White Wagtail mystery

In May-June 2019 (pre-covid, pre-war, another era) I led a Rockjumper tour to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan (read the tour report here). Our first morning session was spent in the mountains above Tashkent. We drove up to Hotel Beldersay and birded the forested slopes above the hotel. It was a brilliant morning, the scenery was stunning with the backdrop of snow-capped mountains and lush valleys. 

Birding was exciting, as expected for a first morning in a new destination, in fact a whirlwind of new and beautiful birds. Our excellent local guide Timur and I worked hard, picking up new birds continuously and showing them to our clients. Highlights from that morning included White-winged Woodpecker, White-capped Bunting, Yellow-breasted (Azure) and Turkestan (Great) Tit, and a flyover Red-footed or Amur Falcon - both would be rarities for Uzbekistan. Check my eBird checklist here. 

Because I enjoy studying geographical variation of familiar birds, I was facinated by golzii Common Nightingale and althaea Lesser Whitethroat. I also paid attention to White Wagtails up there. There were several wagtails in the hotel gardens, busy in breeding activity including song and display. Several individuals looked like typical Masked Wagtails - Motacilla alba personata, with a pale grey mantle, and a clear-cut contrast between the black nape and grey mantle. I like Masked Wagtails very much as they are a distinct taxon that is a rare vagrant to Israel, most recently in February 2023.

Masked Wagtail Motacilla alba personata, Hotel Beldersay, Uzbekistan, 17 May 2019

Other wagtails up there were distinctly different. They had very dark, almost black backs. In fact, the upper back was concolorous with the black nape, lacking the clear contrast of personata. There seems to be some variation between the individuals I saw, perhaps individual variation or related to different light conditions or photo/editing artefacts. Yet this dark mantle, lacking contrast or unclear contrast, is consistent and apparent in all the photos I kept.

White Wagtail ssp. Motacilla alba ssp., Hotel Beldersay, Uzbekistan, 17 May 2019

Anyone who has led tours knows how intense the work is. Indeed, I was very busy that morning and eBirded in haste, entering a wrong subspecies for these strange wagtails - Black-backed. Of course had I looked up White Wagtails subspecies properly this mistake would have been prevented, but I didn't. My bad.

Fast forward to yesterday, I received an email from eBird, rightly questioning my observation of White Wagtail (Black-backed). Clearly the subspecies I noted was incorrect, so I edited the checklist and for the time being I left these wagtails without a subspecies. This is where it's getting interesting. Today I did look at different White Wagtail taxa and their ranges. Curiously, alboides - 'Hodgson's' White Wagtail, looks superficially similar to the Uzbekistan birds I photographed, but its mantle is proper black all the way down, unlike the birds I saw in Uzbekistan that had dark grey backs. Or is it? Looking at alboides images on eBird, most have proper black backs, like this one, while quite a few birds have dark grey backs, not dissimilar to the birds I photographed, like this one. Looking at this gallery, surely there is some confusion in separation between personata and alboides, especially on their wintering grounds.

I found on eBird another image of a dark-mantled bird from Hotel Beldersay, a few days before I visited there - possibly one of the individuals I had:

Maybe this one also is dark-backed, from Tashkent City, but the light conditions are harsh and there might be some contrast between nape and mantle:

According to Birds of the World, alboides is 'Partly resident in southern China and northern Laos, west to northern Myanmar and northeastern Pakistan'. The eBird map looks like this:

The map above of White Wagtail subspecies distributions was extracted from a cool article based on a study by Semenov et al. (2018). The bottom line of the study (if I understand correctly) is that despite very little genetic variation, different White Wagtail subspecies show highly distinctive morphologies. What is relevant for me, at this moment, is the 'holistic' range map of different taxa, which apparently overlaps with the eBird map (based on actual observations). Both range maps don't show an extension of alboides into Uzbekistan. However, compared to other parts of the world, that region of Central Asia between Pakistan and Uzbekistan is somewhat understudied. I can imagine an extension of alboides northwest through Tajikistan towards Uzbekistan that went undetected. Certainly, Tajikistan is an under-birded country. Looking through White Wagtail photos on eBird from Tajikistan, I couldn't find any photos that clearly show dark-backed individuals. 

It is interesting that I saw two distinctively different plumages of White Wagtails breeding at the same location. I present here a very hypothetical speculation: Perhaps, if personata and alboides do get in contact somewhere in that region, birds produced from that mix could look like the birds I photographed? This could explain the intermediate mantle pattern. Or perhaps there is an east-west cline from black-backed alboides in the east to pale-backed personata in the west, and everything in between? Surely, deeper study needs to be conducted to understand what is happening here - my speculations are totally tentative, based on nothing. Proper documentation across the proposed contact zone, DNA material collection and analysis are some directions to be explored. In any case, using the late Martin Garner's phrase, always learning! I am very happy to learn from people with more experience than me and different insights - looking forward to hearing from you.

Ma'agan Michael

On Wednesday I had a day at Ma'agan Michael with meetings and stuff. I had little time for birding before and between and after the meetings. I'm still hoping to get Great Shearwater this winter - my IL bogey bird (nine records...) therefore I spend any time I can scanning the sea. That early morning at MM the wind was blowing from the wrong direction and there was lots of rain, so seawatching conditions weren't good. But the sea and the skies and the rainbow were dramatic and beautiful.

Because I had nothing better to do I spent my time checking gull legs. All I could find were two Slender-bills ringed by Yosef in Atlit. This one was ringed in April 2020.

With Sandwich Terns:

Pallas's Gulls are developing their black hood and are looking damn sexy:

Later my team joined me and me met up with a TV crew. We dragged them seawatching with us which was fun in the masochistic way:

The sea didn't improve much birdwise, still we had a couple of Med Gulls, a Parasitic Jaeger and an Arctic Skua.

Mediterranean Gull

Parasarctic Jaekua

Over the sand dunes flew around many swallows hawking for insects. One bird almost gave us a heart attack until we figured out it is a partially-leucistic Barn Swallow:

In one of the fishponds four Little Gulls were hanging out. They are such adorable birds, these wee gulls, with their little bills. The adult plumage is very attractive with that dark underwing:

Those snowy wingtips 💗

I find the first plumage very beautiful too

Fluttering over the water like a Wilson's Storm-Petrel

Scope or camera

This morning I went seawatching with Piki, Rony, Yotam and Sharon. The wind maps looked promising, there was little rain in the forecast so our hopes were high. We arrived at the seawatching spot south of Jaffa, and very quickly realised that even though the wind was excellent, blowing from the correct direction in good force, the sea was quite empty. Well there were gulls, and some more gulls, but we were after proper pelagic species. After a long time we had our first and only Yelkouan Shearwater, then a Peregrine flew over, and we were getting a bit underwhekmed. But we kept on scanning, periodically escaping from torrential rain showers into the car. After a long while Piki shouts: storm-petrel! It took us all a long time to get on it, during which Piki said he thought it was 'something else'. Eventually we all got on it, quickly realising it was a very small storm-petrel, with a large white rump, flying with a very light, buoyant flight action, very different from the powerful shearwater-like flight of Leach's (we all had clear memories from Storm Barbara last year). I think I was the first to call it European Storm-Petrel. We then had great scope views of it as it passed south in quite a slow flight at medium distance, keeping low between the big waves. We talked to each other, pointing out the ID features we could get. We saw the square-ended tail, but I was struggling to see the 'smoking-gun' feature, the white underwing bar. I then faced the eternal dilemma for seawatching. My camera was at hand, but the bird was already flying away. Should I switch to the camera, fire off a few horrible shots that may or may not even show the bird? Or stick to the scope and use the final possible view of the bird before it disappears to get that underwing pattern? I opted for the scope, knowing that European Storm-Petrel is still a big rarity in Israel and a good photo would be important, but that smoking-gun feature is even more important. Then the bird banked properly, showing us it's beautiful white underwing bar - bingo! A few more wing flaps and it was gone, disappeared south. We jumped in the air, and hugged - it was an Israeli tick for all of us, a much-wanted one, one that was on our radar for a long time. 

