Israel 15-23Jun09

From Danny

While soaking in the historical ruins managed to do some birding with the aid of my bins and my little camera. Not really exciting but record shots. These birds were observed around Jerusalem. Other than House Sparrow which is the most common bird in Israel, the rest are lifers to me.

The Blackbird is pretty common around Park/Garden - all black except the bill.

The Hooded Crow like our House Crow is easily seen atop TV antenna.

The interesting bird is the White-spectacled Bulbul (pycnonotus xanthopygos) aka Yellow-vented Bulbul, similar to our local version except black headed with white eye ring.

The word bulbul is Arabic which means "singer" - this bird really melodious unlike our local version. The nest was live with 2 chicks but couldn't get the shot when the adult was feeding.