Decade summary #7 - Best of 2016

2016 was a year, or more specifically and autumn, that many UK birders will never forget. In fact, the entire year was jam-packed with brilliant rarities, making me wonder how I made any progress in my PhD with all the twitching. The year started well with my first Euro-twitch, the obliging Siberian Rubythroat in NL:

In May I visited British Columbia, where my brother Gidon lived back then. Together with Amir we had some awesome wildlife experiences, including paddle-away views of Black Bears:

A stonking summer-plumage Great Knot in North Norfolk was just one of many rarities that showed up locally-ish in summer...

September came, and the rarity gates opened up into a flood, mainly from the east. It was a monster autumn, with winds constantly delivering goodies from deep in Siberia. The most exciting phenomenon was the irruption of Siberian Accentors in Europe. I twitched the first mainland one in Kilnsea:

I wasn't alone...

And the top-rares kept coming. Eastern Crowned Warbler @Bempton:

Dusky Thrush in Derbyshire:

And a nice bonus from the west - American Cliff Swallow in Suffolk:

I was pleased to experience my first proper Waxwing winter - fascinating birds.

Full summary here.

Waxwing fever

So what's my story with Waxwing? Since childhood, I wanted to see Waxwings. In Israel they're mythical rarities - a handful of records from the 1960's and 1970's, and that's it. And they're beautiful. And they're unique. And despite originating from the cold boreal forest, they feel so exotic. And they toss berries up in the air.
Since I moved to the UK this is the first proper Waxwing winter. I have seen a few this year already, but have not satisfied my appetite with them, yet. Today I got one step closer to catharsis, but I still need a really tame group in a frosty morning at eye level.
Anyway, today before work had an enjoyable hour or so with UEA ringing group mates. A flock of about 20 have settled in a park near my house for a few days now. As part of a national project, we tried to ring some today. When I arrived it was so mild they were flycatching from tree-tops and didn't care much about berries:

But later on they did come down to their favourite Rowan tree and we caught six! Fantastic birds. We had a nice selection of different ages and sexes. Those wings - wow!

Waxwing - adult male

Oooof...

Those waxy tips are just brilliant aren't they?

I didn't know that adult males have red waxy spots at the tips of tail feathers too:

Waxwing - 1cy female 

1cy female (left), 2cy+ female(right). Note difference in pattern on primaries. The adult female had suspended its primary moult - outer primary unmoulted. This is an uncommon moult pattern, but it is mentioned in Laurent Demongin's guide.

Sand and wax

Had a highly enjoyable day out with Robin at Burnham Overy Dunes. Leaving home early and listening to the skies, and then driving north at night, it was evident that a massive fall of 'Continental' Blackbirds had happened. Big numbers along the country roads heading to BOD, and then at dawn huge numbers flying in off, and in every bush and tree. I must have seen more than 1500 Blackbirds today.

Robin's main aim was to photograph the long-staying Isabelline Wheatear I was lucky to be part of tits finding team. I tagged along and joined Robin for the first hour or so after dawn. When I was there the sandy vagrant was rather timid, surprising after being exposed to so many humans, and fed with mealworms, for almost two weeks now. It did keep its distance from us - when walking it would flush from 30-40 m. When we lay down and waited patiently it did eventually come somewhat closer but didn't really give itself up. I guess Robin's shots are better than mine - he had more success after I had left. Check his website.

 Isabelline Wheatear

After about an hour of laying on our bellies in the sand, my aching shoulder ordered me to leave Robin and start moving. I walked the dunes and down Holkham Pines for several hours. Apart for Blackbirds everywhere there were smaller numbers of Redwing, Fieldfare and Song Thrush. I had two flyover Waxwings and a flyover Lapland Bunting. There were some Crossbills in the pines, a few mobile redpoll that were probably Mealy's, some Woodcock and a few other bits and pieces, but nothing too exciting.

On the way out we spent a few minutes with the geese in the nearby field - pretty Icelandic things:

Pink-footed Geese

The sun even came out for a few seconds:

Hrot! Hrot!

Then we searched for waxwings that were seen in the Staithe. We located four punks - mostly distant and concealed, but they did a brief Hawthorn detour nearby:

Still not satisfied with my waxwing encounters - hope this winter delivers more:

I did challenge myself to see as many species as possible in the few hours of birding I had. Checked ducks, shorebirds etc. as best as I could with my bins only, still had 94 species - not too shabby.

Issy Wheatear and more

Yesterday was my birthday but I couldn't go birding. So today I cashed in on my birthday credit,  and went out with James (AKA The Driver), Dave, Phil and Will to Burnham Overy Dunes. Weather was looking good and we hoped to find Norfolk's first Sibe Accentor. But when we got there we started complaining how few birds there actually are. We had some crests in the Suedea, Robins, thrushes but really rather slow. We walked west towards Gun Hill, hoping to find yesterday's Pallas's Warbler, spread out and covered as much ground as possible. And of course as me and James walked across the crest of the dune, Dave calls, and quite nonchalantly tells us 'I have just found an Issy Wheatear'. This guy is amazing, quite a rarity magnet. We caught up with Dave and the bird very quickly, but it was really unsettled and didn't stop moving for the first half an hour or so - it must have just flown in. We got some good initial views that confirmed Dave's ID, but photography was difficult. I was really lucky to get these flight shots from a huge distance - surprising my old camera focused on the bird:

Isabelline Wheatear 

This is the original:

But as the first birders arrived, the bird settled down more or less, associating with two Northern Wheatears and performed rather well. We were gentle with it, hence the poor record shots. I think later on some photographers managed to get closer to it.

White underwing coverts, for what it's worth

This is Dave the finder - well done Dave! He asked to remain in the shadows

First birders on site

Not for the first time in the UK, I was in the scene of a big UK rarity that is a common bird in Israel. It is the first twitchable for Norfolk, so I really 'got in' and shared the excitement:

Me and The Driver

There was also a Pallas's Warbler and a Barred Warbler in the same are, but it was getting busy and we wanted to leave so didn't see them. We knew that with the growing crowd at the wheatear site, we will have all the other North Norfolk sites to ourselves. So we headed east towards Holkham Pines through the dunes, but first an obligatory visit to the rotting 12 m Fin Whale that had washed up on the beach a couple of days ago - we smelled it from a mile away. What a fascinating beast though! So sad to see it dead and dissected.

The eastern side of BO dunes was actually pretty good. More thrushes, an obliging male Mealy Redpoll, three Waxwings that flew over calling, a beautiful Shore Lark that refused to play ball, Jack Snipe and The Driver's bird of the day - GREAT WHITE EGRET ;-)
In the pines not much, heard a Yellow-browed Warbler.

 Mealy Redpoll

 Shore Lark

Great day to be out!