Baby boom

Yesterday morning I went with Amir up to Bul'an Valley, one of the most magical spot in Israel. This high-altitude valley, over 2000 m asl, hosts some of the best breeding birds in Israel and is one of my favourites.

Panoramic view before climbing down into the valley, on the right. Syria on the left

This site is off-limits to civilians because of it's security sensitivity - it's practically on the border with Syria and the military won't have civilians roam there. Lucky me, with my job I get special access to these sites, escorted by the military. We were there in preparations for a large breeding bird survey next year. I haven't visited there since May 2014. May to early June is certainly the optimal season for a visit there - we were a bit late. There were many recently-fledged chicks of all species, but they were mobile, the males were quieter and in general it felt like we missed the party by a bit. But all in all it was a fantastic early morning - well worth the 02:00 departure...

The biggest ornithological importance of the Bul'an Valley is the concentration of White-throated Robins - probably more than anywhere else on the mountain (and in Israel). We saw two families, but they were very shy and mobile, and I didn't manage even a record shot. Very different from previous late April-early May visits when the males were showing off properly.
This is their breeding habitat - scattered oak, Montpellier Maple and Pine Scented Rose bushes on open hillsides. Upcher's Warbler families were also seen here - again no photos this time.

Horned Larks were seen in smaller numbers than expected - I guess they have dispersed already. This sweet baby showed nicely early on:

There were many families of Northern and Eastern Black-eared Wheatears - the most prominent birds in the valley. This is a baby Northern Wheatear.

Large numbers of Linnet and Syrian Serin were moving around - many young still fed by their parents. This is the lesser known plumage of Syrian Serin - juvenile:

On a Montpellier Maple bush

Several semirufus Black Redstart families were seen - didn't manage the parents. This is another big baby.

A few families of Red-backed Shrike breed in the valley too:

This male was photobombed by this day-flying tigermoth that was super abundant - Amata mestralii

Rock Sparrows breed late, and were still feeding chicks inside crevices:

No singing males heard, but a single recently-fledged Pale Rockfinch/Hill Sparrow/Pale Rock Sparrow came in to drink in a small puddle:

As well as more Syrian Serins (this is an adult male), and few buntings (Rock, Black-headed and Cretzschmar's).

Tawny pipits were very active singing and displaying, and I saw also one female carrying food. This male is descending from a high-altitude song flight.

When the sun went up, lots of insects became active, and lizards too. Very common was the endemic Lacerta kuzleri - can't find it's English name:

 Half-tail

Full tail

I had little time and focus for butterflies, though this site is one of the most exciting in Israel for butterfly enthusiasts. I photographed these, including luckily some endemics:

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Mt. Hermon Fritillary (endemic)

Large Wall Brown

Mt. Hermon Juno Blue (Polyommatus j. juno) - endemic subspecies

Almost-sharp Hummingbird Hawkmoth nectaring on a Centranthus longiflorus bush

eBird checklist for Bul'an Valley here - so much quality, and no invasive species!

After we were done with the bird counts we roamed a bit along the highest peaks of the Israeli section of Mt. Hermon, exploiting our military pass - fantastic vista of the Syrian section, still some snow left:

Many thanks to Amir for great company and lots of driving. Special thanks to Avner for help in butterfly and plant ID.

Hermon day 3 - touching the sky

Day 3 of the Hermon survey was fantastic again. The high elevations are so cool. We spent most of the day above 2000 m. Early in the morning we checked the ridges near the upper cable station that were very good. Later on we went down into Bol'an Valley, that is rarely visited by civilians as it is very close to the Syrian border. It was very beautiful and special in the valley but birds were fewer than early in the morning.

By far the most dominant species was Northern Wheatear - we had about 60 breeding pairs in amazing density. They were just all over the place, many of them already with active nests.

Northern Wheatear - ssp. libanotica, 2cy male

Woodlarks were also present in good numbers, with about 20 territories recorded. The males were very vocal. Did you know that Woodlarks have the underwing pattern of a Swainson's Thrush?

Rock Sparrows breed in any kind of crevice - this pair nests on the wall surrounding the cafe of the upper cable station:

On the lower slopes Rock Buntings were present in good numbers, singing and nest-building, like this male with a bill-full of nesting material:

We scored pretty well with high-altitude specialties. We had about 8 pairs of Horned Larks, and three pairs of Crimson-winged finches. The finches were very mobile and difficult to photograph. In fact I had hard time photographing today, nothing really came close.

Crimson-winged Finch - so distant but so pretty!

