The Bird which shall not be Named

May 13

At about 5.30 a.m. one of the most charismatic of Israel's common garden birds was singing in the Bauhinia tree just outside my window while the sky to the east was just getting light. His song can be a short querulous 'chu- burbeli ?' He might throw in a 'chu-burbeli bi?' or a few 'chu-burbel! 's for good measure, or other similar variations depending on his repertoire. For such beautiful liquid tones it seems amazing that he's never ambitious enough to launch into a full scale song but they seem to prefer collecting a repertoire of short phrases and switching amongst them than composing a song per se. This is the spectacled bulbul, also known as the Yellow- vented bulbul Pycnonotus xanthopygos and this is the bird which shall not be named.. in public. 'Why?' you ask. I'll get to that.

When I first arrived in Israel the bulbul was one of the first birds I noticed. They are neat and perky, about starling size with a black hood, very slight crest, plumage always perfectly neat and a canary yellow flash under the tail. They're softbills, eating insects and fruit and usually travel around in pairs. Of course I asked its name and the boys identified it for me with a smirk. I assumed the smirk was just them pigeon-holing me as 'eccentric British bird lover' and dismissed it from my mind immediately until some time later I discovered that their name is actually local childish slang for a part of the male anatomy! And this is why to this day whenever hubby and I notice these cheeky garden birds we never ever announce its presence within earshot of the locals since naturally we don't want to be seen as a couple of pervs, but instead say " ah there go two of those 'he-who-shall-not-be-named'... "

Today was lovely, bright, breezy and warm. We went down to the valley late afternoon. Collared doves and turtle doves were cooing, we heard a great tit family, syrian woodpeckers, and blackbirds, greenfinches and graceful warblers were in song. Jackdaws, hooded crows and Syrian woodpeckers were vocal as usual and feral pigeons quite active over the valley as flocks and individuals. (We often joke that they're really carrying messages between spies)

The pair of Hobbies were quite active over the orchard, and hunting over the field.. we had some really nice views of them in flight. The rusty reddish feathering on the legs is one of the best ways to tell them from Peregrine falcons in the field, and this we could clearly see as they flew over. That and slightly darker and more distinct hood which always remind me of those world war one fighter pilot hoods . They are about a handwidth smaller than peregrines, something which can't really be appreciated when you see each by itself since hobbies are still quite magnificent falcons.

No sign of the gazelles today but the hyraxes were quite active. We like the way they sit on rocks and stare at you with their beady eyes.. till you approach too close, and then they scamper down and under the boulders as easily as lizards