29th February 2024
A sac, but
no sacs.
Earlier
this week we were at Ramat Hanadiv and while walking in the nature park we
happened upon an egg sac of a praying mantis. Having seen one a year ago or
more in the Switzerland Forest near home, we immediately knew what it was. After
mating, the female mantis lays her eggs and in so doing creates an egg sac,
also known as an ootheca, with a frothy substance that hardens into a case. The
process can take an hour or even a few hours, and she then fixes it to a fence
or a stalk or branch on a bush, with a special glue that she secretes. Having produced
the sac and left it in a safe place, she then abandons it and leaves the
hundred or more eggs to hatch, usually a few weeks later. We shall keep an eye
out for it on future visits and let you know what we see.
After our
walk we retired to the café for a coffee and then paid a quick visit to the
frog pond. Having seen a mantis’ egg sac, we were hoping to see a frog
inflating its vocal sacs. We spotted a couple of frogs, but they were not keen
on putting on a performance – they were a tad-polite J !! We’ll hope for better luck next
time.
---
25th February 2024
In England
as I drove along the motorways a kestrel hovering by the side of the road was a
common sight. Here in Israel too, they are seen quite frequently by the roadsides.
They perch on a post or wire and survey the surrounding area, looking for small
voles or mice. From time to time, they will fly from their perch and hover 10
to 20 meters above the ground for half a minute, or even a minute, to get a
better view of their prospective lunch. On a windy day they position themselves
against the wind to hover with little effort. When there’s no wind, they flap
their wings to allow them to stay still. In days gone by the bird was known as
a windhover, for obvious reasons, but now everyone knows it as a kestrel. It’s
a small falcon, barely bigger than a pigeon, but not as fast, reaching just
40mph. However, its diving speed is fast – up to 60mph (and without a safety
helmet).
A kestrel
needs to eat four or five voles a day to stay alive. But the voles are not easy
to see as they scurry along through the undergrowth, out of sight. A few years ago,
scientists discovered that kestrels can see ultra violet light and vole urine
reflects this light. Since voles dribble urine wherever they go, they’re
leaving an easy trail for kestrels to spot them.
This
beautiful bird was perched at the side of the lane leading up to Mount Arbel. I
stopped the car a few meters away and inched towards it, to get a good look,
before it flew off to join its mate which was hovering over the nearby
hillside.
22nd February 2024
Lizards
come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The biggest is the enormous Komodo
dragon, 10ft long, weighing 150lb and capable of killing and eating a water
buffalo. And the smallest is just an inch or so. We don’t see Komodos in Israel,
fortunately, but we do see Lebanon lizards quite frequently – they’re about 4
inches long. The lizard’s name in Hebrew is lita'ah zerizah, which means
speedy lizard, and speedy it is. I spotted this speedy little fellow running on
a wall in a residential area in Tzefat (Safed) yesterday.
21st February 2024
There is a
herd of cattle that frequents the Switzerland Forest, and actually spends more
time there than we do. The herd is made up almost entirely of cows and calves, together
with a single bull – and a rather hefty jumbo-sized one it is. It seems to be
completely docile and is far more interested in grazing than anything else –
but we don’t want to show it a red flag and we’re a little cautious when we go
past it.
More often
than not, close to the cattle we see rather beautiful white egrets. The cattle
egret, Bubulcus ibis as Latin scholars would say, is neither a bulbul
nor an ibis, but rather a heron. In some places it’s known as elephant bird,
but even in flight it has no more resemblance to a jumbo than it does on the
ground. Nor does it look elephantine when on the back of cattle. Flocks of
cattle egrets have been known to cause problems for air traffic controllers as
they sometimes gather at the edge of airfields – as a jet clashing with an
elephant bird wouldn’t lead to a good outcome for either.
The cows
seem to ignore them totally, even when the egrets walk all over them. They have
a symbiotic relationship and both gain from living in close proximity to each
other. The egrets find insects and grubs that the cow unearths as it walks
along, and they also pick fleas from the cow’s body. It can’t be much fun being
covered in fleas so I’m sure the cows appreciate the delousing service.
If you would
like to see a photo of a cattle egret in flight, take a look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cattle_egret where you will find my pic of a
bird I saw near Netanya.
---
20th February 2024
We’ve had
more very heavy rain in recent days, but it did stop, and the sun came out for
an hour or so on Sunday morning. I mustered up the energy and right away set
off for the Switzerland Forest, which was glowing in the sunshine.
I saw
masses of yellow wild mustard and also dill, fennel, rosemary sage and lavender
not to mention kestrels, jays, a stonechat and a Sardinian warbler, which had
packed itself into a rosemary bush to hide. As I walked through the woods, I
could hear chukars with their distinctive chuck-chuck-chukar-chukar
call, but they weren’t to be seen – they kept a low profile, as they do,
probably hiding behind the mustard. They’re far more comfortable running along
or flying low rather than flying at great heights. As flying birds, they just
about pass muster, but as road runners they certainly cut the mustard.
Israel is
not known for its mustard condiment, but at this time of year there is so much
of it about, that you would think it would be harvested and bottled. However, it’s
not quite the right kind to make a decent condiment, and even cows and sheep shouldn’t
eat too much of it as it can irritate their stomachs. So, stick to your Colman’s
or Dijon mustard.
Oh, and by
the way, the milk thistle (the thistle of Scotland) is now showing its true
colours.
---
Breaking
News!
More than
700 steppe eagles flew from Egypt to Israel over the weekend. So, keep your
eagle-eyes trained on the sky, but mind your step!
