ניוזלטרים/Birds eye newsletter 2017 skb
April 1999: Israel's 9th President, Mr. Shimon Peres, participated in a Birdstrike conference dinner at the Armored Corps Memorial at Latrun, which he squeezed in between two big election campaign meetings. The conference was attended by generals from the Israeli, American, Jordanian, Turkish and Greek Air Forces, and its topic was regional cooperation aimed at reducing collisions with birds. In the photo the generals present Mr. Peres with a drawing of a Bearded Vulture spreading its wings (Photo: Yossi Leshem)
A Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land Newsletter no. 17 Winter 2016
Dear friends, We would like to dedicate this newsletter to Israel's 9th President, Mr. Shimon Peres, who passed away on September 28th this year at the age of 93. Mr. Peres, who was named after a raptor with a wingspan of 3 meters mentioned in the Bible that unfortunately went extinct in Israel and the Middle East, changed his name from Persky to Peres (Bearded Vulture in Hebrew) in 1944 during an expedition to study the roads in the Negev together with Prof. Heinrich Mendelssohn, one of the founders of Tel Aviv University, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA). Mr. Peres was our close friend, and helped us immensely in furthering all our activities connected with regional cooperation. For example: the initiative to use Barn Owls as biological pest control agents in agriculture; tracking storks fitted with satellite transmitters via the Internet carried out in 300 schools in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority; announcing of the National Bird (Hoopoe) during Israel's 60-year anniversary celebrations. We have reported on Mr. Peres' support in previous newsletters over the years. Mr. Peres was scheduled to lecture at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos in January this year, but due to a mild heart attack a week before the event was unable to attend. His son Chemi Peres represented him. Mr. Peres had promised to make up for it at the WEF
in January 2017… He had also agreed to be the central figure at our annual birding lecture day in Hanukah 2016 attended by 1,200 birding enthusiasts, which celebrates this year the 20-year anniversary of the project "Spreading Wings over the Vultures". His presence in both events will be sorely missed, and our annual lecture day this year will be held in his memory. In November 2015, Mr. Peres joined the annual Crane Race in the Hula Valley, and set off thousands of runners on their run. The runners included IDF soldiers (including five major generals), a Jordanian deputation, youth – all running united among the 35,000 wintering cranes in the Agamon Hula which Mr. Peres went to observe after the races began. We will not forget his significant contribution towards peace, regional cooperation, furthering education and hi-tech and the security of the State of Israel. At the conference in memory of Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut who died in the Columbia disaster, Mr. Peres said: “Israel is a small country – challenged in length and in width. But in the vertical dimension there is no limit. So Israel must excel in this dimension”. Indeed Mr. Peres' vision had no limits, not the sky or space above, and it is with this in mind that we will continue our work in the following years.
Yours, Prof. Yossi Leshem Director of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration and Secretary of the Hoopoe Foundation
For the most updated birding news from Israel visit: www.birds.org.il
Dan Alon Director of the Israel Ornithological Center, SPNI
A Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land
Israel raptor nestcams – a huge success! with hundreds of others) how a bush fire in the area slowly crept towards the Eagle nest and how firefighters managed to stop the fire in the last moments before the nest went up in flames (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR0mU1H SzMg&feature=youtu.be)! A few weeks later we were amazed to follow live as poachers attempted to steal the young Eagle! The terrified bird jumped out of the nest and fell to the ground; luckily we managed to get to the site at last light and to return the youngster to the nest. The threats continued when the adult female decided to disappear for five days (twice) and the neglected youngster weakened before our eyes and we feared the worst! During this period the adult male worked "double time" in feeding the Eaglet and it took two weeks before the youngster rebuilt its strength till finally fledging successfully.
Short-toed Eagle swallowing Palestine Viper (Photo: Yoram Shpirer)
In March 2016 we launched a new and exciting project that exposed the fascinating lives of two interesting diurnal raptors: Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus) and Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus). For the first time in Israel we installed cutting edge HD cameras near the nests of the two species in an attempt to receive online coverage of their breeding seasons. The cameras broadcasted 24/7 covering the whole breeding season, from the arrival of the adults to the nests until the successful fledging of the young. The project was a great success and we managed to document the whole season for both species, a season that was full of drama, rarely documented events and non-stop action! The project started with the Long-legged Buzzards that are early breeders. The pair we chose is a highly successful one and we were lucky to witness a very rare occurrence where the pair laid four eggs (a once in a 100 pairs event) and managed to fledge four young! During the season we witnessed several attacks by an aggressive Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79u5tGBZ2Tw) including the snatching of one of the young from the nest! The Owl knocked the young Buzzard off the nest ledge but luckily the young bird managed to escape the owl's grasp and eventually returned to the nest 36 hours later! All this was documented in HD and caused a huge stir worldwide! The Short-toed Eagle season started in a more relaxed manner but with the hatching of the eaglet the dramas started here as well. When the eaglet was only a few days old the parents delivered a live snake to the nest, the snake managed to wrap itself around the young bird's neck and it nearly suffocated! A week later we witnessed (together
2
When we started the project we hoped to expose the fascinating lives of these raptors in order to show and embed the importance of nature conservation and biodiversity to the public. Our vision was an educational one that aimed at exposing the richness of the Israeli countryside and open spaces. We knew our model is great but we never expected the project to be so successful and were amazed by the reach of the project. The nestcams were followed by thousands and were viewed by millions of people worldwide, from 104 countries! Birds truly know no boundaries! The nestcam project is a cooperation of the SPNI, the Hoopoe Foundation, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, Kfar Etzion field school and raptor PhD student Guilad Friedemann (supervised by Prof. Yossi Leshem, Tel Aviv University and Prof. Ido Itzhaki, Haifa University).
Online cameras – first year – an enormous success with 1,136,725 visits: Short-toed Eagle Visits to website in Israel
192,984
Visits to website from overseas
36,820
TOTAL
229,804
Long-legged Buzzard Visits to website in Israel
147,116
Visits to website from overseas
42,997
TOTAL
190,113
Total no. of people from overseas
76,960
Total no. of people from Israel
292,933
Facebook page no. of views of movies
766,832
Newsletter no. 17
The Nubian Nightjar is one of Israel’s rarest breeding birds Until the late 1980s the Nubian Nightjar was found breeding in suitable saltmarsh habitats along the Rift Valley, from Eilat in the south to the Beit Shean Valley in the north. All saltmarshes but one, the Sodom saltmarsh south of the Dead Sea, were converted for cultivation during the 1990s and 2000s. The once-flourishing saltmarshes of Eilat, Yotvata, Hazeva and many more were lost to tomatoes and peppers. With the disappearance of the saltmarsh, the Nubian Nightjar lost almost all of its habitat in Israel, and currently is regarded as Critically Endangered in Israel. In the late 1990s little was known about the ecology of this enigmatic nocturnal bird, and in his 1996 book ‘The Birds of Israel’, Hadoram Shirihai estimated their population size at three or four pairs only, all at Sodom saltmarsh. However, in the early 2000s detailed research was initiated by the Israel Ornithological Center in collaboration with Ben Gurion University, led by Yoav Perlman, that was followed up by annual monitoring. It was established that the population size at Sodom saltmarsh is about 60 pairs. The conservation status of Sodom saltmarsh, Israel’s stronghold of the Nubian Nightjar, is worrying. Already 80% of the saltmarsh had been lost to the construction of huge evaporation ponds for mineral production, and for cultivated land of the two communities there – Neot Hakikar and Ein Tamar. The remaining habitat in Sodom is still threatened by further development. Over the last decade or so, the Israel Ornithological Center has been leading a conservation effort, in collaboration with Tamar Regional Council, local communities and the Nature and Parks Authority, to protect the remaining saltmarsh. We hope that almost all remaining habitat will become protected under statutory regulations in the near future. Outside of the Sodom saltmarsh there have also been some recent developments. Intensive searches in the 2000s found only a couple of pairs outside of Sodom, also in the southern Dead Sea region. However, in recent years, with the rehabilitation and protection of some small patches of saltmarsh, Nubian Nightjars have started a welcome recolonisation process to other sites along the Rift Valley. In Hazeva area in the
Nubian Nightjar (Photo: Yoav Perlman)
northern Arava, several pairs have started breeding in recent years, and it is estimated that up to 10 pairs breed there, in small pockets of remaining habitat. After decades of absence, Nubian Nightjars have recently been refound in two more regions. In summer 2016 breeding was documented in the northern Dead Sea region – possibly a handful of pairs in two sites. The Eilat saltmarsh is long gone and with it a variety of breeding and migratory birds was lost, including the iconic Nubian Nightjars that used to roam the wet and densely vegetated habitat. In the last few months the International Birding & Research Centre in Eilat (IBRCE) team restored a small saltmarsh in the Eilat area. The wildlife response was immediate: millions of insects followed by squadrons of insectivorous bats, Spanish Sparrows breeding in the bushes, and Painted Saw-scaled Vipers lurking under the vegetation. Since mid-June, two Nubian Nightjars are regularly seen in the IBRCE restored saltmarsh. It is likely that they bred there this summer. We are so pleased that careful habitat restoration brought almost instant results – nature rules! Now we hope that Nubian Nightjars will return to more sites that they had been lost from, and Sodom saltmarsh receives adequate protection. Perhaps in the future the Nubian Nightjar can be downlisted from Critically Endangered – wishful thinking, but that’s what conservation is all about, isn’t it?
October 2016, Cape May: 50th anniversary Conference of the Raptor Research Foundation and 40th anniversary of the Hawkwatch and Audubon Cape May Observatory Between October 14th - 23rd two special events were held at Cape May, one of the most famous migration sites in the USA – the 50th anniversary of the largest and most active raptor foundation in the USA, the Raptor Research Foundation (RRF) and the 40th anniversary of the Cape May Hawkwatch and Cape May Bird Observatory and
Banding (Ringing) Station, run by the Audubon's New Jersey branch. The station was established by the well-known birder Pete Dunne, who has written many field guides and books on the birds of the USA, and is a key figure in the American birding scene. He was also the initiator of the Cape May World Bird Series, a competition whose
3
A Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land
objective is to spot as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. The Israeli Champion of the Flyways race, which will be held for the 4th consecutive year in March 2017 in Eilat and the Negev, was inspired by the World Bird Series. The bird banding station at Cape May was established by Bill Clark in the second half of the 1970s, and it became the leading station worldwide for banding migrating raptors. Following this, we set up a banding station for raptors at Eilat in Israel led by Bill Clark, Edna Gorney and volunteers for five years between 1984-1988 which unfortunately we did not continue operating beyond this period. At the initiative of the present Director of Cape May, Dr. David La Puma, Prof. Yossi Leshem was invited as the keynote speaker at this exciting event, together with Prof. Ian Newton from the UK who has visited Israel many times, and Prof. Carol McIntyre who was a volunteer in Eilat from 1985-1986 at the raptor banding station. The conference was attended by 275 raptor enthusiasts, scientists and nature conservationists, and Yossi's lecture in which he made
From left to right: Dr. David La Puma (organizer and initiator of the conference), Prof. Ian Newton (UK), Bill Clark and Prof. Yossi Leshem enjoying a joint pint of beer
Pete Dunne, founder of the Cape May migration station and the World Bird Series
connections between the RRF and Cape May and the activities in Israel on migration attracted high interest. Yossi also lectured at the Birding Festival for which 500 people registered, and thousands more came for the weekend events to observe the variety of raptor species migrating above Cape May.
The mystical connection with the late Myra Yellin Outwater already the next morning Andy and Yossi met for breakfast at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv, and Andy learnt all about the activities of the Hoopoe Foundation and the bird migration center at Latrun, receiving three of the books that Yossi has authored. Yossi asked Andy for a copy of the article that his mother had written.
Sometimes unique events bordering on the mystical take place in the Holy Land. In May this year, Andy Goldfarb, Co-Founder & Executive Managing Director of Globespan Capital Partners, visited Israel within the framework of a business trip. Globespan is a large capital company in Boston, also invested in the company SundaySky in Yokneam, north Israel. As part of the business trip, Andy was taken to visit the Armored Corps Memorial at Latrun by Rami Hadar, Chairman of SundaySky, to learn about the heritage of the armored corps and visit the memorial site. When Andy saw the signpost of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration at the site entrance, he got all excited and asked who ran the bird migration center. Andy's mother, Myra Yellin Outwater, an enthusiastic birdwatcher, journalist and author of about 15 books, had visited Israel a number of times and published a big article about the "birdwatcher who saved the Israeli Air Force (IAF) from bird collisions…". Andy's mother passed away in November last year. The staff at Latrun called up Yossi Leshem, and
On Andy's return to Boston, he found an article by his mother, written on a typewriter, in preparation for an article on the raptor conference that Yossi initiated in Eilat in March 1987 exactly three decades ago! The article accurately described the conference (see article at http://bit.ly/2f3q7Tr). Andy's mother also took part in the World Bird Series at Cape May a few times, and lived in Allentown, near Hawk Mountain. She came to the conference in Eilat with a group from Hawk Mountain led by the curator Jim Brett who was a central partner in organizing the conference, and traveled with them birdwatching in Israel after the conference. Myra Yellin Outwater – journalist, author and enthusiastic birdwatcher, who participated in the Eilat conference in 1987 and especially loved Smyrna Kingfishers and Pelicans; she also participated in the World Bird Series at Cape May
On Friday October 28th this year, Yossi gave a lecture at the prestigious New York City Harvard Club commemorating a year since Myra passed away, and the event was attended by Andy, his two brothers Alexander and Laurence, and their families and friends. Yossi presented Myra's special birding connections between Israel (Latrun – IAF – Eilat migration) and the USA (Hawk Mountain – Cape May).
