Raptor rewild party

I spent this morning in Kfar Ruppin, at our rewilding site, with Nadav. The morning started pretty wild with a violent thunderstorm that went through, quite quickly. It remained overcast most morning, making birding quite pleasant. This is a photo of our wetland from spring - we spent some time overlooking the wetland from the hill at 10 O'clock of the image with the white structure.

There were many waterbirds in the wetland, but the main attraction was raptors. The big raptor migration is over, but there was still lots going on. A fresh northerly was blowing, and many raptors took advantage of the updrift to hover and, seemingly, play around with the wind. Honestly, it felt that some birds were really enjoying it. There were Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Long-legged, Common and Steppe Buzzards, Marsh and Pallid Harriers, a young Peregrine, Osprey, Sparrowhawks, lots of Black Storks going through - very good fun. I recently bought myself a new camera Canon R7. This was the first time I could test it properly in the field. I have lots of learning to do, but I am already impressed by the focus tracking and by the image quality.

Steppe Buzzard 1cy

Booted Eagle

Peregrine

Attacking a passing Short-toed Eagle

Marsh Harrier - camera coped well tracking it against a cluttered background

Same with this Osprey

eBird checklist for Amud Reservoir here.

On the way out had a quick look around the remaining fishponds (eBird checklist here), and said hello to the remaining White-tailed Lapwing (here with friends - Little Ringed-Plover and White Wagtail):

Up and up

Since my previous update, I continued doing more or less the same. I am still out birding every day, migration is still awesome, life is still busy, and birds are great. Here are some highlights from recent week:

A week ago it was Champions of the Flyway. I had planned to race, but last minute my team disintegrated. Therefore I re-joined the organising team. For this, I travelled up to the Hula Valley, where I accompanied some teams competing in the race, checked they're doing OK, helped those that needed help, and basically enjoyed a good afternoon birding in the valley. At Lehavot HaBashan fishponds, the only reservoir with water was jam-packed with birds (eBird checklist here). Importantly, it held the largest concentration of Marbled Teal I have ever seen in Israel - I counted 404! Incredible number for this globally and nationally threatened duck. It is possible that it's the entire population breeding in the Hula Valley. INPA (with the assistance of us, BirdLife Israel) are monitoring their breeding. In 2021, the national breeding population included 59 families that produced 508 chicks. 80% of the national breeding population was in the Hula Valley. This video shows a section of the reservoir:

A nearby alfalfa field held a nice flock of Red-footed Falcons and Lesser Kestrels - always wonderful to see.

A majestic flock of 900 Great White Pelicans (4500 aerial kgs!) drifted against Mt. Hermon towards the Agamon. Magnificent.

In the Agamon I did a cheeky live Facebook video of the flock that went down to roost:

After dark, as the teams ended their day and arrived at Agamon HaHula, we (the judges) picked their brains, grilled them and ended up with the winners - The Wrens. Well done!

Champions of the Flyway 2021 results (1/3)@flywaychampions 2021 overall winners are The Wrens. They recorded a staggering 166 species - well done! The team included Klil (18 yo) & Avner Zeitlin & Shachar Hizkiya (16 yo) pic.twitter.com/rPqi9v5i48

— BirdLife Israel (@BirdLifeIsrael) October 1, 2021

Fast forward a few days (and miles and birds), on October 4th I joined Darren for an enjoyable ringing session at his site in Sde Boker. Among the many 'normal' looking Willow Warblers, one really stood out. It was huge (wing 74), dark and sooty, probably belonging to an eastern or northern population, maybe 'yakutensis', maybe 'acredula'. Hopefully DNA results will provide an answer.

Next day I paid Ma'agan Michael a monthly visit. We are restoring a large section of the fish farm into a rich wetland, for biodiversity and climate. The work on the ground should commence very soon. In the meanwhile I am monitoring bird responses to management activities, including description of 'before' and 'after'. It was a fairly quiet morning, but at Ma'agan Michael even a quiet morning results in 93 species (eBird checklist here). This was a fascinating scene on the beach - Horned Ghost Crabs working on a Loggerhead Sea turtle Carcass - doing what they should: clean, decompose, recycle.

