Up and down and around

Over the last few days I have been out and about a bit. It is such an exciting time of year to be out birding. The thrill of seeing fresh migrants, first for the season, keeps me going year after year. It never bores.

On Saturday morning (March 2nd) I went birding with Piki to sniff some early migrants in Arsuf, north of Tel Aviv. The habitat was lovely, flowers aplenty. There's a patch of Coastal Iris there, which is endemic to Israel and Critically Endangered. Sexy. 

There were quite many wheatears about, including an outstanding total of four Desert Wheatears. They are scarce or even rare migrants along the Med coast. Looking so beautiful in the early morning sun, with an atypical green background.

Flushed from its favourite perch by the powerful Isabelline Wheatear

Tuesday morning (March 5th) I had a meeting at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory. The secret in scheduling morning meetings is to start at a time that leaves sufficient birding time beforehand. Before the meeting I checked two sites in Jerusalem that are hosting fine birds. First, Jerusalem's Botanical Gardens, the same site that hosted Israel's first Chinese Pond-Heron in 2021. In the past few weeks a very cooperative Redwing has taken up residence in the gardens and has become a bit of a celebrity, mainly because it is showing so well, unusually for such a scarce and shy bird in Israel (normally). Indeed, it showed on its favourite Pyracantha bush. In my case it was actually a bit shy and didn't show very well but I can't complain. 

Next stop was Australia Gardens, on the slopes of Mt. Herzl. It's actually a section of the Jerusalem Forest, afforested with non-native pines and cypress trees. However, now when everything is lush and flowering, the habitat looked quite attractive and indeed there were tons of birds there. Gabriel Cedar and Shalem Kurman, to excellent young birders, found there a flock of Olive-backed Pipits a couple of weeks ago. OBP is a very rare winter visitor, though this past winter has been quite good for them. In any case such a flock in central Israel is very welcome. Straight away I heard the pipits giving their tiny 'pip' call but it took me a while to locate them. Eventually I had nice views of them flying between the trees, occasionally dropping down to the ground to forage. However they were difficult to photography well.

Listen to the amount of birdsong in this sound recording:

From the highest peaks of Jerusalem to the lowest place on earth. Later that evening I joined a group of researchers from Tel Aviv University working on Pallid Scops-Owls. We trapped and ringed three individuals, and heard another one or two, in one corner of a date plantation near the Dead Sea. Discovered to breed in Israel less than a decade ago, it still is fascinating to see Pallid Scops-Owls in such densities. Very special birds, in special settings.

Only few hours after the night shift had ended, I found myself in Kfar Ruppin, admiring our newest restored reservoir, in partnership with the kibbutz. It's a large, amazing reservoir, always so attractive to birds and other wildlife - a great and welcome addition to our Start-Up Nature project. Yesterday morning the reservoir was packed with birds, as always. A flock of pelicans graced the reservoir, tons of ducks, shorebirds, raptors, passerines. In two and a half hours I saw in the reservoir and around it 104 species, so much quality, check the eBird checklist here.

I went live on Facebook when I was there (until I was interrupted by a local guy who asked for some photography advice):

Global Big Day in Ethiopia

I returned unexpectedly early from Africa on Sunday morning. Over the next few days/weeks I will share here stories and images from the main portion, a tour into the beautiful landscapes of Kenya I led for Rockjumper Birding Tours. The first post will be about the tour aftermath. A day after the official start of the tour, a war broke in Israel. It wasn't easy to keep my head straight and focused on leading the tour, knowing that back home things are very tough and that my family wasn't safe. I had to shorten my trip and return home to my family. Rockjumper management were so supportive and helpful. Together with the excellent ground agent, Cisticola, they arranged a replacement. The earliest I could leave the group was on Friday when we returned to Nairobi. It was sad saying goodbye to my group - they were all awesome and we had a great time together. I flew from Nairobi to Addis Ababa, hoping for a smooth connection back home to Tel Aviv. I flew with Ethiopian Airlines, one of the few foreign airlines that still flies to Israel, more or less. When I arrived in Addis Ababa I discovered that my onward flight to Tel Aviv had just been cancelled and postponed to the next day. I had 24 hours to kill in Addis. Actually, it was my first time in Addis city, outside of the airport, after many layovers that had allowed me only terminal window birding. 