Horned Lark - ssp. bicornis

Other highlights included four pairs of Rock Thrush, two pairs of Spectacled Warbler, one flyover Hill Sparrow (Amir) and many more. However we couldn't find Irania and Upcher's Warbler - perhaps too early this high up. Hope to improve that on our next visit in June.

I am not a flower expert but there were some beautiful flowers up there. Sun's-eye Tulips flower here two monthes later than in the N Negev.

Many thanks to Lior and Amir for their hard work and company this morning.

Spring alive!

As I have mentioned earlier on, we're doing a breeding atlas in 'Batha' habitats (barren, rocky slopes) this spring. today I did an atlas box at Mt. Amasa, N of Arad. As I have also mentioned before, this is one of my favourite birding sites in March. Arrived very early and was greeted by a superb dawn chorus - Woodlarks, Linnets, Eastern Black-eared Wheatears, Rock and Hill Sparrows. When there was enough light I started walking the slopes. I found some species pretty advanced in breeding: Spectacled Warblers with fledglings, Rock Sparrows and Little Owls with active nests.

Spectacled Warbler - male

Spectacled Warbler on Phlomis platystegia bush

Phlomis platystegia is a dominant bush in this area, though it has a rather restricted range. Such pretty landscape.

Eastern Black-eared Wheatears were very active; I had 14 singing males - very good density. They are amazing mimics. I saw no females at all. Incubating?

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

Still some Finsch's Wheatears around - I had four males and this female:

Finsch's Wheatear - female

Other interesting breeding species I had were Long-billed Pipit (pair), singing Eurasian Cuckoo, singing Cretzschmar's Bunting, three pais of Rock Sparrows, four singing Hill Sparrows, four pairs of Little Owl (nominates), two pairs of Scrub Warblers, breeding Blue Rock Thrush - very good species composition in this special habitat.

Scrub Warbler

They are cool little birds aren't they?

Not too many migrants around; 4-5 Rueppel's Warblers represented a good migration wave through S Israel these days.

Rueppel's Warbler

Eyed Tulip (Tulipa agenensis)

Palestinians crossing the border to poach herbs from the Nature Reserve create a serious conservation concern. They are mainly after Gundelia tournefortii, which has entered our Red List as a result of this poaching.

Nearby, at Tel Arad NP, Gilead Irises (Iris loessicola) are flowering.

In the afternoon I located a HUGE locust swarm on my way to Noam's kindergarten., some minutes away from my house. I was in a hurry and had no camera with me... but it was an amazing sight.

Windy slopes

This morning I went to survey the slopes of Mt. Amasa, near Arad. It's the southern tip of the central mountain range of Israel, and it's quite high - about 900 m ASL. This is a very interesting ecotone, where the Mediterranean zone and the desert and steppe habitats of the northern Negev meet. This leads to an interesting bird community - Mediterranean, steppe and desert species. It is very interesting to find two true desert birds - Scrub Warbler and Desert Lark in such a high altitude habitat - a week ago there was snow there!

Anyway, when I arrived on site at first light the wind was so strong I could hardly open my car door. I almost left the door closed and drove back home, but eventually decided to give it a try. For the first two hours I saw almost nothing, as the wind was blowing so hard. But later on the wind slowed down considerabely and I saw quite a lot of stuff. The most obvious and noisy birds on the barren slopes were Rock Sparrow - I had about 50 birds, many in pairs already. They are very vocal and mobile, but eventually I managed to get one semi-decent shot:

Rock Sparrow

As in all steppe regions of Israel, Spectacled Warblers were present in good numbers. All pairs were busy building nests and displaying.

Spectacled Warbler - male

Many wheatears were present. Finsch's were in good numbers - about 20. It was nice to see Eastern Black-eared and Finsch's side by side as in Hebrew they're called Summer and Winter Wheatears respectively.

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

Finsch's Wheatear 

A few male Long-billed Pipits were holding (distant) territories:

Long-billed Pipit

After the wind died migrants started showing in very large numbers with some good stuff. Especially impressive was swift migration with tens of thousands going through in an endless stream. In this stream I saw all four spcies - common, pallid, alpine and little. In the foothills large flocks of Greater Short-toed Larks were flying around, mixed with a handfull of Bimaculated Larks. There were tens of Cretzschmar's Buntings around, and I found a very mobile group of 5 Cinereous Buntings. Didn't manage to get even a record shot of them. This is typical habitat and date for them but good birds neverthless.  Apart for that some more nice migrants - 2 Eurasian Crag Martins, Rueppel's Warblers, Tree and Tawny Pipits, Common Redstart (not Ehrenberg's - pretty early record) etc.

Cretzschmar's Bunting - male