Birding in times of war

It's been a while since my last update here. First, my family and I are safe. So many of my friends worldwide reached out, worried about our situation. I hugely appreciate that. Thankfully, we have a safe room at home. During the 5 to 10 daily missile attack sirens we move quietly to the safe room and wait it out. Those last weeks have been very tough indeed. Sleepless nights, constant explosions, missiles exploding to our left and to our right, alert messages coming it constantly. Not fun. The war disrupts our life - schools are off, many work places are closed. For us at BirdLife Israel the war meant cancellation of many events and activities, including Champions of the Flyway that was supposed to happen tomorrow.

I hope this horrible war ends soon - our endurance is running out. However, not a war nor a pandemic can stop me from birding. The spring and the birds out there lure me, I can't resist. More on this below.

I have a little bit of catching up to do. Since I returned from Uganda in mid December, a succession of family medical cases limited my birding very much. Of course, nothing can stop me completely, but I was much less flexible than normal, missing out on lots of birds. Too many eBird checklists were done en route to a morning shift at the hospital, like this one. 

After all, in January and February I did see a few good birds, and take a couple of decent photos, despite all the challenges. 

It's Peregrine o'clock, Jaffa, January 14

Greater Scaup at Maayan Zvi, January 19 - my first in Israel since 1998, great find by Uriel Levi

Romanian-ringed Pallas's Gull, Palmachim, January 29

Isabelline Shrike, Dor, 1 February

Tristram's Starlings, Wadi Mishmar, 20 February

I managed to make it down to the Negev for my Asian Houbara point counts, part of a collaborative study with INPA:

Eared/Black-necked Grebe near home, 22 February

In late February I joined an international workshop in Eilat, organised by Noam Weiss, Alen Kacal and the Eilat Birding Center team. This is the fifth year we are holding this workshop, bringing together conservationists and bird people from the Eastern Mediterranean flyway. I really enjoyed my time there, meeting wonderful people, and seeing some good birds in the process. This is what happened when I found an Oriental Honey-Buzzard flying over, and interrupted one of the presentations. 

Namaqua Dove

One of the resident Painted Saw-scaled Vipers at Eilat Birding Center

The Negev is in amazing bloom after the generous winter rains.

Astragalus kahiricus

Ovda Valley

Eilat Mts. didn't receive substantial rain, but are stunning nevertheless.

Sinai Rosefinch - female

Loud workshop participants in the background:

A day before the war broke I visited Tel Krayot in the northern Negev to say hello to a fine Kurdish Wheatear:

The morning the war broke, February 28th, I was out birding with Piki not far from home. This was the first time of many that I was caught out by sirens while birding. Trigger warning - sirens in the background.

In the first week of the war I didn't move far away from home. All my birding was done within few minutes distance from our safe room. Even then, I got caught out several times with sirens. As much as I enjoy birding my very local sites, I started to feel somewhat claustrophobic. Slowly slowly, that urge to head out into the great outdoors and explore the beautiful habitats, reunite with the returning migrants, was too powerful. I started travelling to different parts of the country, for work and for birding. Taking unnecessary risks, for sure, but there's nothing I can do about it. Magical March. Birds. Flowers. Desert. Migration. You get it.

AI counted 2000 White Storks in this photo

We adopted recently a new dog, Mocha. She brought much-needed joy and laughter to our household after weeks of tension. On the way to pick her up I heard a familiar call.

On March 14th I travelled down with Arad to the southern Negev to admire the Thick-billed Lark breeding eruption developing. Wonderful habitat.

The weather was actually nasty with crazy winds and rain, but eventually I got some decent photos of the larks. Stunning birds. I like the soft light caused by all the dust in the air.

heading back home we noticed on the Mitzpe Ramon roundabout two leucistic House Sparrows that were mixed in with the 'normal' sparrow flock:

Coastal birding has been good recently, though I missed some peak days and purple patches.

Super smart Desert Wheatear

Typical coastal birding scenes - Rüppell's Warbler, Isabelline and Northern Wheatears

Rufous-tailed Rock Thrush from Tel Krayot - like clockwork

2cy male Citrine Wagtail from today at Maagan Michael - note the moult contrast in GC

I hope that by my next update the war will be over. I suppose I will receive some banter from hypocrites who will accuse me of crime wars committed by Israel and USA, ignoring the suffering of the people of Iran. And how can I go birding and write about it when innocent people are losing their lives and houses. Well, I don't ignore the suffering of any civilians, in Israel, Palestine, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE and anywhere else. War is horrible for all involved. Also, last time I checked, I am not prime minister of Israel or president of USA. However, I live in Israel, and in this blogpost I describe my personal war experience. 

