Stupid me

Yesterday was a long and bird-filled day, that got completely screwed up because I left my memory card at home and my spare card didn't work. Of course, thanks to Mr. Murphy, I had countless photo opps during the day.

In the morning did a lovely breeding atlas box in Lahav Hills, where I could have had such images:

Spectacled Warbler, March 2013

Then I collected five gulls (4 armenians and one yellow-leg) that were treated and rehabilitated at the Wildlife Hospital operated by Safari & NPA. Ringed and released them at Ashdod - still many gulls there, mainly baltics but a splash of others - Heuglin's, Steppe, Caspian & Armenian. They were feeding on the rubbish dump there, where I could have had such images:

Baltic Gulls, March 2010

In the afternoon met up with birders from UK & Holland. Told them about a Black Bush Robin found earlier by Yael Alon at Hazeva, just 20 minutes away. No contemplation - quick change of plans and in no time we got there and were on the bird. It was a lovely female that performed really well. If I had my card with me I could have improved this image:

Black Bush Robin, 2008

It was a lovely night for nightjar monitoring - warm and strong moonlight. Where we started we had 3-4 singing males and another three foraging birds all in one small area. Then we checked several more sites and enjoyed great views and lovely demonstration of foraging activity in moonlight. Could have had such images:

Nubian Nightjar, 2013

Then a quick look for Hume's Owls - we had two males calling at each other amazing views but no images this time, like this one:

Hume's Owl, 2011 

Eilat Festival update - what a day!

Yesterday was a bird-packed day. Hadn't done the day list yet, but I hope the bird racers next week will have such a good time!

My tour began in the late morning, so I started birding solo early. First north beach - lots of Finns and some birds too. The Brown Booby was patrolling along the Jordanian border, one Arctic Skua flew over, Barbary Falcon was after the Garganeys, two Heuglin's Gulls etc.

Brown Booby

Then I quickly checked KM20 saltpans - lots of shorebirds but nothing more exciting than Greater Sand-plover and Marsh Sandpipers. Outside the saltpans had this lovely flock of European Bee-eaters - added much-needed colour to migration: 

Before breakfast quickly checked Ofira Park which was surprisingly good with Semicollared Flycatcher, a few Wrynecks, several Tree Pipits etc.

Semicollared Flycatcher

Wryneck

After breakfast our long-distance tour began. Our first stop was at Yotvata - a Caspian Plover had been fund earlier on by British birders. We got to ths site and all the clients were on the bird quickly. It was a fine male, but it crouched down in the middle of a dry field, and viewing it through heavy heat haze was, well, you know... Here is a poor record shot of him:

While watching the plover good raptor migartion was happening overhead - Steppe and Booted Eagles, Several Lesser Kestrels plus lots of the commoner species.

Steppe Eagle

After Yotvata we drove to Hazeva where we met up with Ayla and Andrew who work there on the babblers. They took us to see a habituated group, which was great. But the main attraction was a pair of Arabian Warblers that showed very well - not the best images I have of them but the views were very good, and again - satisfied clients.

Arabian Warbler

Supporting cast was several desert Finches, Eastern Orphean Warblers, and raptors included two Eastern Imperial Eagles and a stunning male Pallid Harrier.

Desert Finch 

Eastern Imperial Eagle - into the sun - this one had jesses on his legs, must have escaped from trappers

On the way out bumped into this obliging female Namaqua Dove:

Then we drove up to the Judean Desert. We first went into a beautiful wadi. We climbed down before dusk and did some general birding in the wadi, that was fun with typical desert species and tons of raptors coming down to roost on the tall cliffs. After dusk we had a pair of Hume's Owl calling and communicating with each other. Rather early the male flew over our heads and we all had great flight views, and later on we all saw him very well, holding a rodent in his mouth. I was holding the torch (as always) so here is a great phonescoped shot by IBRCE volunteer Bas Kok  - thanks Bas for letting me to use your image here:

Very statisfied we left the wadi, and after dinner we headed down to Neot Hakikar. We arrived there when it was already too cold and dark, so there were no nightjars foraging whatsoever. After a couple of hours of intensive searching we had to give up but just before leaving we enjoyed several singing Nubian Nightjars around us - nice experience (though I'd rather see one than hear three...). However a major bonus was a Pharaoh Eagle Owl that gave several brief views.

The tour ended very late and the clients got back to Eilat very late at night, after a long but satisfying 'Rambo Tour'.

Many thanks to my co-leaders - Naom, Meidad and Paul, and to the IBRCE volunteers for the good company in the car.

Starry starry night

After several days of terrible dust storms, the skies cleared yesterday and one could see the stars at last. I spent the night with my friend Thomas who obtained a permit from NPA to photograph Hume's Owls in the Judean Desert. I was very focused on assisting him to get the best possible results, which was pretty tough after he smashed his flash, hand and knee when he crashed down walking in the wadi, but like a good soldier he wiped the blood off and continued walking. My images aren't as good as his but the experience was breathtaking - we had a lovely pair dueting to each other at a very short distance from each other.