On Saturday, October 14th, it was Global Big Day, organised by eBird and Global Birding. In recent years I have been very keen on doing proper big days on GBD. This time, outside of Israel, away from Kenya, I had to find something to do in Ethiopia. I consulted with eBird Hotspots, chatted with a few friends, and chose two birding sites not far from the airport. I was up with the birds and started the day with a good look out of a dirty window on the 6th floor of Skylight Hotel where Ethiopian Airlines put me up. First endemics out of the window included Wattled Ibis, Swainson's Sparrow, Brown-rumped Seedeater and White-collared Pigeon. eBird checklist here.

I was not permitted to leave the airport hotel without a visa (certainly not without a shirt), but nobody asked any questions at the door, so I just went for it. I caught a taxi that first took me to a patch of neglected land adjacent to a smelly sewage stream, known on eBird as Bole Airport Grasslands. You can get the impression of the Addis-style urban birding site in the background of this video:

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

My driver Ibrahim insisted to escort me while birding - he said he was concerned over my safety. Very quickly the interaction between us changed. It was Ibrahim's first ever birding session, in fact the first ever contact with birds. Very quickly he started spotting birds by sight and sound - he was good! He was super keen for the remainder of our morning together and I think he really enjoyed it. Birding the airport patch was quite nice, dodging demonstrations of Africa's back yard, i.e. slums, poor people, animals, rubbish, sewage. I had a few good birds, including three more endemics - Ethiopian Cisticola, Thick-billed Raven and Black-winged Lovebird. Also Roguet's Rail was nice. It disappeared into the thick vegetation before I could get a photo of it. eBird checklist here.

Brown-rumped Seedeater

Swainson's Sparrow

African Citril

Northern Fiscal

Ethiopian Cisticola (thanks Itai and Forrest for correcting my ID)

Isabelline Wheatear - one of several palearctic migrants I had during the morning

Our second birding site was in the gardens of Ghion Hotel in central Addis. It's a well-established hotel, very different from other modern, synthetic hotels in Addis. The hotel grounds include spacious, quiet, beautiful and lush gardens. Again you can get an idea of the gardens and habitat in this photo:

I enjoyed birding and photographing there, as some of the birds were very tame. eBird checklist here.

Abyssinian Thrush

Abyssinian Slaty-Flycatcher

Speckled Mousebird

That concluded my big day effort in Ethiopia. I recorded a modest total of 47 species. I hope that I contributed something to the global effort. It was good fun anyway.

MacDancer

Yesterday Team Brazil (my brother Gidon, Ami, Eli and myself) reunited and ventured deep into the Negev Desert in search of some unique birds and mammals. Our first stop (Kelach Sinai NR) was very cold and bird activity was rather minimal during the golden hour. We had one brief female MacQueen's Bustard that shot off as soon as it spotted us, a couple of Spectacled Warblers and not too much more. Yet, golden hour is golden hour and one must take photos of what there is available.

Desert Wheatear 

Isabelline Wheatear - especially males are rather attractive now with this peachy breast

Dorcas Gazelle

After a quick breakfast picnic we headed south of Ezuz, towards one of the remotest desert sections of the country. We had some nice birds - Pin-tailed Sandgrouse, Asian Desert Warbler and Bar-tailed Lark. Crested Lark is so common in cultivated areas, suburbia and even urban settings, but in the desert it looks much better:

What we were really after was dancing MacQueen's Bustard (AKA Asian Houbara Bustard). It is globally Vulnerable, also in Israel they're in trouble, classified as Endangered. We scanned vast areas that used to host numerous dancing males, but saw only three, testament of their worrying state in Israel. Some of the old faithful boys were not present, which was rather sad. Eventually we connected with a male who seemed quite confident with us. We watched him for a while doing normal bird stuff - feeding, preening and walking around.

