2023-02

28th February 2023

Hula Valley

Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to the Hula Valley, making it one of Israel's most popular attractions. Every year, hundreds of millions of birds fly through the Hula Valley, making it one of the busiest flight routes in the world. And so, this is the place where the two sets of travellers meet. I often wonder who is visiting whom!!

Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the Hula lake and surrounding marshes were a major source of malaria. Soon after the establishment of the State the swamps were drained, with the intention that the land would be farmed. Conservationists objected, and eventually the land was dedicated as a Nature Reserve, making it an exceedingly popular stop-over location for the hundreds of millions of birds that fly over Israel, on their long intercontinental journey. Birds migrate from Europe to Africa in the autumn, fleeing from the colder climate of a European winter, and make the return journey in the spring. And hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to see the flocks.

This week we visited the Hula Nature Reserve (Google Maps) and Agamon Hahula (Google Maps) and enjoyed seeing the birds. For the first time this year, birds are now travelling Northwards through Israel returning to Europe.

I photographed:

1. Graceful prinia
2. Stonechat
3. Spur-winged plover
4. Glossy ibis, in mating plumage
5. Pelican

The next post will focus on the animals we saw.

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26th February 2023

Last week in Netanya, in the rather beautiful woods in Kiryat Hasharon, I watched a pair of mallards gliding effortlessly through the duck pond, reaching speeds of perhaps 4 or 5 mph. But out of water, in flight, their speed is considerably more – up to 50mph. With a 50mph tailwind, mallards have been known to fly 800 miles in eight hours.

The photos show the green-headed male, and the considerably less colourful female. In both cases their plumage offers good camouflage. They blend in neatly with the surrounding water ripples, reflections and foliage, making them anything but sitting ducks.

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23rd February 2023

There’ll Be Bluebirds Over …

We’re a long way from the white cliffs of Dover, but during the last couple of days I’ve seen two beautiful blue birds.

At the Mount Arbel (Google Maps) cliff, I quite often see blue rock thrushes, but it’s a challenge to get anywhere near them. They are exceedingly camera shy. They perch on the edge of the cliff, but as soon as they see you, they hop over the edge to safety. They’re not so common – I have only ever seen them at Mount Arbel – but they are seen elsewhere too. Yesterday, I was lucky enough to creep towards one, without it seeing me.

And the day before, in the Switzerland Forest (Google Maps), I watched a sunbird. They’re not quite as camera shy, but they’re significantly smaller (10cm long, and weighing 7½ grams) than the blue rock thrushes (22cm long, and weight about 50 grams), so they’re also not so easy to photograph.

I’ve also included a photo of another blue bird – a European roller (about 30cm long), photographed near Netanya last summer.

Of course, these aren't the only blue birds we see. There are others, including kingfishers and peacocks. That said, I was astonished to discover, out of the blue, that blue birds are not blue at all. They have no pigment of blue in their feathers, whatsoever. Their blueness is a trick of the light reflecting on their non-blue feathers. I was so surprised to discover this, you could have blewn me down with a feather.

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21st February 2023

Right on the edge of Zichron Yaakov, lies Ramat Hanadiv (Google Maps), 1,100 acres of gardens and nature park dedicated to the memory of Baron Edmond de Rothschild. There are formal gardens, beautifully landscaped and tended with loving care – and there’s a magnificent nature park, left to ‘tend’ for itself.

A couple of days ago Miriam and I walked in the nature park, and I photographed lots of wildflowers, as well as a cabbage white butterfly, a cattle egret (without cattle) and a 14-inch long roughtail rock agama. The agama has more exotic names too – for example, painted dragon, star lizard and stellion. When it runs away, which it does if you get close to it, it looks so dinosaur-like, that I think of it as a stellar dragon or even a stellasaurus.

As we walked in the park, I recalled a story I read, probably apocryphal (but nice just the same), about the Baron. Prior to his death, the Baron told his lawyer to give two envelopes to his children, one was to be given immediately on his death, and the other 30 days after his death. When the Baron died his children eagerly opened the first letter and were surprised to see that the Baron instructed them to have him buried in his socks. Much as they tried to convince the Rabbis to allow this, the Rabbis wouldn’t, and he was buried without his socks. 30 days later when they opened the second letter, the Baron had written that by now they would have buried him without socks and the lesson for them to learn was that however rich one is, one goes out of this world, exactly as he entered it. You come in with nothing, and you go out with nothing, bar the good deeds you have done and the charitable donations you have given.

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A recent post featured a Great tit. My friend Chava reminded me that this name is somewhat tautologous. Tit, in olde English, means small. The bird family of tits, was named so, because they’re so small. The Great tit is the biggest of the tits – and is therefore the ‘big small’ bird. In Israel we only see great tits, though, there are a few other species of tits not so commonly seen – whereas, in England, we used to see blue tits, coal tits, and long-tailed tits as well as great tits.

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19th February 2023

The eyes have it!

The first of these butterflies is a wall brown butterfly, that I photographed recently. It has large eye spots on its forewings – one on each wing, and four small eye spots on each hindwing (though in this picture, only three are visible - one is obscured).

