Side Excursion to Israel

Me at the River (or Creek) Jordan

Last night, at about 11pm, I got back from an intense five day trip to Israel. The purpose of this trip was to record around 10 males of a known population of Hirundo rustica transitiva to have an example of this subspecies' song to compare birds in my population to. If there is a hybrid zone here, determining a subspecies song signature could be helpful in figuring out which individuals belong to which population. (After hearing it, whatever differences there are seem to be VERY subtle.) Also, no one has characterized transitiva song, so it should be interesting for that reason alone.

Overall the trip was a great success! I think I brought home good recordings for 10-15 males, many of whom we have detailed morphological and reproductive data for. While in Israel, I stayed with Yoni Vortman and his family in a Jewish community at Amiad Kibbutz, about two hours north of Tel-Aviv, near the Sea of Galilee. Every morning Yoni and I would wake up at about daybreak and Yoni would take me around the neighborhood, which is kind of like a college campus, with cars only allowed around the periphery, and show me  the barn swallow nests in his population in hopes of finding males singing. Early on we had good luck--our first stop showed a male singing right into my microphone for an extended bout. The first day I recorded a decent sample for about four males, but the second day, we only got one male to sing a full bout of songs in five hours of recording. Fortunately, the next day we did better, and on the fourth day I only recorded for an hour before I had to get going to catch a bus to the airport.

Yoni Paddling his family and friends on the Sea of Galilee

I can't believe how quickly it all went by! But it wasn't (quite) all science--I did manage to fit in some excursions after recording each day. At about 10 each morning, the wind would start to pick up and birds would stop singing from perches, so I took advantage of that time to see the River Jordan in the Golan Heights, go swimming in the Sea of Galilee, hike down to a cold natural swimming pool along a hexagon-shaped crystallized lava-flow, and check out a nature sanctuary filled with ancient ruins at Gamla. I also got a brief visit to Yoni's lab at Tel-Aviv University on the way to the airport, where they have a zoo for research, conservation programs, and public education. It was a truly amazing trip, though exhausting, and I look forward to going back, as I did not get a chance to see many of the historical sites, or visit Jerusalem or the Dead Sea region.

A graceful prinia (Prinia gracilis) sings from a dried stalk in the Golan Heights

But for now it's back to work in Turkey. Hakan has been busy in my absence--they caught several pairs and added another site with two active nests. I now have several males to record here, but there are still a LOT of unbanded adults out there. And unfortunately, Özgün and Leyla Kaplan will be gone for two weeks taking final exams, so it will be up to Hakan and myself to band them. But...I guess they don't just give those PhDs away...

-Matt

Daily Dose of Hebrew: "Wow!"--וואו (pronounced ?)


*I added about 70 photos from my trip in the Field Season 2010 album.