2023-07

30th July 2023

Woodpeckers – The Ultimate Headbangers

It is a sad fact that many professional soccer players from the 1960’s and 1970’s are suffering with or died from dementia. At least five of the eleven 1966 England World Cup winners suffered. Jack Charlton, Nobby Stiles, Ray Wilson and Martin Peters died from this horrible condition and Sir Bobby Charlton is living with it now. Jeff Astle, Peter Bonetti and Billy McNeil are other high-profile players who died the same death. Recent research has found that former professional footballers are three and a half times more likely to develop dementia than others. Professional boxers and even amateur boxes are also at high risk of developing this disease. Punch drunk is just what it says and sadly boxers, however good they were at ducking punches, have suffered terribly – perhaps the most high-profile case being that of Muhammed Ali (formerly known as Cassius Clay) who died of Parkinson’s Disease in 2016. The blows to the head suffered by the boxers and the footballers using their head to propel heavy leather footballs was more than the head can cope with and the consequences of doing this throughout many years has been quite horrendous.

This being so, it makes one wonder about the damage that a woodpecker inflicts upon itself throughout the course of its life. Woodpeckers bang their bills against tree trunks at a rate of up to twenty pecks per second. Why don’t they get concussion from all this headbanging? The drumming sound that woodpeckers make with their pecking is their way of attracting mates. But it’s not just for mating purposes that they peck away at ten to the dozen, it’s also their way of extracting insects from the bark. Given that it is an essential part of the woodpeckers’ makeup to peck in this way, they must be specially adapted to withstand the head battering self-abuse. And indeed, they are. And not only that, but they also need a protection for their eyes which, without protection would suffer terribly. A special membrane covers the eye momentarily at each peck, so that the eyes don’t pop out, nor are they damaged by flying debris. It was thought that the brain was cushioned with a sort of shock absorber, but recent research published in the journal Current Biology in July 2022 has shown this to be a myth. Instead, scientists have shown that the shape of the head and beak are perfectly suited so that the impact on the brain is minimised. This specially designed shape together with an unusual tongue that wraps round the brain ensures that the woodpecker isn’t abusing itself at all.

In England we used to see green woodpeckers, great spotted woodpeckers and lesser spotted woodpeckers. Of course, the lesser spotted was spotted less often. None of these woodpeckers reach Israel - here we see the Syrian woodpecker, which is similar to the great spotted - and is spotted quite frequently. 

Here are some recent photos of Syrian woodpeckers, seen at the Switzerland Forest – and from earlier this month at Gazelle Valley in Jerusalem.

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While at Gazelle Valley, I saw gazelles, of course – here is a photo of a male gazelle walking by nonchalantly.

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25th July 2023

Jews pray three times a day (and four on Shabbat), Muslims five times a day, but these creatures seem to spend their whole day in prayer – the praying mantis (known as gamal Shlomo in Hebrew = Solomon’s camel).

Some months ago, in the Switzerland Forest, we happened upon an egg sac of a praying mantis. Every time we went past, for many weeks, we looked at it and saw no sign of activity – eventually it disappeared, and we don’t know whether the eggs had hatched or not. Last week, just a few meters away (probably just a coincidence) we saw a mantis hard at prayer. Though they’re related to cockroaches, which they probably keep quiet about, they’re really quite fascinating little creatures – actually they’re not so little (this one was about 4 inches long = 10 cm). They can turn their heads a full 180 degrees, a feat not matched by any other insect. They have sharp spines on their legs which they use to prevent their prey escaping (maybe preying mantis would be a better name) – and strangely they have just one ear which is located on the underside of the abdomen.

For a picture of the egg sac of the mantis take a look at the post from 2^nd December on this page https://natureofisrael.blogspot.com/2022/12/2022-12-december-2022.html

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There’s a herd of cattle that roam through the Switzerland Forest grazing on the vegetation, which reduces the risk of fires spreading. They come from one of the local farms and at certain times of day we watch them, with full udders, trudge up the hill to the milking sheds. Some of the calves have strange nose contraptions, which though cruel-looking are actually for the benefit of the calves – they’re a weaning aid. And one of the calves looks, to me, exactly like a red-heffer.

