Clean-up

I haven't posted here for a while, so this is a good opportunity to dump here some photos I took in recent weeks. I didn't post for lack of birding, just couldn't motivate myself to post after each single event described here. With this accumulation I think there's enough material for a decent blogpost.

On February 12th I headed over to Kfar Ruppin for a meeting. En route I received a message that my meeting starts an hour late. I was at the junction turning off towards Hazore'a fishponds, where a Three-banded Plover had been found by Ran Nathan the previous day. It would have been rude not to pay it a visit.

As can be heard by the soundtrack of the video, Hazorea fishponds and in general Jizreel Valley hold high densities of Black Francolin. Heading out, I was fortunate to bump into two males doing their territorial stuff, paying little attention to me or to a passing Egyptian Mongoose. Exquisite birds. The stand-off between them was very amusing, with funny calls and leaps in the air.

On Friday 24th news broke of Israel's second Black-faced Bunting at Maayan Zvi. I headed over there quickly, failing to relocate it for several hours. Late in the afternoon I heard it only. That wasn't satisfying, so next morning I headed back and finally got views of it soon after first light. Nice bimbo! No photos sadly, so I will try again if it stays a bit longer (it wasn't seen today). Israel's fourth Masked Wagtail, a stunning male, was nearby and showed very well.

Yesterday I went ringing with Yosef et al. near Kalya in the northern Dead Sea region. It's peak migration for Cyprus Warbler, indeed we had five birds. They favour desert wadis with Taily-Weed bushes.

Cyprus Warbler, 2cy female

Cyprus Warbler, 3cy+ male

This morning I did fieldwork with Meidad in Hameishar Plains. It's very dry there now after very little winter rainfall, so in most point counts bird density was low. Some sections were birdier and we had a fun morning altogether.

Egyptian Henbane, I think, huge bush

Dorcas Gazelle - one of many

Nice numbers of Onager too

Desert species were busy breeding already, including the wonderful Temminck's Larks

Great Gray Shrike, but which?

 

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...

3B Plover revisited

This morning I met up with Jonathan and Piki at Ma'ayan Tzvi and Ma'agan Michael. Following the exciting discovery of the first Three-banded Plover for Israel, several other good shorebirds accumulated in the same dried-up fishpond, which required our attention. Weather was unstable today, and light conditions were not great. First thing when we arrived on site, Jonathan spotted the lover, which was cool as it had been reported missing for about a week now. It showed very well, now perhaps more relaxed after a few traumatic twitching days. Lovely bird, it was great to watch it forage peacefully and even heard it vocalise (crappy sound recording in eBird checklist here).

As we walked quietly along the vegetated bank, a small passerine flicked in the vegetation ahead. It was cool how Jonathan's brain and mine processed what we saw at the same speed, as we both exclaimed simultaneously 'Icterine Warbler!'. Sadly, it was very mobile an we lost it quickly, without a photo. The fishpond indeed hosted good shorebirds, including Bar-tailed Godwit, nine Broad-billed Sandpipers and Collared Pratincole. Broad-billed Sands are so pretty now.

Thanks to Corona Lockdown, we witnessed a very relaxed family party of Wild Boar:

Northern Wheatear is common; this one posed so nicely that it demanded documentation:

Down on the Ma'agan Michael beach, several quality shorebirds showed nicely, including three Whimbrel and two Greater Sand-plovers:

Admittedly, there were few migrant landbirds on the ground. Moving through, however, were fine numbers of hirundines and Spanish Sparrows. eBird checklist here.

Essential travel

Strange day today. Started the day monitoring a few reservoirs, under authorisation, as part of an important national project. No special highlights, just nice weather and a few fine birds, including my first Collared Pratincoles of the year (harsh light masking the rufous underwing coverts)

Just as I was done with the final reservoir, the RBA alert went off, CODE RED. Three-banded Plover at Ma'ayan Tzvi!!! WTF!?! 

Mega alert! Three-banded Plover, first for Israel, found just now by Shachar Alterman at Maayan Tzvi. Photo by Shachar. Amazing pic.twitter.com/U5XXiqftyW

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) April 12, 2020

I didn't even think about Covid-19 implications or anything else, just full steam ahead. Got there quickly, thankfully roads are quite empty now... I joined the few others already on site, and quickly connected with the bird. Fantastic stuff. Great views though horrible light conditions for photography, with heat haze and harsh midday sun. Beautiful bird in immaculate plumage; those red eyes...

Mini twitch during COVID-19 times, socially distancing

I had no time for a full circuit of Ma'agan Michael, just a quick drive around the plover's fishpond that produced quite a nice list (eBird checklist here).

On the way back home, I started receiving concerned messages and phone calls, challenging my celebration of this bird during lockdown. I acknowledge the complexity of this situation, yet I cannot see myself not going to twitch this bird. Regarding the others who came for the twitch - each person made their own decision, and I cannot vouch for them.