MacDancer

Yesterday Team Brazil (my brother Gidon, Ami, Eli and myself) reunited and ventured deep into the Negev Desert in search of some unique birds and mammals. Our first stop (Kelach Sinai NR) was very cold and bird activity was rather minimal during the golden hour. We had one brief female MacQueen's Bustard that shot off as soon as it spotted us, a couple of Spectacled Warblers and not too much more. Yet, golden hour is golden hour and one must take photos of what there is available.

Desert Wheatear 

Isabelline Wheatear - especially males are rather attractive now with this peachy breast

Dorcas Gazelle

After a quick breakfast picnic we headed south of Ezuz, towards one of the remotest desert sections of the country. We had some nice birds - Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Asian Desert Warbler and Bar-tailed Lark. Crested Lark is so common in cultivated areas, suburbia and even urban settings, but in the desert it looks much better:

What we were really after was dancing MacQueen's Bustard (AKA Asian Houbara Bustard). It is globally Vulnerable, also in Israel they're in trouble, classified as Endangered. We scanned vast areas that used to host numerous dancing males, but saw only three, testament of their worrying state in Israel. Some of the old faithful boys were not present, which was rather sad. Eventually we connected with a male who seemed quite confident with us. We watched him for a while doing normal bird stuff - feeding, preening and walking around.

It was getting warm and we had low expectations from him in the way of dancing - he also looked rather young with unimpressive black neck sides. But then we experienced that special moment. He halted, stretched his neck up to look quite impressive:

Suddenly, within two seconds, he transformed from a normal-looking birds into an alien, puffing his neck feathers up to cover his head:

This is really a video job, which I did not shoot. I have many photos of this transformation - will try to construct something together from the images soon. I have witnessed this kind of transformation with Great Bustard a few years ago - bustards are such fascinating yet odd birds.

And off he was, dancing across his chosen arena to impress an invisible female, waving his swagger all over the place, looking kind of dumb (and the shape of a cockatoo on his forehead) but apparently very full of himself. At first he performed near a horrible barbed wire laying on the ground:

Then he stopped, turned around and for a few second returned to look like a normal bird:

But only for few seconds - he puffed himself up again and returned to dance, thankfully away from that barbed wire this time:

Eventually he danced out of view and we let him be. The whole act lasted for a minute or two, and those were moments of true joy for us. To share such an intimate moment with a threatened and so unique bird is very special. I can complain about the poor photography - light conditions were horrible, he was a bit distant and that barbed wire, but I guess I shouldn't.

Avi-blitz

This weekend I took part in an avi-blitz organised by (in no particular order) Israel Ornithological Center, IBRCE, Eilot Regional Council and Nature and Parks Authority. Over 30 teams took part in this effort. We surveyed remote corners of the southern Negev and Arava, seldom visited by birders. Many of these areas are deep within military firing zones, so access is restricted only to weekends. It was great fun, though my polygons were less productive. On both days I worked deep in the desert west of Neot Smadar. Yesterday was rather quiet (eBird checklist here), though I managed to find an uncooperative pair of Arabian Warblers at a new site in the far west of their predicted range, possibly the westernmost territory in the world?

Otherwise, away from the acacia wadi, birds were very few. The desert is extremely dry here, and the few birds concentrate where some productivity may be found. Good to absorb some desert serenity.

Somehow I managed to hear a distant singing Temminck's Lark; Spotted Sandgrouse flew by somewhere and that's it. I was really impressed by the huge numbers of Dorcas Gazelles on both days - we had over 100 yesterday and 60 today. They were generally tame and confident, implying that there is little poaching in this region if any.

As horny as they get

Check those huge rear toes on this Bosc's fringed-toed Lizard

Almost qualifies as a good bird - Poekilocerus bufonius

**This fascinating insect is venomous - it spits poison at predators, the poison is produced from the poisinous bush Pergularia tomentosa on which it is perched in this photo - thanks Avner for the info** 

After we were done we headed down to Eilat for some recreational birding. Again I failed locating both personal photography targets - Oriental Honey Buzzard and Lesser White-fronted Goose. No show. We checked the traditional sites, KM19 sewage and IBRCE. Nothing special, just the regular wintering birds plus local rarities and scarcities:

The now resident, funny Pygmy Cormorant at IBRCE

Rare in winter, this Gull-billed Tern spends the winter at IBRCE

One of four LEOs roosting at IBRCE

Caspian Stonechat just north of the park

Banana posture

Today I worked a polygon in the same general area. As we entered the area we had an Adrenalin-pumping early morning encounter with a pack of 9 Wolves - such fantastic animals.

Again there were rather few birds around (eBird checklist here). Only bird of interest was a fine male Cyprus Warbler that didn't pose well enough.

Those undertail coverts...

Huge thanks to the organisers Noam, Itai, Libby and Eran, to Eli who helped design the fieldwork. Hai Bar staff hosted us wonderfully - thanks! Kudos to all the hard-working skilled teams who did a stellar job. Till next year!

He was looking kind of dumb with his crown and his...

Yesterday morning with Meidad to Nizzana area to do some things. Arrived early to look at some habitats under new risks near Nizzana. Saw there this impressive bull Dorcas Gazelle:

At the sewage ponds quite many tringas of four species already: green, wood, marsh and greenshank. This lost White Pelican has a nasty wound on the chest, didn't check whether it can fly or not:

Even when in terrible moult, they are still one of my favorite birds:

Desert Wheatear

Later on we checked a small drinking spot for Crowned Sandgrouse. They are relatively tame at this spot, but this was our first visit there and we were not able to get close without disturbing the birds, so images are rather poor. Hope to improve in the near future. About 40 birds came in to drink, no juveniles seen yet. I find the males to have this dumb face expression with the eye set well back in the middle of the head and a very 'open' face, but they are fine birds. 

Crowned Sandgrouse

I know nothing about moult in sandgrouse, so it is interesting to record moult with take-off images showing the moult stage nicely. This male seems to be in arrested moult: P1 to P4 moulted, P5 to P10 retained, with no signs of active moult.

This female is in much more advanced moult, apparently active: P1 to P7 moulted, P8 growing, P9-P10 retained:

Interesting to compare with this image taken on 18 October 2010, more than three months later, but very little advance in moult, though here it looks like active moult: 

 Francis, can you shed some light on these moult issues?