Tel Aviv casual

Yesterday I stayed in Tel Aviv for a short break. In the early morning I had to go birding to maintain my checklist streak, what can I do. I headed over to Yarkon river mouth, that was packed with thousands of joggers, cyclists and dog walkers, all looking very sporty, making me feel a bit awkward with my outdoor outfit, bins and camera. Hey ho, that's birding isn't it? In any case, it was a short and pretty nice session. I was surprised to see two Eurasian Curlews heading north deep at sea, not common here. Then I found a young Masked Shrike, that traditionally should have been in Africa now. It is interesting that in recent years, perhaps linked with climate change, more and more Masked Shrikes are spending the winter in Israel.

A lone Red-throated Pipit was looking very dapper, walking on the wet grass. First in the shade:

Then in the sun:

Small flocks of Spanish Sparrows graced the pistachio bushes. I like Spanish Sparrows, especially the streaky-breasted females.

As everywhere in Tel Aviv, the avifauna is dominated by invasive species. As an ecologist and conservationist I don't 'like' invasive species, and would rather not have them here. However, when seeing a Monk Parakeet from up close, one must admit it is a darn good-looking bird. Here it is feeding on an invasive plant, Camphorweed:

eBird checklist here.

The sunset was quite wonderful.

Birding Tel Aviv

Yesterday was my birthday, and I kept my tradition of not seeing any good birds. Only birding I did was while my son was in a club I checked a nearby park where Monk Parakeets breed - first, stunning photos I take of this recent invasive colonist. If I stayed in the UK I'd have a fantastic day with Brown Shrike and Stejneger's Stonechat, but I'm here in Israel, doing Monk Parakeets.

This morning I left early and birded Hatzuk beach, at the northern edge of Tel Aviv. It's a rather large patch of scrub-covered coastal sand-dunes. At the moment it's still attractive as a migrant hotspot; sadly in the future it will all get built up. In the early morning nice numbers of pipits and wagtails headed south, and few finches, including one Siskin. Huge numbers of Spanish Sparrows were moving through:

And large numbers were on the ground too, here with a Palestine Sunbird:

Some quality came in the form of 3 Richard's Pipits and a Citrine Wagtail moving south. A surprise Namaqua Dove headed south too, though it seems that recently they have started to colonise the greater Tel Aviv region too.

The most prominent migrants on the ground were Stonechats - I estimated 110 during my walk this morning. They were everywhere! Fighting on every thistle, chasing each other - quite lovely.

Among them there were a few Sibe Stonechats - 3 males that were Caspian, and a rather rich-toned female. Tried to turn it into a Stejneger's, without success.

Caspian Stonechat

Female Siberian Stonechat of some sort

I tried hard also to turn one of the Red-backed Shrikes into a brown, no luck there either.

There was a steady trickle of Eurasian Sparrowhawks heading south, I counted 12.

A Peregrine and a young Hobby were knocking about over the area.

Eurasian Hobby, 1cy

All in all it was an enjoyable morning. No rarities, and finch numbers need to increase towards November, but it was good to see so many birds in an urban setting. My full eBird checklist is here. This is my walking route, as recorded by eBird app:

On the way back home I checked Ayalon sewage treatment plant, which was packed with Shoveler and Teal, 42 Fudge Ducks and 2 White-headed Ducks. eBird checklist here.

Saturday morning birding

Managed a couple of hours of birding this early morning before my family woke up. Checked Tsor'a fields, which was my local patch some years ago when I lived nearby. The site hasn't changed much, only many more Mynas, like everywhere in Israel. Early in the morning the weather was still OK. The alfalfa fields were packed with rubbish birds (Cattle Egrets, Jackdaws, Mynas etc.) and fair numbers of Yellow Wagtails. The alfalfa fields held few other migrants, but the surrounding scrub and adjacent reservoir were a bit more productive. Highlight was a Black-headed Bunting that delightedly popped up when I was enjoying a flock of Spanish Sparrows. This is the classic time of year for this scarce autumn passage migrant.

Black-headed Bunting - 1cy (hatched summer 2018) - adults moult in India and are very worn now; partial moult of 1cy (note moulted inner GC) is visible:

Spanish Sparrow - female

Spanish Sparrow - male

Willow Warbler

All in all numbers of migrants were relatively low, but now back in Israel I appreciate the relativity, and celebrate the migrants I did encounter today. Full eBird checklist here.

On the way back home I enjoyed another change in Israel's avifauna - a casual roadside Black-winged Kite. Once I twitched them hard and far; now they are almost as common as kestrels.

Spanish roast

Went ringing with Arad this afternoon at a large Spanish Sparrow roost near my house. Quite an amazing sight, several thousands doing murmurations and making so much noise. We ringed 82 sparrows and a few other bits and pieces.

(This image is from Feb 2012)

Spanish Sparrows are great birds. They migrate in winter - we have many controls of our birds getting lime-sticked in Cyprus... Spanish pickles. 

WHile waiting for the sparrows we had an Imperial Eagle and a Merlin flying around.

Seedeaters at Lakhish

Today, as part of my job as a regional coordinator of the barn owl project, I made a final sweep of the nest boxes before the breeding season begins. During January the owls already check the boxes out and choose their boxes for the next breeding season, so everything has to be ready by then. I went over all of my boxes in the Lakhish area, cleaned and fixed them - so now the owls have to do their own thing. This is one dirty job - cleaning the boxes after the previous breeding season is not much fun. Especially with the Jacksdaws filling the boxes up with junk. Thanks Miri for the help.
During the day we saw quite a few birds. The area is just packed with seedeaters - mixed flocks of Corn Buntings, Spanish Sparrows, Linnets, Greenfinches and Goldfinches, and also large numbers of Meadow and Red-throated Pipits and Skylarks. Among the raptors we had today two Greater Spotted Eagles, Merlin, Hen Harrier, and several Long-legged Buzzards.

Corn Buntings

Red-throated Pipit

Linnets

Lakhish area

Fieldfares and other bits and pieces

Drove around a bit over the last couple of days and collected some nice stuff along the way. Yesterday at Ashdod not too many gulls or shorebirds, and nothing exciting among them. Single Greater Spotted Eagle and Short-toed Eagle (late!) were nice. These two female Mountain Gazelles showed me their butts as they sped away from my car. Are they being poached in that area? They were very very shy.


Later drove to Segula to look for the Fieldfare trio found by Re'a the previous day. The first look produced nothing, but after a short lunch break found them feeding quite relaxed on the lawn. They really let me approach - I never had such good views in Israel. These guys must have come from a village or town somewhere (in Russia?) - their tame behaviour suggested that. Great to see these Israeli rarities - hopefully we will have a good winter for them (and for their black-throated cousin tooo...)

This morning I was ringing at my local site in Ashdod. It was pretty good with many chiffies, Blackcaps, Bluethroats and Robins. A couple of Spanish Sparrows were nice, and this Moustached Warbler was my first for the season. Other birds about were a Reed Bunting flying around and dodging my nets, and several Water Rails heard calling.

Moustached Warbler

Spanish Sparrow

A short afternoon visit to Tsor'a didn't produce much. This female Stonechat posed nicely against the light:

And this late Isabelline Wheatear was pretty in the warm afternoon light: