Global Big Day May 2025

On Saturday May 10th it was Global Big Day, organized by eBird, happening alongside World Migratory Bird Day. Our core team, Jonathan Meyrav, Re'a Shaish and me have been doing these Big Days since 2018. This time, sadly, Jonathan couldn't join us for personal reasons. So we sought for an alternative Jonathan, and came up with the young gun Yonatan Gordon, one of Israel's finest young birders. At the tender age of 16, Yonatan is already proving to be one of the best rarity finders in Israel and is a great guy.

Traditionally, we do the same Big Day route in northern Israel almost every year, with some variations. Overall, it was a great day of birding, though the weather wasn't on our side - it was terribly hot and quite unpleasant around midday.

I picked up Re'a at 03:30 where we had a singing Thrush Nightingale by the bus stop. Our first proper birding stop was at the entrance to the Hula Reserve, where Tawny Owls threw a party.

Driving around pre dawn in the Hula Valley fields produced several Eurasian Nightjars. Early morning birding around Agamon Hula wasn't too busy but actually really enjoyable. Jonathan wasn't there to do the traditional 'early morning wake-up coffee' story, but the photo had to be taken.

The lake itself held stuff including Marbled Ducks. Early on we started seeing small groups of Rosy Starlings flying around. Eventually we located one group on nearby trees - such wonderful birds. 

There were several Golden Orioles around - this is how we typically see them in Israel, flying away.

While taking in all the pinks and yellows, we noticed several large acros in a Mulberry tree. Great Reed, Clamorous, but hey what's this one? It's medium sized, it has a long, slender bill (not great reed), long primary projections and short tail (not clamorous), it's olive-grey above with a fine supercilium - Basra Reed Warbler!!! We watched the bird for about a minute jumping in a tree, trying to pick up all the key ID features. We tried to obtain photos but it was very active in the tree and then flew out and away before we succeeded. We searched for it for some time, without seeing it again. We were in Big Day mode so we didn't stay for very long and had to leave. It was seen again in the afternoon at the same spot by others. We left Agamon Hula quite elated with the Basra find - it's a good rarity in Israel, just about annual. It was probably our best ever find on a Big Day.

Fields north of the Agamon held a healthy population of Calandra Larks. It seems that feldegg Western Yellow Wagtails also breed in these fields.

We then climbed up the Golan Heights and birded the excellent habitat along the Petroleum Road. Despite the intensifying heat and wind, there were so many birds around and so much quality. Highlight was of course the now-regular Yellow-throated Sparrows, now back for their fourth breeding season. We had two pairs in breeding action, but they didn't pose for photos. Shrikes were plentiful, we found two pairs of Upcher's Warblers, and Rufous-tailed Scrub Robins are never boring.

Good job to the branch in perfect focus

Distant photo of Red-backed Shrike and Upcher's Warbler - typical Big Day (awful) photo quality

Then we climbed up Mt. Hermon. In 2024, because of the war, Mt. Hermon was closed off and we couldn't visit it. Now it's reopened , and we enjoyed birding there very much, as you can judge by our stupid smiles in this photo: 

We 'cleaned up' all expected Hermon specialties rather quickly, and really appreciated the relatively cool weather at 1500 m asl. Syrian Serin, Western Rock Nuthatch, Sombre Tit, Eastern Bonelli's Warbler, Rock Bunting, Rock Sparrow, Eastern Black Redstart were some of the great birds we saw up there and made our time on Mt. Hermon extremely worth our while.

From Mt. Hermon we descended back to the Golan Heights. In the Valley of Tears, Black-headed Buntings were singing in force despite the heat.

We picked up a few more species driving south across the Golan Heights, and arrived at Kfar Ruppin when the heat peaked.

Luckily, shorebirds aren't as affected by the heat as passerines (and humans), so we added an important number of species at the fishponds, in fact at our restoration site: Broad-billed and Curlew Sandpipers, Collared Pratincoles and more. Our final birding stop was in our restored Amud Reservoir near Kfar Ruppin. It was sooooo hot that the local Common Nightingales did not sing.

I had some commitments in the evening so we ended our Big Day in Kfar Ruppin and headed back, adding a couple more species along the way. 

Wow, that was intensive and fun. 143 species in total (eBird trip report here), which isn't an enormous list but certainly represents an enjoyable day out. We saw good stuff (Basra Reed Warbler, Rosy Starling), braved the heat, and had a great time. Thanks to Re'a and Yonatan for their partnership - you guys rock. Thanks to Nadav for gen in the Hula Valley. Thanks to Swarovski Optik for their ongoing support. 

 

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 May 2022

Another Global Big Day done and dusted for Team Champions of the Flyway: Jonathan, Re'a and me. This time it was a bit different. Several factors affected our decision to focus more on quality rather than on quantity: 

1. Late date, May 14th, meant that here, in more southern latitudes, migration is almost over (hey eBird! Next year at the beginning of May, please!).

2. The late date translated into higher temperatures. We were unlucky with a serious heatwave hitting Israel. Morning weather was OK but from noon weather switched to quite horrible.

