My favourite mistake

 On Wednesday evening news broke of a first for Israel - Sharp-tailed Sandpiper found by Shachar Shalev at KM20 saltpans in Eilat. Excellent find by Shachar - well done! Shachar sent me breaking news from the field at 18:22, over three hours drive to Eilat, too late...

Few hours later I made my way down south to Eilat with a car full of hopeful twitchers. We arrived in Eilat at dawn, and started working the saltpans. The conditions were harsh, with very strong wind making all the shorebirds very flighty and viewing through telescope challenging. We did our very best, together with few other twitchers (less than 10...). We circled the saltpans for many hours, again and again and again. We kept finding new birds, coming in and shifting between sections, which gave us hope that the sharpie might be hiding somewhere. We also checked other wetlands in the area, but sadly, after half a day of intensive searching we had to give up and admit a dip. There was no sign of the bird - it may have departed overnight. 

Thankfully, it was not all gloomy. The KM20 saltpans were full of birds to the brim. They were moving around constantly, and it was clear that new birds were arriving through the morning. Scenes like a tight flock of Wood Sandpipers dropping out of the sky, or a graceful flock of Gull-billed Terns arriving low over the saltpans and resting on the track, are always thrilling.

Gull-billed Terns with lazy Slender-billed Gulls

Closer

A little closer

Not too close (big crop)

Wood Sandpipers fresh in - who knows how many miles they flew nonstop before landing here, seemingly exhausted

In central and northern Israel, Glossy Ibis is a trash bird, resident and often frolicking in horrible sewage ponds and other ugly sites. Down in Eilat I receive a good reminder that in fact part of the population are proper migrants, like this quartet (presumingly) arriving fresh in from Africa.

There were several goodies mixed in with the common species. Terek Sandpiper is always a treat to watch, I love their upcurved bill:

A few Broad-billed Sandpipers were present, some of them with more rufous plumage that this rather monochromatic individual, still very beautiful to my eyes:

Great Sand-Plover, likely a female

Ruddy Turnstone is a bit of a novelty down in Eilat, especially when in such bright breeding plumage

We also had a White-tailed Lapwing at IBRCE, and a Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse at their regular site, KM20 entrance grove. Then it was the long way back home, on the one hand disappointed by the dip, on the other hand quite satisfied after an excellent birding session (eBird checklist here). Philosophical thoughts about the meaning of twitching become even darker after a dip.

A few words about conservation:

KM20 saltpans are a world-famous and globally important stopover site and birding site. This site is well familiar to so many birders who have visited Eilat in recent decades. This fantastic migration hotspot is primarily a commercial salt production facility. Worryingly, the saltpans will go through serious changes in the next few years. We are working together with the salt company and other partners to find sustainable solutions that will maintain the importance of this site for migratory birds, as well as development of alternative solutions for migratory birds near IBRCE. More on this to come.

Diaries of an avid birder

August 6th, 04:45

I have a late morning meeting in Sde Boker. My original plan is to do MacQueen's Bustard point counts before the meeting (more on that later), but the site is an active military firing zone and I could not enter this morning. I revert my plans to do my morning eBirding at Be'er Sheva river park. En route, cruising at motorway speed, I hit some sharp object on the road. Rear tire explodes, I must pull over on the shoulders of the highway at a super risky spot. I change the spare tire at maximum speed, really fearing my life with heavy lorries zooming past inches from me. I arrive at the river park slightly later than I had planned but still early enough to enjoy birding. The man-made park has really nice habitat - I like it very much, and look forward to tzicking buntings here in November. In the meanwhile I enjoy many Savi's Warblers. Also Desert Finches and Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robin are nice. I make it to the meeting on time after repairing the tire in Beer Sheva.

August 7th, 05:56

I start my monthly monitoring session of our restoration project at Maagan Michael. I need to get as many point counts done before it heats up and then I need to rush to a meeting. Not too many birds around - still lovely at Maagan Michael. Heartening to see how our restoration work is already helping migrants rest and refuel. Migrant tern numbers are building up nicely. Only on the computer screen back home I notice that one of the White-winged Terns I had photographed was ringed. I send the image to Yosef Kiat - it's his bird from Atlit, ringed July 2021, resighted at Maagan Michael July 2022. The amount of detail in images produced by these modern cameras is amazing.

August 8th, 05:55

Morning eBirding with Piki. We check Revadim old fishponds - a bit more inspiring than a routine walk down my local patch, so worth the 15 minutes less sleep. The reservoir is full of herons and ibis, also quite a few shorebirds and terns. Among the terns we pick up a sweet Gull-billed Tern, bullying other birds. 07:10 I am back home to be a normal person, family stuff, work.

August 9th, 05:55

I start my first MacQueen's Bustard point count morning in a lovely area deep in the Negev, after a two hour drive in the dark. I do this work as part of BirdLife Israel's collaboration with Israel Nature and Parks Authority in a five-year study of these threatened bustards. I come with low expectations after a very dry spring in that part of the Negev. I am pleasantly surprised to find the desert plains full of life. In this study we use 15 minute point counts and move between them to manage four or five point counts in a morning before it heats up too much. At the first point count there are so many birds I can't pull myself away. I stay there for an additional 30 minutes taking in all the birds and mammals. There are dozens of Dorcas Gazelles and Asian Wild Asses striding solemnly across the desert plains:

On the bird front, the dry plains are whopping with them. The seeds remaining on the ground from previous wetter winters, added to the produce from the ungulate's behinds probably provide sufficient resources. Over 20 Cream-coloured Coursers, including several recently-fledged young, are fun to watch. 

There are tons of passerines busily foraging along a dry wadi bed - Bar-tailed Larks stand out among the larks, and the six species of wheatear are impressive too (Mourning, White-crowned, Desert, Hooded, Isabelline and Blackstart). Add to that Spotted and Crowned Sandgrouse, Spectacled Warbler, shrikes, babblers - I really enjoy this spot! 

Driving back home, past Sde Boker I see a huge bird of prey soaring over a distant ridge. I pull over, get my bins on it - Golden Eagle! 

I see it's a young bird by the pale tail base (juveniles of the population breeding in Israel show very limited, if any, white on primary bases). Knowing that a large proportion of fledglings are tagged every year by INPA, I check with my colleagues. Within minutes this map is sent to me - indeed it's a bird that hatched in the Negev this year. How cool is that.

August 10, 05:56

It's Saturday, so it's Hulda Reservoir with Piki. Today we have special guests joining us - Yuval Dax from my team and his 9 yo son Noam who's getting into birding. Hulda reservoir is at its best now, with low water levels and lots of exposed mud to feed shorebirds. Indeed, there are plenty of shorebirds, they attract most of our attention. A flock of 27 graceful Collared Pratincoles is a pleasure to watch - I love pratincoles. Among the large number of Little Stints we manage to pull out a Broad-billed Sandpiper - nice one, quite scarce inland.

Global Big Day May 2023

Yesterday was Global Big Day, organised by eBird, part of World Migratory Bird Day and Global Birding Weekend events. It was an unusual big day for me,  because for the first time in several years I didn't do a proper big day - I had a good reason though (see below). Also, our third team member Re'a made a bunk, so it was just Jonathan and me. We decided to spend the morning around birdy Kfar Ruppin - possibly the most productive place to spend a morning birding this time of year, when migration is dwindling here. Hey World Migratory Bird Day and eBird - please shift the date one week earlier (first weekend of May rather than second) so more southerly countries could enjoy good migration too. Thanks!

We left early, Jonathan did his story things, and we arrived at Kfar Ruppin nice and early, in time for a good coffee and fresh dawn birding. Kfar Ruppin fishponds, where we have our restoration project with the kibbutz, are so amazing. This specific reservoir has held low water levels, and amazing bird levels, for several months now. 

Swarovski Optik gear put into good use

That specific reservoir had so many birds, both in numbers and species richness - it was great to simply be there and take it all in. We bumped into another Jonathan, Yonatan Gordon, and his dad. Yonatan is a super keen, sharp-eyed and excellent teenaged birder - he already is a hotshot and will surely lead the Israel birding community in the future. Yonatan jumped into our car and joined us for the rest of the morning, while his dad got a couple of hours off... Back to the birds, the muddy edges had hundreds of shorebirds, mostly Little Stints and Ringed Plovers spiced up with Broad-billed, Curlew and Temminck's Sands; Whiskered and White-winged Terns flying gracefully over the water; Marbled and Ferruginous Ducks swimming; Little Crake, Little Bitterns and acros in the reeds. Bliss. Listen to the soundtrack in these rubbish videos I took.

eBird checklist for Kfar Ruppin fishponds here.

We checked a few more sites around Kfar Ruppin, including our restored wetland at Amud Reservoir - good stuff there included singing Common Nightingales, and Rollers displaying over their breeding cliff. Check the background sound here too.

The morning ended too quickly and we had to drive back home, adding some random stuff on the way back. Our morning total was 97 species, poor for a big day but quite OK (I think) for a concentrated four-hour effort. Had we done a full big day, that would have been a decent start.

The reason I headed back so early, abruptly cutting short my big day effort, had to be dramatic. I headed back for the premiere of a new documentary movie, Observation Diary, part of the documentary movie festival Doc Aviv. It's a beautiful movie, created and directed by the talented Itay Marom. The movie follows the birding diaries of the late Amit Geffen, a young and talented birder whom I had the honour and pleasure to guide, mentor and work with until he passed away in 2007, at the tender age of 21. I was fortunate to participate in the movie, and there is even lovely footage of my late dog Bamba, out birding with me. Several friends - Nadav, Yael, Nimrod and others also take part in the movie. 

The premiere was awesome - it was a powerful experience, to share the experience with so many people. Everyone involved in the movie were very excited - I have so much appreciation and gratitude towards Itay, Idit and their team for giving me the opportunity to take part in such a beautiful project. This is Udi, Amit's dad, and me at the premiere - photo taken by my son Uri.

Global Big Day 2021 - migration madness!

For a few years now, every Global Big Day Jonathan, Re'a and me get together, to represent Champions of the Flyway in this fantastic event organised by eBird. Until now, all our Big Days took place in northern Israel (see e.g. May 2020). Birding is great up there, very varied, lots of quality, but also lots of driving, and normally migration up north is quite slow in spring. This year we decided to change strategy. First, we decided to focus on the far south, to experience the wonders of migration there. Second, we wanted to drive less during the day, so we limited our daytime birding to Eilat and southern Arava only. 

For about a week now, reports have been coming in from Eilat region, of spectacular migration, unprecedented for some species. I was in agony the whole week because I was unable to travel down south to experience the spectacle first-hand. I had to wait until Global Big Day, and I am happy the birds waited for us too. 

Champions of the Flyway team met up at silly o'clock, this year joined by Rony. Driving by Be'er Sheva in the middle of the night, a Corncrake ran across the highway. I almost run it over, we pulled over and watched it running by the road. Crazy stuff, a first taster to what was expecting us later on.

In the northern Arava Valley we met up with a family of Pharaoh Eagle Owl. They were distant and we had no time to waste on sophisticated night photography, so I came out with these atmospheric shots, as the moon rose over the mountains of Jordan across the Rift Valley.

Pumped up, we arrived just before dawn at our first birding site of the day, Wadi Hemda. Just off the road I missed a dodgy obstacle, and got us majestically bogged in the sand for an hour. Luckily we managed to draw the attention of passers-by, and were salvaged by a wonderful couple heading back home from a vacation in Eilat.

We wasted a precious hour of dawn birding at Wadi Hemda on this car shit, but during the process we witnessed the first signs of massive migration - there were MANY migrants in the roadside vegetation and adjacent dry wadi. Finally we were mobile and on site, and it was beautiful out there, as always.

Quickly we got our desired desert specialties - Temminck's, Hoopoe and Bar-tailed Larks, Spotted Sandgrouse, Desert Wheatear - great stuff. Thick-billed and Arabian Larks seem to have departed in recent weeks. 

Desert Wheatear

The dry wadi was full of migrants. When we got back to the car, there were 6 Sylvia warblers hiding under the car, and a Red-backed Shrike perched on the mirror. Insane.

Red-backed Shrike

eBird checklist here.

We then headed south, hoping to get as much birding done before the heat becomes unbearable. Our first stop was at the gate of Kibbutz Yahel. A male White-throated Robin was hiding behind a flower pot. Our first River Warbler of the day was killed by a Red-backed Shrike in front of us. Redstarts, flycatchers, warblers, pipits - simply wow. I apologise for theexcessive use of superlatives in this post - it really was all of the above superlatives.

White-throated Robin - male; sorry for shit photo but what a cool bird!