It was getting warm and we had low expectations from him in the way of dancing - he also looked rather young with unimpressive black neck sides. But then we experienced that special moment. He halted, stretched his neck up to look quite impressive:

Suddenly, within two seconds, he transformed from a normal-looking birds into an alien, puffing his neck feathers up to cover his head:

This is really a video job, which I did not shoot. I have many photos of this transformation - will try to construct something together from the images soon. I have witnessed this kind of transformation with Great Bustard a few years ago - bustards are such fascinating yet odd birds.

And off he was, dancing across his chosen arena to impress an invisible female, waving his swagger all over the place, looking kind of dumb (and the shape of a cockatoo on his forehead) but apparently very full of himself. At first he performed near a horrible barbed wire laying on the ground:

Then he stopped, turned around and for a few second returned to look like a normal bird:

But only for few seconds - he puffed himself up again and returned to dance, thankfully away from that barbed wire this time:

Eventually he danced out of view and we let him be. The whole act lasted for a minute or two, and those were moments of true joy for us. To share such an intimate moment with a threatened and so unique bird is very special. I can complain about the poor photography - light conditions were horrible, he was a bit distant and that barbed wire, but I guess I shouldn't.

Special post - birds and wildlife highlights of 2016

This has become a fun tradition, to look back at what I have done this birding year. This is a classic demonstration of the dissonance between my constant feeling that I don't bird enough, and the very clear evidence that I bird far too much for a PhD student, employee, dad...

So here we go:

January

The year started with an extreme twitch, that was a harbinger of a hardcore twitching year. No more statements 'I normally don't twitch'... My UK birding this year was dominated by twitching. With so little time for birding (honest!) I had to choose well what to do and where to go, and too often I made the easy choice to twitch. A stunning Siberian Rubythroat took up residence in a small Dutch village - a national first. After a couple of weeks that it was porned by all Euro photographers, I couldn't resist temptation anymore, and went on a sleek one-day Euro twitch with Nick and local Gert. And a super day it was:

February

The main event of the month was a trip down to Dorset, to give a talk to Christchurch Harbour Ornithological Group. It was a lovely meeting, and my WP list benefited from this trip with these two I picked up en route - Ring-necked Duck in Berkshire and Ring-billed Gull in Hampshire. Sorry for the crap record shots.

Ring-necked Duck

Ring-billed Gull

March

In the UK, it was a quiet month. However, towards the end of the month I headed over to Israel to join the Champions of the Flyway race for conservation. I was lucky once again to be part of the organizing team - such a great event and super team! I had so much fun with old and new friends from around the globe. And birding in Eilat was nothing short of spectacular. 

Semi-collared Flycatcher

Sinai Agama

During my short visit I compensated for my absence from Israel by adding two species to my Israeli list - Red-billed Teal and Rough-legged Buzzard:

April

After COTF, I had a few more days in Israel. One day, or rather night, was spent with Arjan Dwarshuis, who's almost ending his record-breaking Biggest Year in E Asia now. We had a magical evening in the Judean Desert with Nubian Nightjar and Desert Tawny Owl being the highlights.

Back in the UK, April temperatures slowly climbed to something tolerable. But birding was still pretty slow. Towards the end of the month, everyone was going to watch Adders mating. And so did I.

May

In mid May I went to visit my brother and his family in Vancouver, Canada. It was a brief but wildlife-packed trip. Truly spectacular. Too many highlights to include in this summary, but both birds and mammals made the trip so amazing.

Surf Scoters

Western Sandpipers

Raccoon

Spectacled Guillemot

Humpback Whale

Harlequin Ducks

Black Bear

Later in May a cracking male Firecrest favoured my friend James's garden, and I was invited over for a cuppa and a pap:

Late May half-term holiday was spent with my family in Yorkshire together with close friends Mark and Amity - another tradition. A trip to Yorkshire is incomplete without an obligatory visit to RSPB Bempton Cliffs. It is truly spectacular there. This was not my last visit of the year to Bempton...

Atlantic Puffin

Northern Gannet

June

In June a rather crazy run of rarities kept me going almost to the year's end. Most twitches were local thankfully, but some were slightly more long-distance... These twitches were characterised by poor photography... First was a Greenish Warbler in Suffolk - a bird I really wanted to see in the WP. So I was very happy to catch up with this one locally.

