Finally we see Red Everlasting in its glory

Funny thing about ants- when you're trying to take a pic of them it tends to come out blurred but when you're taking a pic of some flower, there's a nice sharp ant you didn't even notice! Akiva found these Helichrysum sanguineum (Maccabee's blood/red everlasting/red cudweed) in a cypress grove by the north valley watercourse. Even just from a few feet off they just look a mess as the blooms are so small but when you zoom in they reveal their wonders, more opened up than we've ever seen them. Extraordinary to see them like this now when we found them elsewhere with seed hairs a few weeks ago, of course development could proceed very differently out in the open on the hillside and here in a shaded glade.

We took several pics, I am likely to post more in future. Now they finally look like a Helichrysum!

I checked on the tree just up the slope to the south of the north valley dirt road to see how the fruit is developing. Comparing the pics, though very similar they do seem now more swelled out at the base and a touch paler and yellower than the shade of green they were.

Ant on a caper bud. On another copy I tried playing with brightness and contrast to bring out the mandibles more but no significant improvement so decided to post the original natural pic.

Below, though lack of sharpness esp on the back legs I decided to post this pic of a white grasshopper simply because I've never seen such a one before. This one was on midsummer day on the lower parts of a caper bush. Plenty grasshoppers lately including a laterally striped individual that we have photographed before not long ago, and some dark satyrid type butterflies.

We headed down into north valley and up dirt road towards quarry, checking globe thistles, the tree with the small green fruits.. (no further obvious development, perhaps a touch yellower)

Gazelle: No luck today. Hyrax: passed Shadiker colony but no above ground activity noticed

Bee-eaters: heard up over the edge of the neighbourhood. Also heard about 5.30 a.m. from the house.

Hobby: Neat flying by one individual up over the north ridge close to A Ram. Flying INTO the wind but hardly moving its wings.. a stationary glide.. using the oncoming breeze to give lift but maintaining position. Kestrel flutter their wings to hover but this was managing minimum movement without a beat.. did move a little more laterally than the kestrel does but pretty much held position. Turned and was whipped downwind a way with some quick wing beats then turned again and resumed ''hover" position over the edge of A Ram.

Blackbirds: Some alarm calls heard just below Shadiker, foraging on the ground.

Collared doves: coos, flight calls, activity between trees.

Eurasian Jays: some calls, activity between trees.

Feral pigeons: some aloft, flying between tops of buildings.

Great tits: some calls in the pines, Hooded crows: some about.

House sparrows: gardens as usual, Laughing doves: coos in the garden from early morning

Stone curlews: calls from direction of east field 10.30 p.m. no doubt foraging at night, a wader aspiring to owlhood.

Sunbirds: calling in the garden from early morning.

Syrian woodpeckers: some calls in the pines.

White spectacled Bulbuls:calling in the garden from just before 5 a.m.

Weather: time of walk ~6.55 p.m. 23.3 degrees C (~74 degrees F )
humidity 69% and rising, wind NW 5.2

Range today: 18.5 to just over 26 degrees C ( 65.3- 78.8 degrees F)

Today I decided to give some attention to the local trees as they show such a marvellous range of forms of texture. Above, young cypress cones, looking juicy enough to eat but hard, astringent.

Aleppo Pines showing new cones and, in the background, some old cones, also as you see, fresh needle growth this season. This richer green topped all the pines like frosting. Below, some detail of the bark of a young pine tree by the shepherd's trail.

Below: this feathery/flaky texture was found on many of the eucalyptus by the east valley dirt road, quite different from the smooth patchy nature of other eucalytpus near look-out corner and other places, (photographed a few weeks ago).

All the pomegranates have vanished from the trees by the cistern. Perhaps someone had the idea of harvesting them early and trying to mature them at home, good luck with that, they were nohwere near ripe!... or use them for some other purpose. Left long enough though the wildlife, birds etc, will go for them before they are fit for human use.

Gazelle: No luck though we scanned east field and north field and hill slopes though I could still have missed them.

