Northern clean-up

 This morning i went up north to catch up with a couple of birds before the winter ends officially. I met up with Re'a and Tamar at Nahal Amud, a traditional site for Wallcreeper. A single bird has been hanging around there for the last few weeks, and seemed to be a bit more reliable than at other sites. Despite being a regular winter visitor, it is such a difficult bird to see in Israel - I think I have dipped on it more times than I have scored. So I was hoping for at least a brief encounter. Anyway, while waiting for Re'a and Tamar at the carpark there was a beautiful dawn chorus including a singing Dunnock - first time I heard it singing in Israel. 

The walk up the valley was lovely - noisy Little Swifts up in the air, Long-billed Pipits and Blue Rock Thrushes in serious breeding activity. It took us a while to locate the Wallcreeper, eventually Tuvia spotted it crawling high up on a cliff face. Success! Fantastic bird to watch, it really put on quite a show, much better than I had expected, crawling and fluttering up the cliffs, searching for arthropods in the cracks and crevices. A group lead by Lior joined the party, it was quite fun. From a photography point of view, when crawling up on the cliff the results were uninspiring. Only when it opened its red wings or flew from rock to rock some value was added to the photos. No money shots this time, I'm afraid, still my first photos of this species in Israel.

An even bigger surprise were at least three Striolated Buntings, far away from their normal desert habitat. This is not the first winter record in this region, implying they might be more regular in winter here. They didn't show any signs of breeding whatsoever.

eBird checklist here.

Then I moved on to Bar'am fishponds, by Hagome' junction, in the Hula Valley. The long-staying Three-banded Plover moved up there a few weeks ago, its next stop after it was found at Ma'ayan Zvi in April 2020, moved to Ha'Maapil fishponds in summer, returned to Ma'ayan Zvi in autumn, and now moved up to the Hula Valley. Where next?

It chose the most ugly, weird, uninspiring location - inside this small net-covered dried pond...

The best show in town

 Sorry for neglecting my blog recently. Busy weeks, lockdown, lots of stuff going on. I have been out daily to marvel at the spectacle of migration, up in the sky and on the ground. It has really been great. However, to my eyes, one of the best shows Israel has to offer is the congregation of fresh-looking desert birds, post post-breeding moult, at desert springs. A while ago I went with Amir to Ein Salvadora, a famous little spring north of Ein Gedi. It holds water year-round, in stunning location, with soaring cliffs and the Dead Sea in the backdrop. It's a tiny spring, just a few drops of water trickling out from a crack in a wall, concealed behind a large Salvadora persica bush. That's enough to attract birds and mammals from far afield. It's not an easy site for photography - one needs to keep a fair distance away from the spring in order not to disturb the animals, and the drinking spot is in deep shade, red light reflecting from the surrounding sandstone rocks.

We climbed up the mountain trail before dawn, to position ourselves at an appropriate spot as soon as birds started to arrive. And they did, in big numbers. All quality. All so pretty and fresh. Those arriving in biggest numbers were Trumpeter Finch - fantastic breeding season for them all over the Israeli desert, so many youngsters around. Hundreds came in to drink, arriving in flocks, normally first perched on the rocks above the spring before descending to the water.

Another dominant species was Striolated Bunting - hundreds came in to drink too. Most were young birds, demonstrating the excellent breeding season they had. 

Sinai Rosefinch is another highly-prized specialty of this site. It is scarcer, and shier, than the other species. They spent more time perched up on the walls above the spring, and chose secluded spots for drinking. Again, most were young birds, adults, especially males in lower proportions. Still, out of the 75 birds in total, quite a few were pink jems.

Trumpeter and rosefinch

Desert Lark came in to drink in hundreds too:

Overhead, a Barbary Falcon cruised above the cliffs, a pair of Common Ravens kronked around, and a lone Long-legged Buzzard circled.

Kronk-kronk!

A large herd of Nubian Ibex came down to drink and hung around the spring. The herd included a dominant bull, showing off his swagger, dominating younger males and chasing after females:

Soon it became too hot for animals and humans, we headed back down to our car and back to civilisation. It certainly felt better up by the spring.

