Eilat workshop and a bonus

On Monday I joined an international workshop taking place now in Eilat, Guradians of the Flyway. Expertly organised by Noam and his team from Eilat Birding center, and Alen, with the support of Eilat municipality, funded by The Ministry of Regional Cooperation, this workshop includes almost 20 conservationists from different countries along the East Mediterranean - Central Asian flyway. Any international visitor in Israel nowadays is not taken lightly, so such an excellent team that assembled here to promote regional collaboration for birds and people is a real celebration. My contribution to the workshop was minimal, I gave a couple of talks, but mostly it was exciting to meet new and old friends from the region.

Early morning birding at IBRCE

The group - photo courtesy of Eilat Municipality

Noam with a Rüppell's Warbler

I always look for good excuses to head down to Eilat. This workshop was perfectly timed in regard to migration. Already on the way down I saw lots of cool birds, including Arabian Warbler near Hazeva and fantastic raptor migration. North Beach wasn't bouncing with birds but two Brown Boobies were cool, albeit distant. My photo is rubbish, but it's still a Brown Booby. The second bird was even farther away.

I am not sure which Brown Boobies make it to Eilat. Logically it should be the Pacific/Indian Oceans form plotus (Forster's Brown Booby). However, at least one of the two birds that have been hanging around Eilat for the last few months could be leucogaster (Atlantic Brown booby), based on the darker head and chest, and a dark spot in front of the eye. Check the series of stunning photos by Zvi Schwarzfuks. I am no expert on sexing and ageing Brown Boobies, and subspecific identification, so any insights would be very welcome.

Just before I had to head back north, Moshe Neeman, a young star birder who's a high school student in Eilat, found a Menetries's Warbler on the edge of the city, not far from his school. It would have been rude not to say hello to it before leaving. Menetries's Warbler is a good rarity in Israel with only a handful of records annually. It showed very well, and was vocal - lovely bird. Thanks Moshe! This is a 2cy male (hatched 2024) - note the obvious moult contrast best visible in the third photo (the retained feathers are browner, while the moulted feathers are grey). 

Check those diffuse tertial fringes, and that magnificent black tail

Enjoying the tasty fruit of Ochradenus baccatus

Sorry for the background noise - it was by a busy road:

I headed north along the Arava road. South of Tsofar, about 120km north of Eilat, I spotted a huge flock of White Storks at very high altitude. I pulled over and snapped a few photos. In the field I estimated 1500. It wasn't an accurate estimate because they were thermaling and constantly moving in different directions, blown by strong winds. 

It is always challenging to count birds in the field like that. Back home, I asked ChatGPT to count the birds in this image. ChatGPT came up with an estimate of 1633. I estimated that the photo I took included about 90% of the birds. So eventually, I think that in that flock there were around 1800 birds.