So we had an exhausting, but very productive day in the very first 24-hour race to see the most species in the Negev desert. The boundaries of the area were the Egyptian and the Jordanian borders down to Eilat, and the northern border formed a line from Nitzana through Be'er Sheva to the Dead Sea. There were over 20 teams from overseas and Israel that took part in the race.
Our team, the Arava Eagles (Steppe Eagles in Hebrew), decided to focus our attention on Eilat and the southern Arava desert. We did not leave the Hevel Eilot regional council. The farthest north we got was Kibbutz Yahel. We started out at 4 a.m. and rolled back into the hotel just after 11 p.m. We had a total of 141 species, of which one was not accepted.
Here are the species, starting with the stars of the show:
Isabelline Shrike - not accepted
Hoopoe Lark - twenty meters away, after we had already given up!!
Pomarine Skua
Parasitic Skua
Whimbrel
Wood Warbler
Montagu's Harrier (a beautiful male)
Pallid Harrier
Desert Finch
Whinchat
Egyptian Vulture (sitting in the desert at 6:30 a.m.)
In addition, we had the following:
Scops Owl, Barn Owl, Stone Curlew
Lesser Kestrel, Kestrel, Barbary Falcon
Sparrowhawk, Booted Eagle, Osprey
Steppe Buzzard, Black Kite
Spotted Sandgrouse, Crowned Sandgrouse
Quail, Sand Partridge, Rock Dove
Collared Dove, Namaqua Dove, Laughing Dove, Turtle Dove
Hoopoe, Little Green Bee-eater, European Bee-eater
Wryneck, Pied Kingfisher, Rose-ringed Parakeet
Cattle Egret, Squacco Heron, Little Egret, Great Egret
Striated Heron, Night Heron, Spoonbill, Greater Flamingo
White Stork, Black Stork, Eurasian Crane
Shoveler, Wigeon, Pintail, Teal, Garganey,
Shelduck, Mallard, Little Grebe, Little Crake
Cormorant, Coot, Egyptian Goose, Moorhen
Spur-winged Lapwing, Black-winged Stilt
Collared Pratincole, Little Ringed Plover, Kentisk Plover
Grey Plover, Dunlin, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper
Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank
Marsh Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe, Ruff
Black-headed Gull, Slender-billed Gull, Yellow Legged (Armenian) Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull, Little Tern, Sandwich Tern
Gull-billed Tern, Common Tern, Caspian Tern
Barn Swallow, Rock Martin, House Martin, Red-rumped Swallow
Crested Lark, Bar-tailed Lark, Desert Lark, Short-toed Lark
Tawny Pipit, Water Pipit, Tree Pipit, Red-throated Pipit
White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Citrine Wagtail
White-spectacled Bulbul, Nightingale, Rufous Bush-robin
Bluethroat, Redstart, European Wheatear, Isabelline Wheatear
Desert Wheatear, Black-eared Wheatear, Mourning Wheatear
White-crowned Wheatear, Blackstart
Whitethroat, Blackcap, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat
Sardinian Warbler, Rueppell's Warbler, Scrub Warbler, Sedge Warbler
Reed Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler, Willow Warbler, Balkan Warbler, Chiffchaff
Woodchat Shrike, Masked Shrike, Indian House Crow, Brown-necked Raven
Tristram's Starling, House Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Ortolan Bunting
What we missed: Hooded Wheatear, Brown Booby, White-eyed Gull, Arabian Warbler, Arabian Babbler, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater and a whole host more
What was most important was that our team raised over US$1500 for the fight against illegal hunting. The atmosphere was very competitive, yet very friendly!
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