Hyrax: Several spotted on the west side hill slopes near the pumping station.

Reptiles: Moshe saw a nice size skink earlier in the day.

Bee-eaters: small flock working the air above north west part of gazelle field and edge of pine woods there.
Also heard near the house around 6 a.m. Akiva noticed something of a regular thing lately.

Hobbies: calls heard only.

Turtle doves: some coos heard near central trail after sunset

Tristram's grackles: heard calling in north valley, hidden watercourse area? hard to tell. A little later one flew over us as we walked along the east valley dirt road, whistling and moving fast with the wind from the neighbourhood to windsurfer hill.. possibly same bird, but this one seems to be a regular.

Blackbirds: Some calls, smidgen of song

Chukar partridges: Not heard but a rather bedraggled feather found on shepherd's trail.

Collared doves: coos and some activity noticed.

Eurasian Jays: Some screeches, glimpses, and Prince still doing ok, getting used to us.

Graceful warblers: Some calls.

Greenfinches: calls, small groups moving about between the trees look-out corner area.

Jackdaws: flock heard early morning from the house somewhere east, intermittant calls.

Hooded crows: loose flock returning home from the north west today.. nice speed, riding the wind over north valley
Also heard calling about 4.45 a.m. and intermittantly for next half hour or so

House sparrows: Chirps in gardens from before dawn

Laughing doves: coos in gardens from dawn-ish

Stone curlews: Calls from east field area around 10.30 p.m.

Sunbirds: calls in the garden shortly after 5 a.m.

Syrian woodpeckers: Calls in the woods, activity in eucalyptus grove east of bunker, edge east field.

White spectacled Bulbuls: Calling in the garden from about 4.55 a.m

Weather: Time of walk 18.45 p.m. 22.1 degrees C. 70% WNW 10 kt.

Range today: 18-25 degrees C.

View of 'east field' on a sunny July day. Eucalyptus middleground left and you can just make out behind them back by the road the little grove of olives and almonds. Ahead is 'windsurfer hill' where the crows like to windsurf.. we need to get a shot of them doing that.

View of eucalyptuses, one of favourite haunts of Syrian woodpeckers (if you look carefully you can see one there) , behind, hills below Hizmeh dappled with limestone boulders and of course, thorny burnet.

For fans of Prince the jay.. here's another shot the boys took. Of course he doesn't like being handled, that's stressful for birds but the boys do that minimally. They're now working on building much bigger quarters for him.

Gazelle: No luck today. Hyrax: same.. though we passed colonies seemed they were all ''indoors"

Bee-eaters: Out in force today all over gazelle field and eucalyptus grove area and settling on the dirt path in small groups by the cistern, and also on the ground between the bunker rubble and the cistern. The rest of the time they were swooping low over the cistern area and gazelle field in general, now and again stopping to perch on the large almond or other convenient trees and shrub over the field. Hard to know how many about, so scattered, but scores.
Also heard from the house early morning today (by husband) and yesterday ( by myself) and also around sunset.

Hobbies: call in pines just north of central trail not long after sunset.

Turtle doves: Much cooing around bunker rubble area.

Pair of hoopoes foraging on the dirt road near the cistern, possibly a third seen earlier, or looped back and was 2nd.

Blackbirds: Some song in the pine woods.

Collared doves: some coos, flight calls, general activity

Eurasian Jays: some calls, various individuals about foraging around bunker rubble and woods in general

Feral pigeons: coos from buildings. I seldom take much notice of these since I never aim binoculars at buildings!

Graceful warblers: Calls from valley road and southern edges of gazelle field, and very vocal in bunker pines today.

Great tits: brief calls by valley road.

Greenfinches: Some twitters, chaws, alarm calls around look out corner, bunker pines.

Jackdaws: call heard from the house early afternoon, otherwise not noticed.

Hooded crows: flying about over valley

House sparrows:about buildings, also seen on bunker rubble rebars.

Laughing doves: heard around buildings, pair foraging in the street.. they are so used to people they often forage on road and sidewalk and let people walk within a few feet of them.