From left to right: Andy Goldfarb (who met Yossi Leshem half a year ago in Israel), Laurence Goldfarb, Yossi Leshem and Alexander Goldfarb at an event commemorating a year since their mother Myra passed away
4
Following these special ties, Andy told Yossi at the event that his mother in heaven certainly enjoyed the special event and lecture, and decided to donate a significant amount to advance our activities in the subjects that his mother was so passionate about!
The neutral country of Switzerland joins forces to promote projects between Switzerland, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority focusing on birding, education, research and nature conservation Yossi Leshem spent four months from June-September this year on academic sabbatical at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, hosted by Prof. Alexandre Roulin, an international expert on Barn Owls, and involved in our joint projects with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority on the subject of Barn Owls and nature conservation during the last decade. Following the successful event organized by Yossi and Prof. Roulin at the World Economic Forum at Davos in January this year (see page 2 in our spring 2016 newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RXi8oL), they initiated intensive activities in order to advance the protection of birds and their habitats in the Middle East, assisted by organizations in Switzerland: NGOs, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), Swiss Government bodies, private and academic bodies and large foundations such as MAVA. In addition, Yossi and Alex met with the Israeli Ambassador in Switzerland, Mr. Jacob Keidar, and the former Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces, Lieut. Gen. Christophe Keckeis. They gave lectures at the University
On the right Lieut. Gen. Christophe Keckeis (former Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces and Mirage pilot) presenting General (Ret.) Mansour Abu Rashid with a Swiss pilot’s watch, lieutenant general insignia and flying wings of the Swiss Air Force
Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, Commander of the Technological and Logistics Directorate of the IDF and leader of the NDF (center), spoke on behalf of the IDF at the Generals Forum attended by 14 Jordanian generals and Lieut. Gen. Christophe Keckeis, former Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces (right) and Prof. Roulin (left) (Photo: Sivan Farag)
of Lausanne and the research station at Sempach, two lectures to the Swiss Army, and many more places. Their activities attracted enormous interest from peace and military bodies in Switzerland as well as from academic bodies. Lieut. Gen. Keckeis and Col. Christian Bühlmann, Head of the Regional Development Program at the GCSP, came with Prof. Roulin to lecture at a Jordanian and Israeli Generals Forum to discuss the initiative that Switzerland will play a leading role in the Middle East, focusing on nature and the environment. In 2017 a conference is planned in Switzerland with the GCSP in Geneva and afterwards in the Middle East with the aim of recruiting senior army officers from the three armies and defining new projects for collaboration. Yossi visited the sites of the extremely successful project for reintroducing Bearded Vultures to the wild in the Alps and Massif Central in France as well as meeting with central figures involved in the project in order to implement their successful model for reintroducing Bearded Vultures and other vulture species in the Middle East.
Yossi and Alex with Ambassador Jacob Keidar (second from left) at the Swiss Parliament; on the left Michal Hershkovitz, Deputy Chief of Mission and second from right Erich von Siebenthal, the chair of the Swiss caucus of the Israel Allies Foundation
September 2016: Col. Christian Bühlmann, Head of the Regional Development Program at the GCSP, speaking at the Generals Forum in Israel (Photo: Sivan Farag)
Spring migration with the SPNI birders! In spring 2017 SPNI leading birders Jonathan Meyrav and Dan Alon will once again visit the US and Canada and this time will lead two special birding trips to experience the fantastic spring migration the East coast has to offer. The US trip will take place on May 8th-10th 2017 and will leave from NYC. The Canada trip will take place on May 12th-13th 2017 leaving from Toronto.
Program: US trip Day 1 – May 8th 2017: Departure from NY in the direction of Cape May. We will make a late morning birding stop and following lunch we will arrive at Cape May. The afternoon will be spent at some iconic spots around Cape May where we expect to see shorebirds, waterfowl, migrating raptors and of course warblers. After dinner we will enjoy a special evening presentation with David La Puma (Director of the Cape May Bird Observatory). Overnight at the Grand Hotel in Cape May.
5
A Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land
Day 2 – May 9th 2017: A full day of birding around Cape May. We will visit the famous Cape May meadows and the beaches where shorebirds congregate in large numbers. We expect to thoroughly explore the area and finish the day at Cape May point state park with a leisurely stroll around the trails. Following dinner we will enjoy a special evening presentation about birding in Israel and possibly meet birding legend Pete Dunne. Overnight at the Grand Hotel in Cape May. Day 3 – May 10th 2017: Early morning birding trip to Higbees woods and beach. After breakfast and check out we will start working our way back to NY with a few birding stops along the way, returning to NYC in the late afternoon.
Program: Canada trip Day 1 – May 12th 2017: Departure from Toronto in the direction of Rondeau Provincial Park. The park on the shores of Lake Erie is a
fantastic birding site and we should expect good numbers of migrants. In the evening we will assemble for a talk about migration in Israel and the work of the Israel Ornithological Center in North America. Overnight at Chatham, Ontario. Day 2 – May 13th 2017: A full day of birding at Rondeau Provincial Park. The area is well known as a crucial stopover site for songbirds moving north to their breeding grounds in the boreal forest. We will meet with local birders and spend most of the day exploring the trails and hotspots around the park. In the afternoon we will head back to Toronto. We will be happy for you to join us for what promises to be two awesome trips. For more information and details please contact Jonathan at [email protected].
The Champions of the Flyway – the project continues! The Champions of the Flyway is an innovative and exciting bird race for conservation. Big days and Bird a thons are known from various places worldwide. These events draw a lot of attention and add a competitive spin on birding that appeal to large crowds. The idea behind the Champions of the Flyway is to utilize the “buzz” that is generated from a large scale bird race towards conservation and fundraising actions. Following a successful start in 2014 the project is now well established and in only 3 years has already raised close to $180,000 for conservation. The Champions focuses on the biggest threat migrating birds face today, illegal killing on migration. In previous years we have worked on projects in Georgia, Malta, Cyprus and Greece. The 2016 race highlighted the illegal killing in Greece and together with the Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS) we were able to raise over $70,000 to combat the illegal killing of birds. The 2016 Champions of the Flyway race was well attended and impressive. Over 30 teams from 12 nationalities assembled in Eilat in late March 2016 and went head to head in an attempt to log as many species as possible during a 24 hour period. The teams combed the deserts of Southern Israel during the peak of the spring migration, shared information and reached out to their crowds, all in an attempt to raise money and awareness to the widespread illegal hunting of birds along the migration routes. Following a hectic day of birding the Zeiss Arctic Redpolls from Finland were crowned champions, having seen a whopping 174 species in 24 hours! We are proud to present the official film of the 2016 Champions of the Flyway project featuring many familiar faces and a fantastic live performance of "river of birds", the Champions of the Flyway anthem
6
Champions of the Flyway teams gather before sunset to spot additional species at the Red Sea's North Beach (Photo: Jonathan Meyrav)
written by Bill Thompson III and "The Rain Crows": https://youtu. be/fFdUXCh1zGo. The 2017 race will take place on March 28th 2017, we already have teams registered for what promises to be another exciting race for conservation. We are proud to announce the new conservation cause for 2017. This year we have chosen to work with Doğa Derneği (Birdlife in Turkey) focusing once again on the illegal killing of birds on migration. DD have proposed several projects all aiming to deal with illegal persecution of migrant birds. Because of its geographic location Turkey is a natural choice and it give us great pleasure to be able to work together to protect birds that share the East Mediterranean flyway. We are very happy to be working with our Turkish colleagues in 2017, we feel that this once again proves that birds know no boundaries and that together we can transcend political barriers and achieve great things for bird conservation. Find out more information on www. champions-of-the-flyway.com.
Newsletter no. 17
Just published: new album, a must for every bird and nature lover "Birds in the Holy Land – A Photographic Journey Through Israel" by Thomas Krumenacker A Japanese princess has called the book “a gift to the world”, adding that each country should have a book like this to celebrate its birds and nature. But when the princess is the Honora r y President of Bird L i fe I nternationa l , the world’s largest nature conservation partnership, that recommendation takes on a whole new meaning. In her foreword to the book, Her I mperia l Highness Pr i n cess Ta k a m a d o o f Japan has lauded “Birds in the Holy Land” by Berlin- Bonelli's Eagles in Israel mainly hunt Rock Doves Photographic album "Birds in the Holy Land – A Photographic Journey Through Israel" Album details: Hardcover, 180 pages, size 24.5 cm (H) x 28 cm (W) based journalist and nature (photo from the book) photographer Thomas Krumenacker as homage to the diversity of birds, nature in Israel and bird migration in general. Thomas Krumenacker has been writing about birds in Israel for more than a decade. He is also widely regarded as a talented and acclaimed nature photographer, and it is the combination of ornithological expertise and photographic skills that makes “Birds in the Holy Land” so special and extraordinary. The book is a fascinating compilation from his countless trips to Israel over the years, endless hours of patience and perseverance, a boundless affinity for nature and more than a little bit of good fortune. It offers an intimate look into lives of European and Israeli birds and the rich variety of Israel’s nature. Included is also some information about some of the best spots for birdwatching in Israel. When asked what he has experienced in more than 30 visits to Israel, spending several months at a time there, Thomas replied: ”There have been, of course, countless enchanting hours enjoying the nature in the Judean and Negev deserts, in the Arava Valley or the lush hills of HIH the Princess Takamado, Honorary President Galilee or the Golan Heights. of BirdLife International, wrote the preface to But first and foremost, from the book
Thomas Krumenacker in action
the very first minute, I met so many fantastic people in Israel who wholeheartedly supported me and my project to produce a book that illustrates the beauty of the Israeli birdlife. There is nothing political about my book. Instead, it is purely about nature and birds. I’d nevertheless be delighted if my book might help to change, even in a small way, some of the perceptions about Israel and helps to dismantle prevailing stereotypes about the country.” The book has been published in English and German by NATURBLICK in partnership with the Hoopoe Foundation and Tel Aviv University. Details for ordering the book can be found on the back cover of this newsletter. All proceeds of the sale of the book will be donated to bird protection projects in Israel. For more information about the book, visit our website at www.birds.org.il.
7
A Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land
The Eilat Birds Festival, March 19th-26th 2017 The Eilat Birds Festival is by far the best value birding package for Israel available today. The festival is a weeklong tour that celebrates the incredible spring migration through Southern Israel, from Eilat to the Negev Desert. The Eilat festival is now in its 11th year and is hailed by many as an unforgettable birding holiday. The festival hosts birders from all over the world, small
groups, fantastic accommodation, over 170 species per week, memorable migration experiences and all the target species Israel has to offer! For more information about the festival click here: http://www.birds.org.il/en/event-page.aspx?eventId=73
PRODUCTS FOR ORDERING Prices (including delivery)
Two new t-shirts of Vultures and Owls
Vulture t-shirt (light blue)
20 USD
Owl t-shirt (black)
20 USD
Book "Birds in the Holy Land" (English) 40 USD For ordering the book in German: www.krumenacker.de Payment: Send check payable to the SPNI to Prof. Yossi Leshem's office (Prof. Yossi Leshem, Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel) and fill in and send the following information together with check:
Name: _______________________ Email: _____________________________ Vultures (Griffon, Lappet-faced, Egyptian and Bearded) and Owls (Barn, Desert Tawny and Pallid Scops) t-shirts available in all sizes: XXXL, XXL, XL, L, M, S
