Double Turkestan

Healing journal, Day 1. This morning I ventured out into the southern Negev with Rony. I needed some desert bliss (and good birds) to comfort my aching soul. First stop was Neot Smadar. It was cold first thing, and it took the birds some time to wake up. A pallid Hen Harrier flew past, fast, low, wrong settings...

It took us a little while to relocate the Turkestan (AKA Red-tailed) Shrike, but eventually it showed really well, feeding on grasshoppers and chasing other birds. Very smart bird, gives a different impression compared to a normal Isabelline. Dark cold brown upperparts, almost Brown Shrike-like (it isn't), strong supercilium, whitish underparts with limited wash on flanks. Of course identifying 1cy birds of these taxa is challenging, but to my eyes this bird looks good for phoenicuroides.

Our next stop was the northern edge of Uvda Valley, north of Rt.12. We walked down from the road into the dry wadi - very lovely there.

Quickly we noticed that there were huge numbers of larks in the bottom of the wadi. At first we saw lots of Crested Larks, then we started seeing more and more Temminck's Larks, then large flocks starting moving all around us - they were so mobile! 

One of the very few that didn't fly off:

Then I spotted some Thick-billed Larks with them - great! But they were up and off quickly too, 12 in total.

Two Thick-bills with a Temminck's

The lark bonanza continued. I scanned through a flock of Temminck's Larks that momentarily landed. I spotted a 'lesser short-toed lark', got the scope on it - whoa! Dark, heavily-streaked breast, large bill - must be Turkestan Short-toed Lark!! I got Rony on it, we had it on the ground for another five or ten seconds, then the whole flock took flight, up and away, and joined hundreds of larks on the wing - we estimated 300 Temminck's Larks up in the air! No photos, damn. The whole mass moved west and out of sight behind the mountains. The Turkestan encounter was brief, but we enjoyed really good scope views. This is my first 'modern' Turkestan Short-toed Lark in Israel, since the split, so this is very exciting.

We continued birding the wadi which was very enjoyable, with large numbers of Bar-tailed Larks, Asian Desert Warbler, many wheatears - eBird checklist here.

A quick walk through the southern section of Uvda Valley was less productive - it was getting hot and bird activity was reduced. Still high numbers of larks and wheatears (eBird checklist here), including this lovely Desert Wheatear:

The midday heat put us off from further birding, so we made our way back home - a brilliant morning that was.

Decade summary #9 - Best of 2018

Final post for my decade summary, before the special summary of 2019 - tomorrow!

2018 saw me again travel the globe quite extensively - South Africa, Israel, Sweden, Brazil; I finished my PhD, and in August we moved back to Israel, which meant daily birding intensified. but let's start from the beginning. In February I traveled with my family to South Africa. We saw incredible wildlife, including a dream mammal for me -Wild Dog, in an unforgettable encounter:

Birding was great too, including the stunning Cape Sugarbird:

In March, in perfect timing with the visit of our Filey friends Mark and Amity, one of my most wanted birds showed up not far from home, on the north Norfolk coast - Snowy Owl. It was distant so photos aren't great but the encounter was incredible:

Later on in March I visited Israel for Champions of the Flyway. Best bird was a Persian Wheatear, and I really enjoyed this stunning self-found Turkestan Shrike:

In July, during a family visit to northern Sweden I managed Hawk Owl:

My final year in the UK added several more good birds to my list, including American Bittern, Green Heron, and Buff-breasted, Semi-p and Spotted Sands.

In November I traveled to Brazil for my first visit to Latin America. The team included again Gidon, Amir and Eli. My main goal, to do a Jaguar selfie, was fulfilled successfully. 

Birding in Brazil, in the Pantanal and in the Atlantic Forest, was nothing short of spectacular.

White-headed Marsh Tyrant

Back in Israel, I managed four ticks, including Yellow-billed Kite ('only' ssp.), Pink-backed Pelican, and two firsts for Israel - Buff-bellied Sandpiper and Barnacle Goose!

(This photo was taken in January 2019)

Full summary of 2018 here.

