5 bars! Eastern Crowned Warbler!

Phew, what a day that was. Yesterday evening the news of an Eastern Crowned Warbler at Bempton Cliffs broke. I had planned a morning's birding with Terry a long time ago, which I didn't want to give up, plus I had stuff to do in the afternoon, so I peacefully (or not?) accepted that I am not going to see this mega bird. So as planned, Nick and I left Norwich early and met up with Terry and Marie at Warham Greens. We walked from Stiffkey almost to Wells. It was, well, alright. There were some thrushes about - mainly song and fewer Redwing, but one brief Ring Ouzel upgraded the thrush quality. Apart for that two Merlins, Peregrine, a large flock of 300 Goldies with no yank. During the morning I got a lift offer to see the warbler, but it was just too complicated for me to go. But then the news of a Black-browed Albatross from Bempton killed me and I had to go. That's it. I cancelled afternoon's plans and met up with Rob. The highlight of the morning, however, waited for us on the track driving out of Warham Greens - this surprising and very tame Snow Bunting:

The 4 hour drive up to Bempton was alright, with news of the warbler still showing pumping us with Adrenalin. We got to the site, greeted some friends there, and waited for the bird to show. It had been absent for some time, and we spent another half an hour or so searching for it. And then it showed - what a magical bird. Phew. Wow. Boom! Besides being a monster WP mega, it is a sweet phylloscopus, very bright and patterned. Clean white below, bold and angular supercilium that reaches back almost all the way to the nape, bright green secondaries and rump, pale legs, that massive, pale-based bill, pale legs... And, oh, that crown stripe. Doesn't it sound like I am in love with this bird? Well yes I am. 

Eastern Crowned Warbler (Phylloscopus coronatus)

Sadly I am not in love with myself as a photographer today. The bird performed as it was expected to - it showed well, on and off, for the next hour or so, feeding actively in good light conditions, low down in the sycamores. But the combination of slow camera and slow photographer resulted in too many blurred, out of focus, badly exposed or simply empty images. I did not 'nail' it as I should have. But c'est la vie. I managed these half-decent shots, that together give a good impression of the bird.

We did not see an albatross today, but there were lots of other birds about. Nearby there was a Greenish Warbler, but we didn't have time to go for it. A few Yellow-browed Warbler and many Chiffchaffs shared the same grove by the carpark. There were Redwing and Brambling flying around. Great stuff.

Hats off to David Aitken, RSPB Bempton Cliffs reserve manager. He found the bird, and his welcoming and friendly attitude made everyone's experience brilliant. Thanks David! And many thanks to Rob for the lift and driving.

Poll: birding or cherry-picking?

I had a week of torture. I sat in front of my computer at work, watching all those rarity reports pouring in from Norfolk, and I just couldn't get out until today. So today I had to decide what to do - to try and check an area with habitat to try and find my own birds, or go cherry-picking? What would you do? And there were many cherries to pick in Norfolk yesterday and today: 2 Red-flanked Bluetails, 3 Daurian Shrikes, Blyth's Reed Warbler, several Pallas's, Radde's, Hume's and Dusky Warblers, Olive-backed Pipit and a few other bits and bobs. That's an impressive line-up! I guess for the blog it would be wiser if I got great shots of these rarities, that I could promote on social media. But eventually I decided to go and try my luck in finding something new. I just know I wouldn't enjoy spending a full day chasing after long-staying rarities (that I don't 'need'). As I left home in Norwich a flock of 120 Redwings flew over, so my expectations were pretty high. I headed out to my regular hunting ground - walked from Stiffkey Campsite almost to Wells and back. The wind was too strong today which kept the birds silent and not very active away from the few sheltered spots. In the sheltered spots it was clear that there were huge numbers of Goldcrests - many new arrivals, feeding in less-than-optimal habitats, and some jumping right by my feet. I quite like this photo - the blackberries and the spider web:

They are just lovely aren't they? Can't have enough of them

In the campsite woods there was one Yellow-browed Warbler and a Firecerst with the goldcrest flocks. I then started walking west. After a short while I bumped into the Great Grey Shrike but it kept its distance and was very mobile, so no images. There were many thrushes in the trees and bushes, but because of the strong wind they refused to move out of bushes so I guess my estimate of 150 Redwings between Stiffkey and Garden Drove is conservative. There was one Ring Ouzel and one Fieldfare with them. Another Yellow-browed Warbler was somewhere halfway, and I heard and saw briefly the Pallas's Warbler at Garden Grove. It showed badly in the canopy of the large sycamores there, no photos either. There were many finches as well, about 15 Brambling. Other birds of interest were 2 Redstart and 2 Lesser Redpolls.

Lesser Redpoll

Only Brents showed nicely today, shame the light was crap. Large numbers already, and also several hundred pinkfeet were seen today.

After I was done I had time for a very quick look in Wells Woods. I couldn't bother chasing the rarities there - there were too many birders around, some running - not my cuppa birding. So I birded off the main track for a bit, more thrushes etc. and I bumped into the Hume's Warbler without planning to - heard it calling and it showed badly high up in the trees. 