Street: ________________________ Phone/Cell: _______________________
City: ________________________ State/Zip: ___________________________
We would like to thank all our supporters:
Ministry of Education
Département d'écologie et évolution
Samis Foundation ׀Friedman Foundation ׀Abraham Bachri ׀Irv Cantor ׀Danielle Nyman ׀Bertram and Betty Feingold ׀Ed Weisselberg Editors: Yossi Leshem, Dan Alon, Sorrel Ritter ׀Graphic design: Studio Billet ׀Prof. Yossi Leshem, Director International Center for the Study of Bird Migration, Latrun, Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University Ramat Aviv • Tel Aviv 6997801 • Tel/Fax: +972 3 640 6010 • [email protected] ׀Dan Alon, Director Israel Ornithological Center (IOC) SPNI • 2 Hanegev St., Tel Aviv 6618602 • Tel: +972 3 638 8750 • [email protected]
8
A Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land Newsletter no. 17 Winter 2016
Dear friends, We would like to dedicate this newsletter to Israel's 9th President, Mr. Shimon Peres, who passed away on September 28th this year at the age of 93. Mr. Peres, who was named after a raptor with a wingspan of 3 meters mentioned in the Bible that unfortunately went extinct in Israel and the Middle East, changed his name from Persky to Peres (Bearded Vulture in Hebrew) in 1944 during an expedition to study the roads in the Negev together with Prof. Heinrich Mendelssohn, one of the founders of Tel Aviv University, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA). Mr. Peres was our close friend, and helped us immensely in furthering all our activities connected with regional cooperation. For example: the initiative to use Barn Owls as biological pest control agents in agriculture; tracking storks fitted with satellite transmitters via the Internet carried out in 300 schools in Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority; announcing of the National Bird (Hoopoe) during Israel's 60-year anniversary celebrations. We have reported on Mr. Peres' support in previous newsletters over the years. Mr. Peres was scheduled to lecture at the World Economic Forum (WEF) at Davos in January this year, but due to a mild heart attack a week before the event was unable to attend. His son Chemi Peres represented him. Mr. Peres had promised to make up for it at the WEF
in January 2017… He had also agreed to be the central figure at our annual birding lecture day in Hanukah 2016 attended by 1,200 birding enthusiasts, which celebrates this year the 20-year anniversary of the project "Spreading Wings over the Vultures". His presence in both events will be sorely missed, and our annual lecture day this year will be held in his memory. In November 2015, Mr. Peres joined the annual Crane Race in the Hula Valley, and set off thousands of runners on their run. The runners included IDF soldiers (including five major generals), a Jordanian deputation, youth – all running united among the 35,000 wintering cranes in the Agamon Hula which Mr. Peres went to observe after the races began. We will not forget his significant contribution towards peace, regional cooperation, furthering education and hi-tech and the security of the State of Israel. At the conference in memory of Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut who died in the Columbia disaster, Mr. Peres said: “Israel is a small country – challenged in length and in width. But in the vertical dimension there is no limit. So Israel must excel in this dimension”. Indeed Mr. Peres' vision had no limits, not the sky or space above, and it is with this in mind that we will continue our work in the following years.
Yours, Prof. Yossi Leshem Director of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration and Secretary of the Hoopoe Foundation
For the most updated birding news from Israel visit: www.birds.org.il
Dan Alon Director of the Israel Ornithological Center, SPNI
A Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land
Israel raptor nestcams – a huge success! with hundreds of others) how a bush fire in the area slowly crept towards the Eagle nest and how firefighters managed to stop the fire in the last moments before the nest went up in flames (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR0mU1H SzMg&feature=youtu.be)! A few weeks later we were amazed to follow live as poachers attempted to steal the young Eagle! The terrified bird jumped out of the nest and fell to the ground; luckily we managed to get to the site at last light and to return the youngster to the nest. The threats continued when the adult female decided to disappear for five days (twice) and the neglected youngster weakened before our eyes and we feared the worst! During this period the adult male worked "double time" in feeding the Eaglet and it took two weeks before the youngster rebuilt its strength till finally fledging successfully.
Short-toed Eagle swallowing Palestine Viper (Photo: Yoram Shpirer)
In March 2016 we launched a new and exciting project that exposed the fascinating lives of two interesting diurnal raptors: Long-legged Buzzard (Buteo rufinus) and Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus). For the first time in Israel we installed cutting edge HD cameras near the nests of the two species in an attempt to receive online coverage of their breeding seasons. The cameras broadcasted 24/7 covering the whole breeding season, from the arrival of the adults to the nests until the successful fledging of the young. The project was a great success and we managed to document the whole season for both species, a season that was full of drama, rarely documented events and non-stop action! The project started with the Long-legged Buzzards that are early breeders. The pair we chose is a highly successful one and we were lucky to witness a very rare occurrence where the pair laid four eggs (a once in a 100 pairs event) and managed to fledge four young! During the season we witnessed several attacks by an aggressive Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79u5tGBZ2Tw) including the snatching of one of the young from the nest! The Owl knocked the young Buzzard off the nest ledge but luckily the young bird managed to escape the owl's grasp and eventually returned to the nest 36 hours later! All this was documented in HD and caused a huge stir worldwide! The Short-toed Eagle season started in a more relaxed manner but with the hatching of the eaglet the dramas started here as well. When the eaglet was only a few days old the parents delivered a live snake to the nest, the snake managed to wrap itself around the young bird's neck and it nearly suffocated! A week later we witnessed (together
2
When we started the project we hoped to expose the fascinating lives of these raptors in order to show and embed the importance of nature conservation and biodiversity to the public. Our vision was an educational one that aimed at exposing the richness of the Israeli countryside and open spaces. We knew our model is great but we never expected the project to be so successful and were amazed by the reach of the project. The nestcams were followed by thousands and were viewed by millions of people worldwide, from 104 countries! Birds truly know no boundaries! The nestcam project is a cooperation of the SPNI, the Hoopoe Foundation, the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, Kfar Etzion field school and raptor PhD student Guilad Friedemann (supervised by Prof. Yossi Leshem, Tel Aviv University and Prof. Ido Itzhaki, Haifa University).