Smiling faces of birders who have just seen their first European Storm-Petrel in Israel! Thanks for the pic @IshPiki pic.twitter.com/a6ePrDukoS

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) January 27, 2024

News of more storm-petrels from other seawathcing spots kept coming in, those that were identified were Leach's. We had very brief views of a storm-petrel sp. but couldn't get anything on it. A few Arctic Skuas went past and it was time for us to leave, wet and cold but super stoked and happy.

eBird checklist here.

The only photo I did get, a Peregrine:

Uvda Valley

Nice morning yesterday in Uvda Valley. The habitat looks promising - earlier rains produced a fresh, lush carpet of annuals. Surely this area will attract many migrants soon and support good breeding populations. 

There were lots of mammals on the plains when I arrived in the half-dark. Dozens of Asian Will Ass and a few Dorcas Gazelle were enjoying the tasty grass. This is the start of the rutting season now, and the gazelles were active. These two males were playing around:

Then everything went quiet - a majestic Arabian Wolf trotted across the plains. It was a beautiful female, in thick winter coat. Breathtaking.

I was after the Pied Wheatear that had been found by Avner a few days ago. Pied Wheatear is a good rarity in Israel during migration - it's just about annual. Spring 2012 will always be remembered for the huge extended arrival of Pied and Cyprus Wheatears in southern Israel - they were everywhere! Luckily, the late and still sorely missed Martin Garner was here to enjoy the exceptional birding - check this old blogpost for example. In any case, I am not aware of any previous winter records of Pied Wheatear in Israel - they should be much farther south now, in South East Africa. I was very keen to study this plumage that I am not very familiar with. The bird was showing very well, certainly enjoying the early arthropod productivity developing now. It kept picking up insects all the time I was watching it, foraging very actively. What an interesting, subtle bird. Warmer-toned than I had expected it to be. Still showing a solid dark mantle and faint mottling on breast.

Avner also found nearby another Menetries's Warbler - it seems to be a good winter for them. How many more are lurking out in the desert undetected? Compared to the performing Nahal Ketura bird, this one is a real nightmare. During the time I watched it I had only a couple of brief views. It was also pretty quiet, hardly called at all. My poor photos demonstrate that.

There were lots of birds moving around - big numbers of Spotted Sandgrouse filled the air with their flight calls, some Temminck's and Bar-tailed Larks busy feeding and getting prepared for breeding, Desert Wheatear, Tawny Pipits, stonking male Pallid Harrier cruised over the plains - good fun and an excellent morning overall. eBird checklists with pied and menetries's here and here.

Best of 2023 - special review

On October 7th a war broke between Israel and Hamas. I have refrained from writing directly about the war, here and on my social media channels. However, the war certainly affected my life, directly and as part of a national trauma. The horror is so deep that I struggle to remember life before the war. When I browsed through the images I took during 2023, selecting those that would be displayed in this traditional annual summary, distant memories of innocent birding came back to me. Memories of birding without being alert (the wrong kind of alert), without the sounds of sirens and explosions in the background, without the heavy weight of grief and tension and a wounded heart. Looking back, the nine months of the year before the war weren't bad at all, actually pretty awesome. Even during the war, between family and work, I continued birding as hard as I could - nature healing at its purest. In this special summary, and this year it really is special, I will look back at the highlights of my birding year, in Israel and overseas. Here we go:

Birding in Israel

This year I was birding at full speed, as always. I didn't try to do a Big Year, but I did my best to see as many birds as possible without doing a proper Big Year. Does that comprehend? I'm not sure. I was out and about all the time, trying to enjoy what Israel has to offer. In 2023 I saw 391 species, which is a pretty good total I reckon. Less than in my 2021 Big Year effort (402), this is my second best annual total, so I am pleased with what I saw. 

Of course, eBird shapes my mode of birding considerably. I am keeping my birding streak - last week I celebrated a nice milestone of five years of consecutive birding (see below). In 2023 I submitted 600 checklists, and uploaded to Macaulay Library 407 photos, 47 sound recordings and 92 videos. 

In 2023 I had four IL lifers. I saw a Black-faced Bunting in February at Ma'ayan Zvi, and a Booted Warbler in August in Ma'agan Michael. I got good views of both but didn't get any photos of either, sadly. Hey, a tick is a tick. Another two IL ticks were Gray-headed Swamphen (I actually did see one in 2002 but it wasn't accepted by IRDC) in HaMa'apil in October, and perhaps the cherry on the top of my birding cake - Pacific Diver on December 30th, yesterday! 

There were lots of other great bird during the year. First rarity of the year was a Pied Bushchat near Maor in the Heffer Valley:

A proper winter storm that received the tempting name 'Barbara' brought in to our shores phenomenal numbers of Leach's Storm-Petrel, among other seabirds - great fun. February 8th was their peak - I saw 61 in less than two hours off Palmachim:

One storm-petrel I captured on video created a bit of a debate on its identity - I left it storm-petrel sp., for the time being:

A Three-banded Plover was found in the Jizreel Valley in February. On the way to Kfar Ruppin for work I made a quick detour to watch it - it's probably one of the wide-ranging long-staying individuals that roamed in northern Israel - possibly the same individual that was seen in Georgia recently!

It was a beautiful morning in Hazore'a fishponds, that provided beautiful views of Black Francolins, not rare but certainly stunning!

Masked Wagtail was another stunner in late February, not a full species but a very distinctive subspecies - my 2nd ever in Israel. This one frequented a beach car park in Maagan Michael, utilizing the garbage bin leftovers. 

Then spring sprang and migration picked up. Such a thrill every year to watch the returning migrants. Rüppell's Warbler is one of those spring migrants that makes me smile the most.

The Eilat Birding Festival followed by Champions of the Flyway provided me with an action-packed week of non-stop birding!

My mate Mark stayed over for a few days after COTF. Our time together was brightened up by this lovely Semicollared Flycatcher in Ashkelon:

Now that I am director of BirdLife Israel I have all the good reasons to travel down to Eilat frequently, to visit Noam Weiss and the team of Eilat Birding Center. This sacrifice provides me with fantastic birding opportunity. In early May I got this photo of European Bee-eater - one of my favourite photos of the year:

My office is in Tel Aviv. It location offers me with opportunities to explore the environs and enjoy some of the wildlife in the metropolin. Golden Jackals are abundant in Hayarkon Park, they are very tame and offer great photo opps.

A mega-rare Mediterranean Monk Seal frequented a busy Tel Aviv beach in May and attracted hordes of nature enthusiasts and the general public too. It became so popular that it was named Julia. It was a mammal lifer for me.

Keeping an eBird checklist and birding streak requires significant effort. I did my best to maximize my effort within a 10km radius from my house. However, there are some great birding sites just outside of the 10km radius, suitable for a pre-work morning session for streak maintenance and enjoyable birding. Kfar Harif reservoir is one of those sites. It hosts in summer breeding Rufous-tailed Scrub-Robins that are in serious decline in central Israel.

A trip up north in late May for some work on Mt. Hermon happened in perfect timing to be present when Yosef Kiat ringed this Chestnut-shouldered Petronia. They returned to breed in the Golan Heights again this summer - it seems that we have a new regularly breeding bird species in Israel. 

Rony Livne generated a very local twitch in late June - Basra Reed-Warbler in Kfar Menachem - 12 km from home...

Another good reason for me to travel down to Eilat is to develop my boys' scuba diving skills. One might call it a win-win situation. A couple of combined scuba diving and birding trips in summer were much appreciated because it is a wonderful time for seabirding. The sea was boiling with fish, and the birds had a great time. In this picture there's a Bridled Tern with White-cheeked and Common Terns, and an Arctic Tern somewhere in there too.

A monitoring pelagic with Noam and INPA team into the gulf was fun because I got good photos of Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel.

I highly appreciate the Eilat locals - White-eyed Gull and Striated Heron:

Then it was autumn and shorebirds started moving south. Yavne 1 ponds are probably the best shorebirds site in central Israel, only 13 km from home. In this pic, Little Stint, Dunlin, Ruff, Common Ringed Plover, Redshank and Teal. 

