Global Big Day

Yesterday I teamed up with Jonathan and Re'a to take part in Global Big Day. Our plan was to record as many species as possible, and also to connect with some specialties that are less likely to get recorded elsewhere. We did not plan our route too carefully, as this was not a competition but a challenge, and we were prepared to adjust and be spontaneous if necessary. Still, our plan was pretty ambitious - it included cross-country, night-to-night birding. I set off after 02:00 to meet up with the others. Just outside my town a European Nightjar was sat on the road - good start! We then drove al the way up to the Hula Valley. In Ayelet Hashachar we had a vocal family of Tawny Owls, but failed to find other owls. Luckily Jonathan had scops and long-eared before we met up.

Tawny Owl

We were joined by Hula-man Nadav for an hour of dawn birding at Agamon Hula which was pretty sweet. 76 species, highlights included White-tailed Eagle, Black Francolin, Marbled Duck, Golden Oriole, Spotted Crake and many more (eBird checklist here). Perhaps most impressive was a phenomenal roost take-off of Sand Martins. We VERY conservatively estimated 20K, but in the car quietly suggested six-figures. Quite a spectacle. A jungle Cat that trotted along in front of our car at dawn was sweet too.

From there it was up to Mt. Hermon. We first birded the slope above Majdal Shams. We clocked on first Hermon specialties quickly, most importantly Syrian Serin that I don't think was recorded elsewhere in the world. This area was also productive for quality migrants - Barred Warbler and Wood Warbler. eBird checklist here.

Wood Warbler

As soon as the military checkpoint opened up we sped up the mountain towards the lower cable station. We did a quick, clean sweep of Hermon specialties, including Western Rock Nuthatch and Sombre Tit (eBird checklist here). Even though we rushed it, it was still fantastic to take in the breathtaking scenery and cool temperatures at this altitude, where spring blossom has not diminished yet.

Rock Bunting

Too close

Next stop was at Susita, overlooking Lake Kineret. We quickly found there Long-billed Pipit and other batha specialties, and enjoyed a bit of raptor migration (eBird checklist here). During the entire Big Day we never connected with proper raptor migration - shame. Then it was on to Kfar Ruppin in the Bet Shean Valley. By then it was scorching hot and bird activity was relatively low. Took us a while till we found a good fishpond that contained many shorebirds, though variety was somewhat minimal ('only' 60 species in an hour of birding). Roller, Osprey, Curlew Sands were some notable birds - eBird checklist here.

Then it was the long, exhausting drive all the way to Ein Gedi. We easily found almost all desert birds we looked for - Fan-tailed raven, Barbary Falcon, Sand Partridge, Arabian Babbler etc. (eBird checklist here). Things were looking pretty good!

Fan-tailed Raven

We ended our daytime birding with two wetlands in the southern Dead Sea region - Heimar reservoir (Dead Sea Sparrow etc., eBird checklist here), and beautiful Navit Pools that were productive as ever - African Swamphen, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, shorebirds etc. (eBird checklist here).

Stonking male Dead-Sea Sparrow

Brilliant Arabian Green Bee-eater

Too close - see below

After dusk we efficiently connected with two iconic nightbirds - Nubian Nightjar and Desert Owl (is it the first time ever Tawny and Desert Tawny were sen in one day?) - a fitting end to an epic day. 

Our cumulative total was 164 species - Jonathan missed few species Re'a and me saw before meeting up, and vice versa (my personal total was 160). It was so much fun - good, solid birding all day long. Our route was a bit extreme - I drove 870 km, and of course we ran out of time and had to skip one site (Mt. Amasa). But all in all I think we did pretty well. As in any Big Day, we missed many silly birds (such as Great White Pelican, Scrub Warbler), saw few birds we hadn't expected (Wood Warbler), enjoyed bird-rich sites and casual flybys and 100 kmph gifts (Raven, Little Swift) - that's what Big Days are made of.

A few thanks to summarize:

Jonathan, Re'a and Nadav - you guys rock. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with you, we never stopped laughing and our spirits were high throughout (when you were awake...). Thank you!

eBird Central organized this amazing event - I feel privileged to work with you guys and call some of you my friends.

Swarovski Optik - thanks, as always, for giving me the opportunity to use your supreme optics, that certainly made the difference.

See you in #GBD2020!

Classic Sibe birding in the Negev

What an excellent morning I had with Rony and Re'a. We left at silly-O'clock to get to Nafha Vineyards at first light, a bit too early. We met up there with Eran who focused on lying on his belly to photograph the many ralids present in the small wetland. It was jam-packed with birds, but we decided to walk around and boy, that was fun! There were tons of pipits and wagtails along the creek, and the bushes had lots of Spotted Flys and Phylloscs. Very soon we had a Richard's Pipit flying over calling, pretty high up - pretty cool.

