Wishful Watari Party

Alexandroni Memorial, Cola Forest | 📍 MAP | September 2, 2022 With the hot, and mostly uninteresting, summer coming to a gradual end, autumn migration has just begun. A few weeks ago, waders and shorebirds started trickling in and, in recent days, the honey buzzard migration has begun (after some promising reports from the raptor

The Falco Festival

Mount Meron | 📍MAP | July 15, 2022 The summer months are rather lacklustre for birding here in Israel. However, there are a few isolated events that unfolded lately which inspired me to put in an extra effort and get back out into the sun. Last year, there was a great discovery that tens of

Catching some Raptors

Gan Sacher, Jerusalem | 📍 MAP | April 18, 2022 Spring migration is in full force, yet living near the coast doesn’t deliver the endless streams of raptors that fly over the mountains of Israel. A late morning family picnic in Jerusalem‘s Gan Sacher was the perfect opportunity to catch up on the action, and

Coastal Birding Grounds

North Tel Aviv Coast | 📍MAP | April 12, 2022 Now that I work in Herzliya, just north of Tel Aviv, I theoretically have great birding opportunities with the North Tel Aviv Coast (aka Ḥof HaTzuk) and the Herzliya Marina just a 10-15 minute walk away. I had checked out the marina a few months

My Local Patch

My Local Patch, Givat Shmuel | 📍MAP | April 8, 2022 Now that the clocks have changed and spring migration is upon us, Friday mornings are the perfect time to check what’s new in the local patch. We live in the northwest corner of Givat Shmuel, and just about 60 metres north of us is

Blankets of Sandy Blossoms

Yavne Infiltration Pools | 📍MAP | April 3, 2022 After a bit of a dry spell, Adam and I went over to the Yavne dunes to see what we could find. It was our first time visiting in the spring, and we were surprised to see the blankets of fresh growth and flowers covering the

Urban Wildlife

Yarkon Park | 📍MAP | January 10, 2022 I decided one morning last week to head out to the nearby Yarkon Park for some fresh air and casual birding to start off my new year. Comparable to NYC’s Central Park, the Yarkon Park is Tel Aviv’s green lung and supports a pretty healthy array of

Finding the Shelduck

Yavne Infiltration Pools | 📍MAP | January 5, 2022 In between other adventures, Adam and I decided to take a quick trip to the infiltration pans in the dunes just west of Yavne (more HERE). These rectangular pools are used for the preservation of fresh water that seeps into the aquifer, and attract large numbers

A Morning with the Gulls

Jaffa  | 📍MAP  |  December 24, 2021 After the week-long “Carmel” storm that hit us, I had a great opportunity for some belated morning sea-birding at Jaffa. Expecting more rain about 9am, I made sure to leave early and arrived promptly at the sea walls promenade, one of the best sites for this kind of

Adam’s Local Patch

Adam’s Patch, Givat Shmuel | 📍MAP | December 7, 2021 After Adam had reported some rather exciting winter findings in his local patch – an empty stretch of land between Givat Shmuel and Petach Tikva – I decided to go along for an early morning (pre-work) visit. The day began with a beautiful sunrise and