I’m getting ready for the spring migration and my new Suburban safari (Coming Soon!). So I’ve been checking out the area of Jerusalem around the ‘Old train Station’, Yemin Moshe and the Walls of the Old City. Today I saw some fantastic little birds: Graceful Prinias, Chiffchaffs, and what I think is a Masked Shrike. See the Map below for more information.
Watch this Space for more news.
I’ve been preparing for a new tour and part of this preparation has been mapping the wildlife in the southern suburbs of Jerusalem. My recent astounding sightings have been;
Graceful Prinia (bird)
Eurasian Jays
Kuhl’s Pipistrelle Bat
European Green Toad
Common Gazelle (!)
You can check regular updates on this map:
It was a wonderful experience seeing the gazelle at 5:30 am as the sun rose over the Jerusalem hills. I’m going to be preparing this tour for the next few months, if your interested in booking me for a tour you can contact me here.
This is the map that I will be updating regularly as part of my ‘Suburban Safari’ project. I will record the animals that I have identified, there location and the date I identified them. There is a key in the description section and hover your cursor over the markers on the map to see what has been identified so far.
There’s probably going to be a few kinks to iron out at first, but check back here regularly for new sightings.
Tour Guide, Bird Specialist and Super Dad!
As part of a new set of tours that I am creating I recently lead some educational birding sessions at the JAIS Summer Camp.
We saw some fantastic birds, featuring the Syrian Woodpecker, the Palestine Sunbird and the Ring Necked Parakeet to name a few. Here’s the whole extended bird list:
Syrian Woodpecker
Palestine Sunbird
Ring Necked Parakeet
Spectacled Bulbul
Blackbird
Palm dove
Rock Dove (Pigeon)
Sparrow
Hooded crow
I was very impressed with the standard of observation from the campers who could spot birds with their bare eyes that I couldn’t see with my binoculars. The whole day just goes to show the fantastic variety of birds you can see in my backyard right here in Jerusalem.
I am currently working on some tours that will involve some of the more unknown parts of Jerusalem wildlife. Watch this space!
Jews around the world are involved three thousand year old ritual called ‘the Counting of the Omer’.
The period between the second day of Pesach (Passover) and Shavuot (Pentecost) is called the Omer. According to Scripture; this forty nine day period between the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the books of law, the Torah, on Mount Sinai was marked by a daily sacrifice of barley and the appointing of a daily ‘count’.
Now that there is no longer a Holy Temple in Jerusalem Jews around the world mark the day by counting which day it is every night, for instance 2 nights ago we counted ‘1 day of the Omer Count’, the day after we counted two and so on.
There are many different responses to how to make this relevant to daily life. Many people focus on a separate moral issue every day. Many people have a different spiritual theme every day (typically they follow the 49 kabbalistic permutations mentioned in the Jewish books of mysticism).
A novel response by Rabbi Bobby Silverman has been to assign a different bird of Israel to each day. The bird pictured above is a Turtle Dove, the kind commonly found in the Sinai Peninsular and in Israel.
For more information see
http://us4.campaign-archive2.com/?u=d76e2f3a6435dec0b480fa8fa&id=2361993a65&e=e6b12d2f52
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This word of Torah is devoted to the Health of Zlata bat Sima
This word of Torah is devoted to the health of Zlata bat Sima