The first that got away

I had a meeting in Eilat today, conveniently timed for late morning so I could bird en route. First thing I was at Neot Smadar. I arrived there with low expectations - in recent years this site tends to be quiet. However, as I got out of the car, the air was alive with bird calls - pipits, shrikes, redstarts - very nice. I birded the fields with pleasure - Richard's Pipit flew over calling, Corn Crake, oddly alive and well, jumped up from the tall alfalfa, a Sooty Falcon zoomed through, and a Black-winged Kite that's less common in this part of the country perched up on wires:

At a spot with some Willow Warblers I tried the trick that rarely works, and played potential vagrant music. Booted Warbler - nothing. Dusky Warbler - nothing. Greenish Warbler - instant response, boom! I heard one classic Greenish Warbler call and immediately switched off my player. I heard another call, a call that I know so well, nice and clear, up somewhere in a tree a few meters away. I switched on my sound recorder - but nothing! Two calls is all I heard. I was all pumped up and searched for the bird but frustratingly saw only willows. I tried hard to find the bird or get some vocal response, but nothing at all. After about an hour I gave up and had to leave. Shame. There are no records of Greenish warbler in Israel, yet. I am 100% confident this was a Greenish Warbler - this is a call I know very well and I heard it perfectly. However, I know that for a country first some kind of documentation is necessary. Therefore, no cigar today.

eBird checklist here.

With Adrenalin still pumping, but feeling disappointed, I moved on to Yotvata circular field (rather dry and empty) and on to Eilat, where an Oriental Honey Buzzard casually flew over the road by the IBRCE.

After the meeting I went over to KM20 saltpans, that were full of shorebirds - quite impressive actually, haven't seen the saltpans like that for a long time. It was very hot and windy, not ideal conditions for careful scanning through the hundreds of Little Stints. Best I could come up with were a couple of Broad-billed Sandpipers and a Red-necked Phalarope. eBird checklist here.

Broad-billed Sandpiper - 1cy 

Those supercillia...

On the way back I stopped at Neot Smadar for another go, but it was still very hot and windy, and bird activity was low. Of course there was no further sign of the suspect. Fingers crossed it will be refound in the next few days!

High expectations, slim pickings

I left Norwich early this morning with Phil and Will, with soaring expectations: weather conditions could have not been better for a fall, and/or for something really good. Burnham Overy Dunes was our choice. We were surprised to be the first birders there. As we walked out, the White-winged Tern showed nicely, albeit distant and in bad light conditions. A bird I wouldn't twitch in the UK, but was still really nice to bump into:

White-winged Tern

We worked the dunes hard, again and again, from Gunn Hill to the woods. At first there were no migrants to be found at all; evidently there was no fall. In those moments of disappointment, someone always uses the useless phrase 'biggies always travel alone'. If there were any biggies around, we missed them. News started to pour in, of decent arrivals and scarcities elsewhere in Norfolk and along the east coast; this enthused us to do another circuit of the dunes, and another... Then we had to move on, leaving the dunes goodies to be found by others. Between our group of 4/5 (including James and Dave Appleton) we did find eventually singles each of Pied Flycatcher, Common Redstart, Tree Pipit, Whinchat and Cuckoo. There were also 3 Wheatears, presumably local breeding birds. A Little Ringed Plover flew by uttering its sad call over the saltmarsh, and a Merlin bombed around Gunn Hill. On the marsh the distinguished residents showed OK - Spoonbills and Great White Egret. Two Barn Owls hunted out in the open - always fun. On the way out, several Bearded Tits pinged from the reedbed, and among a distant group of lingering Brent we found a striking Pale-bellied. The total for the morning was 95 species (check my eBird checklist here) - not bad I guess. And if you read the list above it feels like a pretty good morning. However, my expectations were much higher, both for quality and numbers. But hey, better to look at the bright side and enjoy what we did see, which ain't too shabby.

Stonking male Pied Flycatcher

Pale-bellied Brent

Barn Owl

Some other fauna and flora included:

One of quite many Wall Brown

Female Muslin Moth

A scarce hoverfly identified by Phil - Scaeve selenitica

Southern Marsh Orchid

We then went to Titchwell for a quick visit. The Greenish Warbler was surprisingly vocal in the midday (relative) heat, and showed OK, demonstrating its very faint wingbars; sadly I failed to get a decent photo.

I sound-recorded its vocalisations with my phone. Song came out rather OK; I need to work more on the calls. James got similar results with his iPhone...

We drove back by Choseley, where we added Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer to our day list, bringing it up to 99. 

Thanks to Will for driving there and James for driving back; good day out - maybe there still is another chance for a fall or a biggie this spring.

Tiger, yawn

You may ask yourself why am I awake at 05:00 updating the blog. Our hotel., The Ranthambhore Bagh, is adjacent to a wedding venue. The f@%&king music is still playing now... Those Indians sure know how to party all night long.  I couldn't sleep all night. Thanks!

Anyway, yesterday was a steady day. The human brain is quite something because we had an amazing encounter with a tiger, but it still felt like a somewhat slower day. Again, we had an unrestricted full-day permit. If you ask me that's the only way to work in Ranthambhore, despite the costs. We failed to find a fresh tiger or anything else of interest. Arrowhead gave the same show as she had the previous day, offering again extreme close-up in bad light mainly. 

Yawn...

If I were a male Tiger I'm sure I'd fall in love with her. She's so beautiful, isn't she?

Nice views when she walked along the lake, in front of Jogi Mahal, the famous Ranthambhore landmark. But my big lens failed to capture the classic scene. Amir did better.

 We added some new birds, and again our daily tally was about 94 species. Some nice stuff.

Stork-billed Kingfisher

River Tern

And some for the birders:

Again, tons of Hume's Warblers and some Greenish Warblers too:

Greenish Warbler

Oriental Honey Buzzard - 2cy (female?)

 We had several White-capped (Chestnut-breasted) Buntings, including this male:

We found one day-roosting Indian Scops Owl, and ended the day nicely with this fine Brown Fish Owl:

Heading out soon for a final half-day safari drive, so wish us luck.

Wet and happy

After a few days of easterlies, that did bring a sprinkle of scarce birds to the east coast, last night weather shifted and heavy rain and storms hit the Norfolk coast. This was a day I just had to be out, despite my aching body after the bike accident I had a couple of weeks ago. As I switched on my phone in the morning I saw the message: 'PGTips ringed at Spurn'. Shit. A dream bird to see in the WP, but 4 hours drive and there was no positive news of it after it was released. So after a quick consultation with Dougal, my birding companion for today, and a few more friends, decided to skip and and stick with Plan A - East Hills. I had to accept that this is the closest I would get to a PGTips today:

Yesterday our mate Dave had an Arctic Warbler on East Hills which Dougal needed, and I just wanted to get out there and see some birds. We started walking at 09:30, hoping the tide would drop enough to cut across the deepest creek and save time, but sadly the water was too high still, and we had to walk all the way around along the beach. It was raining hard, the wind picked up seriously, so the walk itself was hard work. Also my dislocated shoulder was killing me - maybe this activity today was a bit too extreme? But our spirits were high as it all looked well for a good arrival of birds.

We got to East Hills and it was still raining hard, but it was evident that there were birds around. From the first line of trees we already had Spotted Flycatcher and a few Willow Warblers. Dougal was keen to look for the Arctic Warbler, but I worked my way across the hills slowly. Along the way I picked up more migrants - Pied Flycatchers, Redstarts, two Tree Pipits and more Willow Warblers. After a short while, while scanning a mixed flock of tits and Goldcrests, I found a Firecrest - fine bird. Sadly it was in the canopy of tall conifers, so no photos. Unlike some of the Goldcrests that foraged very low, possibly because of the howling wind.

By the way, this bird with some grey on the nape looks like a continental bird. See here.