Online cameras – first year – an enormous success with 1,136,725 visits: Short-toed Eagle Visits to website in Israel
192,984
Visits to website from overseas
36,820
TOTAL
229,804
Long-legged Buzzard Visits to website in Israel
147,116
Visits to website from overseas
42,997
TOTAL
190,113
Total no. of people from overseas
76,960
Total no. of people from Israel
292,933
Facebook page no. of views of movies
766,832
Newsletter no. 17
The Nubian Nightjar is one of Israel’s rarest breeding birds Until the late 1980s the Nubian Nightjar was found breeding in suitable saltmarsh habitats along the Rift Valley, from Eilat in the south to the Beit Shean Valley in the north. All saltmarshes but one, the Sodom saltmarsh south of the Dead Sea, were converted for cultivation during the 1990s and 2000s. The once-flourishing saltmarshes of Eilat, Yotvata, Hazeva and many more were lost to tomatoes and peppers. With the disappearance of the saltmarsh, the Nubian Nightjar lost almost all of its habitat in Israel, and currently is regarded as Critically Endangered in Israel. In the late 1990s little was known about the ecology of this enigmatic nocturnal bird, and in his 1996 book ‘The Birds of Israel’, Hadoram Shirihai estimated their population size at three or four pairs only, all at Sodom saltmarsh. However, in the early 2000s detailed research was initiated by the Israel Ornithological Center in collaboration with Ben Gurion University, led by Yoav Perlman, that was followed up by annual monitoring. It was established that the population size at Sodom saltmarsh is about 60 pairs. The conservation status of Sodom saltmarsh, Israel’s stronghold of the Nubian Nightjar, is worrying. Already 80% of the saltmarsh had been lost to the construction of huge evaporation ponds for mineral production, and for cultivated land of the two communities there – Neot Hakikar and Ein Tamar. The remaining habitat in Sodom is still threatened by further development. Over the last decade or so, the Israel Ornithological Center has been leading a conservation effort, in collaboration with Tamar Regional Council, local communities and the Nature and Parks Authority, to protect the remaining saltmarsh. We hope that almost all remaining habitat will become protected under statutory regulations in the near future. Outside of the Sodom saltmarsh there have also been some recent developments. Intensive searches in the 2000s found only a couple of pairs outside of Sodom, also in the southern Dead Sea region. However, in recent years, with the rehabilitation and protection of some small patches of saltmarsh, Nubian Nightjars have started a welcome recolonisation process to other sites along the Rift Valley. In Hazeva area in the
Nubian Nightjar (Photo: Yoav Perlman)
northern Arava, several pairs have started breeding in recent years, and it is estimated that up to 10 pairs breed there, in small pockets of remaining habitat. After decades of absence, Nubian Nightjars have recently been refound in two more regions. In summer 2016 breeding was documented in the northern Dead Sea region – possibly a handful of pairs in two sites. The Eilat saltmarsh is long gone and with it a variety of breeding and migratory birds was lost, including the iconic Nubian Nightjars that used to roam the wet and densely vegetated habitat. In the last few months the International Birding & Research Centre in Eilat (IBRCE) team restored a small saltmarsh in the Eilat area. The wildlife response was immediate: millions of insects followed by squadrons of insectivorous bats, Spanish Sparrows breeding in the bushes, and Painted Saw-scaled Vipers lurking under the vegetation. Since mid-June, two Nubian Nightjars are regularly seen in the IBRCE restored saltmarsh. It is likely that they bred there this summer. We are so pleased that careful habitat restoration brought almost instant results – nature rules! Now we hope that Nubian Nightjars will return to more sites that they had been lost from, and Sodom saltmarsh receives adequate protection. Perhaps in the future the Nubian Nightjar can be downlisted from Critically Endangered – wishful thinking, but that’s what conservation is all about, isn’t it?
October 2016, Cape May: 50th anniversary Conference of the Raptor Research Foundation and 40th anniversary of the Hawkwatch and Audubon Cape May Observatory Between October 14th - 23rd two special events were held at Cape May, one of the most famous migration sites in the USA – the 50th anniversary of the largest and most active raptor foundation in the USA, the Raptor Research Foundation (RRF) and the 40th anniversary of the Cape May Hawkwatch and Cape May Bird Observatory and
Banding (Ringing) Station, run by the Audubon's New Jersey branch. The station was established by the well-known birder Pete Dunne, who has written many field guides and books on the birds of the USA, and is a key figure in the American birding scene. He was also the initiator of the Cape May World Bird Series, a competition whose
3
A Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land
objective is to spot as many bird species as possible in 24 hours. The Israeli Champion of the Flyways race, which will be held for the 4th consecutive year in March 2017 in Eilat and the Negev, was inspired by the World Bird Series. The bird banding station at Cape May was established by Bill Clark in the second half of the 1970s, and it became the leading station worldwide for banding migrating raptors. Following this, we set up a banding station for raptors at Eilat in Israel led by Bill Clark, Edna Gorney and volunteers for five years between 1984-1988 which unfortunately we did not continue operating beyond this period. At the initiative of the present Director of Cape May, Dr. David La Puma, Prof. Yossi Leshem was invited as the keynote speaker at this exciting event, together with Prof. Ian Newton from the UK who has visited Israel many times, and Prof. Carol McIntyre who was a volunteer in Eilat from 1985-1986 at the raptor banding station. The conference was attended by 275 raptor enthusiasts, scientists and nature conservationists, and Yossi's lecture in which he made
From left to right: Dr. David La Puma (organizer and initiator of the conference), Prof. Ian Newton (UK), Bill Clark and Prof. Yossi Leshem enjoying a joint pint of beer
Pete Dunne, founder of the Cape May migration station and the World Bird Series
connections between the RRF and Cape May and the activities in Israel on migration attracted high interest. Yossi also lectured at the Birding Festival for which 500 people registered, and thousands more came for the weekend events to observe the variety of raptor species migrating above Cape May.
The mystical connection with the late Myra Yellin Outwater already the next morning Andy and Yossi met for breakfast at the Dan Hotel in Tel Aviv, and Andy learnt all about the activities of the Hoopoe Foundation and the bird migration center at Latrun, receiving three of the books that Yossi has authored. Yossi asked Andy for a copy of the article that his mother had written.
Sometimes unique events bordering on the mystical take place in the Holy Land. In May this year, Andy Goldfarb, Co-Founder & Executive Managing Director of Globespan Capital Partners, visited Israel within the framework of a business trip. Globespan is a large capital company in Boston, also invested in the company SundaySky in Yokneam, north Israel. As part of the business trip, Andy was taken to visit the Armored Corps Memorial at Latrun by Rami Hadar, Chairman of SundaySky, to learn about the heritage of the armored corps and visit the memorial site. When Andy saw the signpost of the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration at the site entrance, he got all excited and asked who ran the bird migration center. Andy's mother, Myra Yellin Outwater, an enthusiastic birdwatcher, journalist and author of about 15 books, had visited Israel a number of times and published a big article about the "birdwatcher who saved the Israeli Air Force (IAF) from bird collisions…". Andy's mother passed away in November last year. The staff at Latrun called up Yossi Leshem, and
On Andy's return to Boston, he found an article by his mother, written on a typewriter, in preparation for an article on the raptor conference that Yossi initiated in Eilat in March 1987 exactly three decades ago! The article accurately described the conference (see article at http://bit.ly/2f3q7Tr). Andy's mother also took part in the World Bird Series at Cape May a few times, and lived in Allentown, near Hawk Mountain. She came to the conference in Eilat with a group from Hawk Mountain led by the curator Jim Brett who was a central partner in organizing the conference, and traveled with them birdwatching in Israel after the conference. Myra Yellin Outwater – journalist, author and enthusiastic birdwatcher, who participated in the Eilat conference in 1987 and especially loved Smyrna Kingfishers and Pelicans; she also participated in the World Bird Series at Cape May
On Friday October 28th this year, Yossi gave a lecture at the prestigious New York City Harvard Club commemorating a year since Myra passed away, and the event was attended by Andy, his two brothers Alexander and Laurence, and their families and friends. Yossi presented Myra's special birding connections between Israel (Latrun – IAF – Eilat migration) and the USA (Hawk Mountain – Cape May).