Full moon, new season

Long day yesterday. Started off with some meetings, then checked quickly a nice area north of Beer Sheva. Avner had some Syrian Serins there the previous day but I didn't see them. Some nice spring colours and birds there:

Chukar - they can run...

Then I drove down to Neot Hakikar to coordinate and prepare the coming monitoring season. Drove around the whole saltmarsh to make sure everything's OK there. Saw one Bittern that was too brief to photo. Several Great White Egrets around:

In the evening met up with Andreas and his mates from Denmark. It was an exceptionally warm night, and with a full moon it was very pleasent outside. We checked the mouth of a wadi in the southern judean Desert and had fab views of this male Hume's Owl - fantastic start to the season.

Kites, owls and gulls

Yesterday I joined a tour organized by Yossi Leshem with some leading governement officials, to promote conservtaion and birding in southern Israel via the new government-supported network of bird observatories. It was an interesting group and we had a good time together.

Met up with them in the afternoon at the Dudaim national rubbish dump, in the N Negev. The site hosts about 35,000 Black Kites every winter - they feed mainly on the garbage but cover a huge radius around the dump daily, creating some serious flight saftey hazards. Smelly and noisy experience but still an awesome sight: 

  

In the evening I took them to a remote wadi in the Judean Desert. We tried to see Hume's Owl - we had a responsive male calling back at us instantly, but he never showed himself. It was an inspiring experience neverthelss.

Today I visited the Ramat Gan Safari zoo to collect a rehabilitated gull for release. Checked the regular gull flock that was bigger and more varied than usual today - about 300 gulls, including Armenian, Yellow-legged, Caspian, Siberian, Baltic and Steppe Gulls.

Armenian Gull

Siberian Gull

Caspian Gull

Putative Steppe Gull - dark bluish mantle, small, front-positioned eye, awkward forward-leaning posture, long bill

 One of my ringed Yellow-legged Gulls:

Good night

Had a very enjoyable afternoon - evening - night guiding yesterday. Met up with a mixed international group (Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France and Belgium). On the way down to the Rift Valley i intercepted a huge raptor migration stream - I had to stop and watch for a couple of minutes though I was almost late. Had a couple of thousands of buzzards, with some eagles etc.

Down at neot hakikar we had a really good and relaxed hour before dusk with a nice selection of migrants and resident species - Whinchat, Wryneck, Garganeys, Marsh Sands, Montagu's Harrier, several Clamorous Reeds etc.

After dusk we had good views of Nubian Nightjars, enjoyed by all clients.

After a quick coke stop we headed into a wadi in the Judean Desert. It took us some time but eventually we had great views of a male Hume's Owl, calling and flying. No matter how many times I've seen this bird before, each encounter is truly magical with the combination of desert, moon, sounds and sights. Unfortunately, I'm the one who normally holds the torch during these encounters, so also yesterday I was unable to get an image of the owl. This image is from previous years from the same place, perhaps the same bird. 

Eilat Festival days 6 & 7 - rambo tours!

Got back home late last night - only now I have time to write about the two very intensive but highly rewarding days.

On Monday I led the Dead Sea Rambo tour with Meidad. We left Eilat before dawn, and early morning we arrived at Metzoke Dragot to witness the massive raptor migration there, like Noam had had with his NABU group on previous days. But Mr. Murphy worked extra hard, and we had almost no raptors whatsoever, only some local breeding Eurasian Griffons, Egyptian Vultures and Short-toed Eagles. But there was still some good birding to be done in the area. Nubian Ibex were presnt in good numbers, mainly females and cubs. 

Common desert species such as Fan-tailed Ravens, Scrub Warblers and Trsitram's Starlings preformed well near the village.

Fan-tailed Raven

We then went to the watchpoint overlooking the Darga gorge. We saw two Bonelli's Eagles - an adult male and a 2cy, interacting, flying, landing, collecting fresh nesting material - very good action. On the same hill, as usual, we had a singing male Striolated Bunting. Great stuff.

Striolated Bunting

After a lunch break at Ein Gedi, where we added Rock Hyrax to our mammal list and Bllue Rock Thrush to our bird list, we went to wadi Mishmar. It was hot and rather quiet but still quite a few migrants around.

Noam tipped me off on a purple patch at Heimar reservoir south of the Dead Sea. We arrived there in the afternoon and had a really good time. Very birdy site indeed with some quality stuff. There is a nice colony of Dead Sea Sparrows there - we saw only singing males; I assume the females are on eggs. Such lovely little sparrows.

Dead Sea Sparrow

The bloody camera focused on the wrong bird...

Lots of other good birds there, including Caspian Stonechat, Subalpine Warbler, two Citrine Wags, Clamorous Reed Warbler etc. 

Caspian Stonechat - 2cy male

In the photo above the tail looks completely black, but when he spread the tail much white was evident of TF.