It was a very tough day for photography. Most of the time I daren't get the camera out of the bag because of the heavy rain. And light was..., well there was no light today. And all the better birds I saw today did not play ball at all. But good birds kept on coming. Immediately after Dougal called me to say he had just had a Red-breasted Flycatcher (probably the same one from yesterday) I heard a familiar call, a call I had spent many days listening out for - Greenish Warbler! I knew exactly what it was. It gave several clear calls, and then I located it for a second or two very close to me, maybe 4-5 meters away at eye level - it was in  a small conifer, good views but all too brief. I knew excatly what features to look for. I saw the wingbar well, and the good supercilium meeting above the small bill. It was a relatively bright bird so I assume it is a 1cy. It vanished quickly - the whole tit and goldcrest flock had moved on and the bird was gone. I spent some time trying to relocate it, and was joined by Dougal and Pete (another birder who walked with us out to the hills) but without success. I am really happy with this bird. I saw one a few months ago in Suffolk, but it feels good to find a fresh migrant in a migrant hotspot. 

We continued to work the habitat for a couple more hours. I was mostly searching for the greenish. We saw more Pied and Spotted Flys, Redstarts, one Cuckoo and a few other bits and pieces. I actually saw some fresh migrants falling out of the sky into the trees - pretty cool. There was this miserable Siskin there - it was very wet like all birds today:

Eventually I got brief views of the Red-breasted Fly but it was very shy, like most other birds today, because of the fowl weather. All three of us heard and saw a Yellow-browed Warbler - probably the same bird, and one was there yesterday as well so probably the same as yesterday. The view from the far end of East Hills towards Wells Woods was rather gloomy today. Lots of birds on the mud but I didn't have a scope and my brain was on passerine mode anyway. I did notice some 50-60 Brent on the saltmarsh.

Then the weather became so bad that we hardly saw birds anymore, and we just wanted to get back home. The walk back was again very wet and quite cold - bye bye summer I guess. We got back to the car drenched but rather pleased. It was a good day, with quality and decent numbers. This is very good compared to the rather weak results from nearby strategic points in N Norfolk - Blakeney Point and Scolt Head - very few migrants in both these sites today.

Migrant totals for today 11:00 - 14:00 on East Hills:

10 Pied Flycatcher

5 Spotted Flycatcher

1 Red-breasted Flycatcher

8 Redstart

5 Song Thrush

15 Willow Warbler

10 Chiffchaff

20 Goldcrest

1 Firecrest

1 GREENISH WARBLER

1 Yellow-browed Warbler

2 Blackcap

1 Garden Warbler

2 Tree Pipit

1 Cuckoo

2 Wheatear

30 Swallow

2 House Martin

One embarrassing gap less

Today I cleared one of the largest gaps in my WP list - Greenish Warbler! I went to see the individual that was found yesterday at Gunton in Suffolk, just north of Lowestoft. I don't know who found it but whoever it was - it is a good find - not an easy site to work. Anyway, took advantage of the long daylight (light? not really, something like daydark) hours and drove down there after work. I joined the small group of birders there and very quickly I found it but it showed for about two seconds only, very brief but rather good views. Too brief for a photo. We stood around for another hour or so until it eventually showed for another 4-5 seconds... This time I was ready with my camera and fired off 15 images in 2 seconds... Shit light and it was about 20 m away hence the crap photos. But hey, better than nothing. Sadly it did not call or sing at all. Then I had to go home.

Greenish Warbler (Phylloscopus trochiloides)

Just a small practice for fun. In this image the very rounded wing is apparent, and the important in-hand ID features are visible:

I have a bit of a relationship with Greenish Warbler. Unrecorded in Israel, I was sure I would see it easily in the UK. I arrived in early September 2014 and there was one at Winterton a couple of weeks later, but I didn't have a car yet and knew nobody who could take me. Then about a year ago I missed one on Blakeney Point. Since then almost all my birding efforts in the UK were directed towards this little taiga breeder. I had only Greenish Warbler on my mind. And here it is, safely on my list. Now I need to find one myself.