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.

Sometimes it works...

This morning I left early to try for a Caspian Plover west of Hatzerim, that had been found by Olga Chagina a few days ago. I may have left home too early because when I arrived it was still dark. At least I saw some Jerboas driving in. This is the same area where I had the Dotterels a few weeks ago. When there was enough light I started scanning the plains. And the plains were very plain. For those who know this site, when it's quiet, it's VERY quiet. I spent more than an hour working the area carefully, and saw very little on the ground. A lovely flock of Lesser Kestrels that were hunting for beetles off the ground or low bushes were the main point of interest. A Merlin was darting across the plains too. Up in the air, many Greater-Short-toed Larks and Tawny pipits were on the move. But no plovers were to be found whatsoever. I started to lose hope and headed back out. On the way out I spotted in the distance a flock of Cream-coloured Coursers. I edged closer, hoping that shorebirds show solidarity with each other. Hey, what are these smaller, darker plovers? Are they? Yes! Not one but four Caspian Plovers!

I stayed put. The birds started moving closer...

Eventually offering brilliant views. I knew others would try for them, so I didn't apply pressure on them and kept a safe distance; not quite close enough for proper photos to be taken, but I guess I can't complain...

As far as I could tell, the group consisted of two adult males, a young male, and a female.

Caspian Plover - female

Caspian Plover - 2cy male and adult male

They were too quick for my poor digiscoping skills

Caspian Plover is one of my favourite birds. Sadly, they have become increasingly rare in Israel, reflecting their negative global population trend. I remember that as a kid in the 1980's, flocks of tens were seen each spring. Now, in some years there isn't a single spring record nationally. In 2020, the only bird was one that hung around in the Bet She'an Valley in autumn. So I was very pleased to see a small flock. In the afternoon, birders who revisited the area had seven! This flat, dry desert plateau seems to be a real magnet for dryland plovers. In recent weeks, besides the Dotterels and Caspian, also Greater Sand-Plover and Kentish Plovers were seen there.

I must pay respect to the local hosts, CCCs:

In great contrast to the first quiet hour, this area where I found the plovers was actually very productive. Several large lark flocks were on the ground, containing also a couple of Bimacs. There were plenty of Tawny Pipits and wheatears too. FOY Whinchat was very welcome.

On the way out, at the edge of the cultivated zone, I bumped into a stonking, uber-friendly Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrush. He was really something special. Thank you mate.

More photos in this morning's eBird checklist here.

Ohohoh the sweetest thing

Spent the morning in the Nizzana area. It was a fine morning indeed. Weather was relatively cool early on, with some cloud cover keeping the temperatures down for a couple of hours. First checked some desert habitats - there were loads of Cream-coloured Coursers around, including several families with young, soft chicks. At one point a female that was coursing around with its two chicks stopped and kneeled down, and the babies crawled under her wings. I regard myself as a tough guy but this was really one of the cutest and sweetest things I had ever seen. Mother with two extra pairs of legs sticking out under her wings. Unfortunately it happened too far away for photography. 

Cream-coloured Coursers

Some whetears around - families of desert, Isabelline and Mourning.

Desert Wheatear - recently-fledged juvenile 

Then I went to the Kmehin sewage ponds that were packed with birds. Good local birds included one Purple Swamphen, two Namaqua Doves and some Trumpeter Finches. From about 07:30 large numbers of sandgrouse came in to drink. I had over 600 sandgrouse until 09:30 - about 250 spotted, 200 pintailed, 80 black-bellied and four crowned. I kept my distance from them not to disturb them, so only some flight shots: 

Spotted Sandgrouse - female and male 

Black-bellied Sandgrouse - male

Quite many migrants present already. about 30 Green Sandpipers, and few woods and Redshanks, some Ruffs, and two Squacco Herons.

Green Sandpiper

Squacco Heron

Thanks to Meidad and Itai H. for info and company.

Champions of the Flyway - my Big Day!

So yesterday during the race I spent the whole day out with the teams. Left very early and arrived at Uvda Valley early enough to enjoy dawn chorus of the rarer breeding larks - I had both Bar-tailed and Temminck's singing from the hills above the valley. Later on the theme of quality local birds continued with both Spotted and Crowned Sandgrouse flying around and feeding on the plains. But most impressive was the number and variety of migrants - on the plains plenty of wagtails, pipits, wheatears and larks (one Lesser Short-toed among the many greaters). The few bushes were exploding with warblers, Ortolans, Tree Pipits, Redstart, Nightingale etc. During the first couple of hours of daylight I must have had over 50 species there.

Wryneck

Isabelline Wheatear

This Yellow Wagtail looked like a standard thunbergi-type until it flew and called like an eastern birds - scary stuff...

