Touring Israel with a tour guide

The Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) Last year, in 2025, for the first time ever, flamingos decided to skip their usual migration north & spend the entire summer at Hula Lake in the Upper Galilee! Over the past decade, they have gone from being rare visitors, to regular migratory birds in Israel, usually spotted during spring & autumn migrations. But this year, dozens have chosen to stay through the hottest months. Some experts are asking: are we witnessing a new era? Winter for cranes, summer for flamingos? Flamingos typically prefer salty, algae-rich lakes & come from places like Turkey & Iran. Hula Lake is freshwater - yet over 100 flamingos are currently calling it home. Why Pink? Their iconic colour comes from their diet! Algae, tiny crustaceans & plankton contain carotenoids, the same pigments that make carrots orange. Without this special menu, they'd actually be grey. Where to Spot Them: Hula Lake (Agmon HaHula) Eilat's salt ponds - roughly...

The Desert Yam/ Tailly Weed (Ochradenus baccatus known in Hebrew as the Richpetan Midbari (רִכְפְּתָן מִדְבָּרִי) This incredible shrub is a true survivor of the Israeli desert. 🏜️ Desert Adaptations: A common sight in the deserts of Israel, this shrub drops its leaves quickly to save water in the arid habitat. 💣 The "Mustard Oil Bomb": Its sweet, white berries hide a secret weapon. When a mouse or bird bites into a seed, a chemical reaction creates a pungent mustard-like toxin! 🤯 It's a defense mechanism called the "mustard oil bomb" 🐭 Turning Enemies into Allies: The desert spiny mouse gets a mouthful of this spicy chemical & spits the seeds out - intact! This turns the seed-eater into an accidental seed-disperser, helping the plant spread far & wide. In fact, seeds that are spat out have double the germination rate! 🌸 A Year-Round Bloomer: Unlike many plants, this shrub can flower continuously, using winter rains for its main reproduction ...

The Little Fire Ant (Wasmannia auropunctata) 🏡 Habitat Native to Central & South America, this ant arrived in Israel around 1998 & was identified in 2005 - the first record of this species in open areas outside the tropics. It now infests 26 localities across Israel, mostly in irrigated gardens, parks & urban areas. Found from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat, it survives harsh conditions with temperatures as low as 6°C & 5–12 rainless months. Nests hide under debris, in trees,beneath flowerpots & even in wall voids . 🐝 Breeding This ant forms one giant clonal supercolony throughout Israel, with colonies cooperating due to genetic similarity. A single nest contains multiple queens, workers, pupae, larvae & eggs. The species reproduces clonally, making it exceptionally resilient & difficult to eradicate. 🌸 Food Polyphagous & opportunistic - feeds on honeydew from aphids & scales, dead & living arthropods, nectar & plant material. They trail along bui...

The Dusky Shark (Carcharhinus obscurus) 🏡 Habitat Found in warm & temperate waters worldwide, the dusky shark is considered extremely rare in the Mediterranean. However, along Israel's coastline, a unique seasonal aggregation occurs at the Orot Rabin power station in Hadera - 10 minutes from my home! Warm water discharged from the cooling system attracts dozens of sharks each winter. During spring, warming sea temperatures expand their roaming range along the entire Israeli coast, with sightings reported at Beit Yanai & the Alexander Stream estuary. 🐝 Breeding The Hadera sharks are exclusively adult female dusky sharks. Scientists believe the warm effluent may help with thermoregulation & gestation, though the site does NOT function as a nursery, parturition, or mating area . The population includes 2 distinct genetic lineages - one Indo-Pacific & one Atlantic - indicating migration through the Suez Canal . 🌸 Food A predator feeding primarily on fish, cephalopods...

The Arabian wolf (Canis lupus arabs) 🏡 Habitat The smallest wolf in the world is f ound in the hyper-arid Negev Desert & Arava Valley, where temperatures exceed 45°C in summer. With only 20–50 mm of annual rainfall, this is one of the harshest environments on earth. Between 100–150 Arabian wolves live across this region, making Israel home to the only stable population of this endangered subspecies. They are strongly protected under Israel's 1955 Wildlife Protection Law 🐝 Breeding Unlike northern wolves, Arabian wolves do not live in large packs. They hunt in pairs or small groups of 3–4 animals, likely due to limited desert food resources. Litters typically contain 2–3 pups, born blind & nursed for 8 weeks before parents regurgitate food. During pupping season, they become territorial to protect their young. Their small body size - averaging just 20 kg & 66 cm at shoulder height - is an adaptation to the desert heat 🌸 Food Omnivorous and opportunistic. They consume ...

Loggerhead Sea Turtle (Caretta caretta) This picture was taken of a sea turtle found on Tel Aviv Harbour esplanade (18 April 2013). Notice the head lesion, & white barnacles on its shell.  🏡 Habitat Loggerheads roam the warm & temperate waters of the Mediterranean Sea. In Israel, they are found along the entire coastline, from Rosh Hanikra in the north to Ashkelon & Gaza in the south. Females come ashore to nest on Israel's sandy beaches - May - August, with key nesting sites including Palmachim, Nitzanim, the Sharon coast - & Atlit where these hatchlings were photographed. 🐝 Breeding Females return to the very beaches where they were born, sometimes 30 years later, to lay their eggs. Each female nests 2–4 times per season, laying 100–120 eggs per nest. After incubating for 50–70 days in the warm sand, hatchlings emerge at night & race to the sea. Only 1 in 1,000 survives to adulthood. 🌸 Food Powerful jaws crush hard-shelled prey. Adults feed on crabs, mollus...