Eilat day 3 - Holland and Canada

Today I continued with my demanding task to assist teams in their scouting efforts, which actually meant birding in cool spots. Isn't it appropriate that on pre-race date I visited two sites that could be identified with our Dutch team - Team VCF, and Canadian team - The Canucks. First thing in the morning I birded Holland Park together with Mark and Anat. At our hotel doorstep we had a flock of 53 Baltic Gulls fly over on their looooooong migration between Lake Victoria and Finland - the stuff Eilat legend is made of:

Birding Holland Park started somewhat quiet; the Black Bush Robin showed very well close to the entrance but wouldn't play ball.

A gorgeous male Northern Wheatear posed against a dramatic backdrop of Eilat Mts.:

Pretty good numbers of Balkan Warblers:

Sand Partridge - male

Real action was in the Sylvia camp, especially around the Magic Bush - a huge flowering Capparis decidua that attracted many tens of warblers. Most prominent were Rueppell's Warblers - around 10 in that one bush. They are real bullies, constantly harassing all other warblers and each other:

But the real star was Eastern Subalpine Warbler. Two males were in that bush, one of them was a real performer - feeding at extremely close range. What a fantastic bird. I have many more images - a dedicated blogpost will follow.

Eastern Subalpine Warbler - 2cy male

While heading out a flock of five Penduline Tits flew in - so cool to see them away from reedbeds, in a desert wadi. They were very mobile so managed only these record shots.

eBird checklist here.

After lunch I had a quick look in Canada Gardens, where a Semicollared Flycatcher continued to show extremely well. Another top-quality bird. Sadly light was harsh - the promises for Armageddon weather down here never materialised. 

eBird checklist here.

In the afternoon we had a final briefing and swap meet for COTF teams at IBRCE. After the meeting we spent another fantastic hour vis-migging from the dyke - very cool stuff including Little Swifts, Dead Sea Sparrows and many more (but still no oriental cigar).

Two hours till COTF - time to get a bit of sleep...

Urban birding in Merida

In recent days we worked out of Merida, in the outback of Badajoz. Birding has been on the slow side, partly because the habitat is not that good, and partly because the weather has been bad and birds kept low. This morning we got rained on pretty hard, and the forecast was pretty grim for the evening too, so we stayed in Merida. We made the best of a short sunny spell to check the Guadiana river by the roman bridge, right in the center of Merida. It was really good - pretty exciting urban birding. Bird highlights were a few Western Swamphens, and several families of Penduline Tits. The heronry by the bridge has 6 species plus ibis and spoonbill, and quite many birds move up and down the river.

Penduline Tits are among my favourite birds. It can't get much cuter than baby Penduline Tits.

Awwww

I didn't manage a decent photo of the purple chickens - they were surprisingly shy for this busy urban site. A chicken chicken is just about visible on the right here.

A nice surprise was this large Horseshoe Whipsnake (Hemorrhois hippocrepis) chilling out on a rock under the bridge. It must swim pretty well if it got there. Too close for my lens.

Merida's Roman Bridge

Just a random Wild Boar from yesterday, one of five we saw together. Great beasts.

Good autumn ringing

This morning I did my monthly ringing demonstartion at Ashdod. As in my previous visit, ringing was very busy with a great fall of Chiffchaffs and many other species too. We worked hard!
Early in the morning I first heard and then caught this Common Waxbill (another bird was flying around but didn't get caught). Both were certain escapees - they had funny rings on them. This species colonized parts of southern Europe recently, interesting to see whether it does the same here.

Common Waxbill

A nice surprise was this extremely late Barred Warbler (1cy male; most pass through Aug - Sep):

Early in the morning a small flock of seven Penduline Tits was caught - such great birds!

Ashdod ringing

Had a pleasent morning ringing at Ashdod. I had a guided group at 09:00, so I had plenty of time to enjoy the birds and the fine weather today, before the millions of screaming kids arrived.
Birdwise, it seems that winter has settled down, and most migrants have moved on. The commonest birds I ringed were Bluethroat and Chiffchaff, with a few other bits and pieces.
Sweetest birds were two Penduline Tits - part of a small group hanging around:

This Sardinian Warbler felt a bit paler and neater than our local birds - perhaps a migrant?

Other birds seen during the morning were a Bittern (my first for this site), several flyover Siskins and a Wryneck - most probably it will stay for the winter.