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!

Up and up

Since my previous update, I continued doing more or less the same. I am still out birding every day, migration is still awesome, life is still busy, and birds are great. Here are some highlights from recent week:

A week ago it was Champions of the Flyway. I had planned to race, but last minute my team disintegrated. Therefore I re-joined the organising team. For this, I travelled up to the Hula Valley, where I accompanied some teams competing in the race, checked they're doing OK, helped those that needed help, and basically enjoyed a good afternoon birding in the valley. At Lehavot HaBashan fishponds, the only reservoir with water was jam-packed with birds (eBird checklist here). Importantly, it held the largest concentration of Marbled Teal I have ever seen in Israel - I counted 404! Incredible number for this globally and nationally threatened duck. It is possible that it's the entire population breeding in the Hula Valley. INPA (with the assistance of us, BirdLife Israel) are monitoring their breeding. In 2021, the national breeding population included 59 families that produced 508 chicks. 80% of the national breeding population was in the Hula Valley. This video shows a section of the reservoir:

A nearby alfalfa field held a nice flock of Red-footed Falcons and Lesser Kestrels - always wonderful to see.

A majestic flock of 900 Great White Pelicans (4500 aerial kgs!) drifted against Mt. Hermon towards the Agamon. Magnificent.

In the Agamon I did a cheeky live Facebook video of the flock that went down to roost:

After dark, as the teams ended their day and arrived at Agamon HaHula, we (the judges) picked their brains, grilled them and ended up with the winners - The Wrens. Well done!

Champions of the Flyway 2021 results (1/3)@flywaychampions 2021 overall winners are The Wrens. They recorded a staggering 166 species - well done! The team included Klil (18 yo) & Avner Zeitlin & Shachar Hizkiya (16 yo) pic.twitter.com/rPqi9v5i48

— BirdLife Israel (@BirdLifeIsrael) October 1, 2021

Fast forward a few days (and miles and birds), on October 4th I joined Darren for an enjoyable ringing session at his site in Sde Boker. Among the many 'normal' looking Willow Warblers, one really stood out. It was huge (wing 74), dark and sooty, probably belonging to an eastern or northern population, maybe 'yakutensis', maybe 'acredula'. Hopefully DNA results will provide an answer.

Next day I paid Ma'agan Michael a monthly visit. We are restoring a large section of the fish farm into a rich wetland, for biodiversity and climate. The work on the ground should commence very soon. In the meanwhile I am monitoring bird responses to management activities, including description of 'before' and 'after'. It was a fairly quiet morning, but at Ma'agan Michael even a quiet morning results in 93 species (eBird checklist here). This was a fascinating scene on the beach - Horned Ghost Crabs working on a Loggerhead Sea turtle Carcass - doing what they should: clean, decompose, recycle.

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A post shared by Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman)

My post-work birding session at Ma'agan Michael was interrupted by news of a White-tailed Lapwing at Kfar Ruppin, found by Barak and co. White-tailed Lapwing is not a drop-everything-and-run rarity, unless one's doing a Big Year. An hour later I was watching it, from a safe distance in harsh light - not the best quality I'm afraid.

The pond it was in was wonderful. So many birds, so diverse (eBird checklist here). 

Rearguard Blue-cheeked Bee-eater on overhead wires:

Reporting live from the field, while writing this post at home, I got messages indicating there's good eagle migration over home. I step outside and look up. Eagles. I spend 23 magical minutes counting them until the stream drifted east where I can't see behind me neighbour's house. 1092 Lesser Spotted Eagles and a bit of other stuff too. Cool.

Greater Spotted Eagle with Lesser Spotted Eagle

Lesser Spotted Eagles

This recent checklist also marks my 5000th checklist on eBird.

Over and out.

PS all videos taken through Swarovski Optik ATX85 using a Swarovski phone adapter.

I am a migration junkie

It's this time of year here in Israel, that makes me face the truth: I am a migration junkie. No, it's not peak season for rarities. I don't travel to far flung corners of the country. But I feel very lucky on a daily basis. I can experience high-intensity migration near home, every morning. I am addicted to migration watching, and I must get my daily dose. Thankfully, it's holiday season here now, which makes my mornings a bit more flexible. However, this time of the morning that I need to stop neglecting my normal human obligations, tear myself apart from migration (temporarily), pack up my gear up and head back home is so difficult. Too often I am late being back for breakfast or for errands or for something else, apologising, but actually all I want is to head back out to the field and absorb more migration. More migration. More migration. Up in the sky, down in the bushes, along the muddy banks - migrants are everywhere and I just can't have enough. 

Every morning I am out before dawn, aiming to be 'on site' at the crack of dawn. That's the magic period, when migrants drop out of the sky after a long night of migration; vocal species making themselves apparent - pipits, wagtails, larks, buntings. Beautiful, small dark silhouettes emerging in the half-light, calling 'Tzip' or 'Chup' or 'Trrrr'. I sharpen my ears, try to identify every soft call. This is so cool.

Then I spend the next hour or two of 'standard' birding, checking for migrants in the vegetation, enjoying the awesome variety and numbers. Those migrants that don't call readily on active migration are now in full show. Red-backed Shrikes, Whinchats, Willow Warblers. Swarms of hirundines and bee-eaters swerve as they hawk for flying insects. Early rising harriers, sparrowhawks and falcons are after them.

