Rare Sighting: Egyptian Nightjar Bird Finds a Home on Israeli Kibbutz

The disappearing Dead Sea has provided this rare bird species not seen in the region since 1947 with new nesting grounds

Nir Hasson

 Feb 09, 2018 11:30 PM

In 2014, rangers from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority arrested a number of foreign workers at Kibbutz Beit Ha’arava, just north of the Dead Sea in the West Bank, on suspicions of illegal hunting. When the rangers reenacted the alleged crimes with the suspects, the kibbutz’s security coordinator told Erez Bruchi, one of the rangers, that the night before he had hit a bird with his car.

The dead animal was still stuck in the car’s grill and the security coordinator sent Bruchi a picture, which he sent out to birdwatchers for help. The identification turned out to be a big surprise. A number of birdwatchers raised the possibility that the bird was an Egyptian nightjar (Caprimulgus aegyptius), which is crepuscular – most active around nightfall and dawn. It feeds on insects and nests on the ground.

The last time an Egyptian nightjar was seen nesting in what is now Israel or the West Bank was 1947; since then it has occasionally been spotted in the far south in the Arava region and the resort city of Eilat.

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New bird discovered breeding in UAE

The Egyptian Nightjar had not been suspected of breeding in the Arabian Peninsula before 2010

The National

September 10, 2017

Updated: September 10, 2017 06:57 PM

A species of bird once thought to be a rare guest to the UAE in the winter has now been found to be a regular breeder, according to a scientific paper published in Sandgrouse.

The Egyptian Nightjar breeds from Morocco to north-eastern Egypt and to southern Kazakhstan, but had not been suspected of breeding in the Arabian Peninsula before 2010.

Summer field surveys conducted by UAE birdwatchers since 2013 have now shown that the species is found regularly in the Ajban area, north-east of Abu Dhabi between March and September.

Breeding was confirmed in March 2016 and April this year.

Young birds were first seen by Emirati bird photographer, Mohammed Al Mazrouei, the Under-Secretary of the Court of the Ruler’s Representative in the Al Dhafra (Western) Region in Abu Dhabi.

"I am delighted to have played a small part in this discovery," said Mr Al Mazrouei.

His work along with that of Oscar Campbell and Mark Smiles, two local birdwatchers, led to the publishing of their paper, ‘The discovery of a breeding population of Egyptian Nightjars Caprimulgus aegyptius’, which reports on the five years of fieldwork in the Ajban area.

Up to five pairs, located by hearing the song of male birds, are believed to have been present earlier this year.

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