlier another kestrel or perhaps same one flew about, landing on top of cypress, nice view).

Watched hyraxes on the limestone steps on approach to quarry, adults, sub adults, no youngsters, walking single file and foraging,

Black redstarts about? Not confirmed. Positive on stonechats though, first of season! in scrub sides of second south quarry near the several floor buildings, bulbuls also about in that locality.. this approaching sunset.

best view of the day: between last eucalyptus grove by north valley watercourse and pines at about 5.15, dusk, very nice views of hawking nightjar twisting gracefully and silently, swooping in and out, up and down.. hawking something between style of bee-eater and bat. At least two bats also about same area. That was lucky! (I brought Akiva to same spot following saturday evening but no luck, bats but nothing more.. this was probably just passing through) Amazing, sweet.

Thursday morning 4 Nov. camping on Har Tzion behind Dormition abbey so could view and hear birds from dawn on quite clearly.. and it was getting light progressively after 5 a.m.

Hooded crows, jackdaws active and vocal from early. Blackbirds: many using area, gardens and parks and quite a lot of old growth pines, cypress, olives, carobs and much dense foliage of varying heights providing multistorey habitat including oleander, pyracantha, phlox, many others. Laughing doves still cooing, feral pigeons also, greenfinches. Above where I slept soon heard raucous calls of ring necked parakeets in the high trees. Also bulbuls, house sparrows, great tits, sunbirds.

Descended Har Tzion on winding road down to main road, on way heard singing European robin ~6.30 a.m. Also about, Syrian woodpeckers. Heading up to Rova, old city, steps to Cotel, heard Tristram's starling whistles from tops of nearby buildings. These frequent the old city, have seen and heard them there many times, including actually on the cotel (wailing/western wall). Today feral pigeons used the upper niches as usual.

(unfortunately, due to some trivial sores on legs could not get about to do more birdwatching, had to give them chance to heal, frustrating as I am sure there is more good stuff in the area. I also wanted to spend quality time in the Rova/Jewish quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem which I had not visited for a long time)

Nov 5 Friday

Night was dry and not too chill, could sleep under stars, only cold enough for blankets and jackets in the few hours before dawn, trick is only to wear enough layers.

About 5.30 am sounded like every male blackbird around the field was scolding one another. These were later joined by hooded crows and a robin singing very near at hand in Dormition abbey tree above. Back where I had heard a robin yesterday there were at least two in singing dual , one I spotted on bare wood sticking up out of olives, nice open spot, bill open but moving with his notes and singing away beautifully.

around back of David's tomb, cooing laughing doves and feral pigeons again, graceful warblers, great tits, bulbuls, white wagtails, jackdaws, call of hoopoe,

8.30 a.m. Wolfson gardens in the valley below, sunny, warm/hot, clear skies. Ground well watered with green grass and clover leaves, very pleasant and great place for white wagtails to forage, and of course they were making the most of it. A donkey grazed not far off, a kestrel wheeled above and a masked shrike in the trees and bushes behind me called its scratchy call. A spotted flycatcher preened in a fig tree at the edge of the lawns and sunbirds called in from resplendent orange cape honeysuckle just beyond, and active in various other suitable places in the area.

Ring necked parakeets also very active in a date palm on corner just outside old city near crossing to Jaffa road and old city hall building. The dates were somewhat hard, fibrous, just barely edible for humans but probably sweet and palatable enough for them.

A few hours later headed home for Shabbat.

Saturday 6th November:

Again, pretty warm though some high altitude clouds coming in. House sparrows about, We started our walk not long after 4 p.m. Jackdaw and hooded crows active as usual, jackdaws vocal, bulbuls in street gardens. Descending ramp from back of buildings to valley road I usually check the acacia before we get too close to scare anything. It's usually used by bulbuls and such. Today a chiffchaff was in plain view in the middle foliage.

Best today: near pumping station heard the distinct 'pink' sound and looked, top of tree nice view of chaffinch, first definite of season! Looked for black redstarts in usual places (back of buildings near ramp, bank near pumping station, bunker rubble) but apparently none about yet.

