BIRDING ISRAEL
Wednesday morning. I lay in bed with a 103-degree temperature, a casualty no doubt of my trans-Atlantic journey a few days before. I hadn’t had the flu for 15 years and confess I was feeling mighty sorry for myself. Little did I know that at that very moment, COVID-19 was quietly preparing to sweep the globe in the worst pandemic in a century. Still blissfully ignorant, however, I languished in my room wondering if I would have to alter our travel plans when my 16-year-old son, Braden, burst into the room.
“Dad!” he said. “I know you feel bad, but you have to come! Syrian Woodpeckers — right down the street!”
“Uuuungh,” I groaned, but what choice did I have? I raised myself to a sitting position, tugged on my boots and coat, and staggered out the door.
Taken Opportunities
If you’re a birder, one of the perks of business travel is the opportunity to bird in places you might never otherwise have visited. The downside? You rarely get to choose the best times of year for birds — a situation I faced pre-COVID when I got invited to speak for seven days at an international school in Israel.
Israel is famous for the massive migrations of raptors, cranes, and other birds that transit between birds pass through this geographic eye of the needle, including almost the entire populations of some species. Alas, these migrations peak in fall and spring, and guess when I would be there? January, the heart of winter.