Cretzschmar's Bunting

Before dusk we arrived at Neot Hakikar. We checked a good site where we had three singing Clamorous Reed Warblers. A Golden Jackal was very curious about us. A Pied Kingfisher was hovering against the pink sky. Very special atmoshpere.

Golden Jackal

Pied Kingfisher

After dusk we found Nubian Nightjars very easily and our group enjoyed great views of these rare birds.

Nubian Nightjar

We then headed to a wadi in the Judean Desert where we obtained  a permit to search for Hume's Owls. It was actually super difficult - tough walk in the dark, long search, deminishing adrenalin levels, but eventually presistence and perseverence paid off, and we had breathtaking views of a male Hume's Owl - wow. We returned to Eilat almost 24 hours after leaving, exhausted but very satisfied.

Next morning was one of the most embarassing moments in my birding career. After very little sleep, I woke up at 06:30 from a phone call from two European birders: "we've just found an OBP at imax park". Half asleep I grabbed my bins and camera and headed over. A small crowd assembled, including some of Europe's finset birders. We all watched a perfect Tree pipit, but because we had a pre-conception of OBP, and we were really eager to see a good rarity, we all dismissed the doubts in the back of our heads and said nothing! We discussed the amount of variation in OBP, especially after the bird flew up to a tree and gave a good OBP call, and were all very pleased. Only when I had my first coffee of the morning I understood what an idiot I was after reviewing my images. Lesson learned I hope.

Anyway, later on I checked Ofira park which was better now with Wryneck, two Rueppell's Warblers and quite many other migrants. Around midday there was at last good raptor migration over the city, viewable from my hotel room - my first views of proper raptor migration this week... 

Rueppell's Warbler - adult female

In the afternoon headed north for another rambo tour. On the way out of Eilat got a tip from an English friend  about a day-roosting Pharaoh Eagle Owl just north of Eilat. I found the bird easily thanks to the very percise directions, and later on all Festival tours saw the bird (thanks Chris). Fantastic!

Pharaoh Eagle Owl 

In the afternoon I met the Sunbird group led by Paul French. We checked again the Heimar reservoir site - still very good with little change from the day before. We met up with Jonathan who was with the Festival group, and this time we did the Hume's Owl first, in a different wadi. It worked really well and easy this time - we had extraordinary luck watching a pair interacting, calling, flying back and forth. Wow again.

Then down to Neot Hakikar. Nubian Nightjar was easy again; in and out in a few minutes. Quality birding.

That ended my role in this year's festival. Many thanks to all the festival guests - it was a real pleasure to meet you guys. Special thanks to the festival organizers and co-leaders - Dan, Itai, Jonathan, Meidad, Noam and Yuval.

24

April 7th was a day to remember - one of the busiest and best days of birding I've ever had in Israel. I started off just after midnight. I had a guard duty in my village scheduled for last night. I was dead tired after a heavy Passover meal, and all I wanted to do was to go to sleeep. But instead I converted my guard duty into a night safari. I drove inside and around my village with a spotlight and found Scops and Long-eared Owls, Eurasian Nightjar, Cape Hare, Golden Jackal, Red Fox, and Southern White-breasted Hedgehog. I put a net up and ringed two Scops Owls. During the three hours I was out (00:30 to 03:30), there was non-stop migration of vocal passerines, mainly Ortolans (very big numbers) but also Tree Pipits and Yellow Wagtails. At about 01:30 suddenly I started hearing Nightingales singing from every corner in my village - they must have just landed.

Scops Owl

In the early afternnon I went to have a quick look at the Demoiselle Crane present near Kfar Menachem for almost two weeks now. It was still showing really well but it was very hot so I kept my distance from the bird. What a super bird. Look at that red eye!

Demoiselle Crane - adult

In the late afternoon I met up with three Catalan birders (Ponc , Ferran and Alberto), the IBRCE team (minus Kangoo that had broken down earlier) and Oz with Mrs at Neot Hakikar. We spent the last couple of hours doing some very productive birding. Highlight was Purple Swamp-hen - first record for this site and a good national rarity. In addition we had 10 Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters just before dusk. Nightmare to photograph but such beautiful birds. We saw all diurnal local specialties - Clamorous Reed Warbler, Dead Sea Sparrow and Namaqua Dove.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

After dusk we had very good Nubian Nightjar activity, as expected on such a warm, full moon night. We really had a full moon party going on. We had great views of at least seven birds. All photographers were satisfied, even Ferran (-:  . Later on we even managed to ring one nightjar, and Fabian got his ringing tick.

Tamarisk Nubian Nightjar Caprimulgus nubicus tamaricis

Later at night we checked a beautiful wadi in the Dead Sea region. We had breathtaking views of a male Hume's Owl, calling, flying and giving us quite a show. With the full moon and desert scenery this was an experience to remember. I gave Ferran my lens to use for the night because he managed to divide his own lens into two piecesearlier on. So I will have to settle for memories and images of others.