Ortolan

Bluethroat

Rueppell's Warbler

It was very good to see lots of harriers - pre-ordered by the Batumi team. Saw at Uvda valley Hen, Pallid and Marsh, and later on at Yotvata also Monty's - great day.

Pallid Harrier - adult male

Pallid Harrier - 2cy

Steppe Buzzard 

Very good to meet some of the teams - they were all progressing very well and I was happy to share my info with them.

 What was that call?

Ah, Spanish Sparrow (BRC team)

The previous night I missed dinner and went to sleep hungry (!) so I was starved by the time I left Uvda and returned towards Eilat. Decided to quickly check the small pumping station near Shizafon junction - Striolated Buntings were seen there in winter coming in to drink. And sure enough, as I drove in, I flushed a male Striolated Bunting! 

Then I continued down into the valley. There was massive raptor take-off that evolved into a huge passage. Decided to spend some time scanning through the thousands of Steppe Buzzards for other species. Stopped at Ketura sewage that was full of migrants as well, and enjoyed both wetland species and overhead raptor migration. Had a good selection including Levant Sparrowhawk, Egyptian Vulture, Lesser Spotted and Steppe Eagles.

After breakfast headed over to the ditch behind KM 19 cowsheds. Best bird of the day for me was a Great Snipe I found on the deck too late - had too brief views on the deck before it took off and flew just infront of my car window into the sewage pond, never to be seen again. Also in the canal Little Crake, several Citrine Wags and some Dead sea Sparrows.

Then I moved on to KM20 saltpans. Again some teams were working there in the heat, and I joined them for a while. Lots of new birds had come in, including about 25 Collared Pratincoles. gotta love them!

At first look this pale yellowag resembles beema - rather pallid with prominent white patch on ear coverts and bright green mantle. It also gave an eastern taxa call. I would expect a broader supercilium though.

Woodchat Shrike besides the saltpans

Checked some desert habitats north of the saltpans that produced little during the hot hours. Just before returning to the main road I encountered this lovely family of Dorcas Gazelles.

And then I found this showy Cream-coloured Courser:

In the early afternoon headed up to Yotvata to try and connect with the Oriental Skylarks there. Still in the southern circular field, also more pratincoles and such.

Then the mandatory afternoon visit to north beach, that had nothing special but pretty birdy. Some gulls to keep the enthusiasts enthusiased. 

Western Reef Egret

Just for fun I counted my daily list - I did 145 species (!) - very satisfying. All of this without checking some key sites, and tweeting out nonstop all the news from the teams. I believe that a proper good day here could smash the WP record of 202. 

Tomorrow -  the winners!

Tawny Eagle!

Yesterday late evening I was watching a movie peacfully with my wife after a good dinner. Then I heard the RBA tune going off and then a flood of texts, FB and Whatsapp messages and emails. I knew this must be something good that can potentially destroy another weekend. Had to stop the movie and check my phone - Ezra Hadad had found a Tawny Eagle in the late afternoon not too far away from my house (well done Ezra!). So that was the plan: wake the kids up rather early, send them off with my wife to her parents, and go to look for the eagle.

This morning the plan proceeded quite well, and I was off to the site rather early. As I was driving there got a call from Rami and Shahar that they had just seen it flying away... Rushed there, met up with the guys and started scanning the area and the sky. After about two hours I spotted the bird gliding high but away. I got decent scope views but it glided away too fast to take any photos. It disappered in the south and actually nobody relocated it again today. So that was it with the eagle. Good that I was with a few other guys who saw it too.

Tawny Eagle is mega rare in Israel - this will be about the 5th record to Israel if accepted. I have seen it in Israel before - a famous individual overwintered in the NW Negev in winter 2000/2001 - it even coupled with an Eastern Imperial Eagle and was seen nestbuilding! I managed to connect with it several times during its long stay. I assume that our birds originate from eastern populations.

This site is an extremely interesting zone of rangeland / steppe, at the ecotone between the Negev desert and the Mediterranean climates of C Israel. Unfortunately it's an active military shooting zone, so impossible and dangerous to enter there on weekdays.

Quite many other birds in the area - raptors included some Long-legged Buzzards, Short-toed Eagles and a couple of Montagu's Harriers. I also saw a first flock of 20 Black Kites near Bet Kama. Other stuff included two Black-bellied Sandgrouse, some Cream-coloured Coursers and many Isabelline Wheatears.

Long-legged Buzzard - 1cy

Cream-coloured Courser

This summers' megas are killing me! After the very quiet spring we had, this summer is certainy compensating well, and the run of megas in recent weeks is quite impressive - two Yellow-billed Storks, Lesser Sandplover, Sooty Tern at Eilat, and now this eagle.