Israel VIII - Namaqua Dove

Yesterday we awoke to -10C, blue skies and fantastic weather. Today it was +2C and rain which then developed into mist - far from fantastic weather and a day to concentrate on work and chores inside.

Therefore I come with another Israel instalment and a couple of photos I forgot to include in a previous post. Namaqua Dove is an African species that has a small population in Southern Israel. It is also a very small dove and is hardly larger than a Sparrow except for the longer tail.

Namaqua Dove (maskedue)

Israel VII - flycatchers

We stayed at Kibbutz Lotan in the desert north of Eilat and in the old days this was famed as an oasis that attracted large numbers of birds. With the continued "greening" of the desert through irrigation schemes plus the fact that spring 2014 was a very wet spring which caused the desert to bloom we experienced very few migrant birds in the kibbutz grounds.

Two very smart birds though were singles each of male Semi-collared Flycatcher (balkanfluesnapper) and Collard Flycatcher (halsbåndfluesnapper). Both were 2cy males so not as smart as they could be. We did have a very smart adult male Collared Fly though in Eilat.

Semi-collared Flycatcher

here there is little to distinguish this bird from a Pied Flycatcher (svarthvit fluesnapper). Note the brown wash to the primaries indicating a young (2cy) male



this show the extent of the collar which is greater than on a Pied but still not complete as on a Collared. Note also a lot of white in the outer tail feathers

this photo shows the white tips to the median covets which is a characteristic feature but not always easy to see

the white tips to the median coverts again visible

overexposed in bright sunlight it looks like a different bird

here we can see that the white tips to the median coverts are quite broad and there is also a fairly broad white basis to the inner primaries

 



Collard Flycatcher

 



this bird was at the Birding Centre in Eilat and is an adult make. Note the full collar, the conspicuous white rump and the very broad white basis to the primaries

same bird as above, note the large white patch above the bill

This bird was a Lotan and the thin white basis to the primaries, brown primaries and indistinct white rump (obscured by an out of focus leaf) show this to be a 2cy

Israel VI

The increasingly irregular series of pictures from the Israel trip still has some life in it. I've still to present my passerine pictures and begin with some Middle Eastern species and a couple of non -bird shots.

Blackstart (svartstjert) is a relatively common bird in arid areas in Southern Israel

Yellow-vented Bulbul or White-Spectacled Bulbul (araberbylbyl) as it seems to be called now - easily ignored but actually quite smart

Laughing Dove (llamdue)

Palestine Sunbird (palestinasolfugl) - glad to see that the birding community hasn't felt it necessary to choose a new and politically neutral name for this species. Maybe the Palestinians can use this alongside their membership of various International Bodies to convince the occupiers that they are a separate nation?

Nubian Ibex

ant sp.

Israel V - waders

No current birding action to report on so here is the latest installment of the irregular series of pictures from my trip to Eilat and Southern Israel earlier this year.

Black-winged Stilt (stylteløper)

Avocet and Bleck-winged Stilt

Stilt: the greyer/browner back suggest this is a female

Silt: the golssy black back suggest a male. According to the books males generally have more black on the head but that definitely isn't the case here

Black-tailed Godwit (svarthalespove) - based on location this is a bird of the continental subspecies limosa rather the northern islandica but I'm not sure if this can be ascertained based on this plumage

Dunlin (myrsnipe) starting to come into summer plumage although mostyl still in grey winter plumage

an exceptionally long billed (deformed) Dunlin in winter plumage

adult male Greater Sandplover (ørkenlo)

female Kentish Plover (hvitbrystlo)

male Kentish Plover with a Little Stint (dvergsnipe) almost in full summer plumage

Litte Stint still in winter plumage

Marsh Sandpiper (damsnipe) - a classy bird!

Collared Pratincole (brakksvale)

one of the features to separate this species from the very similar Black-winged Pratincole (steppebrakksvale) is the white trailing edge to the secondaries visible on this picture

note how in this picture of the same bird the white seems to be absent

Spur-winged Plover (sporevipe) - a common bird in the Middle East

Israel IV - an infusion of colour

With the terribly gloomy weather continuing (although tomorrow is forecast to be a rare exception) and temperatures hovering just over zero it is probably a good time to inject a touch of colour into our birding lives. Here, in the fourth installment of the irregular Israel series, are some of the more exotic species that ended up on hard drive.

Little Green Bee-eater (beryllbieter) - a resident in the Arava valley and a very cool bird

European Bee-eater (bieter) - we had a few migrating birds including a small group in the grounds of the Kibbutz but they were not easy to photograph

even more difficult to photograph was this much rarer Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (blåkinnbieter) which unfortunately only showed in flight for me

You don't get much more exotic than Flamingoes

and finally a Woodchat Shrike (rødhodevarsler)

Israel III - Little Crake

I am stuck in front of the computer at the moment fine tuning a wader identification course I am shortly going to be giving.

It doesn't look like I am missing too much by not being in the field but I am still itching to get out.

Here is my third installment from this springs Israel trip. This time just one species, Little Crake. The sewage pools at Yotvata attract a lot of birds and whilst we were there at least two Little Crakes (sumprikse) would show in the late afternoon along the edge of the reeds on one of the pools. It was interesting to watch the feeding technique of this rarely observed species which involved picking up vegetation and hoping to find something hiding underneath.

male Little Crake together with a Yellow Wagtail of the race feldegg

with a Common Sandpiper

this female Little Crake was harder to observe

male and female together

Israel raptors

Here is my second installment from this April's Israel trip. This time raptors other than Harriers which were the subject of my first post.

Booted Eagle (dvergørn). This is a dark morph

Black Kite (svartglente) - looks quite red in this light

a young male Common Kestrel (tærnfalk)

male Lesser Kestrel (rødfalk). Long range picture but showing the important plumage characters to separate from Common Kestrel: white underwing, grey on the upper wing

Steppe Buzzard (russevåk)

raptors in a thermal and a mucky lens. Steppe Eagle (steppeørn) in the middle with Steppe Buzzards

more Steppe Eagle and Buzzards