We had a great time in Jordan and Israel. I was so happy to have taken my Cabela's 8 x 42 Binoculars along. And many folks on the bus were jealous because I was the onlyone seeing stuff up close. The guides didn't really like me because my attention was always wandering around the area looking for birds and other details. Binoculars are the tour guides' worst enemies and you will never see them on the packing list.
So, I honestly did not know what I was going to be seeing. When we got to Amman it looked so dry that I honestly didn't think we'd see any birds at all. The whole of both Countries is packed with common sparrows. So many that i think this is what God fed to Moses' people in the desert. Sparrows are everywhere and one gets sick of seeing and hearing them. Picking through the sparrows to find real birds is the job at hand.
Then at the Karak Crusader Castle
I saw a little bird from about 200 yards away. I thought the bird had something in its beak.
So I ran toward it and got a good look at the best bird in the Middle East in my opinion, the Hoopoe.
Unbelievable! And when it flies, the black and
white striped wings are horizontally striped.
And then we went to Wadi Rum, where Lawrence of Arabia campaigned and where the movie was filmed. I saw some Tristam's grackles. Great songs.
Crossing the border
into Israel, I saw a
Common Kingfisher above a canal,
and a Crested Lark in the dust near the border fence.
Israel is chock full of water (they get 80 percent of the water from the Sea of
Gallilee/River Jordan
and Jordan gets 20 percent). So there are lots more birds in
Israel. In Joppa I saw the first of many Palestine Sunbirds.
I thought they were hummingbirds but they don't hover. I looked up hummingbirds online and found out a VERY interesting factoid. Hummingbirds exist o
nly in the Americas! Wild huh?
Then on Mount Carmel I saw the first of many Eurasian Jays.
And then later in
the day in the Valley of Armegeddon, I saw some Kestrals. Everywhere in the Country are Hooded crows, the second most common bird.
In that valley there are so many Kibutz's, or Communistic Farms, and there are fish ponds everywhere too. An amazing show of water in such a dry place. But there were so many birds around the ponds, especially Spur-winged Plovers.
At the Sea of Galilee I saw a European Goldfinch
and many
Yellow-vented Bulbols (at Capernaum),
a Squacco Heron
on the lake, and a European Greenfinch
on the Mount of the Beatitudes.
At the Jordan River, we were blessed to watch three Pied Kingfishers,
right next to the group discussing Jesus' baptism, and then one very pretty White-breasted Kingfisher.
As we traveled up to Jerusalem I saw many pairs of Red-ringed Parakeets.
Once in Jerusalem, the Masked Shrike's increased in numbers.
And then the highlight of the trip.
Coming back from Bethlehem, through the security
wall at the check point, we stopped in a hillside olive grove. I saw a flash of color even before I got off the bus. And was rewarded with a group of ten, yes ten European Bee-eaters, sitting on the power lines above the olive tress, eating bees, of course. They were beautiful.
There were many many more birds but these were the highlights.
Brisket and I went out on the lake ice to cross country ski. It felt a little strange to be skiing out on the ice. The lake has a thick layer of ice on it and somedays there are over 200 people on it ice fishing, etc.
Call me Ishmael..... I am proud to say that I finally read and finished Moby Dick. I have tried twice before to read it and could never get through it. (See Woody Allen in Zelig) Last summer we spent a week in Nantucket and I decided to try again. I'm glad I persevered. It is a great book, and surprisingly funny.
I just got back from staying with Avery and Ashton in New York while Laurel went to Italy. This is one of our outings to Whole Foods. They are adorable and I had such a wonderful time with them. Thanks Brad for getting up at 5:30/6:00 with Ashton so I could sleep until 7:00!
Jeff and I (mostly me) were put in charge of food for our Ward's youth handcart trek in July at Martin's Cove. It was a ton of work, but also a lot of fun. We didn't do any handcart pulling because we were busy with the food and setting up, taking down, and setting up camp. We had a great time hanging with Ward members. I spent an ENTIRE week before trek figuring out the menu, getting the food, finding coolers and freezers to store it in. Then I spent the week after cleaning coolers and returning items. Pictured are all the coolers drying after Jeff power washed them when we returned. Also, Jeff, Monica Harper, Rich and Jeanette Wilder; Price with his lavender bandana, and the scout trailer - I became very attached to my make shift kitchen.
Our neighbor, John Tanner, made this cool bike. I was driving down the street and saw Price getting a ride on it.
rieties. About 14 American White Pelicans, 
dozens of Canadian geese, 