Next up was a Blue-winged Teal also in Suffolk:

Followed shortly by the first biggy of the year in the UK, a superb Great Knot at RSPB Titchwell in late June:

July

Most of the month was rather quiet; at last I could focus on work... A short family trip to Frankfurt allowed me a quick visit to the Natural History Museum there, to collect some data on Nubian Nightjars. Out of curiosity I checked some other skins too, and was amazed to find this mysterious 'black' wheatear, potentially the second-ever known specimen of 'Saxicola syenitica':

Putative 'Saxicola syenitica' (top) with Black Wheatear (bottom)

Towards the end of July I went twitching locally again, this time to RSPB Minsmere for an adult Baird's Sandpiper (again not my last visit of the year to Minsmere):

August

In early August I ventured slightly further south, this time to connect with the returning Bonaparte's Gull at KWT Oare Marshes Nature Reserve. The yank gull showed really well and I truly enjoyed the reserve - packed with birds.

Another annual tradition was my participation in the British Birdwatching Fair. It was good fun as always, and busy as ever. We launched COTF 2017, and I took part in Bird Brain of Britain competition.

My family summer holiday ended with a trip to almost birdless Switzerland for a week. But scenery was breathtaking:

September

September was the month everything started... Towards mid month, a high-pressure system settled over Western Europe for several weeks. Its easterly flows straight from Siberia delivered bus-loads of Sibe vagrants to UK shores. It led to an autumn that will surely be remembered in UK birding history as one of the best autumns ever.

In mid September I finally found myself a Greenish Warbler on East Hills, but weather was so bad I couldn't photograph it. 

Yellow-browed Warblers are always lovely. I didn't see as many this year as last, but I did have quite a few including one near my children's school in Norwich, and three ringed with the UEA ringing group at Waxham in late September:

October

The busiest month of the year. In early October I twitched the Eastern Crowned Warbler at RSPB Bempton Cliffs, found by my mate David. Super bird and brilliant find!

A few days later I found myself in Yorkshire again, joining the crowds to watch England's first Siberian Accentor at Easington. It was a mind-blowing day. My mind was blown away by the numbers of migrants at Spurn, and also by the number of birders and twitchers.

Siberian Accentor with Dunnock

This photo went viral on Twitter:

Later on in October, I was involved in a group-find of Isabelline Wheatear at Burnham Overy Dunes. When I say I was involved in a group-find, it actually means that I had screwed up and my mate Dave actually found the bird... At first it was pretty mobile: 

But I did go back for seconds a couple of weeks later, which is rather strange that I did because it's such a common bird in Israel.

There were some other nice birds at Burnham Overy - easterlies throughout the month produced more and more stuff. I really liked this fine Mealy Redpoll:

November

In early November I thought I could shut down my twitching season after this last bird - luckily another local twitch, the American Cliff Swallow at RSPB Minsmere. It did give us a bit of a run-around, but eventually showed exceptionally well for a hirundine:

One of my favourite birds is Waxwing. As this winter developed, fair numbers of Waxwing made it down to Norfolk. I had some nice encounters with them this season, but I am still waiting for the 'killer shot'. Some birds ringed by UEA ringing group allowed close inspection of their special waxy feather tips. Simply stunning. 

A smart drake Goosander added some quality to the normally dull UEA broad:

December

And after I had packed my birding gear up for the winter, the Dusky Thrush showed up in Derbyshire. Time for another twitch... What a bird!

My final birding session of the year in the UK was actually pretty good. Another great day out with James and Terry, we had both Red-breasted Goose and Todd's Canada Goose in the same scope view. 

I am now in Israel for a short family holiday. I was hoping to end the year with the potential first Asian House Martin in the WP, but dipped on it. However, it was lovely to be reminded how awesome birding in Israel is.

Black-necked Grebe

That's the end of another year, my sixth year operating this blog. I thank my followers and readers deeply - because of your support I continue writing here. Special thanks to my friends who shared these moments with me, and often drove me... And to my family and bosses who still tolerate me. 

I wish all, my readers and those few who don't read my blog, a wonderful 2017, full of birds, wildlife, love and peace. Happy New Year!