Frustrations

The past week has been very frustrating for me. Israel is experiencing an amazing run of Asian vagrants, including two national firsts. I have been somewhat involved indirectly with those, but have not seen them. Just to clarify, I claim no credit for these records; all the fame and glory go to the finders.

In the evening of October 31st belated news broke of a Black-faced Bunting that had been ringed in the morning at Hefer Valley Ringing Station:

MEGA: Black-faced Bunting ringed this morning by Francis Argyle at Heffer Valley Ringing Station. First for Israel. Photo by Francis Argyle pic.twitter.com/eeUSlVQn4F

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) October 31, 2021

As soon as photos of a strange bunting went online I thought to myself 'what on earth is this bunting?'. Yosef Kiat was the first to blow the whistle. Frustration #1 - had the bird been identified immediately, perhaps I had a chance to see it?

Next morning (November 1st) I was there first thing. Incredibly, there were just three birders searching - Barak, Avi and me. Imagine this scenario in UK... The weather was horrendous, and we failed to relocate the bunting, not for the lack of trying (eBird checklist here). Frustration #2.

Next day (November 2nd) I had work to do at the JBO, enjoyed a Yellow-browed there and added Woodcock to my yearlist nearby at Gazelle Valley. 

Frustratingly, my birding session at Gazelle Valley was interrupted by belated news, again, that the Black-faced Bunting had been seen again (but identified only retrospectively from photos online) few hours after we had left the previous day, about half a kilometer away from where we searched. Arrrgh! Frustration #4. I sped back to Agamon Hefer, again to meet Barak and a few others. Nothing. No sign. This pretty Caspian Stonechat improved our mood by just a bit.

Next day (November 3rd) I was ringing peacefully near home, when Noam Weiss calls me, in a state of hyperventilation, asking me for help to identify an interesting bunting that had just been caught at IBRCE. I went with Noam over ID features, and we identified it as Chestnut Bunting - another national first, four days after the Black-faced Bunting. Amazing! What's going on? Frustrating to be part of the effort without seeing the bird (frustration #5).

MEGA MEGA: CHESTNUT BUNTING ringed at IBRCE Eilat by Noam Weiss!!!! First for Israel!!
Photo by @Itai_Shanni @BirdLifeIsrael @SPNI @TarsigerTeam @BirdGuides @RareBirdAlertUK @dutchbirding @westpalbirds pic.twitter.com/bm3M0L8sgb

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) November 3, 2021

Yesterday (November 4th) I did my monthly point count morning at Ma'agan Michael. It was in fact an excellent morning, tons of birds, so many species (eBird checklist here). I tried really hard but saw nothing more special than a Richard's Pipit. Before leaving I joined Itai Bloch's ringing team for a short while, good fun, until I had to leave.

This morning while birding near Tzor'a, guess who calls me. Itai Bloch. 'Please help me identify this bunting'. I video call Itai on WhatsApp - bloody Rustic Bunting. Arrrrrrgggghhhhh! I was there yesterday! Bastard bird. Frustration #6.

Imperial Eagle 2cy - much better than a bloody bunting

Caspian Stonechat - so much better than a bloody bunting

A short while ago news came from Eilat that the Chestnut Bunting resurfaced and is being seen. There are so many good reasons for me NOT to go for it tomorrow. Don't know if I will. May the force be with me.

Partial joy

After a morning meeting in Be'er Sheva I headed north to Nakhsholim to give the Hudsonian Whimbrel a second try. I was driving on the highway a few kilometers north of Beer Sheva when I saw this very pale, tawny-coloured eagle take off from beside the road. At 130 km/h it looked very plain and unstreaked, but I couldn't stop as there were some roadworks. I had to drive up the road a few more minutes until I found a place to U-turn (almost killing myself under a lorry), and headed back to where I first saw it. After a few nervous minutes relocated the bird and was slightly disappointed - 4th plumage Eastern Imperial Eagle. Very tricky plumage and an extremely bleached individual.

Anyway, back to the main story. Picked Arad up along the way and we arrived at Nakhasholim around noon, where we met up with a few others. We walked up and down the beach and for very long time saw nothing. At about 15:00 I spotted a distant whimbrel-type. After scoping it for several minutes feeding on the rocks, it jumped up (and out of view) and I could see it had a dark rump - It was the Hudsonian Whimbrel! After these very distant, far from satisfactory views (and no images at all), I started walking to get closer but couldn't relocate the bird. It is so mobile these days! About half the birders looking for it have missed it. I will have to return a third time for proper views - somebody needs to figure out what this bird is doing and where it hides when absent from the regular sites.

Apart for the whimbrel another two Eurasian Whimbrels and a Curlew, some Pallas's Gulls (with complete black hoods) etc.

Pallas's Gull

Slender-billed Gulls and Sandwich Terns

As a result of the extraordinary hot weather, some humans began their pre-breeding moult earlier than usual this year, and are already in summer plumage:

Nakhsholim beach

Another day at the office

Well, if you call this work - then I probably have the best job on earth. Went with my kids raptor censusing once again, in the N Negev. This time there were no interruptions and it was a nice day. Weather was not good for raptors - cold and grey, but towards noon the sun eventually came out for a while and there was pretty good activity. 6 Eastern Imperial Eagles were nice - two juvs (born 2013), two 3cy (born 2012) and two adults. It is important to be able to recognize them individually - each individual has its personal moult pattern, something like fingerprints. Here are two eagles of similar age class (3cy) but note the different notches and moulting feathers on each:

My brother Gidon joined with his kids. He was more into raptor ringing, and caught some stuff:

Last day of raptor monitoring - for now

Did today the raptor transect that was disrupted on Friday by the Snow Bunting. Worked in a military firing zone not far away from my house - excellent steppe / rangelands there. This area held the Tawny Eagle in August. Ezra found there three Little Bustards over the weekend but I couldn't relocate them today.