1 gazelle near large almond, adult female,

End October

2010-10-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

wed 27th October :

gazelle : 3 just after sunset , at least, could have been more behind almonds, grazing on ploughed area gazelle field.

hyrax: active and vocal at Shadiker colony though just adults seen, no youngsters.

stone curlew heard calling, first in a while. Great tit calls. Syrian woodpeckers and blackbirds also heard.

thurs. 28th October:

fox, seen on dry stone wall briefly, mostly grey, small olive grove
gazelle: 3 , shortly before sunset, ploughed area north gazelle field, behind almond row. One adult male far west edge, two more, hard to tell but I think female and well grown young at far edge of ploughed area.. all grazing peacably.

We looked for black redstart at the bunker rubble and listened for stonechat but apparently not back yet.

Flock of approaching 200 jackdaws flying from hill north of Hizmeh towards windsurfer hill, some calling. Hooded crows about.

Glimpses of various raptors, sparrowhawks and falcons but not enough info for good IDs. Also in last couple of weeks a few glimpses of large jobs between trees we think long eared owls.

gardens: house sparrows, sunbird again singing from late morning, laughing doves foraging on ground, going for the guinea pig food, minor altercations betw. the two. Variety of Bulbul calls.

friday 29th Oct

sparrows chirping in garden. GREENFINCH in song in trees not far off, next doors cypresses most likely. White wagtails heard.

Sat 30th Oct.

Rains fell last night! That greenfinch knew... No thunder or lightning, first quite heavy fall after supper, then intermittantly through the night as more cumulus blew in.
Temps today just 15-18 degrees C.

All damp and aroma of eucalyptus strong in the air esp. as we walked around the loop past the pumping station and the bridge. The watercourse already not running.

best (and exciting ob) ob, two adult male gazelle sparring in field just east of Pistacia grove! Akiva spotted them, I looked with binocs and saw they were trotting to and fro with attitude which gave me an idea of what to expect next! Sure enough in a few more seconds they were head to head, clacking horns, sounds of these distinctly audible 'clack, clack' . A little later one chased the other behind euc and pine grove east of cistern and out onto north east gazelle field and up slopes. They passed by group of females and well grown young moving in a line steadily westward, mid slopes, at least 8 individuals. 10 gazelle in all. Our best view of sparring we've had yet so I was very pleased. This was between 4.30 and 4.45 p.m.

fox : spotted by me across east watercourse, reddish head and tail and stripe half way up back, rest of body and front face greyish. Aware of us, looked back at us a few times, made its way to central trail, crossed look-out corner at fair clip and headed into eucalyptus.

No luck on robins, black redstarts or chaffinches though we looked carefully where they would usually be found and in good time. These days we leave the house at about 4 p.m.

White wagtails heard on and off all day, seen late afternoon, a few flying quite high south towards pisgat zev. I think they're also using that round densely foliaged tree on Elias for roost, seen, heard individuals flying into it last few days, and they use rooftops, schoolyards and streets nearby to forage.

sunbird activity in cape honeysuckle about midday/early afternoon, at least two males involved, hard to tell , Akiva thought at least one may be immature. Feral pigeons about overhead, house sparrows active and vocal, laughing dove foraging on the ground.

Hoodies about, flock up on west slopes windsurfer hill, minor excursions into the air but preferred standing on the ground. Ahead, flock of about 50 jackdaws milling about not far above canopy level, look-out corner area.. perhaps fox excited them? Occasional Eurasian jay and Syrian woodpecker calls, graceful warbler calls. Occasional great tit calls, blackbird calls near owl glade. No chiffchaff calls. while we were still on valley road heard some Tristram starling whistles then saw pair flying quite quickly across the valley from our neighbourhood towards Hizmeh.

Saturday evening some neighbourhood boys came knocking on our door with bird in hand.. which I must admit I did not recognize at first, it was so unfamiliar to me, soft dark grey, long red bill like a wader. Only when they put it on the floor and it began to walk with it's moorhen like gait and seeing the brown striations on the back I suddenly realized what it was and could find it for them in the book. It was a water rail! Rallus aquaticus.

