Never-ending Story 17th, 18th June

As I write 'our' orange tufted sunbirds are calling squeakily in the Bauhinia right outside my window and it will be dusk in a little over half an hour. The tree looks like a string bean tree right now, but not edible beans! It was hard for husband to tear me away from gazelle field today.. as usual I was reluctant to leave the bunker ruins.

Birdwatching, any kind of nature watching is a gradual cumulative process, much is repeated and the changes are subtle but meaningful. The observations that stay constant for a while are as significant as the special sightings, often more so.

There are always discoveries.. even just a little each day:. that the bee-eaters spent part of the afternoon intensely raiding an ant nest and then moved on, that two delightful families of wheatears at opposite ends of our walk are growing up before our eyes is a delight.. that they like thistle is a surprise, that the hobbies nested and then moved on, as apparently have the swifts already, that the rose ringed parakeets didn't show at all this year but were here last summer, but that black kites visited us this year, that buzzards pass through and cuckoos are successful, that jackdaws disappear on mysterious vacations, that one chukar family raises one lone chick and others raise seven to a dozen, all on a backdrop of the regular beautiful blackbird song, endless sparrow foraging and hooded crow patrolling.

They are all characters in a never- ending unfolding natural story

Yesterday's afternoon walk :

5.40 p.m. clear, 22.9 degrees C & falling, humidity 61% rising, 14.8 knots West

Gazelles none

Turtle doves: purring up in pine along creek trail before orchard, prob different male from the look-out corner bird. Would be handy to get maps and plot out territories for all the male singers and cooers. used to do that for the British Trust for Ornithology common bird census.. gives a nice picture of territories over a season.

Bee-eaters: about 10, orchard, grove and gazelle field. We visited the indentation in the ground they'd been visiting the previous day. The presence of large ant holes confirmed my theory they were after ants. We should have checked same day if winged ants had been emerging then or if unwinged ants were active. Bee-eaters normally go for winged bugs and they will certainly eat winged ants. No ants were active when we looked nearly 24 hours later.

Black-eared Wheatears: We decided to call the family near the cistern Bill's family, as opposed to Bob's family over by the saplings.

Other Bob, juv or mom Bob in sapling field. Cistern Mrs Bill 2 juv Bills, (and Billas) pom tree by cistern.. thistle heads by bunker ruins then into grove where Bill joined them.

House sparrows: foraging everywhere seedy as usual, Senegal doves: coos in Bauhinia by my window, and other places in our street, active in many locations as usual, Hooded crows: active as usual and foraging for dropped 'bamba' mid forest - it's a peanut flavoured puffed snack sold in packets popular here. House Sparrows love them too. Jackdaws: still on vacation, Jays: as usual, Feral pigeons: activity as usual, Greenfinches: twittering, foraging on thistle heads by sapling fields and around the ruined bunker.. various plumages visible, adults and juveniles. Blackbirds: song in their usual locations, Chukars: some chuckling over in north - east of grove

Collared doves: some coos, flight calls, 2 in pomegranate tree near cistern, Stone curlews: silent, Sunbirds: one around look- out corner , hadn't noticed them right there before but not surprising, good territory for them. In garden as usual. Graceful warblers: calls, song

Syrian woodpeckers, bulbuls and great tits very quiet today.

June 18

5 30 p.m. ish temp 25.9 and *rising*.. quite unusual for this time of day. Accounted for by wind (about 7 knots) swinging to SW from W most of the afternoon. Warm air from south.

humidity 45% and rising,

Gazelles: No sign both days. Agama lizard on the cypress trunk again.

We watched from the bunker ruins till our two young boys came running down, wanting to join us for a little.. actually they really wanted to go to the swimming pool and had just come to tell us they had made calls and got the schedule, but they were certainly happy to hang out with us for a little and see the bee-eaters, Bill's family and anything else around so for a while my binoculars were changing hands rapidly.

Turtle doves: Purring from eucalyptus and from a tall cypress near the cistern. A pair visited the cistern, hopping down inside, later flew west to the north valley. Birds are always nervous hopping down into that cistern, Water holes are always dangerous .. a drinking animal is vulnerable and must feel sure before drinking that he'll be safe.

Bee-eaters: Several hunting in the grove and over south east end of gazelle field.

Black-eared Wheatears: Mrs. Bill and at least two juveniles about. No sign of Bill himself. Foraging in grasses and thistles again. Our nine year old was happy to get good views of a 'Bill junior' foraging on the path and of greenfinches eating thistle seed under the cypress.

Pair of hooded crows out in the field between the big pine by the cistern and the grove, very tantalizing because we could hear the juvenile (great spotted) cuckoos calling clearly but could not see them. . they had to be in an indentation somewhere over there amongst the cushiony shrubs and rocks. They had been obvious and hopping about when we last saw them but then they were in partial shelter of trees and probably felt more confident .. here they were much more out in the open field and clearly preferred to keep a low profile. The hoodwinked hoodies were still tending them obviously.

House sparrows, Senegal doves, Hooded crows, Jays, Feral pigeons, blackbirds, as usual.

Jackdaws: on vacation. Several hoopoes around,

Collared doves, active, foraging over gazelle field, some flight calls, a little cooing. Syrian woodpecker alarm call. Great tits calling to each other

chukars, bulbuls, graceful warblers relatively quiet. Greenfinches less song than usual but we had to leave before they really got started with the pre- dusk performance.