3. Stamina, or rather lack of: After several years of doing die-hard big days for Global Big Day (see our recent effort in October 2021, for example), we (I?) lacked motivation to rock it in full blast for a full 24-hr effort.

Re lack of stamina, we met up at 02:30 and headed north. First stop was in the Hula Valley, where the pre-dawn session produced three owls: Tawny, Scops and Barn, plus quite many Eurasian Nightjars. We also encountered four different Jungle Cats; one of them, in the picture here snoozing on a wheat bale, had a GPS-collar on, attached by INPA researchers.

Can't believe I took, downloaded and edited this photo of A Eurasian Nightjar

At dawn we were joined by Nadav. Together we birded around the Agamon Hula park, which was OK but lacked migrants. Still, we got lots of good stuff, including Marbled Teal, Black Francolin, Golden Oriole, Lesser Gray Shrike, Dead Sea Sparrow and many more. Jonathan was responsible for social media.

I was responsible for birding 😉

This Red-backed Shrike looked very posh in the early morning sunlight:

Most interesting birds of the morning were Rosy Starlings. It is a scarce bird in Israel. Typically, in Mid May, small flocks of Rosy Starling arrive to Agamon Hula to feast on mulberries. Several small flocks were reported in recent days, and indeed there were starlings around. At first light we had a few singles flying over, then we bumped into several small groups, all very mobile. 

We left the Hula valley with 80 species, not bad I guess. Originally we had managed to obtain a special permit to visit Bul'an Valley in the highest section of Mt. Hermon, one of the most amazing sites in Israel for breeding birds, home to White-throated Robin, Asian Crimson-winged Finch and other wonderful and rare breeding species. See an example of how wonderful it is in this post from June 2019. This valley is normally off limits due to its proximity to Syria and security sensitivity, but for important survey work special permits are granted. Our original plan was to collect there valuable breeding data, not in big day manner, so we obtained the permit and were joined by INPA staff. The visit to Bul'an Valley was planned to be the highlight of our Big Day. Plans don't always materialise. When we reached the military checkpoint to the upper platform, we were refused entry. We were together with INPA staff but nothing helped. We wasted 1.5 valuable hours of morning birding at the gate, trying to negotiate with the military, without success. By the time we gave up, our motivation levels received a serious blow. We continued to bird around the lower cable station and drinking pools, and in fact connected with the Hermon specialties - Syrian Serin, Western Rock Nuthatch, Upcher's and Eastern Bonelli's Warbler, Rock Bunting, Eastern Black Redstart. But all of this birding was done with a soundtrack of our complaints and negative talk after the unplanned change in plans.

#GlobalBigDay2022 update from @SPNI @flywaychampions #israel@global_birding @JMeyrav @SwarovskiOptik @RockjumperTours @BirdLifeIsrael pic.twitter.com/i6F00u74hS

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) May 14, 2022

When I do Big Days my focus is on finding birds so my senses are devoted to that, and there is little time to spend on photography during such a whirlwind of a day. Therefore my photos from this Big Day are few and, well, not great. 

Syrian Serin on the beautiful bloom of the hawthorn Crataegus azarolus

Short-toed Eagle

This year there was more snow than normal, later into spring, so spring development of plants, arthropods and breeding behaviour of birds seems to be late. There were certainly fewer butterflies than I'm used to this time of year. Frayer's Fritillary was the commonest:

Clouded Yellow

After we were done on Mt. Hermon we headed down to the Golan Heights, picking up specialties and stuff along the way, including Chaffinch (very localised breeder), Calandra Lark, Great Crested Grebe (only a handful of pairs breed in Israel), Black-headed Buntings.

Calandra Lark looking away - they breed here in vineyards

After midday the weather deteriorated fast. The temperatures rose to 42 degrees, and the wind was horrible. We likened the weather conditions to the hot wind coming out when opening an oven door on turbo mode. It was really nasty. A stop at Susita was close to torture, though somehow we added there Long-billed Pipit and Blackstart. That was the end of our Big Day - we were quite exhausted by the heat, and found shelter in the air-conditioned car.

Our total for yesterday was 122 species, 16 eBird checklists. Our lowest score ever on a Big Day. Yet we saw some good birds; additionally, any day with a visit to Mt. Hermon is good a good one. And as always, we had lots of fun - thanks to my mates Jonathan and Re'a, and Nadav who joined us for the Agamon section.

I created a Trip Report for yesterday's Big Day effort. I really enjoy this new feature by eBird - very useful and well designed. The link is here.

Till October Big Day, over and out.

Global Big Day and Pin-tailed Snipe

Yesterday was Global Big Day, organised by eBird, part of the international events of Global Bird Weekend and World Migratory Bird Day. Our team 'Champions of the Flyway' traditionally included Jonathan, Re'a and me.

Initially, we had plans for a selective Big Day, focused on special specialties only, at a slower pace. Eventually, we changed our plans and returned to a proper, ambitious full Big Day effort, the way it should be done.

We left our homes in central Israel in the early hours to arrive in the Hula Valley enough time before dawn for some night birding. Our traditional Tawny Owl was waiting for us at the entrance to Hula NR. A night drive in the Agamon failed to produce other new owls (only Barn) or a nightjar, but produced a surprising, late Golden Oriole - our only one for the whole day, spotted by Re'a roosting in a big tree.