I don't recall seeing one before, perhaps with the JBO some years ago, but I don't remember, and this is a new one for our 'patch'... just about qualifies as it was found way over in what amounts to a south western 'tongue' up from Mir Forest, Gan Petri, a public park in the upper part of the neighbourhood about 15 minutes walk west of us.

The boys wanted to keep it as a pet and wanted to know what to feed it but we strongly encouraged them to release it, thinking it most likely to die in captivity.

According to my book many water rails pass through Israel on migration in spring and autumn and a number overwinter in suitable parts of the country.

Sunday's walk was relatively quiet, though a couple of gazelle in the grazing area beyond the almond line that we could see already from our street, jackdaws, hoodies and similar stuff.. no sound or sight of winter visitors though the earth was wonderfully damp , white wagtails calling as they flew by on and off through the day, three sunbirds active in the cape honeysuckle.

3rd quarter of October

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Gecko on the wall outside our front door. Below, budding autumn squill.

buds of autumn squill, found by saddle watercourse, first and only found yet.

Saturday 16th Oct: mud dauber wasp seen in garden, hovering near french windows.

Boys had quite close encounter with Indian porcupine, passed just few feet away.. on walk to local pool . Showed no aggression, surprising because they are usually much more timid and do not allow such close approach.

Sunday 17 Oct.

First White wagtail heard this season! Early afternoon heard from house, over street.

Gazelle: 1 female by tree line windsurfer hill, another three between dirt road off hill and small olive grove, two (well grown young ?) then another leaping, Akiva thinks he saw male horns but light poor by then.
Hyraxes by valley road boulders by forest, some juveniles.

porcupine quill on saddle watercourse trail, about third way up.. brown and white, quite short.

Budding autumn squill ! First this season.

Lots of crows on the hill, mixed jackdaws and hoodies, between 50 and 100, boiled up from the ground like ash from a fire as we approached a newly excavated archaeological site on upper western slopes. Eurasian sparrowhawk passed over mid west slopes.

Active and vocal Syrian woodpeckers, Eurasian jays, blackbird dusk alarm.

Around buildings, feral pigeons as usual, sunbird singing in Bauhinia, graceful warblers, and generally lately laughing dove house sparrows occasionally coming down to forage on garden ground for food left over from chicken and guinea pigs.

Monday 18th October

Chiffchaffs back! At least 3 individuals various places in woods, foraging in tops of pine trees.

Sunbird singing in Bauhinia tree from late morning, jackdaws and hooded crows about.
Eurasian jays about, foraging on ground, or between trees. Bulbul heard in Pistacia grove. Syrian woodpeckers active and vocal.

8 gazelle: 2 down slope by trail from valley road to north watercourse dirt road, 1 adult male across the watercourse, limping, favouring back right leg. Couldn't see any damage, could be in hoof. 4 more under edge of young pines a few hundred feet from service road, 1 more adult male just up slope from east valley watercourse just south of Pistacia grove.

Bats seen quite regularly lately at dusk, over valley road and central trail.

21st Oct
Female sunbird seen foraging outside window, calling sharply. Laughing doves foraging on ground in garden. Jackdaws heard. Akiva saw a number of white wagtails near central bus station.. there is a large roost near there, used every year.

24th Oct

Fox seen across Pistacia orchard, greyish whitish mottled, colouring I hadn't seen before but definitely fox, usual bushy tail

Birds pretty much as 25th, also Eurasian jays calling lately east woods

25th Oct

Sunbird singing in Bauhinia as usual from late morning. At least two laughing doves about foraging on ground in garden. Bulbul on cape honeysuckle early morning but quiet.

Farther off: jackdaws heard on and off all day, in woods, Syrian woodpeckers, blackbirds calling, hoodies flying to roost, about half a dozen ducks over at dusk a few days lately, about 5.30 p.m. look out corner area. Graceful warblers vocal and active by valley road and other places.

Bats and hyraxes not seen today, a bit cool and windy. today's peak was about 22.5 degrees C today and already under 20 during walk.

Only wild flowers now are the bright yellow Inula (ragwort type) growing in clumps in many places and itching our noses, and the Polygonum just below Lev Aryeh.

First rain not yet, still waiting for that. Also haven't seen any goldilocks.

Obs first half October.