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23rd July 2023

A few months ago, a cousin sent me a photo of an insect that had managed to trap itself between the windows and insect net. He was concerned that it might be a hornet, whose sting can be quite serious. It wasn’t a hornet, though we do see them around the lake (and in other places) quite frequently. It was a carpenter bee with a distinctive bright yellow thorax. The male can’t sting, but the female can – and the sting can be quite painful, as with other bee stings. They’re called carpenter bees because they drill into wood for nesting purposes and can make themselves something of a nuisance in so doing. There is a particular tree at nearby Kibbutz Lavi that they particularly like, so I see them quite often. The photos are from last week at Lavi and last year at Ein Gedi.

Also at Lavi, I see frogs in the frog pond – this photo is from last week.

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21st July 2023

From the Haas Promenade to the South of Jerusalem you get a fine view of Jerusalem and the Old City. Last week on Friday afternoon, our view was partially obscured by smoke from a fire in the valley below. We watched two fire-fighter aeroplanes circle several times before releasing a full load of water over the fire. The water coming from the plane looked more like a cloud than water, but the water did its job.

While all this was going on, I was watching a lizard that was clearly disturbed by the aerial activity above. Normally lizards sensing danger get their skates on and scarper behind the nearest rock, but this one didn’t know what to do. I was surprised to see it digging in the dirt to try to camouflage itself, but without much success. Before long, though, the planes went, and the lizard continued its normal activity – basking in the sun.

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19th July 2023

One of the most elegant birds we see is the spur-winged plover – plover rhymes with lover. It’s also known as the spur-winged lapwing. It’s black and white plumage is smart when it’s on land and even more striking when it’s in flight. We see them around rivers and lakes, particularly in the Hula but also in Jerusalem at Gazelle Valley, and even in Tiberias by the roadside. Last year we encountered a mother bird looking after its chick in a nearby village. It was really quite disturbed that I came so close and squawked loudly to show its displeasure. Not wishing to distress it, I beat a retreat, which was probably a good move. These birds are called spur-winged because they have spurs on their wings for fighting off predators and will occasionally use them against people who threaten their young. It didn’t realise that I’m really quite harmless and just wanted to get a good shot.

Last week, in the Switzerland Forest, we stopped at our favourite viewpoint and enjoyed the view. We could see that there was a bit of movement in one of the nearby shrubs, more than would be caused by the breeze, and could hear a little creature moving around. We waited for a few minutes and then a tortoise emerged. Two types of tortoise are found in Israel, the Negev tortoise (or Egyptian tortoise), which can be seen in desert areas in the South, and the spur-thighed tortoise (or Greek tortoise). The one we saw, was the spur-thighed and like the plover it uses its spurs for warding off predators – and also for digging. I think it was even less of a threat to us than the plover, given that it moves along at a snail’s pace.

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While we were in Jerusalem, last week/this week, we managed a short visit to the Old City – you can see a few of my photos here.

https://aroundisrael.blogspot.com/2023/07/jerusalem-walk-in-old-city.html   

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16th July 2023

Poetry and Photography

I try to go out for a walk every day in the local countryside. It’s good exercise for me, it helps me relax and it gives me plenty of opportunities to look at the local flora and fauna. Sometimes I hit lucky and will see birds in flight or perched on branches at a suitable distance for getting a great photo. Or I’ll be very lucky and see a wild boar or a jackal, or fox that will stand still and look at me for a second or two. Or perhaps a snake or a chameleon or a salamander. And sometimes I have enough time and luck to compose the photo well, to focus clearly and hold the camera steady to get a really good sharp image of an interesting bird or animal. If it’s eating a fish or catching an insect or running or flying directly towards me better still. But you can probably guess that for every great image that I capture there are another hundred that are less good and thousands where I mess up completely, and get out of focus, or blurry photos. It can be quite disheartening sometimes, when I get home and look at the great photos that I thought I’d taken, only to find that they’re not as great as I thought and hoped they were.

I’ve recently started to write some poetry. This has come as a great surprise to those who know me best and also to me. As a child and as an adult I had never had any interest in poetry, nor shown any aptitude for creative writing. It’s fair to say that until last year I hadn’t written a single poem in my whole life. Inspired by talking about poetry with a friend, a retired professor of philosophy, I decided I would write a poem about a butterfly, a swallowtail.  The swallowtail is my favourite butterfly. I see them frequently, particularly at nearby Mount Arbel and at not quite as near, Ramat Hanadiv, and last year I was lucky enough to capture a really sharp image of a swallowtail. While certainly not a great piece of literature I very much enjoyed writing it to complement the photo. Walking with the camera gives me physical exercise, while writing poetry exercises my brain, which is probably just as important as one gets older. Having written my first poem, which you can read if you would like to on my Times of Israel blog, I have started to write more poems. 

There are some really nice things that I’ve found from writing poetry. My camera records what I (and it) actually saw, warts and all. A great photo, I thought I’d taken, of a mongoose, turned out to be a photo of the rear half of a mongoose – the little blighter moved so quickly that by the time I’d raised my camera and pressed the shutter release, it had scarpered into the nearby undergrowth. My poetry, though, can record what I did see or even what I would have liked to see. With my photography, I’m limited by my ability, the equipment I use and the scarcity of birds and animals in just the right place. With my poetry I’m only limited by my ability.

 I’ve joined a poetry group - Voices Israel for English language poetry in Israel (https://www.voicesisrael.com/) – and reading poems of experienced poets has further inspired me. Anyway, if you fancy a go a writing a poem, give it a whirl, you might surprise yourself, as much as I surprised myself. It’s a really good (and inexpensive) pastime.

Here’s my second poem - it is called The Dedrocopos.

The Dendrocopos

I hear the tapping of the Dendrocopos,
Like the beating of a drum,
Then there is quiet.
I hear the pecking of the Dendrocopos,
Like the rhythm of a drill,
Then there’s a pause.
I hear the pitter-patter of the Dendrocopos,
The pitter-patter of tiny beaks,
Then there is silence.

I spot it from the hide,
Then it flies,
Up and down, but not upside down,
Bursts of flapping,
Passive glides with spreadeagled wings,
It bounds ahead, its wings bound to its sides.
It hides, in a perfect spot, behind the hide,
Behind the trunk, behind a branch, behind the leaves,
I can’t spot it.

I spot it again, I see the spots,
I see the red flash on its head,
I see the red flash of its tail,
The black and the white.
I see its shape against the tree,
Its beak is poised.
And I hear the tapping,
And the pecking,
The pitter-patter of the Dendrocopos.
It hides again behind the trunk, behind a branch, behind the leaves,
But is it a great-spotted, or is it spotted less?
I can’t spot it.
But it can’t be a great-spotted, they’re not spotted here,
Nor a lesser-spotted, they’re not spotted here,
It has to be the pitter patter of,
A Dendrocopos syriacus,
The Syrian Woodpecker is spotted here.

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12th July 2023

As you know, from our apartment in Tiberias we have a wonderful view of the lake, also known as the Kinneret, also known as the Sea of Galilee. You can see here a photo of yesterday’s sunrise. Though frequently referred to as a Sea, I think calling it a lake is more correct, at least according to modern English usage.

People often ask me how big it is. Well, it has a circumference of about 53km, it’s about 21km long and 13km wide, with a surface area of about 165km sq. It’s surface is about 210m below sea level making it the lowest freshwater lake in the world – and at the deepest point it’s more than 40m deep. We look down on it from our apartment, which is about 50m below sea level. One should never estimate the power of this lake – sadly, each year, there are a few deaths, caused by significantly strong undercurrents, so it’s important to swim only from supervised beaches.

