Israel - Crossroads for Migrant Birds

Abstract from Ibis
21st May 1996

A paper in the latest issue of Ibis (138, 188-203) establishes Israel as a very important country for the migration of soaring birds. The numbers involved have been counted accurately by a string of observers covering the whole width of the country and radar observations and brought together by Yossi Leshem and Yoram Yom-Tov. The autumn figures were about 500,000 raptors, 250,000 White Storks and 70,000 White Pelicans and spring was even higher with a millionm raptors and 450,000 White Storks. No fewer than 35 different species of raptors were involved with Honey Buzzards featuring heavily in both spring and autumn but, of the major species, Lesser Spotted Eagles and Levant Sparrowhawks were autumn species and Steppe Buzzards, Steppe Eagles and Black Kites were spring species.

Variations between years in numbers was quite high - probably mostly to do with weather or counting effort. The total World population Lesser Spotted Eagle and Levant Sparrowhawk and the Pelearctic population of White Pelicans passed over each year. For other species it is clear that the previously published population estimates are grossly too small - even in some cases an order of magnitude too small! The mean numbers for some species were as follows:

	Spring	Autumn
Honey Buzzard	361,279	345,456
Levant Sparrowhawk	28,134	34,592
Lesser Spotted Eagle	-------	93,166
Steppe Eagle	28,134	-------
Steppe Buzzard	321,021	-------
Black Kite	28,418	-------
Red-footed Falcon	-------	2,847
White Stork	-------	416,414
White Pelican	-------	71,421

The mean arrival dates of the raptors is very predicatable with confidence limits ranging from 1.5 to 5.5 days - so holiday makers can plan very precicely what they want to see - but White Storks and White Pelicans are not so predictable - confidence limits 4.2 to 13.8 days. The flocking species pass in a very consentrated period. The period in autumn when 90% of the passage takes place is 13 days for Levanmt Sparrowhawk, 15 days for Lesser Spotted Eagle, 16 days for Honey Buzzard and 18 days for Red-frooted Falcon. Individual migrants - Egyptian Vulture, Marsh Harrier and Short-toed Eagle take twice as long. The timing and spread of the migration for each species was affected by age at first breeding, diet and the extent of the breeding area.

Not only is this paper an important summary of knowledge but it does draw further attention to one of the major corridors of migration in the World. The peak numbers in spring (six years 1977 - 1987) and autumn (nine years from 1982 - 1990) were as follows:

	Spring	Autumn
Short-toed Eagle	345	8,045
Osprey	147	79
Lesser Spotted Eagle	74	141,868
Steppe Eagle	75,073	456
Imperial Eagle	95	37
Spotted Eagle	11	85
Golden Eagle	9
Booted Eagle	175	1,973
Long-legged Buzzard	105	62
Steppe Buzzard	465,827	2,166
Honey Buzzard	851,598	437,432
Black Kite	31,774	1,734
Egytian Vulture	802	474
Griffon Vulture	17	76
Marsh Harrier	371	1,534
Hen Harrier	21
Montagu's Harrier	44	103
Pallid Harrier	113	57
Levant Sparrowhawk	49,836	44,653
Sparrowhawk	468	1,761
Goshawk	3
Peregrine	4	20
Eleonora's Falcon	16	44
Hobby	54	59
Red-footed Falcon	5,752
Saker Falcon	2
Lanner Falcon	7
Lesser Kestrel	54
Biggest year total	1,193,751	603,846

Note these figures have been reconstructed from tables which have at least one error in them. Birds not identified to species are omitted.

Bird On! may eventually carry information on birding world-wide and tell you which companies run tours to which countries. We are not able to carry such services at the moment but, if your appetite is whetted, there are many different tours run specifically to watch the raptor migration in both spring and autumn. In particular there are excellent facilities at Eilat and research work goes on there each year.