Nomads

As part of my breeding bird atlas work duties, on Saturday I visited with Jonathan a wonderful, pristine desert wadi deep in the Arava desert. Our target was larks: In previous years with above-average rainfall like this year, this wadi hosted rare nomad breeding larks, especially Thick-billed and Arabian Dunn's. We arrived there at first light, and were greeted immediately by the sweet, melancholic song of Hoopoe Lark as soon as we stepped out the the car. A highlight of desert birding in Israel in my opinion. Before sunrise we had brief views of a lark with a dark tail - could it be Dunn's? Too brief, to be sure. But as we walked on and covered more ground, we found a pair on the ground, the male singing and displaying - boom! They were not easy to document, very shy and mobile. I managed to get a rubbish record digiscoped video - here are two videograbs:

During the morning we had in total 5-6 singing males. Great to have them back - no breeding in Israel since 2015. Following our observation, singing males were found also by Itai and Meidad at a few more sites in the Arava and Negev, and there's an influx going on in northern and central Israel. Interesting to see how this season unfolds - whether this will develop into a serious breeding event or not. Where we visited, breeding density wasn't as high as in the famous 2010 breeding event. Hopefully, despite lockdown limiting our ability to explore desert regions, we will be able to get a better understanding of the scale of this event.

1/2 There's an influx of Arabian (Dunn's) Lark in Israel currently. Despite #lockdown limiting field efforts, breeding pairs were found in several regions of Negev & Arava. Additionally, there are already 5 records in recent days in N & C, incl Med Coast. Photo by Rotem Agmon pic.twitter.com/nKOZ6cgNz6

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) April 7, 2020

There were many other larks present, including Temminck's, Bar-tailed and Lesser Short-toed .Unlike the rather shy Dunn's, Hoopoe Larks were super active. We found seven breeding pairs, including confirmed breeding - highest density of this rare breeding lark I have ever seen in Israel. Because of their sensitivity, I gave them space and avoided close encounters, so not the greatest photos.

Compilation of a displaying male, sadly the camera lost focus on descent

Same photo uncropped - a bit of habitat

Thank you, BE

On August 13th, while I was in the UK, the first White-throated Bee-eater for Israel (and 3rd for WP) was found north of Eilat by Sara Deutch and the Shiff couple. During my stay in the UK I was biting my nails constantly. Will it stay? Every morning I switched my phone on, and every morning the news came through that it was still present. I kept all my 20 fingers crossed tightly, and indeed on the day of our flight back, yesterday, it was still there. I arrived back home at 23:00 last night, after a long journey. Kids needed food, showers, bed-time stories etc., I unpacked my birding gear and after a short snooze headed out at 02:30. Met up with Rony, Re'a and Tamar, and together we cruised through the night to arrive at dawn on site, west of KM20 saltpans. A few more birders assembled, and we started searching the vast area for the star bird. For the first couple of hours there was no sign of it, and I was getting worried - several of my friends had tried for it multiple times and failed. Was it going to be a dip? Then, luckily, Re'a and Tamar had it briefly in flight. A short while later I saw the smallish bee-eater briefly in flight too - so mobile! But phew: lifer, WP and Israel tick under the belt. I was keen to get better views and maybe even a photo, but it kept disappearing and was lost again for another hour or so. Eventually Eran, Tuvia et al. found it foraging deep inside a date plantation, where we all had fantastic views. What a cracker! We watched it for a while, happily catching wasps and bees very efficiently, then let it be.
Seeing such a rare bird so well was a real treat. I feel very grateful that this African gem waited especially for me - thank you, much appreciated.

White-throated Bee-eater - first for Israel

Even after almost two weeks on site, the bee-eater attracts quite a lot of international interest. My Twitter and Facebook BOC posts performed rather well:

Thank you Mr. White-throated Bee-eater for doing the decent thing and waiting for me pic.twitter.com/53KKIBLDsG

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) August 24, 2019

Of course the bee-eater was not the only bird we saw. While searching for the bee-eater I bumped into the equally long-staying Hypocolius. I saw it at some distance, into the sun, so no photos but always a quality bird to see. A quick drive around the saltpans produced Hoopoe Lark, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Citrine Wagtail and actually lots of migrant passerines in the plantations and scrub, including Lesser Grey Shrike. All in all a respectable 69 species - check our eBird checklist here.

Hoopoe Lark

Lesser Grey Shrike - don't worry, it's not a scapular patch, just a photo artifact produced by strong sun glare:

I had to return home early, so we headed back before noon. Driving through the Negev, I spotted a large raptor circling over the road - Golden Eagle! We had rather pornographic views of the beast, presumably a male, eyeballing us - fantastic experience.

Too close!

Many thanks also to Rony, Re'a, Tamar, Tuvia, Shachar and all the other birders who shared this special morning with me.