From left to right: Andy Goldfarb (who met Yossi Leshem half a year ago in Israel), Laurence Goldfarb, Yossi Leshem and Alexander Goldfarb at an event commemorating a year since their mother Myra passed away
4
Following these special ties, Andy told Yossi at the event that his mother in heaven certainly enjoyed the special event and lecture, and decided to donate a significant amount to advance our activities in the subjects that his mother was so passionate about!
The neutral country of Switzerland joins forces to promote projects between Switzerland, Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority focusing on birding, education, research and nature conservation Yossi Leshem spent four months from June-September this year on academic sabbatical at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, hosted by Prof. Alexandre Roulin, an international expert on Barn Owls, and involved in our joint projects with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority on the subject of Barn Owls and nature conservation during the last decade. Following the successful event organized by Yossi and Prof. Roulin at the World Economic Forum at Davos in January this year (see page 2 in our spring 2016 newsletter: http://bit.ly/1RXi8oL), they initiated intensive activities in order to advance the protection of birds and their habitats in the Middle East, assisted by organizations in Switzerland: NGOs, the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), Swiss Government bodies, private and academic bodies and large foundations such as MAVA. In addition, Yossi and Alex met with the Israeli Ambassador in Switzerland, Mr. Jacob Keidar, and the former Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces, Lieut. Gen. Christophe Keckeis. They gave lectures at the University
On the right Lieut. Gen. Christophe Keckeis (former Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces and Mirage pilot) presenting General (Ret.) Mansour Abu Rashid with a Swiss pilot’s watch, lieutenant general insignia and flying wings of the Swiss Air Force
Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, Commander of the Technological and Logistics Directorate of the IDF and leader of the NDF (center), spoke on behalf of the IDF at the Generals Forum attended by 14 Jordanian generals and Lieut. Gen. Christophe Keckeis, former Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces (right) and Prof. Roulin (left) (Photo: Sivan Farag)
of Lausanne and the research station at Sempach, two lectures to the Swiss Army, and many more places. Their activities attracted enormous interest from peace and military bodies in Switzerland as well as from academic bodies. Lieut. Gen. Keckeis and Col. Christian Bühlmann, Head of the Regional Development Program at the GCSP, came with Prof. Roulin to lecture at a Jordanian and Israeli Generals Forum to discuss the initiative that Switzerland will play a leading role in the Middle East, focusing on nature and the environment. In 2017 a conference is planned in Switzerland with the GCSP in Geneva and afterwards in the Middle East with the aim of recruiting senior army officers from the three armies and defining new projects for collaboration. Yossi visited the sites of the extremely successful project for reintroducing Bearded Vultures to the wild in the Alps and Massif Central in France as well as meeting with central figures involved in the project in order to implement their successful model for reintroducing Bearded Vultures and other vulture species in the Middle East.
Yossi and Alex with Ambassador Jacob Keidar (second from left) at the Swiss Parliament; on the left Michal Hershkovitz, Deputy Chief of Mission and second from right Erich von Siebenthal, the chair of the Swiss caucus of the Israel Allies Foundation
September 2016: Col. Christian Bühlmann, Head of the Regional Development Program at the GCSP, speaking at the Generals Forum in Israel (Photo: Sivan Farag)
Spring migration with the SPNI birders! In spring 2017 SPNI leading birders Jonathan Meyrav and Dan Alon will once again visit the US and Canada and this time will lead two special birding trips to experience the fantastic spring migration the East coast has to offer. The US trip will take place on May 8th-10th 2017 and will leave from NYC. The Canada trip will take place on May 12th-13th 2017 leaving from Toronto.
Program: US trip Day 1 – May 8th 2017: Departure from NY in the direction of Cape May. We will make a late morning birding stop and following lunch we will arrive at Cape May. The afternoon will be spent at some iconic spots around Cape May where we expect to see shorebirds, waterfowl, migrating raptors and of course warblers. After dinner we will enjoy a special evening presentation with David La Puma (Director of the Cape May Bird Observatory). Overnight at the Grand Hotel in Cape May.
5
A Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land
Day 2 – May 9th 2017: A full day of birding around Cape May. We will visit the famous Cape May meadows and the beaches where shorebirds congregate in large numbers. We expect to thoroughly explore the area and finish the day at Cape May point state park with a leisurely stroll around the trails. Following dinner we will enjoy a special evening presentation about birding in Israel and possibly meet birding legend Pete Dunne. Overnight at the Grand Hotel in Cape May. Day 3 – May 10th 2017: Early morning birding trip to Higbees woods and beach. After breakfast and check out we will start working our way back to NY with a few birding stops along the way, returning to NYC in the late afternoon.
Program: Canada trip Day 1 – May 12th 2017: Departure from Toronto in the direction of Rondeau Provincial Park. The park on the shores of Lake Erie is a
fantastic birding site and we should expect good numbers of migrants. In the evening we will assemble for a talk about migration in Israel and the work of the Israel Ornithological Center in North America. Overnight at Chatham, Ontario. Day 2 – May 13th 2017: A full day of birding at Rondeau Provincial Park. The area is well known as a crucial stopover site for songbirds moving north to their breeding grounds in the boreal forest. We will meet with local birders and spend most of the day exploring the trails and hotspots around the park. In the afternoon we will head back to Toronto. We will be happy for you to join us for what promises to be two awesome trips. For more information and details please contact Jonathan at [email protected].