Stone curlews: Some calls heard in the fields.

Sunbirds: some calls heard mid afternoon in the Bauhinia, the tck tck call.

Syrian woodpeckers: some calls.

White spectacled Bulbuls: calls in the garden.

Today's range: 18-25+ degrees C (64.5 degrees F- 77 degrees F +)
Time of walk: ~7 p.m. ~21 degrees C ~70 degrees F )
Humidity: ~75%, wind: W/NW, 8-10 knots

Beetles, ants, cats, jays etcetera

Here's one for fans of purple flowers and of bugs. One of the globe thistle beetles, though pic still not quite as sharp as I'd like, does show quite different head form and antennae from the red beetles that are even more numerous on the thistles. I also look out for anything else such as bees and that flower weevil that showed up once, and the crab spider that had caught a wasp which was neat. Always worth looking, never know what will show up next.

I also attempted some busy ant pics.. a trail crossing valley road carrying food and apparently the same large red and black species the boys photographed the other day (that one was close to the north valley dirt road, edge of gazelle field), but was not happy with them- I had wanted to capture their formidable mandibles but didn't manage today. Will try again!

Below, another frequent hunter on the hillslopes, a feral cat. This one has almost completely wild colouration right down to the magnificent barred tail but others, such as the ginger just visible top right, have more typical feral cat patterning. Often it seems the cats are trying their luck catching hyraxes though I've never seen them succeed but in this case I think this was a more 'social gathering'. It was waving its tail ominously and there were several other cats edging down towards a female in a rocky hollow just down from valley road.

Bean like seed pods of an acacia near the east valley water course.

For fans of Prince the jay, another mug shot of him showing a different angle on his 'moustache' . He's eating and drinking but still very quiet, probably not a bad thing given how loud they can screech.

Gazelle: no luck today. Hyrax: Not as active as yesterday. Feral cat, down from valley road, apparently a female in oestrus amongst the boulders.

Bee-eaters: Active over gazelle field, higher, a more closed flock of at least 25 individuals moving about.

Hobbies: Some calls unless it was a sparrowhawk, very similar but less shrill, but call was brief.

Turtle doves: Intermittant quieter coos heard in bunker rubble area.

Blackbirds: Some song.

Collared doves: active, cooing, couple up on the lines over east valley watercourse.

Eurasian Jays: Active in the woods, individuals glimpsed between trees.

Graceful warblers: Some calls.

Greenfinches: Some calls and foraging for thistle seed etc in gazelle field, then return flight to trees.

Hooded crows: Loose flock flying back from forage in the north, heading to windsurfer hill.

House sparrows: Around buildings as were Laughing doves:

Sunbirds: If they were calling in the garden I slept right through it!

Syrian woodpeckers: Numerous calls.

White spectacled Bulbuls: A couple foraging by valley road.

Today's range: 22.5-29.5 ( 72.5 - 85.1 degrees F)

Time of walk, just before 7 p.m. 25.8 degrees ( 78.44 degrees F )

Wind WSW 10.4 kt, humidity 38 %

Summer time, and the living is easy

A favourite posture for hyraxes- totally stretched out, back legs out behind and belly to the ground. They like to do this on the tarmac of valley road too. Below, two adults in different stages of maturity and a youngster, one of many scampering across valley road.

Bee- eaters over gazelle field, silhouetted. These pics don't do them justice at all in terms of colouration and only a faint tribute in terms of the beautiful aerodynamics. In one you can just make out the elongated central tail feathers, and you can just see the slender curve of the bill.

Today's early birds: (I happened to be awake so made a note of them)
Shortly after 4.50 a.m. caws of hooded crows
4.55 a.m. chirps of house sparrows.
4.57 a.m. melodious calls of white spectacled bulbuls.
5.15 a.m. sunbird short melodious calls.
Later laughing doves added their coos but not sure what time.

Gazelle: No luck.
Hyrax: lots as yesterday in cypress slum area, some quite high in cypresses on the forest side
Reptiles: calls of geckos from buildings.

Bee-eaters: hawking for aerial insects over gazelle field, more NW towards service road area today.

Turtle doves: Coos heard

Blackbirds: Some song heard, Collared doves, coos and seen active
Eurasian Jays: calls and seen active, Greenfinches: twitters in bunker area
Jackdaws: absent, Hooded crows: small flock winsurfing up off western slopes of 'windsurfer' hill, at least double that number on the ground.
Stone curlews: not heard today amongst other quiet birds such as great tits, graceful warblers
Syrian woodpeckers: calls heard frequently through the woods.

Insects: Cicadas shrilling till sunset today and yesterday, from eucalyptus all the way to cistern but no luck finding any, may be on upper twigs. Checked out the green beetles on the globe thistles but didn't get a satisfactory pic today, I want to try again. Head neck area doesn't look same shape as the red though underparts and underwings red. My question is, same species just different morph or sex, or different species? Red type much more numerous.

Weather: 24 degrees C to 33+ degrees C ( 75.2- 91.4 degrees F )

Time of walk: shortly before 7 p.m. 29 degrees C and falling. ( 84.2 degrees F )

Humidity: 22% and rising, wind NW/W 8-12 kt

Prince the jay is still with us and likes left over breakfast cereal.

A swing towards warmer weather

A familiar sight now, patches of blooming globe thistles. This one by valley road near the pumping station. Still swarming with the green and red beetles and I must remember to check if head of the greens is just like that of the reds on its long 'neck'

I wanted to find which plant was 'guilty' of being the 'caterpillar burr' plant which I pick up so many every day. This seems to be it but I must pay closer attention next year to observe which plant it WAS in terms of flowers before it developed burrs. I'm really not sure! That and the thorny seed pod, mysteries yet to be solved.

As for Prince, the name the boys gave the jay, he seems to be settling in nicely and since our vet is paying a visit soon for the dog I want his advice on the jay too, in terms of worms and such. He shows no signs of ill health but shows no inclination to fly away. The boys tried to free him this morning but he was clearly not ready to leave us yet. I have not examined his wings, I'd rather give him time to settle in and get used to us all first. He is eating and drinking. Below, shots the boys took of his fancier wing feathers and his face.. watch out, he will try to peck!

Gazelle: No luck today. Hyrax: Lots and lots all ages.. on valley road scampering down from the slum cypress slopes across the road to the boulders on the forest side where evidently they feel much more secure.

Reptiles: Geckoes heard on buildings after sunset.

Bee-eaters: Lots of bee-eaters whirling and whickering in the air over gazelle field and eucalyptus grove area as yesterday.
Turtle doves: Coos heard various parts of the woods.

Hoopoe also seen flying from gazelle field area towards woods. Tristram's grackle whistle heard a few times from direction of neighbourhood but we didn't spot the bird or birds.

Blackbirds: Some song heard in the pines

Collared doves: Coos, activity, a few down by the cistern, flying in to drink (there are some rocks and stones they can perch upon in the large cistern which is why it was a mystery why the jay floundered.

Eurasian Jays: About as usual, and perhaps it was just my imagination but a couple came down to perch within plain view near the bunker and stared at us, curiously? reproachfully? as if they knew we'd taken one of them.

Graceful warblers: Calls heard. Greenfinches: calls heard, small flock flew from bunker pines to over look out corner

Hooded crows: I think we saw them, didn't see any jackdaws lately, perhaps they've gone off following goats again. We have seen goat herd activity across to the east and we know they do follow them.

House sparrows:Around neighbourhood as usual, also seen at bunker rubble.

Laughing doves: Around buildings and street as usual, cooing.

Stone curlews: Brief call around sunset

Sunbirds: short melodious calls just after 5 a.m. in the garden as usual these days.

Syrian woodpeckers: husband glimpsed and heard a couple while I was looking at vegetation near the cistern

White spectacled Bulbuls: again, started up in the tree just before 5 a.m. this morning.