And the commonest migrant is: Ring Ouzel!

Went birding today at Winterton Dunes NNR. I knew weather was not good for migrants but I did expect a bit more than what I had. The commonest migrant was Ring Ouzel... I had two very shy and mobile group - first three females (I think) and then another group of six males. Next migrant was Swallow with six. Other than that very little - not even a Wheatear. On the sea 8 Arctic Terns and one latish Red-throated Diver. 

Three Adders snuck away in the heather - no photos of them either but found this impressive intact skin:

Seawatching

  

Skyfull of skylark song - that's always nice

  

I always like Stock Doves - maybe because they're rare in Israel

UEA Rouzel

Had a tough day at work. The sun was out, I could hear Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps singing out of my office window, and the young undergrad birders kept sending messages about migrants and stuff. After lunch I gave in and went for a short walk around the broad. At last some migrants around - several Willow Warblers, a Garden Warbler found earlier by Michael, and Sand Martins. About an hour later Michael and Drew found a Ring Ouzel on campus - not surprising with all those reported in Norfolk in recent days, but nice find anyway. I couldn't resist another dose of sunshine and headed out for a quick mini-twitch. Nice female thing, was rather skittish but showed OK for short periods. Too quick for phonescoping though.

Radde's Madz

Had a super day birding with James Lowen along the N Norfolk Coast. After yesterday's terrible weather, there was a nice fall on the coast and some good birds were found yesterday afternoon. James picked me up early and we left Norwich before dawn with high expectations, that were boosted by lots of calling Redwings and Song Thrushes over the city.

Our first port of call was Warham Green, where yesterday's bluetail wasn't relocated. We birded the hedgerows for a couple of hours. Big numbers of migrants around - not a huge fall but very good numbers of Goldcrest, Robin, Blue Tit, and many many thrushes, especially Redwings. Some large flocks of pinkfeet flew out of the saltmarsh as we arrived, there were many Bramblings mixed with all the finches around, Woodcock, and we had 2-3 Red Kites flying around. Good, solid birding, but we were really keen to find something good ourselves (like a Radde's Warbler...). At first nothing. Then I heard a Yellow-browed Warbler. Then we saw another. Then I had brief views of a Little Bunting perched on top of a bush with some Reed Buntings. It ducked down and out of view. We searched for it and saw or heard nothing, so I was getting worried that I hallucinated, but luckily later on it was seen by others. Pheew. 

Pink-footed Geese

Redwing

Brambling

Reed Bunting (not little)

Eurasian Sparrowhawk

Another nice one was a Ring Ouzel, about halfway between Warham and Stiffkey Campsite. We birded in that direction to see a / the Red-flanked Bluetail that was found at the eastern side of the wood. We had lousy views of it, poor bird, there were far too many twitchers walking around its patch and making so much noise - the bird was high in the canopy of the Sycamores there, and wouldn't come down to where it wanted to be. Also here was a Yellow-browed.

Ring Ouzel - best shot ever

Redstart

After we had enough of the shameful twitch that evolved there, we continued on to Wells Woods. We parked the car and while having a coffee by the car two Yellow-brows were calling around the carpark, and this 2cy Med Gull hawked for insects above us:

We searched for the Radde's that was found there earlier on (not by us!), nevertheless it was good to see it - a welcome WP tick for me.

Radde's Warbler 

Again, I was really disappointed by how some twitchers behaved. Some idiots really paid no respect towards other birders on site, or towards the bird. Again, it was badly harassed and was clearly stressed. 

We birded the area for a couple more hours, and found nothing too special. Also here there were big numbers of migrants, especially thrushes. But what was really incredible was the Yellow-browed warblers - we had at least 6 or 7 there, casually flying around. Very cool. 

Redwing

Mistle Thrush

We ended the day at Holkham Pines, that failed to produce anything more exciting than a couple more Yellow-browed Warblers, bringing our daily total to over 10! Not bad.

Turkey day 2 - Ağri Daği - no valley too deep, no mountain too high

Our second day (21st June) began with a rush - we found out that Turkey didn't discover the advantages of Summer Time, and when we woke up at 04:00 there was good light already... We drove from Iğdir via Aralik to the small village of Yenidoğan ( 39.775916° N  44.380396° E). In the plains below the village there were many larks, including Horned and Lesser Short-toed, Finsch's Wheatear and singing Tawny Pipits.

Tawny Pipit

Our main target bird Caspian Snowcock - this high-altitude chicken is difficult to see in Van region, but Emin told me it's possible... Ağri Daği, AKA Mt. Ararat, is one of the few sites in Van region for this species. This is the highest peak in the Middle East, at 5104 m. A very impressive peak indeed. Climbing it reminded me of the period I spent up in the Himalaya some years ago.

We started ascending from the village which is at about 1750 m. The sky was grey and it was very cold. In the village we had a male Semi-collared Flycatcher. As we started walking it began drizzling, and then raining, and then raining hard. Climbing the mountain with my heavy camera gear in the rain was not much fun. After not too long we decided to descend back down to the car - the weather really looked grim, but then the rain stopped for a while and we decided to give it a go. Above the village there's nice habitat with scattered rosebushes - good for White-throated Robins and of course Black-headed Buntings. BHB were possibly the commonest birds on our trip, and their song was for sure the soundtrack of the trip.

In this beautiful valley, and especially above the tree line, at about 2000 m, there were many breeding pairs of Iranias, including a nice nest we found with eggs.

White-throated Robin

Light conditions were quite awful. I had to shoot on ultra-high iso. Thank god for Topaz DeNoise... 

There were lots of good birds above the tree line - Ring Ouzels and Mistle Thrushes, one brief male Armenian Stonechat, saw our first Alpine Choughs etc. At this altitude we had quite many Western Rock Nuthatches. They look so different compared to ours here in Israel. Is this ssp. rupicola?

Western Rock Nuthatch

The next stretch in our climb was pretty tough, scrambling up a narrow, boulder-strewn gorge. finally we climbed up to a nice valley, that had many birds in and around it, at about 2300 m. For some moments the clouds opened up a bit and we could partly see the peak, but soon it became dark and very wet again... 

Present in good numbers at this altitude were these total gems - Red-fronted Serins. They are rare winter visitors to N Israel, so for us they were really special. Such fantastic little birds, they allowed very close views and if light was better I could have had some winning images... but I cannot complain. 

Red-fronted Serins

Female in the center

Males

Male (left) and female (right)

 Female

Mixed with them were some Twite: 

Rock Buntings are also common everywhere in E Turkey:

From 2300 m and up we started seeing Radde's Accentors. They were feeding young, and many males were still singing. It took me some time to realize that their song is almost identical to that of Black Redstart. It was very windy at this altitude, so the recording didn't come out very impressive I'm afraid:

Radde's Accentor

A pair of lammergeiers patrolled over the valley. At one moment Amir was pretty knackered and lay down in the grass to rest for a short while. One of the Lammergeiers made a quick U-turn and came down to check Amir out - 90 kg aren't too heavy for them I reckon... Also a pair of Golden Eagles breeds somewhere there - they were cruising around too. I am sure that their main food is the abundant Asia Minor Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus xanthoprymnus) - pretty numerous in the highlands.

Lammergeier 

On the big cliffs big flocks of choughs were seen - mainly Alpine but also some Red-billed Choughs. At about 2700 m we had a pair of Alpine Accentors, and then we just climbed and climbed as much as we could in the steep gorge, stopping every few minutes under a boulder to shelter from the rain, and also to catch our breath - the altitude certainly affected us. I played snowcock calls in full volume, we scanned the cliffs and both slopes very hard. At one time I heard a bird responding - my heart almost leaped out of my chest - but it was too high above the cliffs, in the plateaus above the herd-line, and we were unable to see it. Apart for this one-time vocal encounter we didn't see any snowcocks. But the experience of being so high up, the thin air, mighty peaks surrounding us, was really powerful.

 Looking back down the valley, from about 3100 m... 

 High-altitude birding - Gidon

Slightly disappointed by not connecting well enough with the snowcock, but very pleased with all the other good birds we saw, we started descending back. We climbed up to a grassy plateau, where walking down was much easier than in the rocky valley. And of course as we started descending the sun came out and the weather became great. Fo the first time we had stunning views of the peak:

Fewer birds were seen on the grassy plateau, mainly because of the very intensive presence of large herds, their herders carrying hunting rifles, surrounded by mighty dogs, so obviously wildlife is scarce in the area heavily grazed. Still we had quite many larks and some more Ring Ouzels.

Eurasian Skylark - ssp. armenica

Horned Lark - ssp. penicillata, male

Horned Lark, ssp. penicillata, female

 

When we got back down to the plains, totally exhausted by the long and tough trek, the view of the two peaks - Büyük (big) Ağri Daği on the right and Küçük (little) Ağri Daği was breathtaking.

To conclude, it was a great day filled with quality birding, but failing to see our main target bird was disappointing. For those who want to see snowcocks at this site, you need to climb much higher than we did, mainly to avoid the herds and their herders, that are a big problem for wildlife up there. One alternative is to start walking very early from Yenidoğan and climb up the grassy plateau rather than up the gorge (there are several walking trails used by the herds climbing up from the village), and reach about 3500-3700 m, above the cliffs and higher than the herds. Birding along the walk up would be less rewarding, but chances for snowcock would be higher. Another alternative would be to climb up from Yenidoğan and camp at about 3500 m, on the grassy slopes. I guess chances for snowcock are best early in the morning, before the herds reach up there. I know nothing about safety issues in that region, i.e. how safe it would be to camp up there. Doing it the way we did offers good birding opportunities up the gorge, but chances for snowcock are lower.

We spent the night at Golden Hill Hotel in Doğubayazit - excellent hotel!