We camped at Nizzana with the idea that we should wait by the drinking pools for Pintailed Sandgrouse to come drinking. They didn’t, or maybe they did, but not where we were. The Pintailed Sandgrouse would be good to get here, although if we don’t get it here – it’s possible to repair later in Spain or France. While waiting at the pools, we did find a resting Collared Pratincole.
Gave up on the Sandgrouse before noon, we started to drive – again – towards Eilat. Eilat is one of those world famous birding sites, up there together with Cape May and Falsterbo. On the way we stopped at some salt ponds, teeming with waders. Red-necked Phalarope had been reported there, but we just found all the regular expected waders.
Finished off by birding the famous North Beach of Eilat, the White-eyed Gull was common.
The Whatsup group for the Champions of the Flyway had announced a drinking session at a bar, downtown Eilat. We were eager to meet all the COTF guys. Very nice to meet many the participants of this great bird race. We will surely attend one day, maybe next year.
Late hungover, morning with some slow birding in Eilat city parks. Lots of migration birds in the parks. We were looking especially for flycatchers, no luck though. House Crows are everywhere in Eilat.
Went up into Eilat Mountains to check for raptor migration. Some raptor days are better than others, this was a slow raptor day. Picked up the Hooded Wheatear on the mountain.
In the afternoon, we went to a pond at kilometer 19, searching for Crakes and it turned into Crake bonanza. Best Craking ever, we got all 3 crakes in the same pond. Especially the Baillon’s crake is good, possible the most elusive little bird in the entire Collin’s Guide. When dusk settled, a group of Lichtensteins’s Sandgrouse came flying in to the pool to drink. Birding doesn’t get much better than this.
