Ah bureaucracy...

It's good to know that governmental bureaucracy can work, even in a place as mixed up as Israel. I finally got my collecting permits yesterday. We've been waiting for about 6 weeks to get them approved. Apparently the process is that the applications go to a local council for approval, then they go to Jerusalem for final approval. The person on the local council is actually a student of one of the people helping me catch the lizards, so we figured this would be pretty easy. So, I called him shortly after I got here and asked what the status of the permits was. He said he couldn't remember the application coming to him, but that he might have forgotten it. So we spent a week or so trying to get in touch with the folks in Jerusalem - apparently they don't answer the phone on even numbered days, and don't make phone calls on odd numbered days. Anyway, they said that they had our application and were waiting for approval from the council person here in Sede Boqer - the guy who didn't remember seeing it. Well it turns out that it went to the council for the place where we wanted to collect the bloody lizards - down by Eilat - and he approved it right away. But the folks in Jerusalem didn't notice that because they saw that the permit was coming from Sede Boqer, so were waiting for approval from the person who never got it. so we had the guy here send an e-mail saying that if anyone was interested in his opinion, which they shouldn't be because we're not collecting here, he would approve the applcation, and would they please fax a copy of the permit ASAP to make up for the unnecessary delay. So I now have a permit.

Now I just need to get the rest of the stuff ready. I'm still hauling rocks around, building 'burrows' for these guys. I'm beginning to understand what it was like building the pyramids. This week, I get to work on my electician skills as I rig up some heat lamps for the scaled ones so they don't get cold overnight. could be interesting. I'll also be starting to work with bats this week. I don't have much experience handling bats, but I'm told they are a little like small dogs. I'm not sure if that is good or bad. I'll let you know.

For those of you interested in birds, the fall migration has started here. There are a lot of interesting things moving through the area. Israel is part of a major migration corridor between Europe and Africa - it's the only way between the two that doesn't involve flying over the Mediterranean. Lots of birds go through here. We've been seeing huge flights of eagles going through this week. It's impressive to look up and see literally hundreds of eagles soaring on thermals, then moving on to the south. there are also a lot of little brown birds, but who can tell which is which on those guys. Actually, the eagles are pretty hard to identify for us novices too - they are a long way up, and they move through pretty quickly. Fun to watch though.