Birding coldspots - birding hotspots

Left home in the middle of the night and went with Meidad to check one of the most important sites in the Arava valley for Hoopoe Lark and other larks. In previous years it was an amazing site - check this report from 2010 for instance. So expectations were high, especially after the good winter rain. But in fact we had an amazingly quiet morning. In about two hours of birding we had only 6 birds(!): two Asian Desert Warblers, two Brown-necked Ravens, one Bar-tailed Lark and one Hoopoe Lark - heard it several times and glimpsed it once. I have no idea why it was so dead. There is some germination in the wadi, and some bushes are in flower, and weather was OK. I do hope that in my next visit things will look better. Driving in, before dawn, we had one cute Lesser Egyptian Jerboa.

Asian Desert Warbler

After a couple of hours we wanted to go somewhere with birds. So we went to Hameishar Plains  - it was very good there, just by the road. Highlight was four pairs of Cream-coloured Coursers, busy courting and copulating. In addition, large numbers of Trumpeter Finches, Chiffchaffs and Isabelline Wheatears, and some Rueppell's Warblers too. Mammals included seven Wild Ass and some dorcas gazelles.

Rueppell's Warbler - male

Trumpeter Finch - male

Isabelline Wheatear - male singing

On the way back home I spotted a Griffon soaring low over the road south of Be'er Sheva, quite unusual there. I took some images - it's ringed of course. According to data provided promptly by Ohad Hatsofe (NPA), this individual hatched prior to 2001, was ringed in 2005 in the Judean Desert, and was last resighted in 2011. Thanks Ohad.

Eurasian Griffon

I had a quick look at the Yellow-browed Warbler found by Avner Rinot almost two weeks ago on the outskirts of Beer Sheva - it was rather shy and skulky, perhaps due to the strong wind and high temperatures. Good bird nevertheless.

Not Alaemon, Irania!

This morning I surveyed with Meidad my favorite wadi of the central Arava. This site was very productive during previous years when I did my atlas survey there - see some examples here and here. We left home rediculously early and arrived on site at first light. First it was pretty cold and we saw nothing. Then it warmed up a bit and we still saw nothing. Then it got pretty hot and we still saw nothing. Eventually I heard a distant Hoopoe Lark singing, and had a pair of Bar-tailed Larks, plus some migrants, but that was it more or less. Very disappointing. I don't know exactly what the reason was for this poor show. Again it was a very dry winter there, with no germination of annuals at all in spring, thus this breeding season must have been very poor. However I was expecting a bit more. Maybe it was just one of these days that birds don't want to play.

We left the remote wadi in mid morning and started heading back home, both of us totally knackered both physically and mentally. We phoned Barak & Oz who were birding nearby at Neot Smadar. In an amazing act of prophecy, I asked Barak to find an Irania within the next few minutes before we reached a junction leading us away from Neot Smadar. Six minutes later - text from Barak: "Irania. too late?". I made a U-turn and we headed south to Neot Smadar. We got onto the bird quite quickly - it was a lifer for Meidad and a good bird neverthless. Perhaps not as exciting as in Hartlepool but still a great bird to see - large and charismatic with that big black tail. This species breeds in very small numbers on Mt. Hermon, but is always more exciting to watch as a rare migrant in the south. Many thanks to Barak & Oz for the quick info and directions.

White-throated Robin - female

The place was packed full with birds: during the ten minutes we were there we saw many B&W flycatchers, nightingales, buntings, shrikes, pipits and of course millions of Blackcaps. Several Crag Martins worth noting. Good passage of Honey Buzzards and levants overhead. But I was dead tired so we gave up on birding and made the long way back home.

Oh nana what's my name?

Oh, I'm so funny... I just had to use this amazing pun before our nana's (Asian Desert Warbler) leave us for some godforsaken desert in southern Russia. And thanks to Rihanna for her poetry...

Yesterday I had a long and eventful day with lots of good birds, so let's begin:

My first mission for the day was an atlas box in the remotest part of the Arava. Last year it was one of the best boxes, and this year it did not disappoint even though the area did not receive one single drop of rain. As I got out of the car I heard the distant, beautiful song of a Hoopoe Lark, and then saw the couple. Still not in full breeding activity but certainly looking good, the male gave some short display flights. Next song I heard was of a Temminck's Lark - I had a male perched on a distant bush, with a female running around on the ground near him. Later I saw two more pairs. Fantastic birds!

Temminck's Lark

I had a distant pale shrike perched on a bush. I started walking towards it, it flew further away, I kept on walking and it kept its distance from me. I had to run a kilometer back to the car to get my scope and clinch the ID - Steppe Grey Shrike! Good bird in nice summer plumage. No images I'm afraid. My pulse was just returning to normal when I heard a familiar song from high up in the sky - black tail - Dunn's Lark! I was very happy to see it; I wonder if it stays to breed even though the ecosystem is so dry. Unfortunately for all of you foreign birders coming to Israel, this site is deep inside a firing zone and impossible to reach without 4X4, so keep looking for them in easier sites...
Soon afterwards I had four Asian Desert Warblers together - such great little birds. They seem to be on the move now with more birds being seen in recent days.

