They're back!

Yesterday I spent the morning on Mt. Hermon, working there with INPA and Nadav to better protect the precious ecosystem of the mountain, threatened by further development by the military and the ski resort. It's incredible that one of Israel's most unique and precious ecosystems is only partially protected. Anyway, the gate leading up to the mountain opens up only at 07:30. What to do during the two hours of light before 07:30? I spent them along the Petroleum Road, in search of Yellow-throated Sparrows that had returned for another breeding season. When I arrived on site, I was happily surprised to find there Yosef Kiat, doing what he normally does... Perfect timing for me. We quickly saw a male sparrow singing high up on wires, and in no time it was in the hand, allowing close examination of its subtle but wonderful plumage.

Those long wings take the sparrows all the way to winter in India and back

Apart for this male, I saw his female, in fact a returning bird which had been ringed by Yosef last year, and another singing male. Yosef even sound recorded him or another nearby - subtle song too:

It's great to see that the Yellow-throated Sparrows returned to breed. This is an exciting discovery, that last year's appearance wasn't a fleeting, temporary and sporadic event. Rather, this is apparently a new species added to Israel's breeding avifauna. Time to update those breeding range maps!

Yellow-throated Sparrow distribution map from Birds of the World

Then it was up to Mt. Hermon. It felt very wintery up on the mountain -  cold and overcast with slight drizzle. The lower, forested reaches of the mountains were packed with cool breeding birds, including Western Rock Nutjatch, Sombre Tit, Upcher's Warbler and Syrian Serin. 

Upcher's Warbler

Family party of Sombre tits

Male Eastern Orphean Warbler

By the time we made our way to the upper level of the mountain, the weather had cleared up and it became a glorious day. 

Birds were very active, and in the short time we were up there we saw almost all distinctive breeding species - White-throated Robin at three spots, Asian Crimson-winged Finches, Pale Rockfinch, Black-necklaced Horned Larks and even a pale-morph Eleonora's Falcon. Quite a productive birding session. I was busy so little time for photography, and the light was very harsh.

Horned Lark feeding on a small patch of dirty snow

Wood Larks were hyperactive

Tick and new breeding species

On Saturday, Nadav Israel, a bird photographer, posted these images of an unknown sparrow on Facebook, asking for help in ID:

Amir Ben Dov noticed it online first, of course it was a stonking male Yellow-throated Sparrow, apparently in song, 9th record for Israel! Amir followed up on the location with Nadav, and indeed next day it was refound in the early morning by several twitchers. I couldn't go yesterday, which was quite tough because I needed that bird for my Israel list. The only twitchable bird arrived in 2017, during my years in the UK.

I have seen this bird before, in India, and even inside the WP, in Turkey. However, a national list is different, so I was keen to see it. Online discussions raised the suspicion that it could be breeding here - why would it be here, in late June, in song? However, no further breeding evidence was noted.

This morning I was up early to get to the Golan Heights first thing. It took me and the few other birders on sitea few minutes  to get our bearings. Soon I first heard the bird, then we spotted the male Yellow-throated Sparrow - what a relief! Fantastic bird, the chestnut lesser coverts, long, black bill and yellow throat were wonderfully visible. And that song... The bird wasn't close, but the views were great. It was hanging around with another drab sparrow; at first look we dismissed it as a young House Sparrow but then the penny dropped in my brain - it was another Yellow-throated Sparrow! 

We watched the birds as they moved together, then I saw the adult male feeding the second bird - a fledgling! Breeding proof! How exciting, a new breeding bird for Israel. They flew up to the overhead wires, and away, then mixed with House Sparrows, then reappeared.

Then they showed back up on the original tree. Only later I figured out that its their nest in here:

The bird at the nest entrance here is an adult female, worn, so there were at least three individuals!

By 07:00 I had to rush off to a meeting in Kfar Ruppin, very satisfied by today's discovery and by my bimbo (for those who aren't familiar, Spanish birders use the term 'bimbo' for tick). Driving on, I had time to reflect on the discovery. It really is great that in Israel, despite its small size and relatively good birders coverage, there are still new phenomena left to be discovered. Could there be more pairs of Yellow-throated Sparrow breeding on the Golan Heights? We will look out for them in the next few weeks and try to come up with an answer. I wouldn't be surprised if they do. When I saw them in Turkey, near Birecik, their breeding habitat, in pistachio orchards, wasn't too dissimilar to the habitat in the Golan Heights where this pair is breeding:

Interestingly, we did survey this section of the Golan Heights thoroughly and methodically in recent years and found none, so maybe it's a new arrival?

During my time with the sparrows I enjoyed the fine habitat and its birds - several Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robins, several shrike families, really nice (eBird checklist here). 

Woodchat Shrike, made in 2022:

Nearby, on the way out, I had a family of Upcher's Warbler. And these funny teddy bears. 

Rock Hyrax

Ranthambhore cleanup - birds

As I had limited wifi and time in Ranthambhore, my 'real-time' blogposts from there were rather brief. I did photograph a lot, so here is a collation of some photos taken during the 2.5 days of safari there, mainly of common birds.

Asian Openbill

Grey Francolin - very common

Great Thick-knee. Great indeed

Plum-headed Parakeets came in to drink by the park gate

Black-rumped Flameback

Common Woodshrike

Indian Robin - female. The smart male wouldn't pose

Red-vented Bulbul. Abundant but very neat

Large Grey Babblers doing their thing 

One of many Red-breasted Flycatchers

One of fewer Taiga Flycatchers

Chestnut-shouldered Petronia - huge numbers of them

Turkish delight 4 - Chestnut-shouldered Petronia near Birecik

One more target species for Birecik area is Chestnut-shouldered Petronia AKA Yellow-throated Sparrow. Both names give this dull bird too much credit - it's almost as dull as an acro, but hey, it's a WP tick for me.

We found good numbers in the endless pistachio plantations between Birecik and Halfeti. We saw many families and lots of birds flying around. Some were very close to Birecik, right by the turnoff from the river road to Halfeti.

Here a male perched on a pistachio tree - the fruit should ripen in autumn.

We found this juvenile posing nicely on a treetop, and then its father arrived to feed it with a mulberry. Rony and myself got some good action shots, but I wish I was properly equipped for video photography - this scene is better displayed in video. Here the male arrives with the berry:

 And attempts to feed the youngster:

For some reason it didn't work, and the berry fell down. Luckily it got wedged on a lower branch, and papa stretched to pick it up:

Here we try again:

This time mission impossible, to stick a berry in juv's bill, was a great success. Papa wipes the juice off the bill on a branch: 

 

Yes, it has both yellow throat and chestnut lesser coverts. It calls more like a sparrow than a petronia, but elongated shape is like a petronia. 

Goodbye!

Forgot to mention previously the walk we did up the wadi from the Ibis center. Quite many warblers around - menetries's and upcher's. We tried very hard for See-see Partridge, and eventually saw two, albeit rather briefly, on the hills above the wadi (Lifer #4).