The busy, beautiful Bauhinia

Bauhinias have recently started blooming again in the neighbourhood in various shades of pink and purple but in the case of the lovely tree outside my window, pure white. This bloom was photographed a couple of days ago. This is not a native wild tree but it is a popular ornamental tree and many local gardens and parks have them. They are also planted along some streets.

I've mentioned this tree many times in previous entries as it's quite busy, a regular venue for house sparrows, (pretty much constant), laughing doves, (their coos seemed to have stepped up in intensity lately), white spectacled bulbuls, (at least a passing visit today), orange tufted sunbirds (heard about 8.30 a.m. this morning squeaking and 'tut-tutting' confidently ), and this morning by 'Squeaker' as we've dubbed him, a ring necked parakeet who woke us all up at about 8 a.m. squawking and squiking loudly. He stayed up there for at least three quarters of an hour, nice bright caterpillar green and coral red bill, as my 12 year old son and I observed him. My son had the impression there was another across the street it had been 'talking to' earlier but had departed. This was the same individual we'd observed not long ago as it had the same messed up tail.. seems at some stage it had a sight tail feather accident.. I'm sure they'll grow back.

I also heard intermittent rhythmic hoarse squeaks from somewhere out of the window, probably house sparrow nestlings from a nest shoved into the side of the building somewhere.

Sparrows weren't the only birds producing young, the graceful warblers had obviously been busy as we noticed a family in the high grasses just off valley road today. The parents were foraging in the area and returning as often as they could and the little downy chicks popped up their tiny heads now and again, at least three of them, probably quite a few more down and out of sight.

Down in the valley today we made quite a few pleasing sightings. Poppies are having a second wind and are blooming everywhere as a is a purple hyssop/oregano type plant, by the roadside.
We also noticed three groups of bee-eaters, each group about 20 individuals, and two of these groups merging to hunt quite high over east field. Chukars heard calling briefly from the trail. Stone curlews also vocal about sunset, as were plenty blackbirds, (song), some great tits, Eurasian jays, hooded crows and collared doves.

We noticed a falcon hovering right over windsurfer hill.. with that hunting strategy would be a common kestrel, I've never heard of hobbies doing that. We did hear raptor like calls in the valley, both sparrowhawk and hobby like (even their typical calls sound quite similar, atypical calls are not so easy to tell from each other) though no definite sightings of either. We also heard great spotted cuckoo calls, and some of their calls sound raptor like too, though others more obviously grating and more obvious GS cuckoo in quality. We heard some hooded crow 'grok grok' calls coming from the direction of windsurfer hill and noticed a hoodie harassing a Buteo not much bigger than itself. The raptor continued on its way unmolested as soon as it was far enough away from the crow's 'territory', not in migration, just passing over, likely looking for a good roosting spot. Common swifts were screaming high overhead, sounded like they were having a wild party up there.

Searched for gazelle but none found. Some Hyrax active near the pumping station.

Humidity low today.. reached a peak of 70,80% late afternoon/sunset but fell quickly after that and was down to 33% after 10 p.m. , as it was early afternoon. Temps peaked at 23 degrees C early afternoon, already down to 18 degrees C approaching sunset. Winds N, NW approaching sunset, N, NE early afternoon.

Birds, flowers, butterflies

This starry clover like plant is common in the fields now. They look spiny but are actually soft in texture. These were taken by the hidden olive grove.


These mallows are growing everywhere right now. I spotted this crab spider on the eastern edge of the abandoned orchard.

I neglected to mention the presence of a Buteo of some sort quite high over the orchard toward sunset yesterday, couldn't tell what sort, mostly mottled brown, no distinct markings at all, it was being harried by a hooded crow and headed off over the trees south.

Earliest birds today were the usual house sparrows, laughing doves and white spectacled bulbuls but then I heard a peculiar psittacine call in the Bauhinia that pulled me out of bed to investigate. Husband had also heard it and was on his way out the french doors to check. It was a ring necked parakeet which took flight south over the gardens when it noticed him. The Bauhinia is in glorious white bloom and I wondered if they like pollen and nectar too.

At about 6 p.m. skies were mostly clear and weather pleasant, temps peaking at 24 C but already down to 22 on our departure and falling steadily, winds were south westerly having switched from roughly south easterly early in the afternoon, just ~2-6 kt most of the day, picking up in the evening. Humidity had hit a low of 10% about midday but was steadily climbing through the afternoon.

We heard a hobby call somewhere in the forest, blackbirds were active and vocal, some song, common swifts were heard and then a nice flock of bee-eaters came into view, hunting in their usual melodious drifting flocks over east valley, gazelle field and orchard area. They can be tricky to count for sure because they constantly change their relative place in the flock, but certainly in excess of thirty birds today. A smooth dark grey bird with raptor contours flew swiftly over the central path and then up onto a pine branch north of the trail, possibly European cuckoo again and we listened for a while to see if it would call but it did not oblige.

We did get a nice view of a European sparrowhawk some time later over gazelle valley and a brief view of a hobby.

Stone curlews heard from open ground just beyond north edge of woods, possibly disturbed by the hobbies. Great tit calls from orchard. Graceful warblers heard toward dusk.

Again no show of gazelles though we checked the hillslopes to the north, extremities of gazelle field and eastern field.

Butterflies picking up, I noticed a saturnid on our hike to the quarry, quite a few whites and marbled white types are about and today we saw a small preying mantis as well as a crab spider on a mallow bloom.

Cuckoos cackling in the wattle tree.

A common low large cushion like thorny plant found all over the woods and fields. Purple flowers appear later in summer. Many bear green or pinkish berries now.


Paronychia argentea, no common English name I've found but its Hebrew name, Almavet hacesef translates roughly has silver immortal/'everlasting'

This is now common over much of gazelle field.

Temp at about 6 p.m. (summer time) 14.9 degrees C and falling, (58.8 degrees F), humidity 66% and rising, wind WNW 7kt

great spotted cuckoos.. about 6.30 p.m. 2 individuals noticed on branches of a blooming wattle tree by the path leading from centre trail to north valley, cackling repeatedly, (possibly courtship?). one quite nice mature plumage, one much less vividly marked. After some minutes they flew west into the pines where they continued to vocalize, rather a wicked sounding laugh!
bee-eaters, at least 14 in the group flyingtoday though we didn't see them all at once, blocked by trees.
common swifts, quite a few high up, heard screaming from the sky
hobbies: calls from orchard area.
Hooded crows: small flock foraging on the ground just outside of the young pines north west end of gazelle field, some jackdaws there also.
Eurasian Jays: active, busy foraging throughout woods and fields.
Greenfinches: 'chaw' calls from pines. Graceful warblers: calls
Blackbirds: heard some song, Collared doves: active and some cooing
Stone curlews: some calls north end gazelle field, Syrian woodpeckers: calls , seen
Sunbirds:

Around the house: House sparrows, laughing dove coos,

Gazelles: no show, hyrax: did not pass a colony, feral dogs not heard.

Threatening rain and more bee-eaters

This pic of shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) was taken a couple of weeks back. Now the seedpods are turning yellow and brown and we've already seen ants carting them away. These seeds are used by women to limit bleeding after childbirth. I have drunk plenty S.P. tea after my babies were born:)

Gundelia..prickly relative of the sunflowers. This one was taken on the northern slopes north of the mystery field and hidden orchard grove but today we saw one down in the eastern end of gazelle field.

Neglected to mention yesterday pair of falcons flying over north valley from A Ram to our neighbourhood, probably common kestrels. Also rock hyrax noticed around the quarry.
Husband also noticed a single wagtail, apparently white but he thought it looked a touch smaller than the na'halieli we've been seeing over the winter.

From the house, heard
Temps 9-16 degrees C today, at about 6 p.m., humidity 61%, winds WNW 7 kt
Threatening cumulus rolling in around sunset, possibly rain soon.

First birds we noticed flying together high over Hizmeh were a pair of hobbies.. hopefully this summer's main breeding pair.. they flew lazy circles around each other gradually gaining height, occasional flap to keep position but mostly gliding on air currents, not using a thermal I don't think, not really warm enough for that but using the winds to tack and glide around.

