Had a great morning with Meidad. We went to check Hameishar Plains, which is one of my favorite sites in southern Israel. We went to check for signs of breeding in territories found during last year's atlas work. There was no rain there this winter, so everything is very dry, but still lots of birds feeding on seeds remaining from previous years.
Of course the most dominant family was larks, represented by six Thick-billed Larks:
Three displaying pairs of Temminck's Larks:
Four displaying Bar-tailed Larks (they're so sweet):
And a flyover Lesser Short-toed Lark. Some Desert Wheatears were holding territories too:
On the plains themselves migrants were very few, but this cracking Ehrenberg's Redstart added a splash of colour to the general brown-ness of the morning:
We made some coffee in a lush wadi just north of the plains. The Ochradenus baccatus had lots of sylvias feeding in them, so we quickly erected a net up and enjoyed some nice birds while drinking our coffee.
Cyprus Warbler
Rueppel's Warbler
Thanks to Meidad for the company and help.
Apart from the Wheatear, every one of the others would be a tick for me......Nice stuff!
ReplyDeleteLaurie -