99

Today was one of those days in which I consider myself lucky. Ahead of a late morning meeting in Kfar Ruppin, I had time to go birding with my boss Dan. We left very early and arrived to the lower reservoirs at dawn. In a similar experience to our Global Big Day, the sensation of huge numbers of big birds going in all directions was fantastic. Pelicans, Black Storks, herons and egrets, Black Kites, eagles, Spoonbills, gulls and terns, shorebirds, ducks - hundreds of birds up in the air at any moment.

Black Storks and Great White Pelicans

Black Storks

Great White Pelican

Greater Spotted Eagle - 1cy

We stayed there for just under two hours, that were super productive. We managed to see 99 species (eBird checklist here) - not bad I reckon. To have so many species just at that one site is outstanding. There were some highlights to be had too. A young Daurian Shrike showed very well, though it didn't pose perfectly. We birded on foot, which means that photo opps were lesser.

Common Wood-Pigeon is rather scarce on migration, so it was nice to have one perched early on:

Many Dead Sea Sparrows foraged in the bushes, but were typically skittish:

I still remember the days when Citrine Wagtail was a proper rarity. This morning we had 12 just in one small pond.

Other goodies included two early Pallas's Gulls, Moustached Warbler, Caspian Stonechat and Jack Snipe.

Back in the kibbutz, a late Levant Sparrowhawk flew over, and three Hawfinch too.

21 hours

Yesterday was extremely long. I left home very early, met up with Piki and together we sailed down towards the Dead Sea. Despite the dire state of the shrinking Dead Sea, Climate Change, Sixth Extinction, Donald Trump etc., I find the view of the sun rising over the Edom Mountains of Jordan, above the Dead Sea, always heartening. 

First thing we birded Wadi Mishmar. After a couple of good winter floods, vegetation in the wadi looks great. The Ochradenus bacatus bushes look very happy,  and the Sylvia warblers were feasting on them. 

Most prominent was Sardinian Warbler, several tens, including quite a few of the nominate subspecies. Among them we had at least 9 Cyprus Warblers. At first they weren't easy to pin down, but eventually I managed to get some photos of a few. Still not the perfect photos I'm hoping for, but I guess they ain't too shabby.

Cyprus Warbler, male, in Ochradenus baccatus bush

Cyprus Warbler, female

Also a couple each of Spectacled Warbler and Whitethroat.

Common Whitethroat

Tristram's Starlings were present in some large flocks. One flock mobbed a passing Long-legged Buzzard. Others were just feeding on the baccatus fruit and other fruiting trees in the wadi. I find them uber-charismatic, despite being very common in this part of the country, including trash-bird behaviour at some tourist sites. They are most attractive when they fly, exposing their brilliant wing pattern:

We bumped into Shlomi, another Israeli birder. While exchanging information we spotted a large raptor soaring over the high cliffs:

Cinereous Vulture! What a pleasant surprise (though unknowingly at that moment it had been present for a couple of days at least):

We had a couple of Striolated Bunting flying high over the cliffs, and Shlomi told us of a waterhole up the wadi that they come down to drink in. We walked up there, sat down quietly for a few minutes and indeed a single bunting, a female, graced us with its beautiful presence:

Since my return from the UK, my appreciation for our local species, especially range-restricted species like Tristram's Starling and Fan-tailed Raven, has increased. The aerobatic flight of the ravens, their unique high-pitched calls echoing off the mighty cliffs, is an epic symbol of the Judean Desert.

Fan-tailed Raven

On the way out we spent a couple of minutes with an oddly-plumaged Blackstart. I'm not sure whether it's oil-stained or melanistic. In real life it felt much darker than how it looks in these images.

Golden Spiny Mouse - indeed golden and spiny

While there were saddeningly few Eurasian Griffons, it was nice to have a 3-vulture species morning, including Egyptian Vulture. There were first signs of soaring bird migration, with a northbound movement of Black Kites, first mini-flock of 8 White Storks and a single Black Stork. Soon it will be thousands. Wadi Mishmar eBird checklist here.

Our next stop was Heimar Reservoir. We met up there with two Swiss friends, Martin and Michael. Another very pleasant surprise was a stonking male Daurian Shrike that hopped on the ugly fence surrounding the reservoir - what a beautiful bird:

Full frame

Crop

Getting the priorities right - at this location these could be 'wild-type' Rock Pigeons:

There was also a maurus Siberian Stonechat, Penduline Tit, Dead Sea Sparrows and some migrant hirundines - Red-rumped, Barn and House Martins. eBird checklist here.

Then we moved on down the road to Navit Pools. I don't fully understand why, but this site is absolutely jam-packed with birds. Contrastingly, adjacent reservoirs are quite empty. Navit Pools had many hundreds of ducks, including 20 Fudge Ducks (they breed there), 4 African Swamphens and much more. Combine that with stunning scenery and one gets 47 minutes of fun (eBird checklist here).