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I found this caper stem interesting because I have not seen this kind of flat form on any other bush. See how it bears prickles on its surface as opposed to the usual opposite pears. The caper flowers are finished now but many still bear green leaves. Caper bug infestation does not appear to be as heavy as last year though there still is some. I notice the leaves are significantly smaller on many bushes this year, perhaps a response to the infestation. Does it have any protective effect? Make the bush less desirable or even recognizable for bugs?

This is the only specimen of prickly pear (Opuntia) I have found growing spontaneously anywhere in the forest and just found it today, just up from east watercourse on the western banks, south of the pumping station. Possibly sprouted from a Sabra fruit seeds dropped on some picnic- ( evidence of campfire site in vicinity).
Prickly pear is not a native.. it was probably introduced from Arizona in the 19th century for natural fencing. There is at least one large mature plant on our street.

3rd Oct: Small flock of hooded crows windsurfing off the upper western slopes of windsurfer hill and later flying over to roost. Jackdaw calls from Hizmeh hill slopes, calls. Falcon like calls, probably hobby. Syrian woodpeckerTristram's starling from direction of 'hood.

Around house, sunbird in Bauhinia, house sparrows, graceful warbler call.

16th Oct: Saturday

gazelle: a couple, females, up on hillslopes imm. east of east watercourse dirt road, near tree line.

fox: I found one today about sunset, low bushy grey one passing behind cistern pine, going to and fro, sniffing ground, searching. Akiva found one a couple of days ago foraging north watercourse, seen from shaft, a dark one.

hyraxes: some activity, couple of adults corner sapling field near pumping station. lately quite a bit of activity in warm dry late afternoons boulders across from cypress slum, none on cooler windier afternoons more frequent now.

Syrian woodpeckers heard as frequently as usual lately, jays also heard east woods, . Masked shrikes heard a couple of days ago about sunset.

large flock hooded crows up on windsurfer hill, calls, also jackdaws, both about last few days, crows seen going to roost. Jackdaws vocal, crows much less so.

Sunbird still singing in Bauhinia mornings and early afternoons, flitting between cape honeysuckle and there, very active.

evenings getting much cooler, light cotton blouse not enough, but days still warm, friday was almost 33 degrees C at noon. A two minute rainfall a week or so ago but otherwise still dry.

Yom Kippur to end of Succot obs.

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A late blooming thistle type found on the hillside. Notice the petal straps are much wider than those of milk thistle, which finished already months ago.

Yom Kippur: that was Saturday 18th Sept- usual sunbird, laughing dove, house sparrows, also jackdaws about. Twice in the late morning heard clear near calls of Tristram's starling, at least one, probably at least two individuals on next door's building or high vegetation, didn't see, just heard.
When I went out to look for them, noted Salmon Arab butterfly in garden.

Graceful warbler also heard around the garden lately and sunbird singing much of second half of morning and early afternoon.

Akiva noticed many ants on the female pumpkin flowers, hardly any on the males.

Monday 20th Sept: 4 gazelle in view grazing on ploughed area beyond almond trees towards sunset. Also around: hoopoe on eucalyptus near pumping station, great tits seen and heard on acacias and other trees in that area. Syrian woodpeckers heard. Jackdaws about and vocal, hooded crows and jays also about but very quiet. Two falcons over windsurfer hill, seemed to be flying together, no details made out but not kestrels, may be hobbies or other.

Dusk ducks still about, some low quacks and flying from A Ram to Hizmeh but no details.

Last night took dog for walk down snake path end of Abir Yaakov about 10.30 p.m., geckoes about on wall and by path. heard several chitterings of Geckoeshyrax alarms in the fragrant bushes , Akiva glimpsed a young one. That snake path is a frequent haunt for hyraxes.. upper part of pumphouse colony or perhaps a separate colony. No activity before sunset on our walk.

No more shrikes heard and many other birds quiet. Collared doves about but only noticed when they break from a tree and move to another.

Saturday 25th September
3 gazelle crossed east valley dirt path by Pistacia grove near look-out corner end.. Looked like female adult, well grown young and young adult male who was not necessarily the father of the kid but probably following the female out of interest.

