Black Bush Robin  at the bird sanctuary!

The Black Bush Robin (Cercotrichas podobe)  is a sub Saharan species that had fount its way to Eilat region. The first one was seen in April 1981, and since it was seen annually in the southern Arava and Eilat in springs and summers. We had hopes that this beautiful bird will follow other sub Saharans, like the Namaqua Dove (Oena capensis), and become a common breeder in our region, but it seems to be declining in the past two years.

This year, on the 21St of May, we were lucky enough to trap and ring the only Black Bush Robin seen in the country. It was caught and ringed by Boris Nikolov, a Bulgarian shrike researcher that had spent the spring with us, at the IBRCE.