Then we continued down into the bottom of the valley at Ne'ot Hakikar. It was a beautiful, mild, moonlit evening. Nubian Nightjars were very active: we had at least 9 individuals, including a few that put on quite a show. Over the years I have had countless intimate encounters with these fascinating birds, yet every time the excitement is still on. Wow.

'Tamarisk' Nubian Nightjar

On the way back home we had rather casual encounters with (heard only) Desert Owl by the main road, Egyptian Nightjar and Pallid Scops Owl. Back home, 21 hours after leaving, I felt quite satisfied, and totally knackered.

Piki, Martin, Michael - thanks.

Barnacle Goose!

Yesterday afternon news broke of a young Barnacle Goose at Agamon Hula. As with any wildfowl records, concerns about its origins were raised based on poor quality photos. Later on, when better photos emerged, no plumage anomalies were visible, the bird was properly wary, it's circumstances (age, timing and location) support genuine vagrancy, and the species certainly has good vagrancy potential with accepted records in Greece, Turkey and Egypt.
I had no plans to twitch it today - a couple of important meetings were planned in the morning, and in the afternoon I had a family event to attend. Miraculously, the early morning meeting was cancelled last night, and it didn't take much effort to persuade my boss, who normally does not twitch, to arrive at our second meeting after a detour to Agamon Hula. We got there mid-morning and joined the small crowd of 10 twitchers... The bird was on show, at safe scope distance. Phew. We were lucky - shortly after we left the bird was flushed (by farmers or twitchers) and not relocated since, to the anguish of lazier twitchers.
What a lovely bird - I really hope and think it should make it onto our national list. These images were taken on our way out, from inside a car on a public road at a distance of about 150 m:

~95% of original image, lightly cropped for alignment

Big crop

We were in the Agamon for just over an hour, and focused mainly on the goose. Just behind where we were stood, on the other side of the canal, a Daurian Shrike was showing well albeit at a distance:

Big twitch

We had to leave too quickly to make it on time to our next meeting, so we ignored a fantastic alfalfa field we drove past that had Eastern Imperial and 4 Greater Spotted Eagles, tons of Great Egrets and storks etc., we ignored the water body, and a Demoiselle Crane in the crane feeding area. Still we managed a respectable 67 species in our eBird checklist (check here) - officially it's a complete list but in practice could have increased in another 40 species if we had another hour to bird.

Thanks to Dan for the company and driving, and to Agamon stuff for their patience...

Sunny (!) birding

Arrived in Israel yesterday and enjoying the sun and the birds very much. Really lovely weather, and great to meet family and friends (though very briefly). I enjoy just driving around and seeing tons of birds everywhere. Cranes, eagles, kites, buzzards, stuff to look at all the time.

Reunion with Bamba was very exciting, and now she is roaming with me. Today I had some meetings in Tel Aviv, but there was heavy traffic in the morning so decided to check the Daurian Shrike found a couple of days ago by Nir Hasson (thanks for the coordinates!) at Palmakhim south of Tel Aviv. The bird showed pretty well. The primary projection looks alarmingly short because it's missing its longest primaries - moulting now. Unfortunately I am here only with my 400 mm lens; with my 500 the images would have been better

Daurian Shrike - 1cy 

Lovely coastal habitat, lots of common winter visitors. The sea was pretty empty.

Tomorrow evening back to UK, but hope to do some birding in the morning, so stay tuned.

Little Bustard-chickens

Had a very nice morning at Kfar Ruppin in the Bet Shean Valley. My first assignment was Little Bustards - after a lone individual was first seen there on December 21st, numbers slowly grew and now the flock contains 21 birds! The largest flock of this rare and endangered species recorded in Israel in recent decade. Anyway, I met up with Amir who was already on the birds when I arrived. At first they were far away and deep inside a field, only their heads sticking up above the alfalfa. Then a harrier flushed them, they took off and landed very close to us. They were suprisingly friendly for such tasty birds. First they were hiding in the wet field, but slowly walked out onto a track, dried up, preened, shook their feathers and wings and stretched.

Very charismatic birds. Incredible details on each feather. Peculiar vertical tail structure.

Stunning wing pattern. This bird has a moult limit in PC and primaries - suspended moult? Anyone knows something about their moult?

  

All these images are large crops - we kept distance from them.

After I had enough of the bustards I moved on for some other stuff. In the fields near the kibbutz there were some Black Storks, including this Slovakian-ringed adult (thanks Kobi for the speedy reply):

Then I went to look for one of the 5-6 'Isabelline' Shrikes wintering in the area. This beautiful, gingery Daurian Shrike was shy and mobile, shame about the branch across the eye:

Lots of birds in the fishponds - ducks, shorebirds, gulls, herons etc. 6 Greater Flamingos were in one of the ponds:

Big gull roost in one of the empty reservoirs. I counted 8 Pallas's Gulls in this image, part of about 50 in that group. Also in this image one Caspian Gull. Can you see it?

Osprey - refused to jump