Heading down into the valley heard graceful warblers, blackbirds, some song, a flock of ~20 bee-eaters hawking over centre woods, part of gazelle fields and eucalyptus and pine groves. Jackdaws, Eurasian jays, swifts, collared doves active. Black eared wheatear calls from east end of gazelle fields and the hillslopes just beyond the fence. Falcon hunting over hill just south of Hizmeh, I think kestrel but didn't get good view. Stone curlews calling north gazelle field toward sunset.

The quarry

Amazing how much the quarry mimics their favourite desert canyon habitat, they'd feel right at home here! perhaps they'll attempt to breed. Taken today, April 7th, ~6.30 p.m. by A. Atwood.

Today we headed up north valley as far as a stone quarry that was abandoned about ten years ago, partly to explore and partly to check out gazelle activity as per Amir Balaban's recommendation. We didn't see any gazelle at all but did find a fresh mound of dung close to the quarry.. the kind of pile that's usually made by a territorial male. (and seems to me perhaps too far away from the male holding court at gazelle field and east field, but that can only be determined by spotting lone adult males and noting any subtle differences between them.

On the way we passed plenty acacia wattles and hawthorns in bloom as well as a lot of Ainsworthia,



The old quarry buildings were almost eerie and desolate, could have made a great movie set. The quarry area was inhabited by chukar partridges (to my amusement I saw a couple scamper into the buildings, at second storey level, there was a ramp of dirt or concrete outside on the roof of a lower level), a number of feral pigeons, house sparrows and graceful warblers. We were particularly rewarded by quite close views of two Tristram's grackle/starling flying around between rocks, rebars and a large roll of barbed wire, and whistling at each other. They seemed to be a pair (the female has a greyer head) They're nice sized birds, (24-27 cm long) like small crows, allowing approach of 15-20 feet. We enjoyed watching them for quite some minutes.

Along the way we also saw and heard swifts, Syrian woodpeckers, a small group of bee-eaters, some blackbirds. Husband believes he glimpsed a sparrowhawk

At the house we heard sunbirds, senegal doves, white spectacled bulbuls. Bauhinias are starting to bloom again, providing more nectar food for sunbirds.

Cuckoos, 'May' and 'blood'

'May blossom' in April, blossom of the hawthorn, Crataegus in gazelle field. A.Atwood.

'Maccabees' blood' Helichrysum sanguineum, also known as strawflower or Red everlasting.

Bird of the day today was also a cuckoo, but not the same cuckoo we saw yesterday. I wanted to get some photos of the Hawthorn in blossom, (Crataegus- as a side-note, in the British Isles, hawthorn blossom is called 'may' because that's when it usually blooms. In Israel however, at least 20 degrees of latitude south, it's normal for hawthorns to bloom in April)

The hawthorn I had in mind was right next to the largest almond tree and I was in no hurry to approach because there was a very nice great spotted cuckoo Clamator glandarius in plain sight on one of its lower branches. This individual looked like an immature bird, not in full breeding glory but had a rather dusty greyish cast- It was facing us for most of the time till it decided to take off and fly into to the eastern end of the north valley pines where it soon started to call harshly and excitedly. In retrospect I think I was hearing that call yesterday a few times too. Another individual crossed gazelle field,heading into the east valley trees where it started more noise over near look-out corner. Clearly AT LEAST two individuals in the area and did make me wonder if that European cuckoo we saw yesterday might actually have been chased by one of these birds.. they may not tolerate each other's presence. As I said then, I did not get a good view of the pursuing bird.

See last years' spring entries for a photo and the saga of 'Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle'.. a very nice example of successful brood parasitism of hoodies by these handsome cuckoos. This is another summer visitor, migratory and wintering in Africa.

After photographing the May blossom, I mean, April blossom :) of Crataegus as well as a few gorgeous white scabious like flowers nearby, we headed off to east valley. We photographed some very nice Ainsworthia (trachycarpa?) by the stream bed there, a handsome white umbellifer, members of the carrot family.