Tristram's starlings heard almost every day lately, any time from 10 a.m. to early afternoon, calling. Akiva saw four. I didn't see them but seemed to be up in neighbour's cypresses or palm for a bit.

Blackbird alarm heard, some bulbul calls, graceful warbler calls, hobby calls in woods just west of gazelle field, jays vocal, jackdaws vocal, hoodies around but not vocal.
In gardens: house sparrows, still laughing dove coos, sunbird song in hot hours.

There has been something of a heatwave in last week or so, peak temps from 30 to mid 30s degrees C and with humidity at 50% minimum, feels hotter.

Another heatwave at the end of Sept, beginning of Oct, again temps reached into mid 30s at peak.

2nd Oct: Gazelles: In east field, an adult male just south of small olive grove. Farther south towards slopes of windsurfer hill, group of four gazelle, from sharpness of head markings and small horns would guess a young group, 'teenagers', individuals of a couple of years old.

Lots of hyrax activity by valley road by cypress slum colony including a litter of four young 'uns just down from, I assume their mom, guarding near the road edge.

Tristram's starlings heard again, from direction of 'hood somewhere. collared doves region of bunker, hoopoe flew over us there, heavily, towards look-out corner, graceful warbler around garden, also around bare patch service road woods, Syrian woodpeckers heard, sparrowhawk sightings lately and hobbies though they are relatively quiet now. Peregrine/s ? unconfirmed.
Jackdaws, hooded crows, blackbirds, great tits. chukars?

House: House sparrows, sunbird almost every day some song late morning, early afternoon, some bulbul calls this norming (3rd) , laughing doves about, foraging on ground.

September, around Rosh Hashanah

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Sunbird singing in Bauhinia outside my window. Lack of sharpness due to the mosquito screen between. This can just be made out in the lightest patches. Pic doesn't do justice to iridescence. Emerald feathers on neck stood almost on end on neck as the bird sang. ~10% enhancement of brightness and contrast to counteract the artificial gloom caused by tree shade.. thus bringing the pic close to brightness perceived by human eye.

It's Tuesday 7th September
Quiet time of year.. time for a quick catch up of the past week. Late summer is a very quiet season. We've been listening out for masked shrike but not a

Hyrax : adults on boulders by valley road, just sitting there looking at us until we take even a fraction of a step in their direction, in which case they scamper off down. At a distance we see them crossing the road ahead of us
Bee-eaters : Not heard or seen over these days.

Bulbuls : some calls heard from gardens on the street
Sunbirds: regular song/subsong from 10 a.m. and onwards, over hottest time of day.
Laughing doves quiet coos many times today. House sparrows quieter than usual. Hooded crows and jackdaws about as usual, large flock just off south west slopes of windsurfer hill. . Jays active various parts of the forest.
Syrian woodpecker some calls
Collared doves about, active, not cooing but usually seen flying between trees when something spooks them.
Blackbirds some alarm calls heard
Graceful warblers still quite active and vocal about street, gardens

13th September

Shrikes heard from east valley dirt road on the 11th- at least two individuals, one towards the Pistacia orchard, at least one from across the watercourse in an open sapling planted area between the watercourse and pines. Akiva also saw a few (masked shrikes) in a brushy area near the central bus station on the 12th, mid afternoon .

Sunbird: in the last few days the sunbird has been getting earlier and earlier.. moving his start back to around 9 a.m. then between 8 and 9 and today rather abruptly some alarm squeaks and hardly any song at all.

I seem to be missing some of recent records, accidental deletion of material between 7th and 13th but there was not a great deal in it.. (great tit call, syrian woodpeckers, jackdaws, laughing doves, bulbul, house sparrow, jays, hooded crows, feral pigeons, ) much was repetition apart from the mention of some kind of waterfowl flying over cistern area and heading east shortly after sunset. Seems they came from north or north west. Deep grating quack like sounds, some kind of duck but not malllard. Gadwall, garganey and pochard are common passage migrants this time of year. No detail seen, in silhouette above in poor light and quite quick flying.. vocalising as they went, as a group but little attempt at a V.

young adult male gazelle crossed east valley road ahead of us near Pistacia orchard on 11th.