The lake is a major attraction for water sports, for nature lovers, for those looking for Miriam’s well and for Christian pilgrims. I’m not sure how well known it is that there’s a huge under-water stone monument with an estimated weight of 60,000 tons, and a diameter of 70m – it is thought that it resembles early burial sites in Europe. In the 1980’s an ancient (2,000-year-old) fishing boat was discovered submerged, and this is now housed at a museum at Kibbutz Ginnosar just north of Tiberias.

This week we spent an hour or two at the far-side of the lake (the eastern side) opposite Tiberias, at a fishing harbour at Kibbutz Ein Gev. We sat outside a lakeside café enjoying a coffee and watching little egrets, swallows and bulbuls – as you can see in the photos.

We saw some bee-eaters but sadly, my photography skills (and perhaps equipment) are nowhere near good enough to get a good photo of a bee-eater in flight. In some ways they remind me of a common kingfisher and in some ways of a swallow. Their colouring is not totally dissimilar to the kingfisher but is a little more subtle, and they fly fast like swallows, ducking and diving as they catch insects on the wing. If the insects are of a stinging variety like bees or wasps, before devouring the insect they remove the sting by banging the insect against a tree branch and then squeezing out the stinger and venom. 

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9th July 2023

Last week we visited Ramat Hanadiv, which falls nicely on our route from Tiberias to Netanya. I was hoping to see frogs in the lily pond, so I waited very quietly for quite some time. I made sure that my shadow wasn’t falling on the pond, but I didn’t see any frogs and I didn’t hear any croaking. So maybe they’ve hopped off. What I did see, which was quiet exciting, was a glimpse for half a second or so of a water snake. I saw a little movement and watched a head and three inches of its body appear. It looked right at me and immediately retreated – clearly much more afraid of me than I was of it. It all happened so quickly, that I couldn’t begin to identify the creature and certainly didn’t have enough time even to lift up my camera to my eye. It was a bit disappointing not to get a photo, but I did get some photos of flowers and tree fruits:

• A purple milk thistle, long past its best and no longer any sign of purple – but still looking splendid.
• A Spanish carline thistle (yellow).
• Cypress cones – some people use these to treat common colds, coughs and a prostate condition, but there’s no scientific evidence to suggest that they are effective.
• And a purple wild artichoke, which apparently is quite tasty, but I can’t say I would like to try.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

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5th July 2023

We visited the Hula Reserve on Sunday. It was a hot day, of course – it is July, so that’s no surprise. At the Hula, we always hope to see animals and birds at close quarters, or even snakes or other interesting creatures. But at this time of year, our expectations are low. Having said that, we saw water buffalo though not close up, and coypu. And we saw kingfishers, bee-eaters, egrets, stilts, pelicans and common terns. The best photo opportunities were a pygmy cormorant pretending to be a dragon and a pair of squacco herons. The squacco herons seemed to enjoy making me chase after them. As soon as I got anywhere near them, they flew off about 100 metres, and waited for me to come near, before flying off again. I got quite a good workout pursuing them. And the pygmy cormorant looks like it was waiting for flies to fly in – but was actually cooling itself (gular fluttering) in the hot sun. 

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3rd July 2023

These blog posts are really about the Nature of Israel – but we had a ‘busman’s holiday’ in the UK during June – the highlight of which (aside from being with our family) was a visit to Bempton Cliffs and Flamborough Head. There we saw birds that are almost never seen in Israel – and I’d like to share what we saw. Most fascinating was the gannet – in these photos you can see some of their interesting courtship/friendship manoeuvres. Here’s a link to a photo essay with more pics of gannets, and also other sea birds, including a puffin.

https://natureofisrael.blogspot.com/p/uk-bemptoncliffs-flamboroughhead.html