Recent stuff

It's peak spring migration here in Israel now. With unstable weather, birds are blown in different directions and it is exciting just to be out there and witness migration. I have nothing too major to report, but over the last few days some decent stuff accumulated on my hard drive that is worth sharing here.

Last Wednesday (April 5th) I had time only for a quick early-morning birding session. So I opted for a circuit of Hulda Reservoir with Piki - our regular shared session few minutes away from home. Piki always complains that I start too early, I always complain that he's lazy, eventually we meet halfway. That morning I had time to listen out for active migrants and cook coffee by the time Piki arrived. Birding expectations weren't huge because water levels at the reservoir are very high currently, meaning there's little space for mud-loving waterbirds. We were pleasantly surprised when two minutes after we started walking a small passerine jumped up from the path in front of us, gave a thin 'tick' call and perched on the fence. We both exclaimed simultaneously (more or less 😉) - Little Bunting! We rattled off a few quick photos:

Then the petite bunting flew past us and landed to forage on the path again for a couple of minutes before being chased off by a badass territorial Eastern Olivaceous Warbler (you can hear it singing in the background of the video below). The poor bunting flew up and away and we lost it far in the distance to the south, never to be seen again. Sweet.

Nice to have Turtle Doves back, already in display flight over their territories:

Eventually it was quite a productive morning - eBird checklist here.

A weekend in Tel Aviv to celebrate my wife's birthday meant a couple of early-morning sessions in local Tel Aviv sites. Hatzuk beach was fairly quiet (eBird checklist here) but there's always interest in watching migrants on the edge of the big smoke. 

European Bee-eater cuteness and top-class wildlife narration, this morning in Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/wwrx1YEijh

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) April 8, 2023

Next day I checked Hayarkon Park that runs through the city center, including Rosh Tzipor and the adjacent Rock Park. Rosh Tzipor held a Little Crake and a Little Bittern:

Common Kingfisher is the most cliché bird in the world, yet it is irresistible when posed nicely:

Golden Jackals are a prominent feature of Hayarkon Park. They are abundant there, and very accustomed to humans and their dogs - a somewhat surreal coexistence in the middle of the city.

This one is called 'Sexy Ear'

Oh yes, oh yes, right there... Ooohhh so gooood...

On Monday I joined a large public event SPNI held up in the Golan Heights, promoting public action to halt disastrous plans that threaten the wild beauty of the Golan Heights. I picked up Nadav from his home in the Hula Valley. What can I do that the shortest way up to the Golan Heights drives through the fields north of the Agamon, where a Demoiselle Crane has been hanging around?

Milestone celebrations

Today I celebrated a special milestone, 1000 days of consecutive birding. In 2019 I started my participation in eBird’s Checklist-a-Day-Challenge. I elaborated by increasing my effort, not only submitting any checklist, but by actually going birding every day. I developed my personal definition of meaningful birding – at least 30 minutes of proper birding, fully absorbed in birding, with binoculars around my neck. On August 15^th 2019, while I was in the UK for a family visit, I had a one-day glitch that disrupted a 234-days long streak, and started counting again. Since August 16^th 2019 I have birded properly every day, and today was my 1000^th day. This streak has taken me through the entire COVID-19 pandemic… Now, birding and eBird is solidly a part of my being – I just have to go birding every day, and I hope I always will.

I celebrated this birding milestone by an early morning visit with my dog Bamba to my very local patch, Nahal Ekron. My alarm rang at 05:30, I started birding at 05:49. I walked 0.84 km one way, and then walked back the same route. 

The track takes me along the Ekron stream, that runs here in a ditch and has reeds growing on the shoulders. There are some scattered trees on the shoulders, and adjacent gardens of houses flanking the stream are attractive to birds too. The annual vegetation has mostly dried up by now. The walk one way and then back took me 54 minutes, which is longer than my average, because today I carried my camera and spent few minutes on photography. I normally don’t carry my camera when I visit my local patch. Today I decided to carry it, to celebrate the milestone and also because yesterday I had a close camera-less encounter with a Little Bittern, and had to make do with a ropey phone photo taken through my bins.

It was an OK morning session (eBird checklist here), a solid 40 species, without any crazy highlights but a few things that made me happy:

·       There were many babies out today, including my first-of-year Red-rumped Swallow, Goldfinch and Linnet. Linnets breed in nearby vineyards and orchards; a family party flew over the stream.

·       A large mulberry tree and adjacent huge Blue Jacaranda were full of warblers, higher-than-average numbers of Blackcap and some Garden Warblers too. There were two Barred Warblers (not Two-barred Warblers) flying in and out of the tree. They were too quick, or I was too slow, so this is the only reasonable photo I managed of one of them, likely a young female. The number of warblers seemed higher than normal, representing the massive migration experienced in different parts of the country.

·       Swifts! I love swifts. My love of swifts perhaps isn’t so strongly expressed as Hanna’s, but they certainly make me very happy with their utter awesomeness.

THEY ARE BACK! THE FIRST 4 SWIFTS HAVE RETURNED! #WELCOMEHOME #swifts pic.twitter.com/ZaqbbetiaI

— Hannah Bourne-Taylor (@WriterHannahBT) May 8, 2022

·       This soundtrack:

Then in the afternoon I submitted another checklist. It was my grandmother's memorial anniversary - she passed away 27 years ago. My family gathered in the main cemetery of Jerusalem, including my brother. This cemetery is not very well vegetated so there weren't many birds. Yet, the Linnets there made me happy, and sad - perhaps one of the last pairs breeding in Jerusalem; they used to be much more widespread. Alpine Swifts, Short-toed eagle, a Willow Warbler hoouiting, it was OK I guess. eBird checklist here. Does anyone else record birds during memorial services?

Just another day in the office

This morning I went out to get some fieldwork done in the northern Negev. We're working there with INPA at a new nature reserve, Loess Plains NR, mapping breeding birds. Most of the reserve is pretty flat Loess plains. My section this morning flanked the Besor River, the main watercourse of the northern Negev, and quite a serious corridor of vegetation in contrast with the barren surroundings. 

I arrived at my section early in the morning, and quickly understood that this morning would be more about migrants than breeding birds. It was a cool and overcast morning after very hot weather yesterday, that must have affected migration. The air was full of birds and bird calls on the move - bee-eaters, hirundines, swifts, pipits, buntings, chats were hopping on tops of bushes - bliss. Down the wadi, the trees were full of birdsong - mainly Eastern Olivaceous Warblers and Turtle Dove. Hundreds of migrant warblers were ticking from the vegetation. Collared Flycatcher, Redstart, Thrush Nightingales, Wryneck - so much good stuff in there. In the distance I spotted a group of falcons hovering over the plains - mixed Red-foots and Lesser Kestrels.

Ortolan

Whinchat

Turtle Dove was present in very high density - there were tens of displaying males parachuting through the air. It was also heartwarming to see many flocks of migrants, some of several tens.

Hundreds of Steppe Buzzards roosted in the reserve by the wadi, especially on the shoulders.

When the air started to heat up they took off, and were joined by other raptors - Lesser Spotted, Short-toed and Booted Eagles, Pallid, Marsh and Montagu's Harriers.

Lesser Spotted Eagle

Booted Eagle

Receiving a warm welcome from the local Brown-necked Ravens:

Lovely 2cy male Montagu's Harrier

After the migrant flocks of European Bee-eaters left, the many breeding pairs became prominent. There was also a pair of Arabian Green Bee-eaters, so beautiful in the soft light.

Then I heard the familiar call of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater. For a few seconds the three species were sat together on the same bush. By the time I picked my camera up the blue-cheeked flew off; later on I relocated it on nearby wires. They have bred in the region in the past - I will follow up.

European (left) and Arabian Green (right) Bee-eaters

Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters

Towards the end a couple of small groups of pelicans went through:

Smaller than the mega flock I had over home on Saturday:

Pelicans migrating over my town yesterday. Commentary by @MartaAcacio
Note the leucistic bird, there were three in this flock @BirdLifeIsrael @SPNI @flywaychampions pic.twitter.com/R9DlPj4nwR

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) April 17, 2022

What a fantastic morning to be out. Thank you spring.

eBird checklist here.

Almost there

The last days of summer (from bird migration perspective) are tough. Things just don't want to get going. First signs of autumn give hope for a flood of migrants soon to arrive, but the River of Birds in the Sky (yo Bill! Miss you bro) is still just an intermittent trickle.
Yesterday I went to Hulda Reservoir where things are building up nicely. Good array of shorebird, some ducks, a few migrant passerines - 72 species in total (eBird checklist here), not too shabby. Savi's Warblers, 12 Collared Pratincloes, Black-tailed Godwit were the highlights. It is not a good site for bird photography - scope job there and I hate digiscoping.
This morning I went to Tal Shahar - Tsor'a with hopes for more early migrants. Started off at Tal Shahar alfalfa and nearby riparian scrub. It was somewhat quiet, but still nice (eBird checklist here). No big highlights - 2 Indian Silverbills were the only birds of interest. I don't know what's their story exactly. They were absent all summer, and they seem regular in autumn. Last year I saw them a few times in my area. Let's see if they show some regularity this autumn too. I managed one horrid flight shot of one, making it look properly rare, like a quality vismig record:

This awful flight shot led to a series of just-as-bad flight shots of other common species:

Asian Black-winged Kite

Pied Kingfisher flying high towards a nest somewhere?

Squak

Syrian Pecker

Turtle Dove numbers were certainly on the increase, congregating post breeding/fledging before migration.

Woodchat Shrike (1cy) - I love this plumage

Large Salmon Arabs were abundant

Inquisitive Golden Jackal

Then I gave Pel'i Reservoir a thorough check, but came back with not so much.

Two more checklists today, day 214/365 of Checklist-a-day challenge, 223 days of checklist streak.

Upcher's Warblers 2019

This morning I went out birding with Piki, Micha and Stefan in E Lakhish hills. It was my first visit to this wonderful part of the country since my return from the UK.

As the days are already very hot now, we started super early when it was actually quite chilly (7⁰ C!). As we stepped out of the car we immediately heard Long-billed Pipits singing and families of Spectacled Warbler trrrrrrrring. Our main interest was in Upcher's Warblers - this is one of the few parts of the country where they breed. We covered some ground and ended up with at least five territories - quite good density. Apart for one male who was super active - singing and displaying like a boss, other individuals kept a low profile and were rather quiet - stayed low in the bushes and did not vocalise. I managed one half-decent photo of this quality breeding species, and a couple more distant shots of the Big Macho.

I have had close encounters with this species before (see here for example), so I did not invest too much time in photography. 

Other birds typical for this habitat were Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Cretzschmar's Bunting and Woodchat Shrikes. Add to that a sprinkle of late migrants, and you end up with a decent morning of birding (eBird checklist here).

Woodchat Shrike

Turtle Dove - such a joy and at the same time so sad to see them

Palpares libelluloides - thanks Avner

Thanks to P, K & S for a great morning.

The Valley of Dreams and Wires

I am staying up north with friends for a couple of days. Early this morning I escaped for a sweet few hours of birding in the Bet She'an Valley. This is one of my favourite parts of the country, not only because I lived there between 1998 and 2001. I challenged myself to pick up as many species as I could, so I rushed from site to site and did not invest in photography at all. Admittedly, I was pretty lucky, especially with some migrant passerines that were present in ones and twos. I walked some alfalfa and scrub near Kfar Ruppin, then scrub and fields near Tirat Zvi, and ended up down at the bottom of the Jordan Valley below Kfar Ruppin at some beautiful reservoirs. As always, Bet Shean Valley is packed with birds, and diversity was very high too. Many species with big numbers. Some highlights were Little Crake, 2 Citrine wagtail, 5 species of shrike (woodchat most common). Among the most prominent were Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, that congregate in the valley at this time of year. I counted about 70. Not easy to get wireless photos pf them - wires are their favourite perch.

Blue-cheeked Bee-eater - adult

1cy

It was heartwarming to still be able to see fair numbers of Turtle Doves. I had over 100, including flocks of tens; far fewer than the tens of thousands I'd see in the same area 15-20 years ago.

Namaqua Dove has become a regular feature of the valley, which is lovely.

There were only small numbers of Honey Buzzards that took off - main passage should start any day now. One of them swooped down, very focused, and came down to drink in an empty fishponds:

That eye...

There were moderate numbers of shorebirds in the dry fishponds, with some variety but nothing too special. Nice to see over 60 Collared Pratincoles:

Demonstrating it's not black-winged or oriental

Temminck's Stint (adult) with two Little Stints - 1cy (top) and adult (bottom)

A few more random photos:

Huge numbers of Barn Swallows, many of them of the local breeding taxon transitiva

Black Stork 1cy

Desert Finchs

Pygmy Cormorant

Short-toed Eagle pre-sunrise

By 09:00 I was defeated by the heat and retreated to aircon coolness. All in all it was a brilliant early morning - 115 species in just over three hours ain't too shabby I think. Full eBird checklist here. Thanks to Avner for his help.