We heard bee-eaters and saw a few hawking for flying insects over the eucalyptus grove and the orchard, and heard some stone curlews from the north end of gazelle field as well as a few notes of a black- eared wheatear somewhere to the north.

Hooded crows, the chosen 'prey' of the great spotted cuckoos, were busy everywhere, as were Eurasian jays and collared doves. Blackbirds, graceful warblers and greenfinches were also active. Some swifts hunted and screamed way up over head. No hobbies noted today though husband did see a pair of kestrels by the pumping station earlier in the day, one in pursuit of the other.

We decided to continue along the path south after the bridge near the pumping station, to see if we could find the chukar partridges we could plainly hear. They sounded so close, just down in the stream bed, but they kept to cover and camouflage very well and seemed to be almost chuckling at us as they maintained a fifty yard lead. They headed up the south east facing slope and we followed, watching out for snakes, till we found ourselves clearly amongst the rocks of a huge hyrax colony. Several times rock hyraxes called a warning 'psssst!' like a shrill high whistle, under the boulders and out of view. We'd heard the shrill alarm barks at our approach and now they were keeping 'indoors' and safe, just 'hissing' at us. At a few places on that slope away from the colony, I found the strange Helichrysum sanguinum, known as strawflower, red everlasting or Maccabees' blood, a plant I haven't seen anywhere else in Mir forest so far but this slope.

Finally we hit a trail that led to the other end of our street and decided to call it a day since the light was fading. We noted increasing numbers of black millipedes swarming everywhere including over some blooming comfrey like flowers.

Cuckoo!

European cuckoo: Monte M. Taylor

Two birds were rivals for the unofficial award of 'bird of the day'.

First.. I was delighted to see the first hobby of the season. These falcons are migratory, breeding here and wintering in Africa.

I had wondered if the excited sounds I'd heard on thursday might indicate they're back and today, as we walked along the trail path a falcon flew over us, and headed off toward gazelle field. We heard quite a few excited calls, over the east end of north valley and again near the central trail crossroads later.

As we emerged by look-out corner a rather dramatic chase approached us, low over gazelle field. The bird ahead twisted and turned almost acrobatically , then gained height, flying over my head and just clearing the top of the eucalyptus behind me. At that point I had it in my glasses view and, though the general shape was somewhat similar to a falcon it was clearly something different.. the bill was pointed ahead and not curved down.. and first thing that came to mind quite strongly was cuckoo!

I did not get a good view of the second bird, and though husband thought they were both the same species it all happened so fast he could not be certain. Was it one cuckoo after another for territorial or mating reasons, or a falcon chasing a cuckoo? A hobby's back would look a lot darker but he didn't see the back well, and I was busy following the first bird w the binocs.

As we were discussing this and wondering if it was the great spotteds back we heard a loud and clear 'UH-OO!' from somewhere back over the dry streambed, probably less than 100 yards or less in that direction. He called several times and we were struck by how loud and clear the call was. We looked at each other and laughed. It was classic! Clearly European cuckoo, Cuculus canorus, and the first we've seen and heard in our patch. Wonderful! Shortly afterwards I detected a quick movement over the central path..and a minute or so later the cuckoo was calling over on that side in the new pines.

As well as these two marvelous birds we also heard stone curlew, bee-eaters, greenfinches, chukar partridges (latter up on the slope east and south of the bridge), collared doves, blackbirds, graceful warblers.

By the houses, sunbird, white spectacled bulbuls, house sparrows, jackdaws.

Eurasian jays, hooded crows about as usual.

A buck gazelle sighted up on the skyline of the hills to the north, probably one of the bachelor herd, though I didn't see the others around him. After reporting a few details of the local gazelle population to naturalist and JBO administrator, Amir Balaban, he told me that a breeding buck gazelle will not leave its territory.

The one we've seen around the end of gazelle field probably holds territory there as well as in east field, though we should look out for any subtle differences in horns and colouring to work out if more than one gazelle is holding a territory at the moment and how large the territory/territories are. We've seen a buck coming all the way up to the top of valley road and it's important to try to figure out if its the same individual.

We spotted a shaggy big blonde (well matured) hyrax doing sentry duty on a boulder just to the east side of valley road.