Interesting Whimbrel with some pro-alboaxillaris features, Ma'agan Michael, 26/August/2023

Yesterday (August 26th, 2023) I went to Ma'agan Michael to twitch the Booted Warbler that had been found there by Igal Siman Tov. It's only the 5th record for Israel, and the first twitchable, great find! It took some searching until I eventually saw it; it didn't preform as well as it did on previous days so no photos. Still, I saw it well enough to count for an IL bimbo, with supercilium and all. 

However, this wasn't the most outstanding observation of that morning. While walking around with Amir Balaban in search of the skulking warbler, a quartet of Whimbrels flew by. Whimbrel is quite scarce in Israel, so without hesitation both of us rattled away with our cameras as they passed close, almost overhead. They flew by very fast, and both of us didn't get a chance to check them with our bins. Back home in the evening I downloaded the images to my computer, and noticed that one bird was unusual, the rear bird of the quartet. With the story of the once-though-extinct-now-super-rare Steppe Whimbrel in my mind, I always check Whimbrel underwings here, and this one certainly caught my eye (alas not in the field). It has essentially white underwing coverts, and limited spotting on the axillaries. It's pectoral band is nicely developed, contrasting with the white belly. 

Because the group passed almost directly overhead, we got no photos of the upperparts. This is all I got:

I plonked these images on Twitter in the evening; by then Bangladesh-based Gary Allport had already gone to sleep:

This morning I was in Ma'agan Michael, connecting with Booted Warbler, IL tick for me. While searching for it, Amir Balaban and I had this Whimbrel quartet fly by. I snapped some shots of them. Could the rear one be alboxillaris? Not sure it's quite white and clean enough@_OSME pic.twitter.com/6YSTnemdU2

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) August 26, 2023

When Gary woke up in the morning he responded in length - thank you Gary! Gary agrees this is an interesting individual, with some pro-alboxillaris features, including the features mentioned above:

The pattern on the outer web of 5th outermost primary with four evenly-spaced white spots is good for alboxillaris:

Few dark spots can be seen on the uppertail coverts but this side views isn't sufficient. Eventually the interim conclusion about this bird is that according to current knowledge of alboxillaris it's probably not good enough. There is too much spotting on the axillaries; the underwing coverts are not strikingly white enough; and the size and structure don't differ from the other nominate phaeopus, including bill length. With missing features like the rump and tail pattern, this bird will remain currently as an 'interesting bird'. However, this bird is a fresh juvenile. This plumage is poorly known in alboxillaris - only one documented individual to my knowledge. Hopefully this bird hasn't moved on yet and it will be relocated in the next few days.

So, it's worth keeping track of this Ma'agan Michael bird. Maybe in the future, with better knowledge of the amount of variation shown in juvenile alboxillaris, new insight could provide more confidence in retrospective identification of this individual.

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.

Three days

Again, some stuff has piled up on my computer-desk, that needs clearing.
On Monday I had a chance to meet up with Nils who's doing a Big Bat Year, passing through Israel. With two hours to spare, I decided to check wadi Bet Arif near the airport that was actually quite good despite the heat. Migration was on, both on the ground and overhead, and local birds played ball too. Nils even had a mammal lifer (Mountain Gazelle) and a few bird lifers. Rather unexpected was this 2cy Bonelli's Eagle:

Long-billed Pipit

Locally-produced Blue Rock Thrush

eBird checklist here.

Yesterday was Election Day so I had the day off. In the morning I birded with Re'a the alfalfa field and reservoir near Tal Shahar, which was fantastic, as expected at this time of year. Numbers and diversity were really great. Highlights were a Richard's Pipit, Pallid Harrier and 90 species within three hours. eBird checklist here.

Chirp!

This young Peregrine bombed past us, too quick for me to focus

Lots of Savi's everywhere

Alfalfa fields are packed with wagtails and pipits now. In turn, the abundance of potential prey attracts harriers. We had three young Montys (one pictured here) and a blondie Pallid foraging very actively over the field early one before taking off.

This morning I worked with Sivan from NPA north of Ashdod. Highlights were an Oystercatcher and two Whimbrel, and Desert Wheatear among many other wheatears. eBird checklist here.

Not alboxillaris

Northern Wheatears

Lovely Whinchat

Still trying to find out what this dragonfly is

My eBird checklist streak is regaining speed, 35 days now.

Sweden road trip part 1 - birds

Got back last night from a week-long family trip to Sweden. Sweden is a wonderful country. We landed at Västerås and drove from there up north. First night we stayed near Sandvik, second near Bispgården and then we reached our destination - Luleå in the far north of Sweden. Lots of driving...
From a family point of view it was a great holiday - weather was perfect, we did lots of outdoor stuff and got to know special people. From a wildlife point of view I could have achieved more. At this time of year, best hours for birding are between 22:00 and 04:00. Because of all the driving I did, and long days of family stuff, I could afford only one night of proper birding. Other times when I was outdoors during hours when normal people are awake were rather quiet, and light conditions were horrible.
However, all in all, I saw some stuff and enjoyed the common birds Sweden has to offer.
I enjoyed seeing in good numbers migrants that are doing pretty bad in England. Red-backed Shrikes, Pied Flycatcher and Willow Warbler were present at almost every stop in the south and centre. Pied Flycatchers were breeding in almost every nestbox I saw.

Pied Flycatcher

Heading up north, a short stop at the lovely nature reserve Ålsjön was productive with breeding Whooper Swans and Slavonian Grebes.

Luleå is a special town, with lots of wildlife in it. Urban birding with Arctic Terns and Whimbrel can't be bad. 

Arctic Tern

Whimbrel - taken at 00:45 without flash...

On my final morning, before flying out, the kids had an hour at a play area in Västerås. I had time for a quick walk around Mälarpark which was rather nice with Icterine and Wood Warblers. The Icterine was singing from high up in the trees. 

Icterine Warbler

Up in the north I did have a couple of target species. I succeeded with one - more on my next blog.