Megan, Michael and the purple chicken

This morning went birding at Ma'agan Michael (often called Megan Michael by UK birders). Some pretty good birds were reported there in recent days so I was looking forward to a nice morning of birding. It was quite nice indeed but migration was still on the slow side, especially few shorebirds.

I first went to check the Purple Swamphen Lior had found a few days ago. I relocated it pretty fast on the reedy edge of a very birdy fishpond. It showed on and off for some time. In Israel we mostly get the green-backed African form madagascariensis; there are only two Israeli records of the grey-headed Asian form caspius. Lior was there again with a group of kids so I didn't try to get any closer to it and settled with distant views from across the pond.

Lots of terns were feeding on the ponds. Especially big numbers of White-winged Terns, and of course lots of the local breeding Common and Little Terns. Fewer Whiskered Terns and one adult Gull-billed.

Almost all White-winged Terns were adults, in varying stages of moult out of breeding plumage. They have a periodic feeding technique - they forage slowly into the wind. When they reach the end of the pond they fly quickly downwind to the other end and then again slowly make their way upwind, dipping into the water and collecting stuff from the water surface. This makes them rather easy to photograph on the wing. Lovely birds they are.

White-winged Terns

Whiskered Terns

Rather few shorebirds on the beach - 21 Greater Sand-plovers, some Turnstones and Sanderlings. Gulls included Armenian, local breeding Yellow-legged, one 2cy Med Gull, some Black-headed and lots of Slender-billed.

columbinus Greater Sand-plover - they typically moult very early, so now have almost no signs of summer plumage:

Yellow-legged Gull and Common Sandpiper

On the way out noticed this poor Little Grebe hanging from a net protecting the fishponds. First time I see a Little Grebe hanging like this (many years ago had a black-necked at Kfar Ruppin). With the assistance of Asaf I cut it out and released it - damaged wing but hopefully it makes it. This issue of massive nets covering fishponds is being dealt with for about two decades now, but as far as I can see very little has changed on the ground. These nets still kill too many birds every day.

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.

Chicken for breakfast

Had a couple of hours this morning. Was hoping to do some photography (hopefully next week) but woke up to a rainy and cold morning so photography was not possible. Decided to have a look at Yeruham lake. Such a pitty - it was a fantastic site with great habitat and good birds. Everyhting is mucked now and birds were rather few. Still found one nice corner that held many Sedge, Reed and Savi's Warblers, and big numbers of Chiffies. Some Red-rumped Swallows and House Martins above. One Purple Swamp-hen was present - possibly the last survivor of the small population that thrived there for the last decade or so. I am not sure whether it's good or bad to lose them as they were probably feral birds - but impressive birds they are nevertheless.