Northern Holiday

Spent the last three days with my family up in the north on holiday. In order not to destroy the family part of the holiday (Like I did in summer at Eilat), I decided to leave my big lens and scope at home. On Tuesday afternoon we visited Agamon Hula. The weather was pretty bad but still I took the kids on the mobile hide tour which was awesome. I had OK views of the long-staying Bean Goose (3rd record for Israel; am I the only Israeli birder who has bothered to see all three?) feeding among the cranes. Nothing else extraordinary.

On Wednesday afternoon we visited Gamla NR which was beautiful. Apart for the scenery I had one Black Vulture among the 15 Griffons, the pair of Bonelli's Eagles showed well, and some winter classics there - Rock Sparrows, Little Swifts, Crag Martins, Finsch's Wheatears and Blue Rock Thrushes. On the way in we bumped into this Red Fox with beautiful winter fur - It was close enough for my 28-135 mm lens to get a shot.

Mr. Bean

This morning I finally had time to go and have a look at the Bean Goose found by Tuvia last week at Kfar Baruch reservoir. The bird was very distant - I had good scope views but photography on the deck was useless. For the first time since I quit digiscoping some years ago (Richard - digiscoping sucks, doesn't it?) I felt I could use a good digiscoping kit. Luckily the bird was flushed by a passing eagle and it flew past me slightly closer.

I have very little experience with the Bean Goose complex: 1 (possibly) rossicus at Eilat, several fabalis in Germany, and some middendorffii in Taiwan, But identifying a bird here, out of context, is much more complicated. The chance of getting E Asian birds is also higher here compared to W Europe.

In the field, the bird seemed large, powerful and long-necked. The bill is to me of 'mixed' dimensions. Quite long but deep-based and quite triangular, different to my eyes from a typical fabalis. It has an extensive pinkish area on the bill, extending towards the bill base. Perhaps Mr. Garner has something to say about this goose.

The reservoir and its surroundings were actually very good with lots of birds, and lots of good stuff. In the reservoir there were 21 Greater Flamingos, 700+ Golden Plovers, many Wigeons, several Citrine Wagtails and a late Yellow Wagtail. Flying around were many raptors. This young (2cy?) Eastern Imperial Eagle was sat on a nearby pylon - watch it mate...

Many buzzards were hunting around the reservoir; this young Common Buzzard enjoyed the morning sun:

Spring Migration Festival is almost here

Next week I will be joining the Allstar festival team for the fourth International Spring Migration Festival. I am really looking forward to this great week at Eilat. Spring migration is picking up fast, and there are already so many good birds around - I hope they stick around for next week. The exceptional rainfall the Arava Valley experienced this winter resulted in some amazing green patches that are already attracting those sexy larks...
During the festival I will be busy guiding, but hopefully I will have some time for birding and photography on my own. If I have some energy left in the evenings, I hope to post daily updates on the festival and the best birds around. So stay posted!

To warm you guys up, this is a taste of what we might expect during the festival, based on what we had in previous years.

Best bird for us Israeli birders during the 2007 festival was this Bean goose - the first for Israel. It hung around on the soccer field 200 m from our hotel.



Forgive me for the mediocre images from back then - I had just bought my first DSLR with a humble 400 mm, so the resluts aren't that great, unlike Dick Forsman who already had a big cannon back then. Dick is back again this year for the festival; looking forward to spend some time in the field and on the bar with him.

Another star bird was This Dunn's Lark at KM 76. It showed up during an amazing migrant fall. The light wasn't very good, and I had little intimacy with the bird, as I was followed by 20 birders in my group (these are further excuses for bad photography):

By far the most popular bird of the 2008 festival was this showy Black bush Robin, present at the IBRCE for several weeks.

It was enjoyed by all the festival guests. This image was taken by Amir Ben-Dov - thanks Amir for this great image:

Thick-billed Larks showed well at Hameyshar during the festival. They probably bred there that year. When I drove past with a group back from a Nizzana tour, Dick flagged us off the main road to put us on this fantastic bird:

Thick-billed Larks are already present in good numbers in the Arava at the moment, so the chances for us to see them next week are very good.

Several Caspian Plovers showed rediculously well during the 2009 festival. This one was at KM 20 saltpans. Three birds were already seen yesterday, so hopefully they will stick around for the festival.

This is LGRE searching for the plover:

Another good bird last year was this male Pied Wheatear at Arad. I really want to get good images of Cyprus Wheatear this year.

Not a rarity, but such a great bird! Sinai Rosefinches showed exceptionally well last year in the Eilat Mts.

I am sure festival 2010 will produce good new birds, as well as the 'regulars' mentioned above. I am looking forward to this great experience. See you next week!