Next, is a marbled white butterfly, which also has eyespots on its hindwings. And then there is a swallowtail butterfly, showing on each hindwing, one red eye spot and six blue eye spots (though in this photo, only four are visible - two are obscured). The final photo shows a swallowtail, with its hindwings looking somewhat moth-eaten.

Scientists have two theories as to why butterflies have eye spots. One theory is that the eye spots are used to intimidate predators – making the attacker think it’s facing a much bigger creature, an unusual creature, at that, with many eyes. The predator can find this off-putting and will be wary of attacking.

The other theory is that the eye spots are on the hindwings to act as a decoy. The attacker will go for what it thinks is the head, leaving the actual head unscathed. An attack to the head will be fatal, but an attack to the hindwing doesn’t kill the butterfly, and in fact, butterflies can even fly with the whole hindwing missing.

It looks like the moth-eaten swallowtail has lost all its eye spots, which I guess is similar to a cat using up its nine lives. The next attack might be to the head itself, which wouldn’t be good news for the butterfly.

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16th February 2023

Yesterday, Miriam and I visited Gamla (Google Maps) and the nearby artists’ village, Aniam (Google Maps). Gamla is well-known for reintroducing vultures into the area, but we didn’t see any. On our previous two visits, we were told that the vultures had been scared by jets flying overhead, and have relocated themselves to the Carmel Mountains. I guess, they haven’t returned yet, but hope they will soon.

It was a little chilly, about 12 degrees, I think, and so we walked as briskly as we were able. We saw a butterfly we hadn’t seen before – the Archon apollinus, the false Apollo. To me, it looked like its wings were a woven fabric. We also saw a Great tit, a slightly different species to the one we used to see in England, and pinky-white anemones (Anemone coronoria = kalanit).

As an artists’ village, I find Aniam a little disappointing, but there’s a nice café that we like to frequent. I spent quite some time watching a pair of sunbirds (male and female), and a rather fat, glum-looking, bulbul. There were lemon trees budding and fruiting simultaneously, and other blossom trees.

On the way home we saw a pair of gazelles near the roadside. As we slowed down to photograph them, they took fright and took flight, leaving me with just a rear-end view.

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By the way, after further discussion with my Australian friend, the turtle expert, he has concluded (and for what it’s worth, I agree) that indeed, both hardback turtles in the picture are, red-eared sliders. I shall update Wikipedia, accordingly.

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14th February 2023

The day before yesterday (Sunday), we visited Nahal Alexander (River Alexander) near Netanya (Google Maps). We specifically wanted to see the softback turtles. The Softback Turtle (or the Softshell Turtle), as its name suggests doesn’t have the hard shell protection of tortoises and other turtles, and it’s much bigger in comparison. They can reach a meter in length and weigh up to fifty kilograms making it hard for a raptor to pick up and take home for dinner.

We did get to see one or two – they were swimming in the river, and one popped its head out of the water for just a moment – that’s the first of these photos. The remaining photos are from a visit that I made last year, when the turtles weren’t as camera-shy. You’ll see that as well as the softback turtles there are smaller ‘standard’, hardback turtles.

I submitted three of these photos to Wikipedia, and there’s a ‘gallery’ showing them on the Wikipedia page – ‘African softshell turtle’ and also on the Wikipedia page – ‘Nahal Alexander’. I included the caption for the third of the photos ‘African softshell turtle with Caspian turtles at Nahal Alexander, Israel’. A turtle expert in Australia subsequently changed this to read ‘African softshell turtle with a red-eared slider and Caspian turtle at Nahal Alexander, Israel’.

Unlike Caspian turtles, red-eared sliders (also known as red-eared terrapins) are not native to Israel. They were released, or escaped, from captivity and are now quite prevalent in Israel. You can clearly see on the photos the red marking in the ear region. So, I questioned the Australian expert about whether both hardback turtles might in fact be red-eared sliders. He answered that on further reflection, he thinks they might both be Caspian turtles. I’ve sent him another photo and am waiting to hear what he thinks – watch this space.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_softshell_turtle#Gallery

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12th February 2023

These two birds are, what are known as, LBJs. They don’t look like presidential material, so why LBJs? ‘Little brown jobs’ is the birdwatcher’s term for small nondescript brown birds, which are difficult to identify. Personally, I prefer the term little brown UFOs.

I photographed both of these LBJs (little brown UFOs) recently at the Hula nature reserve. First is a graceful prinia, which is such a lovely name for a graceful, little warbler. And second is mrs bluethroat, without a blue throat.  Mr bluethroat has the distinctive blue throat, for which the family is named.

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9th February 2023

Heron, say, on top of tree (5)

Some weeks ago, we discussed cattle egrets. Today’s photos are of great white egrets, bigger ‘cousins’ of the cattle egrets. Great white egrets are also part of the heron family, and at about 1 metre in body length and 1.5 metre in wingspan, they are similar in size and shape to the grey heron and the purple heron – but are clearly distinguishable by their snowy white plumage. Male egrets (known by me as he-grets) and female egrets (known by me as she-grets) are almost identical in appearance, unlike many other birds where the male and female have quite distinct colours. Great white egrets are winter visitors to Israel, though a few stay here all year. They can be seen in, and near, rivers and lakes, and roosting in nearby trees. I photographed these birds at the Hula Valley and at some fish pools near Beit She’an.

