Excellent day made even better!

Friday was one of those crazy days... I started early at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory, leading a birding walk for the birding club operated by BirdLife Israel. The JBO was at its best. The pistachio trees are exploding with ripe, juicy fruit and migrants respond. Our walk was very fruitful, with big numbers of common migrants and lots of nice stuff. Biggest numbers of Blackcap and Lesser Whitethroat, also Spotted Flycatchers were present in nice numbers. Several Collared Flycatchers were active - nice to see them in autumn too when they are scarce. 

A day roosting Long-eared Owl showed brilliantly. Not often it shows so well during the day there.

Then I get this WhatsApp message from Yonatan Gordon, a young and super-talented birder, asking: 'Is this what I think it is?':

Bang! Senegal Thick-Knee at Maayan Zvi! I am in Jerusalem with my group, about halfway through our birding walk, and all I really want is to jump in the car a fly to Maayan Zvi. I had a bad history with this species - the first for Israel came when I was in the UK. The second record was in 2021, one and then two birds were in Kfar Ruppin for a couple of weeks but very mobile and unpredictable. I headed up there three times to search for them, without success. It was a painful triple dip. Therefore, I HAD to see this bird. My phone didn't stop ringing, with friends heading off to twitch, asking me if I am joining. No!!! But I kept my calm, committed to my clients at the bird walk as planned, showed all the birds, answered all the questions, shared the necessary information - all very professional. eBird checklist here. But as soon as I could, I jumped in the car and flew as fast as I am legally permitted to Maayan Zvi. 

I talked to friends during my drive, the bird was stationary, not moving much, twitchers were behaving well, for the time being... However, knowing what bizarre birds thick-knees are, I was still tense whether the bird stays or not. I am relieved when I arrive and the bird is still there, not doing much, lying down in the grass on the edge of a half-dry large reservoir. I joined the small crowd assembled, that included the two heroic finders - Yonatan Gordon and Uri Laor. 

The bird was where the white arrow points. Phew. Israel tick (#489 on eBird) and in fact a global lifer. I took in the scope views. What a strange-looking bird - felt very odd and different from Eurasian Thick-knee, strange proportions with a long neck and long tail. The viewing conditions weren't great - the bird was quite distant, horrible temperatures, awful heat haze and annoying wind shaking the scope. Even with those conditions the views were good enough and I could see the important ID features - big, long and heavy bill with restricted yellow at base, plainer upperwing pattern lacking the additional, upper white bar of Eurasian, and unbarred tail. When the bird stood up and started walking the views were better. It preened and opened up its wings several times, exposing the large white patches on primaries, just about visible in this terrible photo:

Check this stupid little video I posted on X, featuring Jonathan Meyrav, Yonatan Gordon and Uri Laor, and the bird. My phone was boiling hot and was half-functioning, so sorry for the funny quality.

@JMeyrav and me fooling around at the Senegal Thick-knee site. Introducing Yonatan Gordon and Uri Laor the finders pic.twitter.com/c6PJQml5I5

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) September 6, 2024

Driving back home, the adrenalin drained out of my system, I looked back at the events of the day - quite something.

No vultures

Over the last few days I have seen many birds, none included rare vultures. On Thursday I was planning to be a bad boy and twitch the Lappet-faced Vulture in Yotvata, but it made a bunk and disappeared. Rather than driving all the way down to Yotvata for nothing, I worked near Ezuz with Jonathan, which was good fun. In the early morning thick fog prevented fieldwork, but as soon as it lifted it became evident that there had been a massive fall of migrants, especially Thrush Nightingales. There were tens everywhere, in very high density. Lovely. Also many Redstart, Masked Shrike, Willow Warbler etc.

The morning was dominated by migrants, though I did find the expected breeding species - bustard, courser and sandgrouse. There was good active migration of swifts and swallows through the morning, providing enjoyable photography subjects as they flew low over the desert.

eBird checklist here.

While waiting for the coffee to boil at nearby Be'erotayim Grove, the roosting Long-eared Owls played ball:

This morning I joined the team at JBO for a rather intensive ringing session. There were many birds around, and good quality too, in the form of River Warbler, many Olive-tree and Barred, a nice fall of Red-backed Shrike, and a few European Nightjars. eBird checklist here.

It was very difficult to stay focused during the ringing when news broke of the White-backed Vulture relocated in the Bet She'an Valley. I couldn't go today, which was nerve wrecking. It was seen to go down to roost in the valley - fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Thursday night live

It's Passover in Israel now, and the kids are on holiday, so as their father I have the duty to entertain them. Trying to fullfil this role in my life, last night we went out camping in the forest behind our village. Nice area - mixed forest surrounded by open fields and some remnants of natural scrubby habitat. As we were setting our tents up, we encountered this unwanted neighbour - he had to relocate to a new residence... Not dangerous to humans but very painful bite.

Large-clawed (AKA Israeli Gold) Scorpion Scorpio maurus fuscus

After dark the forest became alive. Jackals howled, foxes barked, and I had good owl activity: one Long-eared was singing for most of the evening nearby, a distant Eagle Owl was calling too, and a Barn Owl flew over several times. Heard some nocturnal migration - mainly Tree Pipits and Ortolans. It was very nice to have good activity of fireflies - not sure which species but the genus here is Lampyris. Rather early - they usually become active in July - August.

Shrike days

Back home after the fantastic week up on Mt. hermon. In the N Negev it looks like summer already - everything is completely yellow now as all the annuals have dried up. But migration is still in full swing. Israel is experiencing an unprecedented migration wave of Red-backed Shrikes these days. From all over Israel we are receiving reports of outstanding concentrations, many hundreds in some sites. This wave has hit my region as well. This morning I counted shrikes from the car along the 4-km road leading to my village. I reached 124 shrikes, more or less a shrike every 50 m. Most were males - cracking birds. They were accompanied by good numbers of Lesser Grey Shrikes, Whinchats, Willow Warblers and Spotted Flycatchers.

Red-backed Shrikes

Apart for that, these are colourful days, with lots of big and colourful birds near my house. One Squacco Heron chose a nearby lawn as its foraging site for the last couple of days. Several Golden Orioles are hanging around the big fig trees near my sons' kindergarten, darting between the trees. Rollers have returned to their breeding sites and I have quite many pairs near my village. Bee-eaters are still migrating in big numbers, but there is a large breeding colony in a nearby gully.

Long-eared Owl juveniles have started calling in recent nights, giving their high-pitched screech. This morning I heard some calling at noon as well.

Squacco Heron

JBO iz da best!

The JBO is really at it's best these days. An early start produced two goodies - first this fine adult Long-eared Owl:

Yotam is still half asleep:

And then a 2cy male Eurasian Nightjar - what a terrific bird:

It agreed to pose for a minute on a stump before it flew to roost:

Later in the morning a good and varied catch, with birds of note being two Savi's and four Barred Warblers:

This Garden Warbler was nice too:

Other good stuff included a Balkan Warbler, many Sprossers, a few Masked Shrikes and lots of other stuff.

Ashdod bits and pieces

Sunny and cold morning. Set the nets up in the dark, just to discover that the water level is too high and my wellies are of no help... Ringing was pretty slow, as expected for this time of the year when the reeds are dry. Still some nice stuff around - Long-eared Owl at first light, late Masked Shrike and Lesser Whitehroat, Reed Bunting heard and Moustached Warbler trapped late in the morning.
Later, virtually no gulls at the gull site. Seven minutes of seawatching produced a 1cy Kittiwake, 1 Yelkouan Shearwater sitting on the water, and 15-20 Sandwich Terns. Not bad!
Thanks to Re'a, Miri and Shlomo for the help.