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My post-work birding session at Ma'agan Michael was interrupted by news of a White-tailed Lapwing at Kfar Ruppin, found by Barak and co. White-tailed Lapwing is not a drop-everything-and-run rarity, unless one's doing a Big Year. An hour later I was watching it, from a safe distance in harsh light - not the best quality I'm afraid.

The pond it was in was wonderful. So many birds, so diverse (eBird checklist here). 

Rearguard Blue-cheeked Bee-eater on overhead wires:

Reporting live from the field, while writing this post at home, I got messages indicating there's good eagle migration over home. I step outside and look up. Eagles. I spend 23 magical minutes counting them until the stream drifted east where I can't see behind me neighbour's house. 1092 Lesser Spotted Eagles and a bit of other stuff too. Cool.

Greater Spotted Eagle with Lesser Spotted Eagle

Lesser Spotted Eagles

This recent checklist also marks my 5000th checklist on eBird.

Over and out.

PS all videos taken through Swarovski Optik ATX85 using a Swarovski phone adapter.

Eilat Day 2 - local quality

Today I led for the Eilat Bird Festival. We stayed local on both morning and afternoon tours, and enjoyed some excellent birding. In the morning we headed down to IBRCE. Quality birds at the ringing table included Savi's and Balkan Warblers, and Nightingale, and had a sentimental moment when a Turtle Dove was ringed - what a fabulous bird and conservation tragedy. We walked around the park which was brilliant. Little Crake showed stupidly well from one of the hides, Red-necked Phalaropes in the lake, Namaqua Dove, big raptor migration overhead with a few Steppe Eagles - great fun.

Little Crake

Little Ringed Plover

Purple Heron

Steppe Eagle

As always, the IBRCE staff made us feel most welcome and made our visit a success. Thanks! IBRCE eBird checklist here.

In the afternoon we started off at KM20 saltpans. Lots of shorebirds, gulls, herons and ducks. Highlight was this White-tailed Lapwing - we kept our distance from it to allow other birders to see it too. Cool bird.

Watching a White-tailed Lapwing with Eilat Bird Festival#COTF19 #IBOC19 @flywaychampions @JMeyrav pic.twitter.com/LTXSacJzFT

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) March 23, 2019

KM20 saltpans checklist here.  

We ended the day at North Beach. M personal highlight was a huge flock of Garganey. Weather was unstable, and there was heavy passage of Black Kites at water-level over the gulf; then there were White-eyed Gulls and several other large gull taxa. eBird checklist here. 

In the evening we heldp the Champions of the Flyway opening event, Future of the Flyway, sponsored by Leica. Inspiring talks and great to meet the assembled teams.

Classic Sibe birding in the Negev

What an excellent morning I had with Rony and Re'a. We left at silly-O'clock to get to Nafha Vineyards at first light, a bit too early. We met up there with Eran who focused on lying on his belly to photograph the many ralids present in the small wetland. It was jam-packed with birds, but we decided to walk around and boy, that was fun! There were tons of pipits and wagtails along the creek, and the bushes had lots of Spotted Flys and Phylloscs. Very soon we had a Richard's Pipit flying over calling, pretty high up - pretty cool.

Richard's Pipit - believe me...

We continued working through the common migrants, some of them beautifully lit in the golden early morning sunlight.

Blackcap

Spotted Flycatcher

Tree Pipit

Whinchat

flava Yellow Wagtail

One of a few acredula-type Willow Warblers

Then things picked up quite rapidly. First we spotted a finch flying around - big bill, long tail, then heard the call - Common Rosefinch! About a minute later I heard a familiar soft 'Tzik' and immediately exclaimed - 'Little Bunting!!'. Soon we saw the bird flying towards us and down the valley. It landed for a few seconds at some distance, but we obtained good enough views to confirm it wasn't a rarer bunting. Then it flew up and down the valley a few more time - it was very mobile and didn't give itself up. My camera didn't cope well with these pass-bys. 