Several Jungle Cats were hunting in the dark, including this poser:

At day break, we were positioned at the southern end of the Agamon, and enjoyed this scene, now complete with crane cacophony:

The Agamon and adjacent fields were fantastic (eBird checklist here). Huge numbers of birds. many species, good quality including Moustached Warbler, Black Francolin, Pallid Harrier. A cut alfalfa field was coated with hundreds of Yellow Wagtails, and even larger numbers of Corn Bunting. Several Red-footed Falcons were hunting over the ploughed fields.

Red-footed Falcon

Montagu's Harrier

We quickly visited Lehavot Habashan fishponds - it would have been rude to leave the Hula Valley without seeing Marbled Teal. There were still good numbers of Marbled Teal there, 108, alongside a nice selection of shorebirds (eBird checklist here).

We left the Hula Valley satisfied with 114 species under our belt. When we arrived at Susita it was already very hot. Birding was tough, we missed Long-billed Pipit but added a few good species. While birding there news broke of a Pin-tailed Snipe in central Israel, close to home. We contemplated the option of altering our route to twitch the snipe. In an act of maturity and responsibility we decided to stick to Plan A and continue as planned. This came with some disappointment, as Jonathan and I are doing a Big Year. 

Global Big Day is timed to suit best N American birders' calendar. In Israel, both October and May Big Days happen when the weather is very hot. Yesterday was no exception, and when we arrived in the Bet She'an Valley the temperatures were soaring towards 40 degrees, making birding difficult. What to do when it's so hot? We walked a couple of alfalfa fields, failed to find Oriental Skylark but added Richard's pipit and a surprise Spectacled Warbler. We were melting. Bad choice. Birding the fishponds, for waterbirds, stationary, made more sense (eBird checklist here). The White-tailed Lapwing remained in it's wonderful pond that hosted many new shorebirds for the day. There were some raptors up in the air, though we failed to intercept a proper stream of raptor migration the whole day. Light conditions were harsh, and we were in a hurry, so I didn't take any photos. Jonathan shot this video of the wonderful pond with the lapwing: 

We left Bet Shean Valley with 142 species and headed cross-country towards the Dead Sea.

Ein Gedi NR carpark was exploding with humans rather than birds. Still, some nice desert species were present, including Fan-tailed Raven.

Note that the bird in the center is ringed:

Ashalim Reservoir is a stunning location, and I love birding there. It provided us with a few good species, including Dead Sea Sparrow and African Swamphen (eBird checklist here).

Late in the afternoon we arrived at Heimar Reservoir. Immediately we enjoyed a fantastic show by Sooty Falcons, at least four of them, hunting hirundines high up. Top quality birds. Just before dusk we Re'a struck again - Isabelline Shrike! Boom! Very nice surprise.

After dusk we checked a nearby site for Nubian Nightjar. It's not their main site, and habitat there isn't optimal, so it wasn't a big surprise we didn't succeed. However, the day was topped by a fantastic Desert Owl hooting in a nearby wadi.

Our daily total was a very satisfying 159 species. This is our best autumn Big Day score so far. This is the second time we do a cross-country effort. In May 2019 our route was even crazier, because it included also Mt. Hermon, and we ended up with 164 species. So our score yesterday is pretty good for our effort I reckon. Of course, like in every Big Day, we missed a good number of silly species, and gained a few 'Wild Cards'. 

Thanks Re'a and Jonathan for another memorable Big Day. It was a day full of quality birding and lots of fun with the best possible team. Thank you guys.

Thanks to the organisers, eBird and Global Birding - always a pleasure to participate in this global event. Thanks to Swarovski Optik for the privilege to use the best optics in the world.

####################### Post-script ##############################

After a well-deserved night sleep, this late morning I went with Jonathan to look for the snipe at Tel Afek. We weren't optimistic. This is a super intensive site, most it it developed for recreation. Yesterday, as the park filled up with hundreds of noisy families, the bird vanished. This early morning many birders searched for it, without success. We birded the park hard, checked all habitats that made some sense for a skulky snipe, without success either. Then Oren Maman called - 'Come quick, I found it!'. It was sitting quietly under a tree in the most intensive section of the park, between picnic tables and screaming kids. We must have walked right past it, as did many other birders. 

It sat there motionless for a while until a screaming kid that ran past it flushed it a short distance. Fantastic views of it. Great year bird, and a good rarity in Israel, with about 14 records only. The identity of this bird was confirmed by call, and by photos of it preening (by Ron Singer), displaying its pin-like outer tail feathers.

Note short tail

Open face

Pin-tailed Snipe, Tel Afek NP. Amazing bird in a silly place, between picnic tables and screaming kids ('habitat' photo below)
חרטומית חדת-זנב הבוקר בגן לאומי תל אפק
Taken through @SwarovskiOptik ATX85@BirdLifeIsrael @JMeyrav @SPNI @rashut_hateva @BirdGuides @TarsigerTeam pic.twitter.com/vPTMagA0Nz

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) October 10, 2021

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.