Non-stop birding

In recent weeks I have been trying to make the most of this wonderful time of year for bird migration in Israel. Because of climate change it's still horribly hot here, but late autumn and winter migrants are pouring in following their evolution-imprinted internal clocks. These past few weeks have been packed with birding, every day. Like a birding junkie, I need my daily dose of migration. Most days I bird close to home, sadly without Lola since October 18th. Sometimes I have opportunities to bird in other parts of the country. I have a few weeks of birding to cover in this blogpost; I will do so in chronological order.

Red-footed Falcons are typical October birds here. The region where I live, in central Israel, is quite good for flocks stopping over. They're so popular with photographers here (justly, they're wonderful birds), so I avoided several popular sites and flocks as long as I could. While birding near home on October 14th I bumped into a small group of these elegant little devils. 

They're so small that Jackdaws and even Mynas give them a hard time. I wish this pursuit between a Jackdaw and a female Red-foot happened a bit closer to me.

One young Red-foot was super obliging.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman)

It's been a few good weeks for Willow Warblers

I have been so busy with work in recent weeks that I had to skip several twitches. These included a mega Verreaux's Eagle roaming the Eilat Mts., and a very showy Ring Ouzel in a small park in Mitzpe Ramon. I eventually made it down to Mitzpe Ramon (with Meidad) only after the ouzel had departed, on October 27th, but enjoyed close views of a gorgeous Olive-backed Pipit:

In Nafha farm, a Spotted Crake utilized the malfunctioning water treatment plant that created a wonderful, bird rich sewage wetland. Check all the bird calls in the background:

On October 30th I birded with my mate Frank in the Bet Shean Valley, that was full of birds as always. How miniature Black Storks look, dwarfed by the monster Great White Pelicans:

We spotted an odd raptor on an irrigation line, with white on its neck and belly. It took off, I fired off a few shots, and dismissed it as a funny Black Kite. A couple of days later, when I downloaded and edited the images, conspiratory thoughts infiltrated my mind - I was blown off course by the short, square tail, and the bill looked heavy. But after close inspection, Amir noticed that the tail is clipped. So it is a funny Black Kite eventually, with two off characters (the clipped tail and white regions).

On October 31st we held a big public event in Ma'agan Michael. I started off with a couple of hours of early morning vismigging for the soul. It was amazing, with huge numbers of Chaffinches and Skylarks (eBird checklist here). Wild easterlies squeezed everything towards the shore - migration was really dense. Because of the strong wind I couldn't hear much, but spotted a Bimaculated Lark and a Hawfinch flying by. Many skylarks migrated over the sea, low above the waves. Breathtaking.

On the way out I enjoyed this 1cy male Siberian Stonechat, that could be Armenian (ssp. variegatus), based on the limited white on the base of tail feathers. 

During a birding walk I guided, we appreciated this spectacular Citrine Wagtail, as bright as they get.

The continuing easterlies and hot weather created conditions that are rare on the coast, and resulted with fairly decent raptor migration, including this 1cy Bonelli's Eagle:

And a dark-morph Eleonora's Falcon:

Yesterday morning, birding near home, nothing too special, just a nice selection of migrants:

Hen Harrier, one of three

1cy female Siberian Stonechat

Stock Dove is a bit of a thing in Israel:

coutellii Water Pipit - catching a bug:

Best of autumn

These past few weeks have been super busy for me. I have been doing more fieldwork than I usually do, especially with a raptor count that we did in northern Israel. It has been an excellent autumn/fall migration, with good numbers of many common migrants. I enjoy this kind of birding very much. Admittedly there have been few proper rarities recently, but I'd rather marvel at spectacular migration every day than go twitching. 

On September 11th I was out in Maagan Michael, doing my routine monthly monitoring of our restoration project there. Halfway during a point count, I spotted a Pectoral Sandpiper that walked into view for two seconds, then disappeared from view before the two others with me could see it. I had to wait in agony until the 10-minute point count was over, to walk around the corner and confirm the all-too-brief ID. It was.

This sweet Eastern Black-eared Wheatear was one of many migrants present that day.

On September 16th my organisations (SPNI) has an event for our employees on the beach in Tel Aviv. I co-led one of the free walks we offered our staff, and found this White-tailed Lapwing on the beach - super unusual in urban Tel Aviv, a harbinger of a small influx that brought five birds to Tel Aviv. 