---
---
18th February 2024
With many
birds, you have to keep your eyes open to spot them. Some alert you that
they’re around, with their chirping, calls or song, though it may still be
difficult to see them if they’re hiding in bushes or trees. Cranes, however,
make their presence known with their loud honking and if you crane your neck
upwards you can easily see them flying overhead. Just a few days ago while I
was on Mount Arbel, I heard their distinctive honks, looked up and watched fourteen
or fifteen fly past. A friend who lives in a nearby village told me that
hundreds of cranes fly from the Hula late in the afternoon and settle for the
night in the fields surrounding the village and then head back to the Hula in
the morning.
Unfortunately,
there’s been a significant outbreak of avian flu in Israel in 2024, and more than 190 cranes have died so far, as well
as many other birds. As a result, the Hula Reserve has been closed to the
public. Just three years ago there was a massive epidemic of avian flu in
Israel, killing 8,000 cranes and more than a million other birds, particularly chickens
and turkeys. It’s to be hoped that this outbreak isn’t as serious.
---
14th February 2024
After last
month’s visit to the Iris Reserve in Netanya when we didn’t get to see irises,
we went again last week. Success! The beautiful Iris atropurpurea, the
coastal iris, was in full bloom. And also the rather lovely pale blue Israel
lupine, in Hebrew Turmus Eretz Yisrael.
---
13th February 2024
My thanks to Raymond from Leeds who sent me a video clip from the UK’s ITV News from a few years ago. It is a wonderful story of how the Israeli Army and Nature and Parks Authority used a drone to feed a Griffon vulture chick, whose mother had died. We love watching the Griffon vultures at Hai Bar and Gamla and now whenever we see one, we’ll be thinking maybe it’s the one with the drone mother. You can see the video here – it lasts for about 3 minutes.
The accompanying photo is one I took last year at Hai Bar.
---8th February 2024
Yesterday we discussed the castor oil plant and ricin. We
noted that the poison ricin is a derivative of the plant. And indeed this
poison was used to assassinate the Bulgarian dissident and journalist Georgi
Markov in London in 1978. His murderer injected ricin into him via a poisoned
umbrella.
---
In Hebrew the castor oil plant is called kikayon
which is a word that occurs just once in the Torah, in the Book of Jonah. After
delivering G-d's message to the people of Nineveh, Jonah went into the fields
seeking solace. There G-d caused a kikayon to grow to provide Jonah
shelter from the sun. The kikayon is often translated as a gourd, but
some Bible commentators suggest it is the castor oil plant. And supporting this
theory the Talmud (in the Mishnah of Shabbat) notes that kik oil is
possibly the oil from the kikayon, that is, castor oil.
---
7th February 2024
We’ve had a
little bit of rain in the last two weeks. Actually, a little bit of rain is a
little bit of an understatement. It has rained and poured, and rained and poured
more. The Israel Meteorological Service says we haven’t had rain like this for
more than thirty years. One day last week the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) rose by
14.4 cm (almost 6 inches), though even with all this rain the lake is still not
as a high as it was this time last year.
For much of
the last two weeks the weather has restricted our walking and bird/animal
spotting activities but knowing that the rainy period is almost over we headed
out on Monday morning for a brief walk on Mount Arbel – there was only one
other person there and just a few bedraggled birds and a couple of soggy Syrian
hyraxes. We did see marigolds and geraniums which seemed to appreciate the
rain.
On Monday
afternoon, I had a walk along the shore of the Kinneret – Miriam had more sense
than to join me. The birds had more sense than to be out too, so I enjoyed the
solitude and admired some castor oil plants growing at the edge of the lake.
The plant’s scientific name is Ricinus communis and as you might guess
from its name is the source of the deadly poison ricin, as well as the more user-friendly
castor oil.
Before too
long, the clouds closed in, and emptied themselves on me. As I wrote in a poem
last year “it was the sort of day when I regretted being that sort of person who
can’t sit at home in a warm dry chair reading and drinking and enjoying
creature comforts”. You can read the whole poem in the Voices Israel Anthology
2023 published by The Voices Israel Group of Poets in English or you can read
it here - https://natureofisrael.blogspot.com/p/that-sort-of-day.html.
The photos
show a castor oil plant next to the Kinneret.
---
5th February 2024
One of the
joys of a walk in the countryside in Israel is that there are almost always
some butterflies to be seen fluttering by. Amongst my favourites are the
swallowtail, the painted lady and the plain tiger. But butterflies don’t grow
on trees. They are the culmination of an exciting metamorphosis – egg,
caterpillar, pupa and then butterfly.
Last week
there were lots and lots of small furry/hairy caterpillars on milk thistle
leaves at the side of the track on which we walked in Ramat Hanadiv. And we saw
them this week too at Nachal Tzippori. These little creatures are actually not
as friendly as they look and the hairs on them can cause quite considerable
skin irritations – it’s best not to touch them. These particular caterpillars
will not develop into butterflies but into moths – the Ocnogyna loewii -
Ocnogyna tiger moth. The caterpillars thrash about, which seems to be a
defence mechanism to ward off predators.
A few years
ago, we encountered processionary moth caterpillars, which are also somewhat
unpleasant to touch. It seems that they make these long trains to tell
predators that they’re a snake, so better look elsewhere for a snack.
A caterpillar’s
mission during the few weeks from hatching until it pupates is to get bigger
and bigger so that there is enough energy for the butterfly/moth to function.
It will eat all day long – I’m quite envious – and believe it or not, it can
increase in weight a thousand-fold.
A
caterpillar has six legs, as does the moth/butterfly it will become, and twelve
eyes, six on each side of its head. Despite all the eyes, it doesn’t have 20-20
vision – just 6-6 vision!
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