21 hours

Yesterday was extremely long. I left home very early, met up with Piki and together we sailed down towards the Dead Sea. Despite the dire state of the shrinking Dead Sea, Climate Change, Sixth Extinction, Donald Trump etc., I find the view of the sun rising over the Edom Mountains of Jordan, above the Dead Sea, always heartening. 

First thing we birded Wadi Mishmar. After a couple of good winter floods, vegetation in the wadi looks great. The Ochradenus bacatus bushes look very happy,  and the Sylvia warblers were feasting on them. 

Most prominent was Sardinian Warbler, several tens, including quite a few of the nominate subspecies. Among them we had at least 9 Cyprus Warblers. At first they weren't easy to pin down, but eventually I managed to get some photos of a few. Still not the perfect photos I'm hoping for, but I guess they ain't too shabby.

Cyprus Warbler, male, in Ochradenus baccatus bush

Cyprus Warbler, female

Also a couple each of Spectacled Warbler and Whitethroat.

Common Whitethroat

Tristram's Starlings were present in some large flocks. One flock mobbed a passing Long-legged Buzzard. Others were just feeding on the baccatus fruit and other fruiting trees in the wadi. I find them uber-charismatic, despite being very common in this part of the country, including trash-bird behaviour at some tourist sites. They are most attractive when they fly, exposing their brilliant wing pattern:

We bumped into Shlomi, another Israeli birder. While exchanging information we spotted a large raptor soaring over the high cliffs:

Cinereous Vulture! What a pleasant surprise (though unknowingly at that moment it had been present for a couple of days at least):

We had a couple of Striolated Bunting flying high over the cliffs, and Shlomi told us of a waterhole up the wadi that they come down to drink in. We walked up there, sat down quietly for a few minutes and indeed a single bunting, a female, graced us with its beautiful presence:

Since my return from the UK, my appreciation for our local species, especially range-restricted species like Tristram's Starling and Fan-tailed Raven, has increased. The aerobatic flight of the ravens, their unique high-pitched calls echoing off the mighty cliffs, is an epic symbol of the Judean Desert.

Fan-tailed Raven

On the way out we spent a couple of minutes with an oddly-plumaged Blackstart. I'm not sure whether it's oil-stained or melanistic. In real life it felt much darker than how it looks in these images.

Golden Spiny Mouse - indeed golden and spiny

While there were saddeningly few Eurasian Griffons, it was nice to have a 3-vulture species morning, including Egyptian Vulture. There were first signs of soaring bird migration, with a northbound movement of Black Kites, first mini-flock of 8 White Storks and a single Black Stork. Soon it will be thousands. Wadi Mishmar eBird checklist here.

Our next stop was Heimar Reservoir. We met up there with two Swiss friends, Martin and Michael. Another very pleasant surprise was a stonking male Daurian Shrike that hopped on the ugly fence surrounding the reservoir - what a beautiful bird:

Full frame

Crop

Getting the priorities right - at this location these could be 'wild-type' Rock Pigeons:

There was also a maurus Siberian Stonechat, Penduline Tit, Dead Sea Sparrows and some migrant hirundines - Red-rumped, Barn and House Martins. eBird checklist here.

Then we moved on down the road to Navit Pools. I don't fully understand why, but this site is absolutely jam-packed with birds. Contrastingly, adjacent reservoirs are quite empty. Navit Pools had many hundreds of ducks, including 20 Fudge Ducks (they breed there), 4 African Swamphens and much more. Combine that with stunning scenery and one gets 47 minutes of fun (eBird checklist here).

Then we continued down into the bottom of the valley at Ne'ot Hakikar. It was a beautiful, mild, moonlit evening. Nubian Nightjars were very active: we had at least 9 individuals, including a few that put on quite a show. Over the years I have had countless intimate encounters with these fascinating birds, yet every time the excitement is still on. Wow.

'Tamarisk' Nubian Nightjar

On the way back home we had rather casual encounters with (heard only) Desert Owl by the main road, Egyptian Nightjar and Pallid Scops Owl. Back home, 21 hours after leaving, I felt quite satisfied, and totally knackered.

Piki, Martin, Michael - thanks.