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Earthquake update – we continue to pray for all those who are suffering so much after this week’s catastrophic earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Much closer to home there was an earthquake the next day, but of far lesser magnitude (4.1 on the Richter scale), near Ariel, which is about 100km from Tiberias. We didn’t feel it, but Rachel, in Jerusalem, did. And yesterday there were two more quakes, one in Israel and one in neighbouring Lebanon – we didn’t feel anything.

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For most of the last week Israel has been battered by storm Barbara. We didn’t fare too badly in Tiberias, but we have had plenty of rain. The Kinneret, which is more than 200 meters below sea level, has risen by several centimetres and is now close to the level that it was at this time last year, which was also a rainy time. On one particularly wet afternoon/evening last winter I spent an hour or two doing a bit of street photography. I’ve included here my favourite photo from that day, which I titled ‘The Wrong Shoes’.

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7th February 2033

Starting where Tiberias ends and continuing southwards for much of the length of the Kinneret, the Switzerland Forest is one of our favourite haunts. From its name one might infer that the scenery resembles Swiss mountain forests with their magnificent views. But that isn’t why this forest gets its name. Rather, its name marks the contribution made by the Swiss Jewish Community, to fund its landscaping.

During rainy seasons there were many instances of mud slides down the mountains, the worst of which was in 1934 and caused the death of 25 people in Tiberias. Planting the mountain slopes with trees and bushes to prevent erosion, has ensured that no such disasters have happened since.

On early morning walks we have seen hyraxes, jackals and gazelles. Woodpeckers, jays, parakeets, cattle egrets and sunbirds are just a few of the multitude of birds that we see as well as snakes, lizards and chameleons.

Sunday this week (just a couple of days ago) was one of those rare days in Tiberias where the clouds come down to meet the mountains. And so, on our morning walk, we walked along with our heads in the clouds enjoying the vista of trees semi-obscured by fog – it was a real pea-souper.

The tree with the rather glorious red flowers is the Erythrina corallodendron, the red bean tree – a small tree in the pea family.

The trees were there, but the birds and animals were far too sensible to be out on such a day. So, I’ve included here a jay that we see frequently, and I photographed recently on a clear day.

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In the last post I wrote about my worry of a pomelo falling on our car. My very good friend, who knows about these things, assures me that car roofs are designed to withstand much greater weights than an ibex or a falling pomelo. So, I won’t worry about a pomelo falling on the car – I’ll put all my efforts into ensuring a pomelo doesn’t land on me – as I’m not sure that I was designed to withstand a falling pomelo.

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In the early hours of Monday morning, we were awakened by the earthquake that has sadly caused such devastation in Turkey and in our neighbouring country, Syria. We hope and pray that all those who have been hit so hard will soon get all the help they need.

Scientists have been debating for some time whether earthquakes are more common with full moons and new moons. On Monday morning it was certainly a very full moon.

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5th February 2023

As tonight/tomorrow is the day that Israel ‘celebrates’ fruit and fruit trees, I thought it would be nice to share a few words about one of the fruits we see most often. It’s the daddy of all citrus fruits, the pomelo, weighing in at a hundred times the size of the smallest citrus fruit, the kumquat. One of the most common questions asked about the pomelo is – which two fruits are crossed to produce the pomelo? Actually, it is a natural non-hybrid and it’s the ancestor of the grapefruit. And like the grapefruit, it doesn’t go well with statins.

The Hebrew word for pomelo is one of my favourite types of Hebrew words – in Hebrew it’s the pomelo. If only all fruit and veg followed this rule, I’d find it so much easier in the supermarket.

Our car parking space is right under some overhanging branches of a pomelo tree in next door’s garden. So, when I get into our car or out from it, I look up and admire the monstrous size of the pomelos above and wonder what sort of fruit squash a falling pomelo would produce. Would a large pomelo pummel the car roof? Or would the car roof survive intact as it did when an ibex decided to play the goat on it recently?

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2nd February 2023

When ‘iris’ eyes are smiling,
Sure, 'tis like the morn in Spring …

The coastal iris (Iris atropurpurea) is a protected plant (critically endangered) that can only be found in Syria and in Israel. In Israel one of the best locations to see these flowers is at the Iris Nature Reserve in Netanya, where I photographed these iridescent irises earlier this week. The main flowering season is early spring (February), with a few flowers appearing during the latter part of January - the flowers come in various shades of purple, deep red and dark purple. After walking in the reserve, we walked along the nearby beach in Netanya, which I had photographed during the summer (see photo). Earlier this week (end of January), the sun was out, and it was warm (about 22 degrees) – perfect conditions for a spring-morn(ing) beach-walk.

The iris of the eye is so called because it is the part of the eye that gives it its colour - iris means rainbow. The iris flower is also named so, because it comes in many different colours. And, by the way, the word iridescent, comes from the same root.