While searching for the Booted Warbler found by Igal in Maagan Michael in late August, a small group of Whimbrel flew past, including this interesting individual that showed features close to the enigmatic taxon alboxillaris:

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

In September migration picked up nicely, and I absorbed it all in. Looking back, it was a wonderful, innocent month.

In early October I flew to Kenya (more on this below). Then the war broke, and the rest of october was very gloomy. I did maintain my eBird streak, but struggled hard to elevate myself to travel farther. The Gray-headed Swamphen in HaMa'apil was on the first birding excursion that Piki and I did after the war broke. That part of the country was the only safe place to be, more or less. Thanks Piki for this pic.

In November birding picked up considerably. More and more birders heading out, where it was possible, and started finding good bird. As mentioned before, it is totally crazy to go birding when there are explosions and sirens in the background. This Red Phalarope in Ma'agan Michael was typically obliging:

This Red-breasted Merganser was the first of a relatively nice winter arrival along the Mediterranean Coast. This one was very close to the Lebanese border - we were quickly escorted out by security forces.

Kfar Ruppin fishponds were excellent all autumn, attracting huge numbers of birds, including this sweetie Lesser White-fronted Goose. 

Red-necked Phalarope normally don't overwinter in Israel, so this individual overwintering at Ma'agan Michael deserved lying in the mud for.

What I thought would be the final quality bird of the year was this Basalt Wheatear in the Arava Valley. With this fine bird I celebrated five years of consecutive birding.

The final push on December 30th was super successful with finding the Pacific Diver, and adding Menetries's Warbler. The final new bird for 2023 was a stupid one I hadn't noticed not seeing yet - Crowned Sandgrouse. Like finding a 50 quid note in your trousers pocket after laundry.

10K birding

In 2023 I invested as much as I can in the birding sites within a 10 km radius from my home in Mazkeret Batya. There are several sites within walking distance from home, that I check frequently. My beloved dog and birding companion Bamba passed away in late January. After her passing, it felt very weird to walk these sites without Bamba. As a result, my birding effort in the local sites diminished a bit. Since we adopted our new dog, Lola, in early November, my morning birding walks regained enthusiasm.

Bamba - I miss you so much

Lola - you fill my heart with joy

Nahal Ekron, the stream that runs through my town, is the site I visit most. In 2023 I submitted from there 67 checklists. The all-time site list is now on 200. In 2023 I added six species. No proper rarities this year, just the ordinary, enjoyable stuff. Here's a part of the eBird bar chart produced from my observations at this site:

A bit farther afield, within a radius of 10 km from home, Hulda Reservoir is a fantastic site. Piki and I have a Saturday morning tradition to walk around the reservoir. It really is wonderful there, year-round.

Pacific Golden-Plover - found not by us! On a weekday...

A beautiful Eurasian Hobby that got stuck in November and didn't migrate - probably because of its damaged eye:

Fieldwork

With my job as director of BirdLife Israel, fieldwork is much less an integral part of my work. However, I try to do as much fieldwork as I can, because I can contribute that way and spend more time with my team, because I am good at it, and because I enjoy it very much. Fieldwork brings me to wonderful parts of the country and I see good birds that way!

Steppe Gray Shrike found during MacQueen's Bustard work in the Negev with Meidad

Asian Wild Ass also during MacQueen's Bustard work in the Negev

Eurasian Dotterel during breeding bird survey in the Negev

Mourning Wheatear during breeding bird survey in the Negev

I keep up with the summer census of breeding Nubian Nightjar

Breeding Upcher's Warbler during breeding bird survey

Second year of tagging European Turtle-Doves - details here

I ring at the Nili & David Jerusalem Bird Observatory once or twice a month. I love it there.

Barred Warbler

Olive-Tree Warbler

Hawfinch

Global birding

In 2023 I travelled outside of Israel three times. I attended Global BirdFair at Rutland in July. It was great fun being part of this amazing global community. I was very proud to present, with Alen, our conservation work, with an emphasis on regional and cross-border work. How naïve we were back then...

With my friends Tim Appleton and Dale Forbes

The birdfair weekend was followed by a couple of days of meetings in London, and a brief visit to Norwich and Norfolk. I casually added a WP tick - in fact I saw two Lesser Scaups, one in Grafham Water and another in Norwich. Check my eBird trip report here.

The best duck

In August I travelled to Catlunya, Spain with my family. We met up with the Chittendens and had a fab time up in the Pyrenees, with Citril Finch, Lammergeier and lots of cool birds breeding in and near the garden of the villa where we were staying. eBird trip report here.

Citril Finch

Crossbill

In October I headed over to Africa, to lead two tours on behalf of Rockjumper Birding Tours - first in Kenya, then in Tanzania. I was really excited to return to Africa and to guiding, after a long covid-forced break. On the second day of the Kenya tour the war broke. I was on the phone with my wife all the time, and it was horrific. Rockjumper arranged a replacement guide, and I flew out of Nairobi when the tour arrived there after the first week. I was very disappointed to miss the second half of the tour into western Kenya - Kakamega, Kisumu and Masai Mara, and to miss the Tanzania tour. I am hugely thankful to Rockjumper for supporting me when I needed their support the most. I am also very appreciative of the supportive spirit I received from the tour clients. In any case, during the week I did spend with the tour we saw lots of incredible birds and mammals. We started in Arabuko-Sokoke forest, where we scored big time with mega views of Sokoke Scops-Owl and Sokoke Pipit.

What. A. Bird.

We also spent time on the coast, where we enjoyed some specialties - Sooty Gull, Crab-Plover and Golden Palm Weaver.

We drove through Tsavo East via Taita hills to Tsavo West. We saw so many fabulous birds and mammals. Not easy to choose the highlights, so please check the trip report on Rockjumper website, and eBird trip report. With 491 bird species, and 44 mammal species seen, it was an excellent tour without doubt!

The bizarre, giraffe-necked Gerenuk

Sunset in Tsavo West

Somali Bunting

Feather details of a Vulturine Guineafowl

The magnificent Golden-breasted Starling

On the way back home I got stuck in Addis Ababa for 24 hours due to cancelled flights (Hamas were shooting missiles towards Ben Gurion airport). It was Global Big Day, so I did my best to add some Ethiopian endemics and Abyssinian birds to the global list.

Ethiopia 🇪🇹with @yoavperlman
Yoav is a truly dedicated bird conservationist
Still making sure he contributes to help gather data for @Team_eBird which is all used by @BirdLife_News to support their global conservation work#birdsuniteourworld@_OSME @JMeyrav @SPNI @NatureIsrael pic.twitter.com/Zyy1zCb3Yh

— Global Birding (@global_birding) October 14, 2023

Ethiopian Cisticola

Abyssinian Thrush

Abyssinian Slaty Flycatcher

Summary, new year resolutions and thanks

I hope you enjoyed this annual summary. Certainly, it was one hell of a year. So many amazing things happened but what a catastrophic year eventually. I do hope that 2024 will be better.

What will I be doing in 2024? I will not bird all over, as hard as I did in 2023. I plan to focus on the 10 km radius around my house. I will try to see as many bird species as possible within this radius. Will I succeed in not doing another national Big Year? I also have a few international trips planned - fingers crossed that the security condition here won't compromise these plans.

I send here my deepest love to my family - my wife Adva, and my kids Uri, Noam and Libby. Your support and good spirits mean the world to me. Thank you. Thank you to the large number of friends who go birding with me - Piki, Rony, Jonathan, Arad, Amir and so many more. Special thanks to my team at BirdLife Israel who share lots of birding time with me - at and around fieldwork: Meidad, Nadav, Yotam and Yotam, Alen, Ofri, Noam and Yuval. Thanks to Swarovski Optik that keep supporting me and provide me with the best optics.

Finally, special thanks to all my supporters, followers, readers, in Israel and all over the world. Your support is so important to me. Much appreciated.

I wish all of us a great 2024! Happy New Year!