Uganda final blogpost: Kisoro Youth festival and summary

Our final leg of the FAM trip was perhaps the most meaningful. We drove from Bwindi to Kisoro, where we participated in the Global Youth Festival for the Conservation of Albertine Rift Endemics. The Festival took place in Virunga Hotel in Kisoro on December 12th-13th. It was so amazing to meet many young birders and conservations that flocked to Kisoro for the Festival, from all over Uganda, also from Rwanda and Kenya. Some of the youth travelled for days to reach Kisoro. Our group participated in the first session of the Festival. The few hours spent together were enjoyable, educational and inspiring. I had a opportunity to talk for a few minutes. I focused on the importance of data collected by citizen scientists, using platforms such as eBird, topped up with photos and sound recording uploaded to eBird and Macaulay Library. I also talked about the importance of flyway-scale conservation initiatives, connected through migratory birds. I talked about Champions of the Flyway, and congratulated Patricia our incredible guide who participated in COTF in 2023. 

Of course, we birded the Virunga Hotel grounds, and spent quality time on the roof, appreciating the fantastic vista of Kisoro and surroundings. There were a few White-necked Ravens loafing on the roof - awesome beasts. 

In Kisoro we stayed at the lovely Ichumbi Hotel. The hotel grounds hosted some cool birds:

Red-throated Crag-Martin

Cape Wagtail

Streaky Seedeater

I especially enjoyed birding the adjacent 'suburban' farmland. This is such an enjoyable aspect of African birding. The bird I appreciated most was MacKinnon's Shrike. We had seen this central African shrike out of the car in previous days, but this was our first proper view, of a pair. 

Chubb's Cisticola showed very well - too well in fact

Too close for my Swarovski ATX85 scope

Yellow Bishop

Western Citril

The original FAM trip plan had included an overnight stay at Lake Mburo, with plenty of birding time in the national park. The visit to Lake Mburo was highly anticipated by our group, because for every bird we asked Herbert and Patricia Where's the best place to see it, the automatic response was 'Lake Mburo'. Eventually, in the final couple of days our team dispersed, as people had to leave at different times. Yannina and I had an afternoon flight to catch from Entebbe (another six hours drive). Our plan for an early morning boat ride on the lake (for i.e. African Finfoot) drowned in torrential rain that cancelled the boat trip, so we missed Lake Mburo completely. Ah well, next time. 

On the way out of the park we drove by Nyakigando Wetland which was actually fantastic, with Rufous-bellied Heron being the highlight, and lots of other wet waterbirds (eBird checklist here).

African Openbill

Malachite Kingfishers - little gems

From there it was a long drive to into Entebbe. Forging Entebbe traffic took some patience.

Eventually we arrived at Entebbe airport, where I submitted my final eBird checklist in Uganda. I said my goodbyes to Patricia, to Shindishi our fantastic driver, and to our group, caught a flight to Addis Ababa (no terminal birding this time - layover was at night) and onward to Tel Aviv.

It was an amazing trip in Uganda, certainly one of my best birding trips ever. Despite being a FAM trip and not a 'proper' birding trip, we did pretty well I think. Check our eBird trip report here. Between the entire group we saw 481 bird species, which isn't bad at all. I assume that during a proper birding trip of the same length and itinerary, the 500 species target is achievable.

I personally had 463 species, 115 of them were lifers, demonstrating how unique is the birding in Uganda, distinctly different from birding in Kenya and Tanzania where I have done lots of birding before. My personal Ugandan birding highlights included Shoebill of course, Papyrus Gonolek, Rock Pratincoles, African Skimmers, Giant Kingfisher, African Wood-Owl, Chocolate-backed Kingfisher and other Royal Mile specialties, Arnot's Chat, Regal Sunbird, Dusky Crimsonwing and other Albertine Rift endemics and Bwindi specialties, and MacKinnon's Shrike.

Check the checklists map above, depicting our classic birding route across western Uganda. These 209 checklists, submitted almost exclusively by myself in real time, required significant effort. As I was not leading this tour, this effort was manageable. It is much more challenging to keep up with eBirding when I'm tour-leading.

Eric kept the mammal list, sort of. Our total is around 35 species, with highlights including Mountain Gorilla, Chimpanzee, Patas and Red-tailed Monkeys, Leopard, and Serval.

I cannot find high enough superlatives to describe the experience of this FAM trip in Uganda. Uganda is a wonderful country. The scenery is simply stunning, people are super friendly, weather is mostly great, food is awesome. The birding infrastructure is excellent, with good local knowledge, and superb accommodation options at prime locations.

Herbert Byaruhanga and his team at Bird Uganda Safaris organized the FAM trip at the highest standards possible. Herbert is such a great guy, and it was a pleasure to spend time with him in the field and also in between field sessions. Thank you Herbert for inviting me to participate in the FAM trip. Thank you also to the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the National Forestry Authority, and selected hotels and lodges, for hosting our group with such generosity and good will.

Patricia Kansiime is an exceptionally amazing guide and person. Thank you so much for your field skills, but also for your friendship and support.

I want to send my deepest gratitude and friendship to our super team - Yousif, Yanina, Uncle Eric, Shawneen, Jim, Rick, Julie, Luis Argentina, Luis Colombia and Penny. You are all awesome and it was a pleasure to share this amazing experience with you. Love you all.

My bottom line - come to Uganda. It's an amazing country with exceptional wildlife, birds and mammals, and a unique wildlife experience. Bird Uganda Safaris are well recommended to help you make the most of your time in Uganda.