Spotted Flycatcher

eBird checklist here.

Our next stop was perhaps the best of the trip - Neot Smadar. The fields and the sewage farm were exploding with birds. It was already getting late and hot, but bird activity was unbelievable. The trees were literally pouring with warblers and redstarts. Flycatchers, Whinchats and shrikes were perched on almost every sprinkler. And there were Corn Crakes. Normally shy and scarce, this week has seen an unprecedented arrival in the south. Tens reported at many sites. We had three running around in the open, never seen anything like that. And River Warblers everywhere. Four (!) more White-throated Robins. An unforgettable moment with Lesser Grey Shrike, Rufous-tailed Rock thrush and White-throated Robin in one binocular view. So many birds around. The birding experience was comparable to the most amazing birding day I had on May 1st 2012. 

Corn Crake

Couldn't get the Irania in the frame

eBird checklists for Neot Smadar fields and sewage here and here.

Yotvata was just as good. It was getting really hot, and bird activity was starting to drop a bit, but still there were impressive scenes. 13 River Warblers in a cut wheat field. 300 Eastern Olivaceous Warblers in a small overgrown field. More Corn Crakes, one being munched by a Booted Eagle. The sewage ponds were packed with birds too, including another White-throated Robin and flock of 12 Little Bitterns.

Classic River Warbler habitat

Corn Crake and its Booted Eagle friend

eBird checklists for northern fields, circular field and sewage.

At Kibbutz Samar we failed to find Black Scrub-Robin - it was too hot, but still incredibly birdy, including eight Corn Crakes together on the kibbutz lawn. Sikkkkk. eBird checklist here.

We had a bit of down time at IBRCE in the early afternoon. It was extremely hot (over 40's) and we needed a bit of rest. After a quick power nap and a coffee, we walked around the park, adding new birds. 

29 Red-necked Phals were especially accommodating:

Gotcha!

Oriental Honey-Buzzard, likely one of the local birds

eBird checklist here.

A quick stop at KM19 sewage didn't add too much (eBird checklist here). How fitting it was to watch almost 200 Turtle Doves sat on wires for our #yearofthedove campaign.

KM20 saltpans are always productive, and they didn't disappoint this time either.

KM20 scenes

Scenes

Many Broad-billed Sands around:

The most beautiful individual kept its distance:

Curlew Sands are so gorgeous:

We found a male lutea Yellow Wagtail, best bird of the day for sure. This subspecies is very rare in Israel, not even annual. I have seen a few before, but never so well and never had a chance to photograph like this. What a stonker.

eBird checklist here.

KM20 saltpans were wonderful, but we were still missing several shorebirds, and had not managed to see a single European Honey Buzzard. Somehow we managed not to intercept the stream all day - peak days for their migration. So we had another quick look in the ponds and canal between IBRCE and North Beach - packed with shorebirds and at last Honey Buzzards came down for a drink.

eBird checklist here.

North Beach was pleasant and productive, with three Sooty Shearwaters, two Whimbrel, two White-cheeked Terns and several jaegers. Sadly most of them jaegers were too distant - two seemed the right size and structure for Long-tailed but too distant for positive ID. We were joined by Noam, director of IBRCE. eBird checklist here.

Just before dusk we headed back to IBRCE, and were greeted by six Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse flying over, our last new species for the day. While at North Beach we discovered that our vehicle had a flat tire. We decided to skip further nocturnal adventures, not to risk getting another flat tire without a spare. So then it was the long way back home.

We ended the day with 140 species. Not a massive total - we had higher totals before. However, the migration we witnessed was far more powerful and exhilarating than any mega list. I was deeply impressed, even moved, by the enormous numbers of common migrants. And the unprecedented influx of Irania, River Warbler and Corn Crake is simply mind-blowing. This is perhaps a once-in-a-decade event, so I appreciate it massively.

Thanks to my team, the best team, Champions of the Flyway: Jonathan, Re'a and Rony. It was great fun all day long, fantastic birding and team effort, good laughs - that's why I love doing Big Days so much.

Huge appreciation to organisers of the global event - eBird and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Global Birding add extra meaning to the event. The link with World Migratory Bird Day, celebrated by BirdLife International, is very important for conservation.

As always, thanks to Swarovski Optik for providing us with the best optical gear.