Birding the Holy City

Back home in the UK now, and I have one last post to share from my short visit to Israel. After the quick trip down south, I was based in Jerusalem. I was very very busy but managed to squeeze in some fine birding inside the city of Jerusalem. Growing up as a birder in Jerusalem, the context and perspective are complicated - the city has transformed completely from semi-wild to uber-urban. However, the two major birding sites within the city - Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO) and Gazelle Valley, have both become city hubs, both for wildlife and for people. My dear friend Amir and my brother Gidon get major credit for enterpreneuring and establishing those miracles of wildlife inside the city.
I had a morning at JBO with my brother and Amir. Ringing was on the slow side, as expected this time of year, but variety was great. It is a good year for 'northern' finches coming to winter in Israel, and we had nice numbers (in the field) of Hawfinch, Brambling and Siskin. Some were caught too. A lovely Bluethroat worked the edge of the pond just below the hide. Very enjoyable.

Hawfinch - male

Brambling - 1cy male

Bluethroat - 1cy female

Starred Agama (Stellagama stellio)

We are very proud of our online ringing portal - I reckon it's the best in the world. And the automatic ringing summary looks superb - don't you think?

Every time I visit the Gazelle Valley (in too large intervals) I am impressed by how careful management can create wildlife scenes that were unimaginable before. As a kid, I grew up in dry Jerusalem. Finding a duck or any other waterbird was almost as exciting as finding a ticking Asian bunting. Nowadays, the wetland system at the Gazelle Valley regularly hosts waterfowl in winter, Little Grebes and other resident waterbirds breed there, and the habitat looks simply brilliant. I spent a cold and rainy hour there but it was great fun. No amazing rarities, just solid birding in the center of the city.

'Caucasian' Water Pipit

Syrian Woodpecker

The gazelle herd performed well...

Before heading home spent a short while with my mate Jonathan in his village near Modi'in. Lots of Hawfinches there too. 

Looking forward to my next visit to my homeland - Champions of the Flyway in March 2018. Or as Jonathan says, bring it!

Negev, the Final Frontier

This is the captains' log. Day 854 to the journey.

Sorry for the late posting - my computer crashed and it took me some days to recover it.

It's that time of year again. Smell of sibes in the air. Hula Festival. Martin Garner arrives in Israel.

I was pleased to spend a weekend with Martin. Both the time in the field and the time with my family was great fun. Friday we went to Nafkha farm in the high Negev Mts. It was pretty cold and rainy in the early morning. We joined Darren and Meidad for ringing there. Ringing was pretty laid back but some quality species - this scruffy-looking Yellow-browed Warbler:

And this 1cy Red-breasted Fly:

As the ringing was pretty slow we birded around. Nothing more exciting than another Red-breasted Fly, Brambling, Barbary Falcon etc. On the way out we saw this female 'Eastern' Stonechat. As usual, in the field, no white to be seen in the tail: 

But I really wanted to show Martin what I had already learned, so we trapped the bird. Guess what we found concealed below the uppertail coverts, at the bases to TF?

Yes, you were right - white. So this is anothe female Caspian Stonechat. Interestingly, it had some streaks (dark shaft stripes) to some uppertail coverts. I am sure Martin will write about that when he gets back home.

Mr. Swarovski

Next day we checked the Nizzana sewage ponds, chasing the ghost of a Sibe Buff-bellied Pipit seen there the previous day by Dan B and Rich B. We arrived early and started birding. Good birding with lots of birds. Two more Yellow-browed Warbler, Citrine Wag, some Moustached Warblers and Penduline Tits, two Jack Snipes, Merlin and lots others.

Jack Snipe

This Swallow smells eastern, with the very pallid, frosty look. Reminded me of the swallows I caught at Ngulia (E Kenya) in 2010, that were thought to originate in C Asia.

 Good numbers of Black-bellied, Spotted and some Crowned Sandgrouse came in to drink later on.

Black-bellied Sandgrouse

Late in the morning we found this interesting Water Pipit, that stood out among the many coutellis around. Striking with bold breast streaking, extending back to rear flanks, strong triangular Malar patch, neat wingbars and thin white eyering broken by dark lores. Here is one recod shot - more on this bird to follow:

Today I drove up north to join the Hula Festival. This year, due to my new family commitments, I will spend here only one night. Gave a talk this evening which I enjoyed to, and it was good to meet all the guys. looking forward to tomorrow. Good night.

Buff-bellied Pipits

This morning I followed up Ron Haran's discovery of a Siberian Buff-bellied Pipit near Kalya, N Dead Sea. I was joined by Jonathan Meyrav. Quickly we found three birds among the many Water Pipits. They were very shy and always kept a safe distance from us, contrary to the wagtails and Water Pipits that practically ran under our vehicle. All images are of the same individual, the only one that approached us a bit. however all images are nasty crops, and together with the ugly background and bad light resulted in these bad images. I promise to return to this site and get better images.

Note that this individual has most greater coverts missing in its left wing, while its right wing is complete and shows two nice wingbars.

Note the diagnostic head pattern, slaty-grey mantle (depends on light of course), bold breast streaking and pale legs.

While waiting for the bastard BBP's to approach, we had much time to observe Water Pipits very intimately. At close distance we heard them giving extraordinary contact calls, very soft and low, very different from their normal flight calls. I wish the buff-bellies gave us such photo opportunitis: