A bird in the hand is not worth anything compared to one in the bush -- at least not when you are on a birding trip! However, this is the only nightingale I have ever seen. Nightingales are really secretive! This one had just been banded and we got to look at it for a few moments before it was released. So at least I've seen a nightingale at the bird research center of Eilat.
Here's a very good bird on some barbed wire. It's called the Turkistan shrike, and has been seen on migration through Israel only very rarely. We spent a lot of time and effort to find it, and our guide (whose hand is shown above) says he's seen it only twice in 25 years of birding.
We had lunch at a restaurant and food boutique, where they grow dates and raise goats and make goat cheese. My view is that it was a very traditional type of place, with a shady outdoor dining area and a well-lit indoor dining room. One of our fellow birders saw a very nice cat outdoors, but I didn't see it.
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| Our very nice goat cheese platter: sour-cream type cheese with herbs and olive oil, cubes of feta-like goat cheese, and a hard goat cheese served with salad, bread, pita, and a few slices of fruit. I really enjoyed it! |
2 comments:
The cheese looks delicious and the bird is a sweetie! Sounds like you're having a wonderful time!
I have never seen a nightingale and to hold one would be like a special gift. And I'd like to hold some of that wonderful looking cheese from your lunch. I am such a sucker for good cheese!
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