Weather: Range: 26- 34.5 degrees C. (78.8 -94.1 degrees F )

Time of walk: ~6.45 p.m. ~31.5 degrees C ( 88.7 degrees F)

Humidity: ~27%, wind NW ~6kt.

Jay rescue

This above - by valley road I noticed the short leguminous shrub growing together with Polygonum (horsetail knotweed) and thought the combination pretty so took some shots- noticed later on the zoom the red and black plant bug, probably Pyrrhocoris apterus, also known as the firebug. (or Scantius aegyptius or related )

Avremi captured this pic of an opened seedpod - magnified, the actual seedpod was barely half a centimetre across. All this kind had three chambers like this and each held at least two seeds.

(As I write I can hear Bauhinia pods bursting out their seeds every few minutes, a disconcerting effect if you don't know what it is! )

These were between valley road and the north valley turn off, we headed off the path under the pines near where we found that carob tree and Moshe always has fun jumping down the limestone shelves and boulders.

Below: Hyrax, eyes lit by the flash. They must have good night vision to have light gathering retinas like this and we have seen them occasionally scampering about well after dark especially in the neighbourhood gardens along the snake path.

The boys found a very busy ant nest, ants of two distinct sizes collecting and milling around industriously. The large ones were quite aggressive and swarmed onto us if we let them, the boys received a few nips. We need a better pic to show their mandibles.

Gazelle: We noticed an adult male today in gazelle field not far from the north valley watercourse, peacefully grazing.
Boys noticed a gazelle up on the hill to the north but couldn't make out definite horns.

Hyrax: A few hyrax noticed at the Shadiker colony.

Boys noticed the fox family this morning on their return from their campsite, must have been around 7 a.m. Mom vixen and three cubs making their way quickly up the hidden watercourse and then up its northern banks.

The younger boys also came with us for the walk this afternoon. Avremi likes to use the camera and Moshe wanted to check out the cistern for toads or whatever. Turned out to be a good decision!

Bee-eaters Lots of activity over gazelle field, eucalyptus grove and the lower part of east field beyond. Scores, hard to estimate numbers because of the way they moved about and that we did not have all of them in view at any one time but something over 60.

Turtle doves: Some coos heard.

Blackbirds: no song but a pair whistling thin alarm call by central trail on the way back.

Chukar partridges: some calls heard as we arrived at the north watercourse dirt road.

Collared doves: coos, flight calls, general activity.

Eurasian Jays: Activity, calls as usual, and a RESCUE! The boys found a bird that had somehow become waterlogged in the cistern. They rescued it and before they could even ask ''can we keep it" I told them to take it home as at least a temporary pet. Jays are omnivorous and therefore quite easy to feed on table scraps and was already taking pieces of bread by the time Akiva and I arrived home. Soon it was sitting quite calmly on Moshe's hand without restraint. We used an old cage we have for its quarters when not being handled, more to protect it from the dog and other accidents around the home. We must get pics of him when he looks less bedraggled! Aharon was impressed at the beautiful blue barring on his wings.

Greenfinches: Twitters and chaws in the pines as usual.

Hooded crows: A few flying about.

House sparrows: Around the houses as usual and a small flock today at the bunker ruins foraging on grass and apparently also thistle seed.

Laughing doves: around buildings and cooing as usual.

Stone curlews: Calls from fields from about sunset onwards

Sunbirds: melodious short calls in the garden since about 5 a.m.

Syrian woodpeckers: A few in the eucalyptus groves, calling and banging beaks into the eucalyptus trunks.

White spectacled Bulbuls: calling in the garden from about 5 a.m.

Mr. Goldwasser reported a large bird in the valley, from his description most likely a long legged buzzard.

Weather: today's range, 16- almost 30 degrees C, ( 60.8 F - 86 F)
Time of walk, starting about 6.30 p.m. ~27 degrees C. (80.6 degrees F)
humidity ~40%, winds NW/NNW, 7-8 kt.