Raptor activity was good after the air heated up - 6 Imperial Eagles, 1 Short-toed Eagle (rare in winter), 2 Pallid Harriers, 1 Barbary Falcon again, 1 Merlin, many Common and Long-legged Buzzards etc.

Barbary Falcon - 1cy

 Eastern Imperial Eagle - adult

Pallid Harrier - adult female 

Short-toed Eagle

Common Buzzard

Isabelline Wheatear

Mud monitoring

This morning I did my first raptor monitoring transect of the season, in the NW Negev. This area too received large amounts of rain recently, and as a result the tracks were terribly muddy. By the end of the day I was pretty exhausted of fighting the mud. Got bogged a few times, one of them seriuosly enough that I had to be pulled out of the mud by a tractor after another 4WD that tried to pull me out got bogged himself (thanks Harel and Itai).

But in between I did see some raptors and other birds along the 20 km transect.

Saker - 1cy

It seems that the Sakers that overwinter in NW Negev have very low survival rates as every year we have there almost solely fresh juveniles.

Other falcons I had were three Peregrines and one Merlin. I had three Eastern Imperial Eagles, two adults and a 1cy. This is an adult of course:

Buzzard numbers are lower this year compared to last winter - I had only 11 Long-legged Buzzards and 9 Common Buzzards.

Long-legged Buzzard - 1cy (pale eye), rufous morph

No pallids but four Hen Harriers:

Found the regular Sociable Lapwing flock but they were too deep inside a muddy field surrounded by muddy tracks, so gave up on the photo op. Had 11 Golden Plovers among the many Northern Lapwings:

Some nice mixed flocks of seedeaters including Goldfinches, Linnets and Spanish Sparrows:

The Beauty and the Beast

A young Black (AKA Cinereous) Vulture was found by Ezra Hadad in the Judean Plains about a week ago. It's been hanging around the area since, and this morning I went with Amir Balaban to have a look at this impressive bird. First thing in the morning it was already present in the regular reservoir, feeding on a jackal caracass. When it heated up a bit it moved around the fields, accompanied by an Imperial Eagle.

Black Vulture used to breed in Israel until the 19th centruy. In recent decades it's a regular but rare winter visitor to areas with griffons - mainly Golan Heights and Negev Mt. It is very rare in C Israel.

Yoram Shpirer got some impressive results of it a few days ago. Mine are not as good but I hope you can feel the power and beauty of this bird.

With a miniature Black Kite

 With and Eastern Imperial Eagle

 I wish I was sat in Yoram's hide early this morning...

Supporting cast included also the young White-tailed Eagle, several more imperials, and a few ten White-headed Duck.

Raptors

Repeated the raptor census transect in the NW Negev today. Good weather and much less mud. Didn't get bogged today! Had a good day with lots of good raptors, especially falcons. I had three young Sakers, which brings the total for this winter to four at the NW Negev- an adult has been seen recently. Also had four Peregrines and two Merlins.

Saker - 2cy 

Also had four Eastern Imperial Eagles - three adults and one 4cy:

Fewer buzzards today compared to December. So difficult to photography anything not perched on a pylon.

Long-legged Buzzard

Didn't really count kites - I estimated something like 15000 today, and I wasn't even close to their core of activity (Dudaim dump). Other raptors I had were two Booted Eagles, and some harriers.

One or two Black Kites

Not too much other than raptors. A flock of fourty Dotterels was nice. Couldn't find the sociables anywhere near my transect. About 50 Swifts on the move north (spring already!). 40 Stock Doves at the same place like last time.

Stock Dove - Israeli rarity

Imperial near my house

The field near my house that was ploughed the other day still attracts raptors. On the way back from the kindergarten noticed this almost adult Eastern Imperial Eagle sat in the field. Dashed home for the camera and grabbed a few pics, just before a serious storm entered.

Hula Festival update day 6 - Golan & Gamla, vulture action

Last Friday was my last day at the festival. Due to the mini-war we had here I had to leave early. Anyway, here everything is back to normal now. 

On Friday (16/11/12) weather was rough with strong easterlies, making birding more difficult. We started off at Mt. Susita, on the slopes of the Golan overlooking lake Kinneret. We had to work pretty hard - birds were keeping very low and quiet due to the wind, but eventually we had good views of the main target species there - Long-billed Pipit. Also had several Finsch's Wheatears, Blackstart (northermost pair in the world?), two flyover Woodpigeons and an Imperial Eagle.

At Gamla the wind slowed down a bit and we had pretty good vulture action. Despite the grim state of the breeding population there, vultures kept flying back and forth below us in the scenic gorge continuously. Most vultures had wingtags and rings on, but a few birds were 'clean'.

Eurasian Griffons

Eastern Imperial Eagle - better eagle images here

Supporting cast included Little Swifts, Crag Martins, several Blue Rock Thrushes etc.

Is this a Grandala sat behind the Rock Hyrax?

No, it's a Blue Rock Thrush

The festival went on for another two days without me; the total bird list was over 200 species if I'm not mistaken (and some good mammals too) - good job!

Time to say huge thanks and give a few credits to my friends who organized the Hula Festival. Dan, Nadav and Jonathan - you did a great job and as a result I had a fantastic week with my group. Martin, Tristan and Thomas -  had a great time with you guys, and looking forward to meet you again, here or elsewhere.