We were very happy with this find, and continued walking. Back at the wetland, activity was excellent. The grass and reeds were whopping with acros, crakes, Bluethroats and hirundines. There was this most obliging and absolutely cracking male Caspian Stonechat by the wetland, with which I spent a few enjoyable minutes:

At least four Spotted Crakes, five Water Rails and one or two Little Crakes were at the wetland:

Spotted Crake

Always good to bathe in smelly sewage

Water Rails (1cy and adult?)

Re'a and me continued working the olive groves that were OK, while Rony and Eran remained at the wetland. We had a brief Red-breasted Flycatcher, and more common migrants and residents. 

Bluethroat

Marsh Harrier - stunner

Mourning Wheatear of the nominate lugens group, probably 1cy

There were two large falcons working the site. One adult Barbary was straightforward to ID, but this 1cy is more challenging. In the field it felt tiny and very lightly built, unlike Peregrine. It is rather heavily streaked on the breast and flanks, possibly a bit too much for a Barbary. But the ground colour of the breast is buffish, and the upperparts feel more Barbary to me with browner tones rather than lead-grey. Not 100% sure about this one - happy to learn.

Out of focus, sorry

It was getting hot and Re'a and me felt that we had enough of this fantastic site - quite a good haul I think. Just as we talked about this classic October Negev morning, Rony notified us about a Yellow-browed warbler by the wetland. It was mobile and by the time we got there it was gone. We spent a bit more time there and headed on. Full checklist for Nafha is here.

Next stop was Mitzpe Ramon sewage. There were tons of hirundines, wagtails and pipits around the reservoir, including one Crag Martin, but the adjacent tamarisk grove that used to be fed by spillover is now dry and was rather quiet, perhaps also because of the heat. Only one Red-breasted Fly. Full checklist here.

On the way back home we paid a visit to the White-tailed lapwing found by Arnon Tsairi at Sde Boker sewage (thanks!) - always great to see, especially so well. Grand finale to a brilliant day.

Champions of the Flyway - day 4 - race day

Sitting here in Schiphol Airport waiting for my next flight back home, and my head is still buzzing with Israeli birds and people. What an amazing climax to the pre-race days. It was a tough day with high temperatures and strong winds, but there were more migrants around than in previous days. I spent the day race with teams in the field, helping teams to get on birds, to stay focused and to keep motivated. Pre-dawn I was with some teams at IBRCE. Sadly the Lesser White-fronted Goose did not roost there that night. After dawn I went up to Seifim Plains but had to stop to admire the fabulous raptor migration low over the Eilat Mts. I saw a many hundred Steppe Buzzards in few minutes - daily total counted by IBRCE team was over 40,000. I failed to photograph impressive thermals / kettles.

Buck Ibex not understanding what all the fuss is about

Sunrise in Eilat Mts.

Seifim Plains were fairly quiet but we had there one Bimaculated Lark and several wheatar species. Late in the morning I went with Jonathan to Yotvata. The Turkestan Shrike settled down in a pumpkin field that was whopping with birds, mainly wheatears (lots of Black-ears) and about 50 Lesser Kestrels. The shrike looked good in sunlight rather than dust-storm light. 

Short-toed Lark

Spanish Sparrows

In the early afternoon I went to have a quick look at a White-tailed Lapwing that had been found near IBRCE. It looked pretty knackered in the heat, and light was very harsh for photography. Fine bird nevertheless.

Then teams started to assemble in KM20 saltpans, picking up important species. We did our best to assist the teams struggling with time to find the key species quickly. The Lesser Flamingo was showing alright in the afternoon sunlight:

Wind-swept Glossy Ibises

In the evening North Beach held many teams, using the last minutes of light to catch up with North Beach regulars.

Heuglin's Gull

After dark some teams went for more nightbirding, but I had to attend early retiring teams and play the Bad Cop role. My night ended very late after all the teams had returned and handed in their lists. Incredible efforts!
To be continued...