2023-04

30th April 2023

I spent an hour or so at the lakeside last week, looking at little egrets. Every time I approached, they flew away. They didn’t realise I’m quite harmless. On my way back to the car I saw a cormorant on a tree. The tree was in the lake a few meters from the shore. The cormorant had managed to entangle itself in the twigs on a branch, to the point where it couldn’t free itself. It flapped and struggled but to no avail. It seemed to be getting exhausted. A crow came along and perched on a branch above the cormorant.  Crows are known as being amongst the most intelligent of birds, perhaps even the most intelligent.  I wondered whether the crow was thinking about how it could help the cormorant escape. Or was it just thinking that before long there would be some carrion. I couldn’t stay to see the outcome, but I suspect there wasn’t a happy ending to this story.

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28th April 2023

Can birds smile? Can birds laugh?

Mammals have facial muscles attached to their skulls, and therefore can change the appearance of their faces – so we (and other mammals) can smile. Other animals, for example dogs, can appear to smile – and though their smile isn’t necessarily a smile in the way ours is, they certainly do have ways of showing that they are happy. Birds, though, don’t have facial muscles to make them smile. However, birds do seem to laugh sometimes – but when do they it might not be a laughing matter. The laughing dove, for example, coos in a way that sounds like its laughing hence its name.

Here are two photos of laughing doves, and there is a photo of a graceful little bird – the graceful prinia.

Lastly, there is a photo of bells of Ireland, a member of the mint family, that I saw this week in the Switzerland Forest.

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26th April 2023

Nightbirds

In one of the Facebook birding forums that I follow, someone posted a question recently, regarding birds singing at night. She wrote that she'd been awoken a couple of nights at 1am by a bird chirping loudly. She wondered what sort of bird it might be. Most likely is that she heard a nightingale - nightingales pass through Israel in the spring. Males sing at night during the breeding season hoping to find a mate, and they also sing during the day. Most other birds sleep at night, but I guess the nightingale is a night bird and can manage with little sleep at this time of year.
Though most birds are diurnal, nightingales are not the only nocturnal birds. Most famously, owls are nocturnal hunters and night herons likewise are active during the night and early morning. I photographed these night herons last week on a boat pier in Tiberias - they are black-capped night herons. They're much smaller and squatter than grey and purple herons, and are similar in size to the equally squat, squacco heron. I photographed the squacco heron in the Hula Valley.

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23rd April 2023

There was great excitement at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO) last week when, during a routine ringing (banding) session, a little bird was caught in one of the nets. The bird was a lesser whitethroat, a tiny warbler, and its presence in Israel is not particularly unusual – the unusual thing was the distance it had travelled. It had a ring on its leg, which showed that it has been ringed in Lithuania two years ago and had therefore travelled more than 1,700 miles to reach Israel.  

I photographed these birds at a recent ringing session in Jerusalem – there are four photos of graceful prinias, which is such a nice name for a little brown warbler, and also a photo of a greenfinch. Birds are caught in bird-safe nets and their weights and length measurements recorded in a worldwide register, then they’re ringed and released. I was quite surprised that the birds didn’t seem at all upset by the procedure.

If you’re in Jerusalem, it’s worth booking a visit to a bird-ringing session at the JBO.

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20th April 2023

We’ve reached that time of year when it’s fair to say that it’s quite warm, here in Tiberias. During the last day or two temperatures have reached about 36-37 Centigrade, and although it’s going to be a little cooler for the next few days, before too long it will be 40 degrees or more, most days.

In such weather, most Israelis in Tiberias, aside from mad English immigrants, stay close to their air-conditioning units for as much of the day as possible. But what do birds do to stay cool? They don’t usually have the luxury of aircon, so they have to adopt other strategies. One strategy is to keep a low profile during the heat of the day. Early in the morning when it’s not quite so hot they do most of their ‘work’ and then remain in cooler places when it gets too hot. Another way to keep cool is to splash about in a bird bath or river or lake. Some birds pant, while others use a technique known as gular fluttering.

One day in the summer last year I watched a pair of pygmy cormorants standing by the edge of the lake - for long periods their mouths were wide open (see accompanying photos). I thought they might be waiting for flies to fly in, but I wasn’t sure, so I consulted an expert.  I was told that in all likelihood they were fluttering their gulars (throat tissues). They rapidly pump air back and forth within their system, causing an efficient form of evaporative cooling.

Next time I saw an open-mouthed cormorant I looked carefully, and indeed could see the fluttering quite clearly – as you will see in the short video clip.

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18th April 2023

Since the days of King Solomon there have been peacocks in Israel. He brought them into the country along with monkeys. Monkeys are now to be found only in zoos, but peacocks are to be seen in many places, strutting around ostentatiously, including in our hometown, Tiberias.

To use the term ‘peacocks’ is a bit imprecise, as it’s only adult males that are peacocks. Females are peahens, and the young are peachicks. The correct word to use for these birds is peafowl and the collective noun for peafowl is an ostentation or a pride or a muster of peacocks or peafowl.

