Jerusalem, 12 May, 2025 (TPS-IL) — A rare and majestic visitor captured the hearts of nature enthusiasts at Israel’s Ein Avdat Nature Reserve this week — the Negev buzzard, a bird that was once a familiar sight in Israel but has been extinct as a nesting species in the country for decades.
“I was sitting by the spring, chatting with hikers and pointing out eagles passing overhead,” recalled Lior Dor, a Nature and Parks Authority employee who first spotted the bird as it soared above the reserve. “But then, I looked south and saw this enormous, dark eagle in the sky. That’s when I realized: it was the Negev buzzard. I was so excited, I ran after it to capture photos and report the sighting.”
Dor said he watched the bird gracefully fly for nearly an hour, occasionally landing on cliffs before eventually disappearing into the desert sky.
The Negev buzzard, with its nearly three-meter wingspan and weight of over ten kilograms, is the largest raptor in the region. Once a common sight in Israel, the species vanished as a nesting bird due to hunting, habitat disturbances, and loss of food sources. The last recorded nesting in Israel occurred in 1989, near Yotvata. Today, the Negev buzzard is considered globally endangered, with only about 500 individuals left in the Arabian Peninsula.
The buzzard’s powerful beak is designed to peel the skin off large animals like camels, but it also hunts smaller creatures like rabbits and tortoises. Usually seen alone or in pairs, the buzzards build massive nests in acacia trees, some reaching up to a meter in height. Their nesting cycle lasts about a year, during which they lay just one egg.
“We hope that more buzzards will visit us, and perhaps one day they will return to the Negev landscape as they once did,” said Orly Gilad, the Nature and Parks Authority’s Director of the Negev Mountain Region.
Birdwatchers from all over Israel have flocked to the reserve in the wake of the sighting, eager to catch a glimpse of the rare bird. “Some were lucky enough to photograph the buzzard,” said Middad Goren, Director of the Negev Plateau Ornithology Center. “This could be the first step toward seeing them nest here once again.”
