yesterday my dinner was interrupted by an RBA message followed by a flood of text messages and phone calls, informing me that earlier in the afternoon Amir Ben Dov had found (and semi-supressed (-; ) a male Masked Wagtail at Ma'agan Michael. This is the 2nd record for Israel (the first was seen by a single observer in 1989). As this is a very distinctive form that will probably become a species in the near future (and a very beautiful bird), I had no choice but to twitch it today. I made an early start and arrived with Amir Balaban and Ron Haran right on time. we relocated the bird within a few minutes, and were actually happy and ready to head back home within a few minutes... Disgusting twitchers...
The bird was showing very well - it was feeding very actively, and was very territorial against other wagtails and other birds. But photography was not easy - light was shit and the bird kept its distance from us. But eventually I got some decent shots. A few other guys arrived later and the bird kept showing very well for everyone. Hopefully it stays for another day or two - Barak and Shachar are doing Atlas boxes for me in the south this weekend, unable to twitch this bird...
Well done Amir!!!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkazaET52BAy5NxbGgK7Yp_EbbqsrjAuH2qKcZM1bKG7JkdmQZ4qxF6dL1q1zdZdcnkPCbtAuQDHY1l-LMOoiUB5vJkkJVgCvxKPIgbSSo3ooQtPlWaedWSJub6auRlzHxC3v8m8RT3kCN/s400/masked6.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKizO9b6O0GCT2wLQkxOV2g33rfUBuIZLqh1EmDIzrNZVKLVK8GcmpReFvdTqAYWGnwQMNUP4zJwVFNdXz-lJ_54cYYT5G91NBTwKwUONSKG28AwdM2Rv6dMgrNskV7R-n6-EEEiLfsvy6/s400/masked1.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipGsKyo_RHFV2E4rjO6QQRZnEDPei1586JcB-jvftbJN-r09iVCSZRvmIpgqs5p1XJm9E56_EejEuNEW_g8FwGlf1G7-AboRDsjNGH_kdE3giNKxrse6f5bYgwGa4QT3LdERLXQueInNF2/s400/masked2.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhl3s8uDz3I83KC7TaBSj_6NyvAVdUis87USvr6Sc5ECiUpSH4p6l1rPT5aIkX1XWlsYZBdmlGgt3bnoJQSUGk0Ezedl6vDOrSJCTh-bqpmOp6lHjO_gvbkPPsPJALE5eBn2-ggec5blZGL/s400/masked3.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV7x-PqfYh8-YOKk2Bp9nQdn3nEEkfTW5M4KvilRKbboiddfSAohGifjUF49esAc85mrwNzH469AHIaWkWogc5zwnk_RZqffqjyoYPCXat4e3BFmRRL_0_Ydypt9jNPVunGv_wfeeY8Mv2/s400/masked4.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC9zNaddjSnd37cB_GJHME_FSLoX6kfHFDwbS_2gbe2-MGbCLIlaU8PfcIeGRxpyDp4pxD-HOYLqAnayXA3K4QmoZHMSfQb8aJIr_e3dwDQYorFoOdykKcjQQg5W8-b99VabFAB6Q2VSUO/s400/masked5.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhchIti8qFQBR2V-T7OLGIb9-RmmOhn638CX3Xx4_rO-mufOYC4e0oM5bCBlQEwKqs805e7XSMBE9anAg18K-KB2JZf0FKFSk55pNeHEUpIyvu_Zp3wZ-FVaylDMmyS_1nDSIj7-MPakeyt/s400/masked7.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-useeY_a8qgjIlYiG0ec4g6IItH6lm6fburX6la-0717W60aBTrt3AwaQId6togls4YeyqNWNB9NsqHF2H-davQhoIKo29WNLUdL44fjnp4fsCmXwaNHGVbiF7xmVqVLrXqn7fROXdNHk/s400/masked8.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfPp3fcFUfxVoms2ZdkTfUwE1KhPT6c70mXQYv_Wk7IKhxGUKsxBtezP2AZ-njOalbeJEs94Tghj8sx4cL-Uu6PXe63QY_vef3d7CSq4VoU6fLfI1ACg0aOA6iBliZQg3NOuWp_A5h_UMa/s400/masked9.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht8p0RCdCF5JjDBUPylAdnSyYO4SfkNOQ-xI2x1zhn76F6m5vl8bXFUHaxEK3JZ0q-m6lt1HYcuh-xZMlDl_oKyIdCMIEBWd9wvRozMKPTCup1w_axDDt4QogkdnJbahjx_rvSPV3QTdzc/s400/masked10.jpg)
During the short time spent there we had quite a few quality birds - about 10 Citrine Wagtails (daily total of five wagtails - not bad...), three Gannets feeding offshore, and a Whimbrel flying about.
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