I had quite many Rueppel's Warblers and one Subalp. They are getting their foreheads covered in yellow pollen from Ochradenus baccatus bushes - the ultimate sylvia bush:

Rueppel's Warbler

Interestingly I had only females:

This male Dorcas Gazelle was rather tame:

After I was done for the morning I started heading north. On the road near En Yahav I stopped to check a dead bird on the road - it was a Pied / Cyprus Wheatear! Unfortunately too squashed to identify...

I went to Hazeva fieldschool for a short siesta. As I got back to the car, very refreshed, I saw this dark wheatear flying away - Cyprus Wheatear! This is how females look like - very dark brown rather than jet black, very dark crown and very warm underparts:

The northern Arava received some rain and has some nice desert bloom. Cistanche tubulosa is a very impressive geophyte:

I headed to Kikar Sdom to meet up with Thomas and his wife, from Germany. Driving up I noticed that the visibility was exceptionally good and the air was crystal clear, so I couldn't resist taking a photo of this beautiful landscape:

Our Nubian Nightjar tour was very successfull as always, and I was happy to call it a day and make my long way back home.

Rare larks in mid-summer !?!?!

This morning I visited one of the most productive atlas boxes in the Arava together with Jonathan. We went there with very careful optimism, as we assumed that all breeding larks will have dispersed by now. But in fact we were surprized by the terrific lark activity. Most species were still feeding young of their third breeding cycles - quite amazing for the normally hyper-arid Arava. We had good conditions - bearable temperatures and no wind.
I must admit that most birds were in quite ugly plumage - either juveniles in post-juvenile moult, or adults in post-breeding moult.

Best larks of the morning were Thick-billed Larks - we had at least one pair; the female was flying around with food, so I guess it had juveniles waiting for it somewhere in the adjacent hills. I did not manage to get any images of them unfortunately. This is REALLY late for these extreme nomads.

We had two or three Hoopoe Larks. We got good views of a female feeding a juvenile, and another flying bird which might have been a third individual. This is the female, looking for insects in small bushes. Not very attractive, is it?

Hoopoe Lark

We had a very mobile group of six juvenile Temminck's Larks. To my best knowledge they did not breed there, rather somewhere higher up in the Negev. All I managed to get out of them were these poor record shots.

Temminck's Lark - juvenile

The commonest bird present was Bar-tailed Lark. We had over 30 individuals, most were juveniles moving around in small groups. This must have been a super breeding season for this scarce species.

Bar-tailed Lark

Some of the juveniles were very inquisitive and walked right up past the close-focus distance of my lens:

We had also one male Desert Wheatear - again an ugly moulting bird.

Desert Wheatear

I had no Dunn's Larks this time but Jonathan had three possible birds moving about. Other good birds were 2 Crowned and 2 Spotted Sandgrouse, and on the way out two families of Hooded Wheatears.

It ain't over till it's over!

What a fantastic day! Who said spring ended?

Early in the morning I revisited an Arava atlas box, on a mission to confirm breeding of Dunn's and Hoopoe Larks I found there on my previous visit.

The morning began well with an impressive wolf running along a wadi.

Wolf

Soon the air filled with lark song. First were several Bar-tailed Larks, but soon they were joined by a dawn chorus of Dunn's Larks. I was happy to find this newly-fledged juvenile on the deck, though it was pretty distant hence the crap images. I think this is one of the very few ever documented, in Israel for sure.

Dunn's Lark - juvenile

I had four singing and displaying males. They spent much time singing from the ground.

Two males were constantly singing in each other's faces, chasing each other and basically being very annoying:

After having enough of each other they did some aerial song and display:

I saw no females. Could they be on eggs again? 3rd cycle?!?!

While watching the dunns, I heard the beautiful song of Hoopoe Lark not too far away, and soon I connected with a family - male, female and two juveniles. The male was singing and displaying intensively, but still had time to collect food for the babies:

This is one of the juveniles - so sweet:

Interestingly, one of the juveniles (a male?) constantly followed the father, and imitated his display, performing its' own short display flights. Here the juvenile can be seen observing the father:

After my mission was accomplished, I drove down to Eilat for some birding. I began with a very easy twitch of the Red Phalarope that was found at the IBRCE on Friday. It took me exactly two seconds to locate the bird - it was by far the ugliest bird in the pond. But still a good rarity! It refused to get close and I was too lazy to get my feet wet, so these images are large crops:

Here it is with it's pretty sister - Red-necked Phalarope. There were about a dozen present.

A short visit to North Beach was quite unproductive - it was late and hot and virtually birdless. The only birds of note were a Eurasian Curlew going north and this Reef Egret:

KM20 saltpans were quite birdy. The commonest shorebirds were Ruff and Wood Sandpiper with several hundreds each.

Wood Sandpiper

There were about 200 White-winged Terns, typically collecting insects from the water surface. By this time light conditions were terrible and I couldn't get any decent shots of this lovely bird.

This one was watching porn:

9 Little Terns were nice:

And it is always nice to see Glossy Ibises away from sewage canals and rubbish dumps: