3B Plover revisited

This morning I met up with Jonathan and Piki at Ma'ayan Tzvi and Ma'agan Michael. Following the exciting discovery of the first Three-banded Plover for Israel, several other good shorebirds accumulated in the same dried-up fishpond, which required our attention. Weather was unstable today, and light conditions were not great. First thing when we arrived on site, Jonathan spotted the lover, which was cool as it had been reported missing for about a week now. It showed very well, now perhaps more relaxed after a few traumatic twitching days. Lovely bird, it was great to watch it forage peacefully and even heard it vocalise (crappy sound recording in eBird checklist here).

As we walked quietly along the vegetated bank, a small passerine flicked in the vegetation ahead. It was cool how Jonathan's brain and mine processed what we saw at the same speed, as we both exclaimed simultaneously 'Icterine Warbler!'. Sadly, it was very mobile an we lost it quickly, without a photo. The fishpond indeed hosted good shorebirds, including Bar-tailed Godwit, nine Broad-billed Sandpipers and Collared Pratincole. Broad-billed Sands are so pretty now.

Thanks to Corona Lockdown, we witnessed a very relaxed family party of Wild Boar:

Northern Wheatear is common; this one posed so nicely that it demanded documentation:

Down on the Ma'agan Michael beach, several quality shorebirds showed nicely, including three Whimbrel and two Greater Sand-plovers:

Admittedly, there were few migrant landbirds on the ground. Moving through, however, were fine numbers of hirundines and Spanish Sparrows. eBird checklist here.

Sweden road trip part 1 - birds

Got back last night from a week-long family trip to Sweden. Sweden is a wonderful country. We landed at Västerås and drove from there up north. First night we stayed near Sandvik, second near Bispgården and then we reached our destination - Luleå in the far north of Sweden. Lots of driving...
From a family point of view it was a great holiday - weather was perfect, we did lots of outdoor stuff and got to know special people. From a wildlife point of view I could have achieved more. At this time of year, best hours for birding are between 22:00 and 04:00. Because of all the driving I did, and long days of family stuff, I could afford only one night of proper birding. Other times when I was outdoors during hours when normal people are awake were rather quiet, and light conditions were horrible.
However, all in all, I saw some stuff and enjoyed the common birds Sweden has to offer.
I enjoyed seeing in good numbers migrants that are doing pretty bad in England. Red-backed Shrikes, Pied Flycatcher and Willow Warbler were present at almost every stop in the south and centre. Pied Flycatchers were breeding in almost every nestbox I saw.

Pied Flycatcher

Heading up north, a short stop at the lovely nature reserve Ålsjön was productive with breeding Whooper Swans and Slavonian Grebes.

Luleå is a special town, with lots of wildlife in it. Urban birding with Arctic Terns and Whimbrel can't be bad. 

Arctic Tern

Whimbrel - taken at 00:45 without flash...

On my final morning, before flying out, the kids had an hour at a play area in Västerås. I had time for a quick walk around Mälarpark which was rather nice with Icterine and Wood Warblers. The Icterine was singing from high up in the trees. 

Icterine Warbler

Up in the north I did have a couple of target species. I succeeded with one - more on my next blog.

What's better - a bird in the hand or thousands in the sky?

This morning I went ringing with Yosef and his team at Ein Rimon. Now is prime season for this site, which attracts phenomenal numbers of Eastern Black-eared Wheatears and other migrants, coming in to feed on the fat-rich pistachio fruit in the grove. Following yesterday's excellent raptor migration, I was expecting a good take-off from the nearby forest, so I had my big lens with me as well.

Ringing was very good - 46 Eastern Black-eared Wheatears and lots of other stuff (about 150 in total) - Spotted Flys, Whinchats, shrikes, many sylvias etc. Pick of the bunch was an Icterine Warbler - very nice.

However, it was very hard to concentrate on how to age the wheatears by their partial moult, because the take-off I was hoping for started happening early and it was amazing. Over an hour or so about 1200 Levant Sparrowhawks and 1000 Lesser Spotted Eagles took-off from the nearby forest, circled and glided south. Among them a good mix of other raptors - Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Honey Buzzards, Marsh Harriers, Red-footed Falcons etc. Some of these birds I must have seen yesterday in the north. So great to see them from so close, hear the wingbeats - migration at its best. Unfortunately the light was shit - heavy clouds. Some of the Asperger-ish ringers working around the ringing table couldn't understand what I was getting all excited about... So, dear readers, I will let you decide for yourself what's better.

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear - 1cy female

 Eastern Black-eared Wheatear - 1cy male

Icterine Warbler - 1cy

OR

Levant Sparrowhawks

57 Levant Sparrowhawks

6 Lesser Spotted Eagles and 44 Levants

Very low over the trees

Tasty pistachio fruit 

Thanks to the ringing team - Yosef, Ron, Eli, Ezra, Adiv, Guy, Bruria and Gidon.