On September 19th I led a pelagic trip into the Gulf of Aqaba, on behalf of Eilat Birding Center. Only one bird came into the chum slick, but that bird was a Swinhoe's Storm-Petrel that showed very well for a couple of minutes. 

Before the pelagic Piki and I checked the KM20 saltpans that were full of common shorebirds. Among the less common shorebirds was this lovely Broad-billed Sandpiper:

September 23rd was a day of massive raptor migration over Israel. I was not out counting that day, I was busy doing all kinds of things, but the 36 minutes I could spare in my garden, watching the sky, were awesome: 2360 Lesser Spotted Eagle and 1420 Levant Sparrowhawks that went through in several tight flocks like this one:

I enjoyed connecting with two beautiful young Red Knots on Maagan Michael beach on September 26th - scarce birds in Israel, but this is THE place and time for them in our country:

Local birding has been awesome too, with some reservoirs holding large amounts of birds. Check this sweet flock of Whiskered Terns (and a Pied kingfisher):

On Yom Kippur (October 2nd) my birding/checklist streak had to continue, so I walked out of home to check the adjacent fields, unusually carrying my camera. Those were days of big European Bee-eater migration, and this wonderful flock perched on a mulberry looked especially glamorous:

On Cotober 3rd I was counting raptors in Gvat. Take-off was impressive, the Lesser Spotted Eagles struggled to gain altitude, and sailed past me very low, some of them very close. 

This one had a metal ring on, I couldn't read the code:

Steppe Eagle

On October 4th I was point-counting at our restoration site in Kfar Ruppin for a study we're doing there. Phenomenal amounts of birds still (eBird checklist here). After the point counts it was getting hot yet the alfalfa fields were full of birds. I found a Richard's Pipit which was a bit nice:

This shrike duo, Great Gray Shrike on left, and Lesser Gray Shrike on right, allowed good comparison. Both are so beautiful.

On October 6th I was counting soaring birds again, this time in Afek National Park, in central Israel. Raptor migration was quieter (eBird checklist here), but pelican migration was awesome:

Finally, a Spotted Flycatcher, one of many seen at Nafha on October 9th. In my eyes, this is a great example of a birds that isn't colourful at all, nevertheless it is so pretty. 

May the rest of the autumn continue to be so good!

Super day at Maagan Michael

I don't do these kind of things anymore, report on a single days' birding. However, today was really brilliant and report-worthy. Once a month I spend a morning monitoring birds at our restoration project in Ma'agan Michael. I start early, and do point counts for about two hours. Then I spend the rest of the morning counting birds in the general area of Ma'agan Michael fishponds and beach. Today, my first point count was interrupted by flocks of hundreds of Great White Pelicans cruise low over me:

It was evident that there were lots of birds around. Flocks of wagtails and pipits headed south. My second point count had so many birds I struggled to end it on time. It was nice to see this migrating flock of Flamingos at eye-level.

At my third point count I had two Striated Herons - hatched this year I think. They are becoming more regular in this area, but still scarce.

Towards the end of the point count I noticed a shrike on a fence, quite distant and in bad light conditions. A quick look through the bins and I said to myself - hey, this is an Isabelline Shrike. The shrike flew out of view. I went around a small pond to try and get better views. Then a Red-backed jumped up. Disappointed, I discounted my previous ID. Only when I got back home and checked the photos I noticed it was actually an Isabelline - nice one.

The fourth and final point count was uneventful though it had lots of migrants. Then I went down to the beach to check what's on there. I bumped into this fine adult male Desert Wheatear - pretty scarce in this region, and such a beautiful bird.

I spotted a large shorebird flying south high up - Bar-tailed Godwit! Another scarce bird. Sweet.

Later on Yuval found one a couple of kms north - is it the same bird that U-turned, or another bird? This one showed really well, feeding in a coastal lagoon.

In a large dried up fishponds there were over 100 Black Storks. I checked them for colour rings and found three. 718N is from Estonia, ringed in 2022, and seen since every winter in Ma'agan Michael.

I am awaiting information about the other two - U199 and 15U6.

By 10am it was getting hot and I had to leave. My total was pretty good - 116 species. eBird checklist here.