The Champions of the Flyway – the project continues! The Champions of the Flyway is an innovative and exciting bird race for conservation. Big days and Bird a thons are known from various places worldwide. These events draw a lot of attention and add a competitive spin on birding that appeal to large crowds. The idea behind the Champions of the Flyway is to utilize the “buzz” that is generated from a large scale bird race towards conservation and fundraising actions. Following a successful start in 2014 the project is now well established and in only 3 years has already raised close to $180,000 for conservation. The Champions focuses on the biggest threat migrating birds face today, illegal killing on migration. In previous years we have worked on projects in Georgia, Malta, Cyprus and Greece. The 2016 race highlighted the illegal killing in Greece and together with the Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS) we were able to raise over $70,000 to combat the illegal killing of birds. The 2016 Champions of the Flyway race was well attended and impressive. Over 30 teams from 12 nationalities assembled in Eilat in late March 2016 and went head to head in an attempt to log as many species as possible during a 24 hour period. The teams combed the deserts of Southern Israel during the peak of the spring migration, shared information and reached out to their crowds, all in an attempt to raise money and awareness to the widespread illegal hunting of birds along the migration routes. Following a hectic day of birding the Zeiss Arctic Redpolls from Finland were crowned champions, having seen a whopping 174 species in 24 hours! We are proud to present the official film of the 2016 Champions of the Flyway project featuring many familiar faces and a fantastic live performance of "river of birds", the Champions of the Flyway anthem
6
Champions of the Flyway teams gather before sunset to spot additional species at the Red Sea's North Beach (Photo: Jonathan Meyrav)
written by Bill Thompson III and "The Rain Crows": https://youtu. be/fFdUXCh1zGo. The 2017 race will take place on March 28th 2017, we already have teams registered for what promises to be another exciting race for conservation. We are proud to announce the new conservation cause for 2017. This year we have chosen to work with Doğa Derneği (Birdlife in Turkey) focusing once again on the illegal killing of birds on migration. DD have proposed several projects all aiming to deal with illegal persecution of migrant birds. Because of its geographic location Turkey is a natural choice and it give us great pleasure to be able to work together to protect birds that share the East Mediterranean flyway. We are very happy to be working with our Turkish colleagues in 2017, we feel that this once again proves that birds know no boundaries and that together we can transcend political barriers and achieve great things for bird conservation. Find out more information on www. champions-of-the-flyway.com.
Newsletter no. 17
Just published: new album, a must for every bird and nature lover "Birds in the Holy Land – A Photographic Journey Through Israel" by Thomas Krumenacker A Japanese princess has called the book “a gift to the world”, adding that each country should have a book like this to celebrate its birds and nature. But when the princess is the Honora r y President of Bird L i fe I nternationa l , the world’s largest nature conservation partnership, that recommendation takes on a whole new meaning. In her foreword to the book, Her I mperia l Highness Pr i n cess Ta k a m a d o o f Japan has lauded “Birds in the Holy Land” by Berlin- Bonelli's Eagles in Israel mainly hunt Rock Doves Photographic album "Birds in the Holy Land – A Photographic Journey Through Israel" Album details: Hardcover, 180 pages, size 24.5 cm (H) x 28 cm (W) based journalist and nature (photo from the book) photographer Thomas Krumenacker as homage to the diversity of birds, nature in Israel and bird migration in general. Thomas Krumenacker has been writing about birds in Israel for more than a decade. He is also widely regarded as a talented and acclaimed nature photographer, and it is the combination of ornithological expertise and photographic skills that makes “Birds in the Holy Land” so special and extraordinary. The book is a fascinating compilation from his countless trips to Israel over the years, endless hours of patience and perseverance, a boundless affinity for nature and more than a little bit of good fortune. It offers an intimate look into lives of European and Israeli birds and the rich variety of Israel’s nature. Included is also some information about some of the best spots for birdwatching in Israel. When asked what he has experienced in more than 30 visits to Israel, spending several months at a time there, Thomas replied: ”There have been, of course, countless enchanting hours enjoying the nature in the Judean and Negev deserts, in the Arava Valley or the lush hills of HIH the Princess Takamado, Honorary President Galilee or the Golan Heights. of BirdLife International, wrote the preface to But first and foremost, from the book
Thomas Krumenacker in action
the very first minute, I met so many fantastic people in Israel who wholeheartedly supported me and my project to produce a book that illustrates the beauty of the Israeli birdlife. There is nothing political about my book. Instead, it is purely about nature and birds. I’d nevertheless be delighted if my book might help to change, even in a small way, some of the perceptions about Israel and helps to dismantle prevailing stereotypes about the country.” The book has been published in English and German by NATURBLICK in partnership with the Hoopoe Foundation and Tel Aviv University. Details for ordering the book can be found on the back cover of this newsletter. All proceeds of the sale of the book will be donated to bird protection projects in Israel. For more information about the book, visit our website at www.birds.org.il.
7
A Bird’s Eye View of the Holy Land
The Eilat Birds Festival, March 19th-26th 2017 The Eilat Birds Festival is by far the best value birding package for Israel available today. The festival is a weeklong tour that celebrates the incredible spring migration through Southern Israel, from Eilat to the Negev Desert. The Eilat festival is now in its 11th year and is hailed by many as an unforgettable birding holiday. The festival hosts birders from all over the world, small
groups, fantastic accommodation, over 170 species per week, memorable migration experiences and all the target species Israel has to offer! For more information about the festival click here: http://www.birds.org.il/en/event-page.aspx?eventId=73
PRODUCTS FOR ORDERING Prices (including delivery)
Two new t-shirts of Vultures and Owls
Vulture t-shirt (light blue)
20 USD
Owl t-shirt (black)
20 USD
Book "Birds in the Holy Land" (English) 40 USD For ordering the book in German: www.krumenacker.de Payment: Send check payable to the SPNI to Prof. Yossi Leshem's office (Prof. Yossi Leshem, Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 6997801, Israel) and fill in and send the following information together with check:
Name: _______________________ Email: _____________________________ Vultures (Griffon, Lappet-faced, Egyptian and Bearded) and Owls (Barn, Desert Tawny and Pallid Scops) t-shirts available in all sizes: XXXL, XXL, XL, L, M, S
Street: ________________________ Phone/Cell: _______________________
City: ________________________ State/Zip: ___________________________
We would like to thank all our supporters:
Ministry of Education
Département d'écologie et évolution
Samis Foundation ׀Friedman Foundation ׀Abraham Bachri ׀Irv Cantor ׀Danielle Nyman ׀Bertram and Betty Feingold ׀Ed Weisselberg Editors: Yossi Leshem, Dan Alon, Sorrel Ritter ׀Graphic design: Studio Billet ׀Prof. Yossi Leshem, Director International Center for the Study of Bird Migration, Latrun, Department of Zoology, Tel Aviv University Ramat Aviv • Tel Aviv 6997801 • Tel/Fax: +972 3 640 6010 • [email protected] ׀Dan Alon, Director Israel Ornithological Center (IOC) SPNI • 2 Hanegev St., Tel Aviv 6618602 • Tel: +972 3 638 8750 • [email protected]
8
