Ornithomedia - Magazine

Afflux de raretés

Situation des sites ornithologiques décrits dans le texte.

Situation des sites ornithologiques cités

Israël constitue une superbe destination ornithologique pour découvrir les oiseaux du Moyen-Orient et d'Europe. En effet, le pays est idéalement situé sur la route de migration de millions d'oiseaux.
Les évènements troublés très médiatisés ne doivent pas décourager l'observateur : ils sont en effet très localisés et ont lieu loin des endroits décrits dans cet article, qui sont absolument sûrs et calmes.
La Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, qui organise des sorties natures guidées (contact : tourism@spni.org.il) nous transmet chaque mois une synthèse de l'actualité ornithologique du nord au sud du pays hébreu, en provenance des principaux centres de nature.
Ce mois d'avril 2004 a été riche en observations remarquables : Phalarope à bec étroit (Phalaropus lobatus) dans les piscicultures de Ma'agan Michael, Iranie à gorge blanche (Irania gutturalis) et Bécassine double (Gallinago media) à Jérusalem, afflux de Gobemouches à demi-collier (Ficedula semitorquata) ou Moinelette à front blanc (Erempterix nigriceps) à Lotan ... Mais dans les colonies de Vautours fauves (Gyps fulvus) du nord du pays, plusieurs oiseaux ont été retrouvés empoisonnés.

Abstract

Birding News from Israel : April 2004.
- The Israel Ornithological Center, Hula Valley. The Israel Ornithological Center has birding groups which travel around the country, usually over the weekends. One of the groups recently spent a Friday morning birding along the Mediterranean coast north of Tel Aviv, starting at the Ramat Hanadiv Nature Reserve on the Carmel Mts. After observing the mainly resident species as well as a nesting pair of Stone-curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus), a Short-toed Eagle (Circaetus gallicus), a Sparrowhawk (Accipter nisus) and a Hobby (Falco subbuteo), the group decided to drive down to the fishponds of Kibbutz Ma'agan Michael, which are very close to the sea. There is always a good variety of birds on and around the fishponds and among the birds they saw were: Greenshank (Tringa totanus), Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa), Ruff (Philomachus pugnax), and, most exciting of all, the rarely-seen Red-necked Phalarope (Phalaropus lobatus).
- International Birdwatching Center, Jordan Valley. Each morning large flocks of Storks take off from the fields in the valley. Many raptors have passed through and the birds that will be nesting here in the summer have already chosen their sites. The European Bee-eaters (Merops apiaster) impress us with their beautiful colors as they fly around their colonies throughout the valley. There are two heron rookeries with hundreds of nests in each one, near Mesilot and Sde Eliyahu. Spur-winged Plovers (Vanellus spinosus) and Stone-curlews (Burhinus oedcnemus) are also ubiquitous nesters in the region with many nests and chicks being observed. The Dead Sea Sparrow males (Passer moabiticus) are building huge nests to impress the females……..and us, too. In every corner of the valley we can hear the chirping of the Spectacled Bulbuls (Pycnonotus xanthophygos), the Blackbirds (Turdus merula), the Graceful Prinias (Prinia gracilis), the Turtle Doves (Streptopelia turtur) and many others. The calls of the Black Francolin (Francolinus francolinus) are heard above all this, as they stand proudly on sandy mounds and bales of hay. On 16 April we released 3 raptors back into the wild after they had received treatment at the Safari Park in Ramat Gan and had recuperated at Ramat Hanadiv.
- The Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO). The staff and volunteers at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory have been working long hours, ringing and recording the hundreds of birds that have been caught in the nets each day. The spring migration is at its peak. This season is shorter than the autumn migration and around 5000 birds are ringed at the JBO which is situated in a lovely park in the center of Jerusalem. Most of the birds ringed are song birds, and, depending on the weather, between 200-300 birds are ringed each day! This year many more birds have been ringed and this is probably due to changes in the weather, moving the migration route further west. When the birds are ringed, their fat content is noted, and many birds caught in the early morning at the JBO have very little fat on them as they have probably been flying through the night. Among the many different species caught have been: Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla), Whitethroat (Sylvia communis), Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca), Masked Shrike (Lanius nubicus), Common Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos), Thrush Nightingale (Luscinia luscinia), Spotted Flycatcher (Muscicapa striata), Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) and Wryneck (Jynx torquilla). Some rare Warblers have been ringed as well: Great Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), Wood Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix), Olive-tree Warbler (Hippolais olivetorum), Bonelli's Warbler (Phylloscopus bonelli) and Icterine Warbler (Hippolais icterina). In addition 2 rare birds were seen at the JBO this month. A White-throated Robin (Irania gutturalis) was seen on 13 April and a Great Snipe (Gallinago media) on the 7 May. The birds attracted birdwatchers from all over the country.
- Gamla Nature Reserve. Poisoning events in northern Israel (and Gamla: Very sad and worrying circumstantial evidence indicates that the Griffon Vultures (Gyps fulvus) at the Golan Heights' breeding colonies might face a chronic or even acute poisoning event: two dead adults were collected from different nests in Gamla. The nestlings from these nests were collected alive and were transferred (for adoption purposes) to the rehabilitation center at Mt. Carmel as there is no chance that a single parent, if still alive, will be able to successfully complete the task of rearing the nestling by itself. Apart from this, in two other nests in Gamla, with young nestlings, we observed unusually prolonged (up to 4 hours) absence of the adults. This may occur when one of the parents is absent (dead?) and fails to replace its partner for more than a few days. The single individual is then forced to go foraging and to leave its nestling behind. To these unfortunate data we can add the recent disappointing observation from the renewed breeding colony in the neighboring gorge of Jahudia: all the 11 nests that were active at the beginning of the current season are empty (long before the end of the nesting season)!!
- Kibbutz Lotan Centre for Birdwatching. Spring is coming to an end and the summer is settling in. The days are bright and hot, with the birds (and birders) focusing on the morning and late afternoon hours. The changes in temperature also bring a new flavor to the migration season. The last big waves of migrants occur and several species pass the Arava in impressive numbers. Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus) migration peaks on the first week of May and large numbers of marsh Terns, mainly White-winged Black Tern (Chlidonias leucopterus), are seen everywhere in the region. Both Honey Buzzards and White-winged Black Terns, pass in huge flocks and on productive mornings tens of thousands of either can be seen in the Eilat area.
From the 11th, nearly 20 White-throated Robins have been seen in the southern Arava, and some have showed up even in Beer Sheva and Jerusalem. As if this was not enough, this wave coincided with an even bigger influx of Semi-collared Flycatchers, a regular, but rare bird in the spring. Over 50 birds have already been recorded at various locations, with over 15 birds in some places at any given moment. On the evening of the 28 th of April, a beautiful male Black-crowned Finch Lark was found at Yotvata fields. Black-crowned Finch Lark is an extremely rare lark in Israel with only a handful of records from the 1980s and the most recent record is from early spring 1989.

