Birding in Eilat

Eilat is the southern-most point in Israel, in a place where its land narrows down, squeezed between Jordanian and Egyptian mountains, and just manages to touch the Red Sea. Standing on Eilat's North Beach, on one side you can see planes coming down to land in Eilat's airport...


... and on the other side is Aqaba, the sole Jordanian port town.


Looking straight ahead, there is a tanker with a name that brings me a little closer to home.


North Beach is so close to the Jordanian border you can throw rocks across it. The building in the middle is the Jordanian border watch tower:


Here's a closer look (I am standing 20 yards from the border):


Birds don't care about borders. Due to Eilat's location (in the valley between two mountain ranges, in a place that's the only land bridge between Africa and Euroasia), it is the major route for all sorts of migrating birds. Overall, several million birds pass through it within a three-week period each spring, including almost a million of raptors alone. I was there too late for this movement, but still managed to get quite a few good close looks at exotics.

This little green bee-eater was perfectly happy positioned on a date farm fence.




Walking around on the local roads, I saw something crossing the border, in formation, in the sky against the mountains:


Taking a closer look, as they were coming for a landing...


And it was a flock of flamingos! I couldn't believe it. I was seeing a wild flamingo parade around in front of my eyes!


Border birding is not without its hazards...


This is the somewhat tautologically named Spur-Winged Lapwing. It was omnipresent and noisy, but irresistible with its striking colors. It gets its name from a claw that it has hidden in its wings.




This is a different bird whom I flushed from its nest. It got really angry at me and dived-bombed me several times until it deemed that I moved sufficiently far away.


Missed connection? The lapwing passes the Black-Winged Stilt mid-air.


Here is a closer look at the Stilt:


This is a marker for the local bike lane. Eilatians are not without humor :)


An angry-looking Arabian Babbler hunts for insects on the desert ground.


I can't resist this picture. It would have been more poetic if it were a border fence, but it's again just a farm perimeter. But I think it's cool anyway!