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:

Best of 2018

It's that time of year again - my annual summary is here. It was a bit of a hectic year, in which I completed my PhD and relocated with my family from the UK back to Israel. I resumed my work for Israel Ornithological Center, and also started working for Rockjumper. Fortunately, I managed to travel to South Africa and Brazil this year, while appreciating local wildlife in the UK and in Israel. In this special post I will provide a month-by-month overview of my wildlife highlights, including links back to original blogposts. Here we go:

January

On New Year's Day I already got one of my personal favourite images of the year. A visit to Winterton with my good friends Terry and Marie provided a lovely experience with Snow Buntings:

Towards the end of the month I got my first WP tick of the year - a Spotted Sandpiper in Nottinghmashire:

February

My main wildlife activities of the month happened in fabulous South Africa where I traveled with my sons. I met up with my family from Israel, and together we spent 8 brilliant days on the ground. In Cape Town we enjoyed very good birding:

Cape Sugarbird

 African Penguins

Then in Hluhluwe and in Kruger we enjoyed spectacular wildlife. Seeing Wild Dogs was a lifelong ambition - it was an exciting encounter:

As expected, mammals and birds were aplenty, and photographic opportunities were great:

Giraffe

Southern Ground Hornbill

Cheetah

Spotted Hyenas

March

At the end of February, the Beast from the East hit the UK hard, and my birding was limited to Fieldfares coming to apples I placed out for them in my snow covered Norwich garden. After the roads were cleared, I twitched a much-wanted bird, not far from home - Snowy Owl. It was a most enjoyable family twitch, though my photos aren't great. My friend Graham got much better photos the next day.

In late march I traveled to Israel to help out with Champions of the Flyway. On my way down south I picked up a lifer and Israeli tick, Persian Wheatear on Mt Amasa:

Champions itself was, as always, exciting and inspiring. Birding was great - colours and movements were especially appreciated after the long, cold northern winter.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

I was pleased to find this stunning Turkestan Shrike at Yotvata:

Eilat Mts.

April

After I returned from Israel I had to work like crazy to submit my PhD thesis. As son as I did, I headed over to Carlton Marshes to twitch this American Bittern - horrible views but one lucky twitcher I was:

May

Now relieved after submitting my thesis, I had more time on my hands. However, May birding was awfully slow, so (as expected) I resorted to twitching... My second medium-distance twitch of the year involved a quickie to southwestern Wales for this beautiful Green Heron:

In late May I enjoyed a singing Greenish Warbler at my favourite Norfolk RSPB reserve, Titchwell:

June

In early June half term holiday we paid a traditional visit to our friends in Yorkshire. We were after breeding seabirds, rockpooling with the maestro and stunning coastal scenery - and that's exactly what we got:

Razorbill

Shanee

When I returned to Norfolk, I dipped on a Moltoni's Warbler on Blakeney Point, but as a consolation prize found a Paddyfield Warbler. It won't get accepted as my find, but who cares.

Then another much-desired lifer showed up close to home - Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Potter Heigham, a horrible photo of a fine bird:

During the quiet summer months I re-developed my interest in moths, some at home (#bathroommoths) and some courtesy of my personal moth trainer James. I photographed too many moths to show here, so here's a collage of my favourites - (from top left) Buff Ermine, Elephant Hawk Moth, Many-plume Moth wing detail, Common Emerald, Swallow-tailed Moth, Sallow Kitten, Streamer, Small Clouded Brindle, Lychnis, Pine Hawk Moth, Small Blood Vein and Lime Hawk Moth. 

July

In July we started preparing for our return to Israel. After successfully passing my PhD viva, we went on a final European mini-adventure to northern Sweden. My only lifer there involved a sunny midnight encounter with a gorgeous family of Northern Hawk Owls - real crackers.

My final WP tick in the UK came from Snettisham, where I worked hard to twitch a Semipalmated Sandpiper among the clouds of shorebirds.

