Israel IV - an infusion of colour

With the terribly gloomy weather continuing (although tomorrow is forecast to be a rare exception) and temperatures hovering just over zero it is probably a good time to inject a touch of colour into our birding lives. Here, in the fourth installment of the irregular Israel series, are some of the more exotic species that ended up on hard drive.

Little Green Bee-eater (beryllbieter) - a resident in the Arava valley and a very cool bird

European Bee-eater (bieter) - we had a few migrating birds including a small group in the grounds of the Kibbutz but they were not easy to photograph

even more difficult to photograph was this much rarer Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (blåkinnbieter) which unfortunately only showed in flight for me

You don't get much more exotic than Flamingoes

and finally a Woodchat Shrike (rødhodevarsler)