To see a peacock displaying its train is a sight to behold. It must muster up all its energy to erect the train, displaying its beauty to a peahen it wants to attract – and then it stands as proud as … well actually as proud as a peacock. She is particularly flattered by all the eyes on the feathers that appear to be looking at her and the peacock appears to be saying to her “I only have eyes for you”.

Peafowl are a sort of pheasant, and once in a location, will stay there, as do many peasants. They can’t go far, because, although they can fly, they can’t fly far. And despite their small heads they are no pea brains, they’re thought to be quite intelligent, using various strategies to make themselves look more attractive to potential mates.

The photographs show a head and shoulders portrait of a peahen with a not quite pea green neck, at Kibbutz Hagoshrim. Head and shoulders portraits of a peacock at Tel Dan, with its peacock blue head. And a chance encounter at Jerusalem Zoo of a stork and a proud peacock. Although the birds were in the Zoo, I’m not sure whether they were exhibits or had just popped by, to enjoy feeding time.

I’ve also included a picture of a pea blue butterfly, that I saw last week in the Switzerland Forest, near Tiberias.

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16th April 2023

When walking in the countryside at this time of the year, you can’t fail to notice the wild carrot plants, with their many white flowers making a parasol like structure. Although the carrot below is technically edible, it doesn’t have a pleasant taste and so to all intents and purposes, it’s not an edible carrot. It’s thought that the dark central florets on some of the plants are meant to look like insects with the aim of attracting more insects.

All the wild carrot plants that I’ve seen are white – that is, until now. Last week I came across a large pink parasol. So, I photographed it from below, with my pocket camera (Sony) and from above, with a Canon SLR with wide-angle lens. Sadly, when I got home, I found that I had accidentally changed a setting on the Canon and had taken the photographs in monochrome mode. I’ve included in the accompanying photos a worm’s eye view colour photo where you can see the pinkish flowers at the edge and also a black and white bird’s eye view, showing dark central florets. One of the nice things about photographing trees and plants is that if you mess up, you can go back for a second go. So, I did. To my horror, I found that a very selfish person had cut down the pink parasol and taken it away. All I could do was photograph some more parasols that haven’t reached full size. I’ve included a photo and I will keep checking the plant – with any luck, sometime soon, I hope I’ll be able to post a photo of a full-size pink parasol.

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Yesterday afternoon we heard an explosion, which it seems was an unusually bright meteor/bolide exploding. It had been seen over Israel, shortly before we heard the explosion.

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14th April 2023

Earlier this week, at the Switzerland Forest, I watched a family of Syrian rock hyraxes. I say I watched them, but just as true would be to say that they watched me very carefully, making sure I wasn’t a threat to them, and the moment I went too near they darted for cover behind and between the rocks. And all this was under the watching eye of a large skull that someone had posted on a post. One suspects there’s been some skulduggery here. I’m not sure but I think it might be the skull of a wild pig, though it could have been a horse, a cow, or a goat. And there was a black bird skulking around.

I’ve mentioned before that the nearest family member, of the Syrian rock hyrax in the animal kingdom, is the elephant. I’ve also noted the long gestation period. It’s a small animal, perhaps about 50 centimetres long, but its gestation period is six or seven months, which is very long for its size. Compare this to a fox which is somewhat bigger than the hyrax and produces its young in just 50 to 60 days, or to the rabbit, which is a little smaller than the hyrax and has a gestation period of about a month.

Here's another interesting fact – unlike most mammals that have a constant body temperature, the temperature of the hyrax varies according to the time of day or night and the air temperature. So, on a cool day they may not emerge from their homes at all.

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10th April 2023

I photographed these insects on flowers at the Switzerland Forest last week.

The metallic green beatle is a European rose chafer, a flying beetle, measuring about 2cm in length, enjoying a thistle. It’s called a chafer because it chafes the leaves or petals of the flowers.

The ruddy brown moth is a burnet moth – the Google Lens app suggests it is a six-spot burnet, but this wasn’t nearly as red as six-spot burnets I’ve seen before, so I’m not sure. The word ‘burnet’ seems to come from the word brunette, and actually this moth looked more like a brunette than a red-head.

And the honeybee is bumbling about a Tornefort’s gundelia (also known as tumble thistle), whose roots apparently taste similar to artichoke and asparagus, when cooked. Tournefort was a French botanist, and Gundelsheimer, a German one. One assumes that the two botanists tumbled upon this thistle at the same time.

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5th April 2023

As tonight is the start of Passover, a major Jewish holiday, I shall be taking a break from blogging for a few days.

In this post I’m going to share a few details about Passover and the Jewish Calendar, and briefly compare the Jewish Calendar to Easter and the Gregorian Calendar, and also to Ramadan and the Muslim Calendar. This seems particularly appropriate, as the three major religions of Israel all have special holy events to celebrate this week/month - Passover, Easter and Ramadan.

Passover is the Jewish festival that commemorates and celebrates the Exodus from Egypt more than 3,300 years ago. For seven days in Israel (and eight days in the rest of the world) Passover is commemorated by refraining from eating bread – the Children of Israel left Egypt in such a hurry that there wasn’t even time for bread they were baking to rise. We too eat matzah, a crisp cracker – that is bread that hasn’t had a chance to rise. The beginning of Passover and end of Passover are similar to the Sabbath (Shabbat) in that we refrain from work – and the intermediate days are days of semi-holiday. The highlight of Passover is the first night (and outside Israel, repeated on the second night) when families gather to celebrate the special Seder meal in which the story of the Exodus is told.

Passover is a Spring festival, falling in the Jewish month of Nissan (at full moon), and as such, the Jewish Calendar is constructed to ensure that Passover always falls in the Spring. Each month of the year starts with the appearance of the new moon. The moon orbits the earth in approximately 29.53 days, so months alternate (more or less) between months of 29 days and months of 30 days. Twelve such months, totals approximately 354 days, which is about eleven days short of a solar year (the solar year being the time it takes for the earth to orbit the sun – about 365.24 days). Nissan next year will start 11 days before Nissan this year. Before very long Passover would fall in the Winter and a few years later in the Autumn. To ensure that Passover falls in the spring, an additional month is added to certain years, which then become leap years. In a cycle of 19 years, if seven of these years are leap years (that is they have an extra month), the month of Nissan and Passover with it, will remain in the Spring. 19 years of 365.24 days, totals about 6,939.56 days. 12 years with 12 lunar months, and 7 years with 13 lunar months, totals about 6,939.55 days (almost the same as 19 solar years).

Easter, which falls out next Sunday, almost always coincides with Passover. Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. The Vernal Equinox, this year was Monday, March 20^th at 11:24 pm. The next full moon is Thursday April 6^th. So, Easter is next Sunday, April 9^th.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim Calendar. The Muslim Calendar, like the Jewish Calendar, is based on lunar months. Twelve lunar months make a Muslim Year, with no additional months to make leap years. So, each year the month of Ramadan starts about eleven days before it started the previous year. This year the first day of Ramadan (coinciding with the new moon) was March 23^rd. Next year it will start on March 11^th and the year after on March 1^st. Before long Ramadan will be in the winter, making the fasting each day during daylight hours somewhat easier. But 20 years from now Ramadan will be in the summer and the fast days will be long, and the fasting is made harder still by the hot weather.

We hope and pray that this will be a peaceful and happy time for all who are celebrating and for all others too.

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The photo is a friendly frog, who was quite happy to be photographed, at Kibbutz Lavi, yesterday.

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4th April 2023

During the last week or two on our early morning walks at the nearby Switzerland Forest and Mount Arbel, we’ve seen many flocks of migrating birds. Flocks of cranes, storks and raptors have flown by in groups of 30 or 40 or more.

One morning we saw a mixed flock of cranes and black kites, which isn’t so common because, as we all know, birds of a feather flock together.

We also saw a pair of Egyptian vultures at Mount Arbel, but they were too far away to photograph on this occasion.

Kites and vultures are both raptors, as are eagles, falcons and hawks. The word ‘raptor’ means to seize and carry away – raptors are carnivores that eat what they kill, or they eat carrion. Many birdwatching photographers I meet, have little interest in photographing anything but raptors and a great shot of a bird in flight or attacking its prey sends them into a state of what can only be described as rapturous delight.

Kites are not named after the kites that young people (and others) fly on a string – it’s the other way round. We often see them soaring over the Arbel cliff on the thermals above (no wing-flapping needed), and indeed this is one of the best locations near Tiberias for seeing raptors. The Egyptian vultures, like other vultures, have bald heads to enable them to stick their heads in places we don’t want to know about, without getting their feathers too sticky. They come to the Arbel to nest and if you’re very lucky (luckier than I) you might get a glimpse of the fledglings, in their cliff-side nests or even fully-fledged young birds in flight.

The photos are a black kite from last week, and an Egyptian vulture from last summer.

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No connection to the raptors, but just as prolific, the next picture, photographed this week at Mount Arbel, is Lomelosia prolifera, also known as prolific scabious or the Carmel daisy. And the final photo is a rather handsome-looking crested lark. It’s a small ground-dwelling songbird, prolific at Mount Arbel.

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2nd April 2023

It should be noted that today is not the first of April. Today is the second of April.

That said, on 1^st April 1979, a newspaper in Kansas reported that a local laboratory had created a device that allowed plants to ‘talk’, almost like humans.

And on 1^st April 2019, Google in the Netherlands reported that researchers had developed a form of Google Translate (that we all love so much) that enabled one to communicate with tulips.

These two reports have one common key fact – both of the reports were dated 1^st April.

On 30^th March (which is also not 1^st April), just a few days ago, researchers at Tel Aviv University announced that they have recorded tomato plants and tobacco plants ‘talking’. Their ‘talk’ is at frequencies beyond human hearing, but suitable devices can record their sounds. More important still - some insects and animals can hear the ‘words’ and get messages from them, and so can other plants.

Research is ongoing, but one thing is for sure, next time I say “hiya Cynth” as I walk past a hyacinth, I will know that my greeting is not wasted. I just wish I could hear the reply.

Here’s a photo of a hyacinth squill (Scilla hyacinthoides), photographed recently in some woods in Netanya. 

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