August

In mid August we said goodbye to the UK and returned to Israel. I still miss very much my previous life there, and all the good birds (which I summarised in a post here). But life has to move on and in Israel there's no time to lag behind. Shortly after my return Amir took me down to Eilat to Twitch Israel's 3rd Yellow-billed Kite that was courteous enough to linger for me:

I still am in the process of rediscovering the quality of birding in Israel. Some big changes to the local avifauna occurred during my four year absence. One prominent change is the rapid proliferation of Black-winged Kites - they are everywhere!

September

I tried to make the most out of autumn birding during this month. Not far from where I live there are some excellent birding sites, especially Tsor'a Valley that exploded with birds during September and October. 

I finally got to lay down my oldest and worst bogey bird - this diminutive Pink-backed Pelican in the Hula Reserve was excellent:

October

Migration continued to excite me during October. I enjoyed fantastic raptor migration over my house, including heavy passages of Honey Buzzards and Lesser Spotted Eagles:

Just around the block from my house I discovered a sweet little local patch - wadi Ekron that runs through my town, Mazkeret Batya. I walk with my dog there almost every day, and put in quite an effort to see as many birds there as possible. I wrote about my patch in this blogpost. Through the autumn, it produced some decent goodies, including Hume's Leaf Warbler, Common Rosefinch, and Olive-backed and Richard's Pipits. I will write a mini-analysis of my efforts here soon.

Richard's Pipit

Common Rosefinch

A successful trip down to the Negev Mts. produced some quality birds, including a flighty Little Bunting and this cooperative Caspian Stonechat:

Little Bunting

Towards the end of the month another first for Israel appeared - Buff-breasted Sandpiper, just north of Tel Aviv. I twitched it on its first morning after discovery - a fine bird.

November

In late october and early November I put on some birding effort in Tel Aviv. I spent several morning waiting for big vismig arrivals (which never arrived), but was rewarded by this Pacific Golden Plover:

A trip to the southern Arava produced some good birds. Strangely, this Red Fox photo from that day was one of my most popular on social media.

In mid month I went on a short trip to Brazil with my brother and two more friends, Amir and Eli. It was my first visit to Latin America - I was blown away by the birding there. Our main target was Jaguar; we spent 3 days in the Pantanal and enjoyed fantastic encounters with this majestic beast.

Giant River Otters were pretty awesome too

There are too many birding highlights to display here, so here are just a couple of favourites:

Hyacinth Macaw

White-headed Water Tyrant

Then we spent another three days birding the Atlantic Forest in Sao Paulo and Cuiaba states. Highlight was the Critically Endangered Sao Paulo Antwren:

I was a real sucker for colourful tanagers sitting on bananas (Green-headed, Brazilian, Red-necked and Blue Dacnys):

And other peculiar birds like this Red-legged Seriema:

Back in Israel, I twitched another first for Israel, the fourth of the year (if accepted...), Barnacle Goose at Agamon Hula:

December

In December I was super busy, but managed one last good bird towards the end of the year - Pine Bunting in Jerusalem. 

Some numbers: According to eBird taxonomy, in 2018 I saw 866 bird species worldwide in 287 checklists (updated this morning; what will tomorrow bring?). In Israel I saw 302 species, mainly since mid August, which ain't to shabby. My blog activity increased to 77 posts in 2018, higher than my three previous years in the UK. 

As you can see, this was an intensive and varied year. As always, all this birding would not have been possible without the help and friendship of many friends, prominently James, Mark, Amir and Jonathan but so many others, and the never-ending love and support I receive from my family. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. 

I am happy that my blog activity is picking up, now that I have returned to Israel, and look forward to another year of discovery. Can't wait till spring! My new year resolution is to participate in the eBird Checklist-a-day Challenge, which will hopefully produced many blogposts. Currently, with two international trips planned in 2019, leading for Rockjumper (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in May-June, and Nepal in December), and maybe another one or two private or work-related trips, this is bound to be a busy year.

Thanks to all of my followers and readers - your support means so much to me. 

I wish you all a lovely 2019 - may we make this world a slightly better place for humans and for wildlife.