From rare to mega

This morning I went ringing in a field near Mashabe Sade in the northern Negev. Large numbers of migrants had been reported there recently, but today the field was OK, not more. The fairly good catch included mainly Willow Warbler, some Chiffchaffs, four Red-backed Shrikes etc. After setting the nets up in the dark, the first bird I heard early in the morning was a Red-breasted Flycatcher. Later on in the morning it made its way into my net. Nice 1cy - I really like them. Thanks to Netanel for the help in this part of the morning.

Red-breasted Flycatcher - 1cy

While driving back home I learned about a f***ing Pied Bushchat at Yeroham - it was found and later ringed by Eyal Shochat exactly at the same spot where the Dusky Warbler was just a few days ago - what a golden patch! Well done to Eyal. This is the 7th record for Israel. I saw the previous one in winter 2001/2 - it overwintered in the IBRCE carpark. But because it's such a good bird I decided to go and have a look. The bird was showing very well. It has so much charisma on it - larger and much more impressive than a stonechat, with very broad wings and these huge white wing patches and rump. It's a 1cy male.

 Pied Bushchat - 1cy male

The light was very bad (too contrasting) so I didn't spend much time photographing the bird. It was feeding very actively and looks very happy. Nearby I saw also this female Siberian Stonechat - bringing my saxicola day list to four (including Common Stonechat and Whinchat). On a normal day it would have received more attention but not today.

Siberain Stonechat - 1cy female

What an amazing autumn this is evolving to be. Luckily up till now most goodies were rather close to my house. Hope this trend continues.

Pacific Gold

Early this morning I returned to Timorim to improve my results with the Pacific Golden Plover, which seems to like this place - almost a week now on site. The bird showed well but I am not very happy with my results - it was a bit too distant, the light was bad (early morning sun obscured by clouds), lots of vegetation so I couldn't lie on my belly, etc. See how changing light conditions really change the appearence of the bird.

Pacific Golden Plover - adult

Today there were fewer shorebirds compared to Sunday but still some nice stuff: Black-winged and Collared Pratincoles, Temminck's Stint, lots of Marsh Sands, White-winged Tern and more. A Starling was new for me for the season.

 Here are some images of the plover with friends:

Black-winged Pratincole

 Marsh Sandpiper

  

Spur-wined Lapwing

Wood Sandpiper

PGP take 2

After on Friday I never made it to see the Pacific Golden Plover at Timorim (found by Eran Banker), this morning on my way to work I dropped in to the reservoir to have a quick look. 

The bird was still in place. It's a big reservoir so I had distant views only. It's a fine adult, almost completed its body moult with just a few dark feathers remaining on the flanks. Primary moult is about halfway through - P1 to P5 moulted, P6 still growing and P7 to P10 unmoulted.

Nice head profile - steep forehead, rather long bill:

Short primary projection: 

 Slight toe projection:

Grey axillaries and coverts:

Many more shorebirds sharing the same pond but had no time to check them. Impressive numbers of Marsh Sands, one Collared Pratincole etc.

Millions of alba WhiteWagtails everywhere. This is a 1cy (female?) - note the obvious moult limit in GC (two inner GC moulted) and tertials (two upper tertials moulted).

Good October ringing

Went ringing this morning at my CES in Ashdod. The morning began with a blow, when I discovered that recently someone had done some infrastructure work with heavy machinery in my swamp, and destroyed some of my net rides. Nevertheless I decided to go ahead and set the nets up. First round was very big and I thought I was going to work very hard but eventually it ended up as a good, solid catch. About 100 birds with a good, typical October mix. Lots of Willow Warblers, only one Chiffchaff, about 20 Bluethroats which was surprising - large number for this time of year. Other quality stuff included Red-backed Shrikes, Wryneck, Marsh Warbler among the commoner species.

Bluethroat

Willow Warbler - yakutensis type

My grove of Apple-ring Acacia Faidherbia albida is flowering now, attracting lots of warblers

Many thanks to the team that helped me this morning - Re'a, Shlomo, Liad, Miriam, Shahar & Arbel.

Dusky Warbler!!!

This morning after taking my kids to the kindergarten I headed off to Timorim, not too far away from my house, to look for a Pacific Golden Plover found by Eran Banker yesterday. In perfect timing I received an RBA message alerting of a Dusky Warbler trapped at Yeroham in the C Negev by Yoram Zvik & Rony Livne. PGP is a very good bird but I did not hesitate for a second and changed my destination to see the warbler. I have seen one in Israel before - a bird I found and ringed with Eyal Shochat on18 October 1996 near Beer Sheva, but that was long ago and I have no images of that bird. Dusky Warbler is still mega rare in Israel - this is only the 6th record; all but one were ringed, which made them non-twitchable and therefore it was a serious blocker of mine for quite many years. But in the modern era, when info passes so fast and cars are so fast as well, it became possible to twitch a bird in the bag.

Quite a good crowd assembled, both of local birders and some of Israel's leading listers. The bird was processed, photographed and released in good health. It was seen flitting in the bushes after release until it disappeared. 

It is quite an easy Phylloscopus to identify, with the combination of dark-brown upperparts, golden brown underparts, long and prominent supercilium, especially in front of eye, and delicate and pointed bill. It is tiny, with a wing of 55 mm. The wing was typically very rounded including heavily emarginated primaries. When released it gave one typical call - a dry 'tack'. The bird was identified as 1cy.

Congratulations and many thanks to Yoram and Rony - excellent bird!

Dusky Warbler

Rony Livne & his sweetheart 

Ringing birding ringing birding

The last week has been very busy for me. Every day I did some fieldwork - either ringing or counting raptors or other stuff. I am now very tired but this is such a great period to be out - so many birds everywhere.

Tuesday morning I joined a large ringing session at Ein rimon again. Another good catch of Black-eared Wheatears, with lots of sylvias, Spotted Flys and Whinchat as supporting cast.

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear - adult male

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear - 1cy male

Whinchat - 1cy (see the moult limit in GC)

This morning I went ringing with Meidad at the alfalfa field near my house. it was my first time ringing in the newly-planted field, and I still need to learn the bird movements in the field to improve the catch next time, but still we had a good catch of Red-throated Pipits (95% adults). In addition we had a mix of good birds - Whinchats, Corn buntings, Tree Pipits etc.

Red-throated Pipit - 1cy

Red-throated Pipit - 2cy+ (male I guess)

Greater Short-toed Lark

Corn Bunting

Some arrivals seen included White Wagtails, Water Pipits, Lapwings etc.

Thanks to Meidad for the hard work.