Coastal birding

Yesterday morning I left home early, with some expectations for decent 'weather' and migration. I arrived at Arsuf (just north of Tel Aviv) at dawn, to discover clear skies and no wind. Disappointing. Still, there was some movement of pipits and wagtails first thing as I stepped out of the car. I started walking through tall grass and an Oriental Skylark flew up buzzing. Nice. I birded the coastal scrub habitat for a couple of hours. 

Despite active migration being rather slow, there were still some nice birds to see. Best was a young (Daurian) Isabelline Shrike. It was very mobile - must have just arrived, so my photos are from quite a distance. Not a huge rarity but always fun to find one.

Missed an opportunity for Photo of the Year, with the shrike, Palestine Sunbird and Painted Lady; sadly the shrike turned its head away and the distance was too long:

Several Siberian Stonechats were seen among the large numbers of European Stonechats. The males were Caspian; regarding the female - hard to tell in the field.

Missed money shot

Like everywhere in and around Tel Aviv, there were so many invasive species around, dominating the avifauna there. Also large numbers of crows. This Hooded Crow had caught a young Greek Tortoise.

eBird checklist here.

Siberia and South America

2021 ended with a bang, and 2022 started in a very different tempo. First, I made a sort of new year resolution, not to do another Big Year. After two years in a row, I think I had enough. My family needs me back, and I need to invest more in my new position at work. Also, with the bird flu outbreak here (see recent articles in National Geographic and BirdLife International website), I am really very very busy. I am maintaining my checklist streak (880 days today), which leads me to 'rediscover' my local birding sites, those that can be combined with school run and dog walk. In 2021, as a result of me being all over, I neglected my local birding. So this return to the basics is welcome, at least for now, until I get itchy again...

January perhaps isn't the most dynamic month of the year, but there's still plenty to see locally. Especially on days with lovely sunshine, like today was, birds are singing, everything looks very lush and green, and it's so pleasant to be outdoors. This morning's birding along Nahal Ekron produced the expected stuff (eBird checklist here). It's a good winter for Siskin, and several small groups flew by, as they do every day here this winter. The small seasonal wetland at the western section holds water and ducks, which is nice. Interestingly, two Siberian Stonechats took up winter residence here, separately. They are common enough autumn migrants but pretty uncommon in winter. They are holding small territories about 1 km from each other. The male is a maurus-type, haven't managed to get a photo of him yet. The female, no idea what her taxon is, is more tolerant to humans as its territory is right on a main and busy footpath, adjacent to housing estates, very popular with dog walkers, runners, cyclists etc. I spent a few minutes with it this morning. At first perhaps my attention made her quite nervous. However, after few minutes, she lost interest in me and went on with her stuff, i.e. catching bugs. Lovely little bird.

There's a family of Coypu in the stream. They as well have become tolerant to humans (and their dogs) and can be viewed from very close. Coypu are native to South America. They were brought to Israel in the 1950's, in hope of setting up a fur industry. Surprise, the Israeli heat made their fur thin and useless, so the industry shut down and the animals were recklessly released into streams in the north. From there they spread into wetlands across central and northern Israel, and have become a serious pest in some parts. Yet, they are charming rodents, in their own way I guess.

Bogey bird down

Amidst the Corona craziness, this morning I managed to get myself to Arsuf. My target was a Blyth's Pipit that had been found a few days ago by Eyal Shochat - possibly a returning bird. I couldn't go until this morning, which made me quite restless over the weekend. I had a bitter history with this species in Israel, having been out of the country for all twitchable ones, and being unable to nail two birds I am sure I found myself (while leading a tour in 2010, and in my magic field in 2011). Till this morning. I met up with Rony early, and we stared working a lovely grassy field buzzing with birds, not dissimilar to a Mongolian steppe:

After few minutes of walking through wet grass we flushed the bird, it gave a nice call (I was unprepared with my sound recording gear) and showed well in flight:

Showing diagnostic pattern on T5, with limited white, wedge-shaped:

It joined its two Richard's friends, and the trio offered good comparative views of size and structure. Also, check the pattern of T5 on this Richard's - all white:

We were joined by a few more birders, and we spent some time with the birds and eventually were treated to good views of the Blyth's perched out in the open:

There were seven pipit species present - not bad; with an Olive-backed a few days ago and Long-billed at a few sites, it has been a good pipit week.
There were lots of birds and some good ones around (eBird checklist here) - three Sibe Stonechats, Oriental Skylark, Rueppell's Warbler etc.

Glad to put this one to rest - now I'm worried about birding and twitching in this Corona crisis. Stay safe.

Million dollar question

I have not posted here for a while, so today's birding has to qualify for a blogpost. In the morning I participated in a meeting regarding management and monitoring of Common and Little Terns breeding in Atlit Saltpans. Luckily, the meeting was just late enough to allow for some good birding beforehand. It was rather productive, with some fine waterfowl, shorebirds, Avocets, Spoonbills, Flamingoes. I thoroughly enjoyed birding there - light was good, birds were tame, quite alright (eBird checklist here).

Could have been a decent shot had I not clipped the wingtip of the slender-bill

Canthaxantin overload

After the meeting, en route to the next meeting (one million dollar question: is birding the time between meetings, or is work the time between birding?), I swung by Hama'apil Fishponds. Haven't visited that site for some years, and was pleased to discover how good was the habitat there, with muddy and well-vegetated ponds. Indeed, birds were plentiful - Ruddy Shelduck, Sibe Stonechat (presumably armenicus), Citrine Wagtails, lots of raptors and many more (eBird checklist here). I strongly recommend birding this site - easy access, central location that offers quality birding. 

Ruddy Shelduck and friends

Distant Sibe Stonechat

What. A. Bird.

Mystery stonechat

I will make this short, as I am heading out again in few hours.
This morning I went with Rony and Meidad to Nafha, my favourite rarity-hunting site this time of year. Practically the first bird we had when we parked the car at half-light was a sweet little Yellow-browed Warbler - always bliss. Photos are a bit less...

We birded the site for a couple of hours. There were tons of Chiffchaff, quite a few Siskin, Hawfinch, Syrian Serin, but not much of interest other than that (eBird checklist here). Somewhat disappointed we returned to the car. By the car a pair of stonechats were holding a temporary territory. The male was a Siberian, but the female - what was it? From one angle it looked European, from another it looked Siberian. With this in mind, I thought to myself - why can't it be Stejneger's? We started picking up ID features - rich rufous rump with dark shaft streaks to longest uppertail coverts, rather rich mantle, strong bill, short primary projection. These features were pro-Stejneger's, but I was still uneasy with the bird. For a potential first for Israel, we had to get more evidence. I got some positive feedback from European friends based on back-of-camera photos, then a few less encouraging responses. I understand why - the overall appearance is not quite there, possibly - ear coverts not dark enough so no pale throat, strong supercilium, perhaps not rich enough tones - BOC shots were misleading, views in the field became increasingly difficult as temperatures rose and the bird became more shy. These are the only useful photos I manages to take, at long distance, before the battery died:

Without a spare battery, Rony's camera pivoted. Here are some photos, part taken by Rony, part by me using Rony's camera - thank you Rony:

Close inspection of the moult here reveals that this 1cy bird moulted all it's GC and two tertials - unusual for Siberian Stonechat, thanks Yosef!

This is the male Siberian Stonechat it was associating with:

When first studying the bird in the field, and in the first few hours, I was quite hopeful it's a Stejnegers. Then, I started to become more sceptical. Now I am in a neutral position - this is an intriguing bird and it could be either taxa. I want to learn more about it.

Tomorrow I'm returning there to obtain DNA samples - hope it sticks around. Stay posted!

Kazakhstan - Sogety Valley

One of the better mornings we had during our Rockjumper 'Best of Central Asia' tour was spent in Sogety Valley, in south east Kazakhstan, close to the border triangle with China and Kyrgyzstan. This arid upland valley, and the surrounding hills and mountains, host some brilliant birds. We spent quite a bit of time on the plains, searching for our big target - Pallas's Sandgrouse.

Personally, Pallas's Sandgrous was one of my most-wanted birds. It seems that recently they have become more difficult, and sadly we failed to find any. I guess more time is needed for them. But even without those sandgrouse, birding was superb. The plains held good numbers of Brandt's Horned Larks:

And few of the famous duo - Desert Wheatear and Asian Desert Warbler, so often seen together:

Desert Wheatear

Asian Desert Warbler

We then headed up towards the hills, where a small spring attracts many birds. It took us a while to reach the spring because our attention was drawn towards several singing Grey-necked Buntings on the hills. The local subspecies neobscura is much duller than cerrutti I saw in E Turkey several years ago, and their song is different. Great birds to see - especially when they are so confiding.

Eventually we made it to the spring and sat down at a safe distance, not to disturb the birds. It was very busy - during the hour or so we were there we had big numbers of Mongolian Finch, several shy Asian Crimson-winged Finches, Rock Sparrows, more Grey-necked Buntings, Black-bellied Sandgrouse - huge fun. 

A pair of Turkestan Shrikes feeding young nearby made lots of noise.

eBird checklist of Sogety Valley and hills is here.

We then headed south towards Temirliq. At Temirliq River a pair of Lesser Grey Shrikes, and a pair of White-crowned Penduline Tits, were nest-building:

Up towards the mountain pass, in a lush rocky gully, we had Meadow Bunting, Siberian Stonechat and a few other birds.

We then headed back towards Almaty, via the impressive Charyn Canyon: