Wednesday, October 16, 2013

NCT at BKA and YBW at JCT

Had some time for birding today before and between meetings. On the way out checked my alfalfa field at Bet Kama - impressive numbers of Red-throated Pipits (500), fewer Yellow Wags, some Bluethroats, Northern Wheatears now outnumbering Isabelline. Nice to see a pair of Caspian Stonechats (hemprichii or NCT is Svensson's new taxonomic study). The male was very active and showed well.

  



Yummy!


The female (I presume it's the same taxon like the male) was much more mobile and shy, and I failed to get a shot of the open tail. However through the bins the tail looked all black.


Then I had a few meetings in Jerusalem. Yesterday my brother Gidon found a Yellow-browed Warbler in front of his balcony in the heart of the city, so today I paid my brother and the warbler a visit. It spent most of its time today on different trees, and visited the flowering Carrob tree in front of my brother's balcony only briefly, and most of the time too close for me to focus. Did get these record shots:

Yellow-browed Warbler 


It was very cool to sit down, drink coffee, eat a delicious cake, and watch this bird at eye-level. In this urban environemet, residential houses perform like canopy towers, hence the new name to my brother's house - Jerusalem Canopy Tower (JCT). On that same tree four Phylloscopus species, including this Wood Warbler my brother ringed yesterday.


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