Depuis le Jerusalem Bird Observatory (www.birds.org.il/bulbul)

Iranie à gorge blanche (Irania gutturalis) mâle. En avril, un oiseau de cette espèce a été vu au JBO. Photo : Jonathan Meyrav / www.birdingisrael.com

Le personnel et les volontaires du Jerusalem Bird Observatory ont effectué ce mois-ci un énorme travail de baguage, et des centaines d'oiseaux ont été attrapés dans les filets chaque jour. La migration de printemps est plus courte que celle d'automne, et environ 5000 oiseaux sont bagués à cette période dans le parc où est installé le JBO, au centre de Jérusalem. La plupart des oiseaux bagués sont des passereaux.
Avril 2004 a été exceptionnel, ce qui est probablement lié aux changements climatiques, déplaçant l'itinéraire de migration de plusieurs espèces plus à l'ouest.
Quand les oiseaux sont attrapés, leur teneur en graisse est notée, et ceux qui sont bagués très tôt le matin ont ainsi une faible couche de graisse, car ils ont souvent volé toute la nuit.
Voici quelques-unes des principales espèces baguées : Fauvette à tête noire (Sylvia atricapilla), Fauvette grisette (Sylvia communis), Fauvette babillarde (Sylvia curruca), Pie-grièche masquée (Lanius nubicus), Rossignol philomèle (Luscinia megarhynchos), Rossignol progné (Luscinia luscinia), Gobemouche gris (Muscicapa striata), Pouillot véloce (Phylloscopus collybita) et Torcol fourmilier (Jynx torquilla).
Quelques sylvidés peu communs ont aussi été attrapés : Rousserolle turdoïde (Acrocephalus arundinaceus), Pouillot siffleur (Phylloscopus sibilatrix), Hypolaïs des oliviers (Hippolais olivetorum), Pouillot de Bonelli (Phylloscopus bonelli) et Hypolaïs ictérine (Hippolais icterina).
En outre, deux espèces remarquables ont été notées au JBO : une Iranie à gorge blanche (Irania gutturalis) le 13 avril et une Bécassine double (Gallinago media) le 7 mai. Ces oiseaux ont attiré des observateurs de tout le pays.
Pour plus d'informations, vous pouvez contacter le JBO par e-mail : ibrc@netvision.net.il.
Site web du Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO) : www.birds.org.il/bulbul.