Richard's Pipit - believe me...

We continued working through the common migrants, some of them beautifully lit in the golden early morning sunlight.

Blackcap

Spotted Flycatcher

Tree Pipit

Whinchat

flava Yellow Wagtail

One of a few acredula-type Willow Warblers

Then things picked up quite rapidly. First we spotted a finch flying around - big bill, long tail, then heard the call - Common Rosefinch! About a minute later I heard a familiar soft 'Tzik' and immediately exclaimed - 'Little Bunting!!'. Soon we saw the bird flying towards us and down the valley. It landed for a few seconds at some distance, but we obtained good enough views to confirm it wasn't a rarer bunting. Then it flew up and down the valley a few more time - it was very mobile and didn't give itself up. My camera didn't cope well with these pass-bys. 

We were very happy with this find, and continued walking. Back at the wetland, activity was excellent. The grass and reeds were whopping with acros, crakes, Bluethroats and hirundines. There was this most obliging and absolutely cracking male Caspian Stonechat by the wetland, with which I spent a few enjoyable minutes:

At least four Spotted Crakes, five Water Rails and one or two Little Crakes were at the wetland:

Spotted Crake

Always good to bathe in smelly sewage

Water Rails (1cy and adult?)

Re'a and me continued working the olive groves that were OK, while Rony and Eran remained at the wetland. We had a brief Red-breasted Flycatcher, and more common migrants and residents. 

Bluethroat

Marsh Harrier - stunner

Mourning Wheatear of the nominate lugens group, probably 1cy

There were two large falcons working the site. One adult Barbary was straightforward to ID, but this 1cy is more challenging. In the field it felt tiny and very lightly built, unlike Peregrine. It is rather heavily streaked on the breast and flanks, possibly a bit too much for a Barbary. But the ground colour of the breast is buffish, and the upperparts feel more Barbary to me with browner tones rather than lead-grey. Not 100% sure about this one - happy to learn.

Out of focus, sorry

It was getting hot and Re'a and me felt that we had enough of this fantastic site - quite a good haul I think. Just as we talked about this classic October Negev morning, Rony notified us about a Yellow-browed warbler by the wetland. It was mobile and by the time we got there it was gone. We spent a bit more time there and headed on. Full checklist for Nafha is here.

Next stop was Mitzpe Ramon sewage. There were tons of hirundines, wagtails and pipits around the reservoir, including one Crag Martin, but the adjacent tamarisk grove that used to be fed by spillover is now dry and was rather quiet, perhaps also because of the heat. Only one Red-breasted Fly. Full checklist here.

On the way back home we paid a visit to the White-tailed lapwing found by Arnon Tsairi at Sde Boker sewage (thanks!) - always great to see, especially so well. Grand finale to a brilliant day.

Desert Nights

Oh, how I missed these. Spent a night and two days with my family at Ein Gedi by the Dead Sea. Daytime birding was rather quiet, as expected for this time of year, but it was good to get reunited with 'my' familiar desert birds and mammals. The birding highlight of the weekend was a couple of hours of night birding in the northern Dead Sea region with my brother and Rami (thanks!). A small resident population of Egyptian Nightjars was found breeding there last summer by a team that included Amir Ben Dov and Ady Gancz. We went to check if we could find any on a chilly mid-winter night. They did. Very quickly we found three nightjars on the deck. They offered brilliant views. Quality!

We left them in peace and moved on to nearby date plantations to see if Pallid Scops Owls overwinter there too. They do... We had only brief views of one, but heard about three singing and calling. Great stuff. It is quite amazing how we can still learn new things about our breeding birds in Israel.

Here are few unimpressive wildlife images I got:

Barbary Falcon - perched on the tall communication mast in the kibbutz (huge crop)

Grey Wagtail

White-crowned Wheatear - 2cy

Disgraceful Nubian Ibex

Rock Hyrax

Last day of raptor monitoring - for now

Did today the raptor transect that was disrupted on Friday by the Snow Bunting. Worked in a military firing zone not far away from my house - excellent steppe / rangelands there. This area held the Tawny Eagle in August. Ezra found there three Little Bustards over the weekend but I couldn't relocate them today.

Raptor activity was good after the air heated up - 6 Imperial Eagles, 1 Short-toed Eagle (rare in winter), 2 Pallid Harriers, 1 Barbary Falcon again, 1 Merlin, many Common and Long-legged Buzzards etc.

Barbary Falcon - 1cy

 Eastern Imperial Eagle - adult

Pallid Harrier - adult female 

Short-toed Eagle

Common Buzzard

Isabelline Wheatear