South Uvda Valley & Km 76
Desert bird photography is hard. Just finding the subjects can be frustrating and difficult, particularly at this time of year, pre-Spring migration and after (welcome) rains that have resulted in a carpet of green covering the landscape that is not yet flowering. No seeds on the ground to forage, no insects to prey on, means relatively few birds. If you can find them, getting close enough to photograph is the next challenge. When often 50m is too close for comfort, even a zoom lens that goes to 800mm is not enough. The strategy is usually just to find a likely spot, sit quietly, wait and hope for the best. Quality meditation time if nothing else. If they do come close enough, then there’s the added issue that many of the subjects fall into the “small brown bird on a brown background” category, as my friend and birder David Schoneveld would say. Not exactly material for National Geographic.
So the results of two mornings in a couple of local ”hot spots” were not spectacular, but at least allowed me to make a couple of additions to my slowly growing Southern Arava and Eilat species gallery. And Spring is coming, although by then I’ll be half a world away.
Eurasian Kestrel, Uvda Valley
Common Linnets, Km 76
Tawny Pipit, Km 76
Sardinian Warbler, Km 76
Spectacled Warbler, Km 76
Trumpeter Finches, south Uvda Valley
Bar-tailed Lark with breakfast. Or “small brown bird on a brown background”. South Uvda Valley.
