Trip north

In brief, I'm tired now but I want to get the information down while it's still fresh in my mind. I may come back and edit this later. Son had his basic training graduation ceremony today, we travelled to the Galilee to attend and visit him.

This means first driving down to Jericho - that's +800 m to -300 m , elevation change of 1100 metres in about 20 minutes! I usually yawn frequently along the way, sometimes hear my ears crackle. Then it's about a three hour drive north, and north west.

The Jordan rift valley was lovely and warm though hard to spot birds from a moving vehicle we did see a couple of ravens near Jericho, probably brown necked raven Corvus ruficollis, and several falcons, most probably kestrels, Falco tinnunculus, hunting over the road edges.

At a service station we noticed bulbul, sunbird and white wagtail, and of course house sparrows. Plenty doves were seen along the valley, both feral, collared doves Streptopelia decaocto and a few senegal doves.

Things really started getting interesting approaching Beit Shean where a flock of large birds was seen rising and circling from the ground.. all black kites, Milvus migrans about 30 of them together. Some nice size milling flocks of gulls were also about over the fields and fishponds or reservoirs, couldn't tell what they were since we were both in motion but could tell many of this years' immatures amongst them. Most probably Black headed gulls, Larus ridibundus Some white storks Ciconia ciconia were also about rising up on a tight thermal, interesting to see those still here so late in the season but conditions favourable for them. Hard to tell how many, trees in the way.

Due to time constraints and the wishes of our other passengers (son's friends and eldest daughter) we could only stop briefly, not nearly enough to satisfy me of course but gave me the above sightings.

At the base, not far out from Afula in the lower Galilee, and set in pleasant rural uplands I had a little time to scout around before the parades etcetera began. Some chaffiches were about, interestingly hawking for flies, not quite as deftly as flycatchers but making a game try. More interesting were numbers of European starlings Sturnus vulgaris that were gliding to and fro above and appeared to be hawking for flying insects bee-eater style. I didn't know they did this and have never noticed them doing it before. There were also plenty doves about and the occasional late swallow Hirundo rustica up there. I also heard at least two, perhaps three European robins, plenty tic tic sounds and a few bars of sweet song broke out as the late afternoon turned into evening but my tired eyes failed to get any good sightings of them.

The rest was all as you'd expect boys lined up in green standing at attention and brass band music rendering old Naomi Shemer songs that bring tears of nostalgia to my eyes. Those evocative old melodies reminds me of my first days in the country as a kibbutz volunteer, the same age as my eldest daughter is today. We sat under carob trees and by other lush greenery and watched the sun set over the lovely peaceful Galilean hillsides, robin singing a few sad strains, starlings gliding overhead and just hoping and praying that the peace we see here and now can prevail everywhere and that there will be no call for an army's force.