Then, when the temperatures rise, raptor migration intensifies. These are peak days for Lesser Spotted Eagle and Levant Sparrowhawk; European Honey Buzzard and Black Kite pass through in good numbers too. Migration continues over my house all day long, but I can't spend full days watching the skies anymore. I did that for many years, when I worked for the annual autumn raptor migration count between mid August and mid October in the 2000's. Now I am a responsible adult (am I?), with adult responsibilities, but all I want is to bird and bird and bird, witness this exciting, fascinating, exhilarating miracle of migration. Year after year, season after season. Remind myself that despite all the horrible damage that we cause to our beautiful planet, nature can persist, if just given the chance.

Here are a few photos that aim to demonstrate some of the feelings I expressed above:

Western Yellow Wagtails on the move

European Turtle-Dove on its first migration. Migrate safe young hero

Red-backed Shrike looking very sexy

Gotta love a Whinchat

Early Morning European Honey-Buzzard

Late morning Oriental Honey-Buzzard

Early morning Montagu's Harrier

Part of a flock of 320 Levant Sparrowhawks

Young Lesser Spotted Eagle

The moon photobombed by Lesser Spotted Eagles

Booted Eagle is unique among other migrating raptors, by its habit to hunt during migration. Most other species fly over Israel without looking down. It is not unusual to watch a Booted Eagle migrating with other raptors (here with a Levant Sparrowhawk)

Suddenly it leaves the stream, and stoops down from high altitude at huge speed towards a flock of pigeons in a field below

Flying past the moon

A few days ago I had another adrenalin-packed experience. I was watching a Hobby flying idly over Hulda Reservoir

Suddenly it changed direction and increased speed - obviously it had spotted something in mid air

I stayed focused on the Hobby; only at home on the computer screen I noticed it was after a small passerine presumably on active migration. Unbelievable how the falcon located and locked on that tiny warbler.

This is a tight crop - I assume this incident happened at 70-80 m above ground. Here the Hobby closed in on the poor warbler:

The Hobby made a super-fast maneuver and tried to snatch the warbler - I think this is a Sedge Warbler. This happened so fast; I didn't see the warbler at all; I don't know whether the warbler managed to get away. I couldn't see the falcon flying away with anything, so I think the warbler survived. Wow.

Here are a few representative eBird checklists from recent days 10 minutes from home:

Hulda Reservoir this morning with Piki

Givat Brener on Thursday

Tal Shachar on Wednesday with another Yoav

Mig mig

Migration is peaking now in Israel. The weather is still quite awful - midday temperatures soar into the mid 30's, but the early mornings offer some respite and are pleasant enough for birds and for birders. I keep going out birding every morning, even now during our second lockdown. I have fieldwork to do, and anti-poaching duties, which thankfully keep me outdoors. 

The fields and reservoirs near home are packed full with birds, offering some hope that we have not screwed the world up completely, yet. Often, early morning birding sessions end up with an impressive tally (check this representative checklist for example). Willow Warblers numbers are very low, but other species groups seem to be doing OK - shrikes, buntings, chats. Young Lesser Gray Shrikes are seen in numbers now - very neat birds:

Numbers of Cretzschmar's and Ortolans and even now - Cretzs still around in force:

Raptor migration is very prominent now. Luckily, I live on the main highway. Unlucky for me, I need to spend most hours of the day working indoors - wish I could sit outside all day with a cold beer and stare at the skies. However, every time I stick my head out of the air-conditioned house between 10:00 and 15:00 and look up there are convoys up in the sky, of Lesser Spotted Eagle, Levant Sparrowhawk, Honey Buzzard, Black Kite and many other species (check this checklist for example).

Lesser Spotted Eagle and two levants

Part of a flock of 800 Levant Sparrowhawks

It's a good time of year for shorebirds too. A visit to Ma'agan Michael offered good views of Bar-tailed Godwits - scarce in Israel:

Gan Shmuel fishponds hosted a Pectoral Sandpiper - I had to go and visit. 15th for Israel, I have seen a few before but always nice to connect with:

Pec Sand with friends

Best bird I found recently was yesterday - while birding with Piki in Tal Shachar (good fun!) we flushed a snipe from under our feet - it gave a familiar call, taking me back to November 1998 - Pin-tailed Snipe! In flight we noticed that there was no trailing edge, it was stocky with a short bill, but if flew away and out of sight. Sadly no photo but satisfying birding moment! We couldn't relocate it - hope it shows up again.

Sadly, not all of my work includes happy birding moments. On Friday I was called to retrieve a transmitter of a dead Bonelli's Eagle not far from home, and asses the cause of death. No need for detective work to make this assessment:

Happy hour

It was another day of massive raptor migration today, and my house's position on the main highway rewarded me with brilliant migration overhead. I stepped outside and first bird I saw was a stonking Steppe Eagle, low over my garden. I ran back in to get my camera but I lost it. But there were tons of birds up in the air, so I stayed outside. It was around midday, so birds were very high up. Maybe no as spectacular views as I had a couple of days ago, but it felt so good, bringing back nostalgic memories of the many years I counted raptors for weeks every autumn as part of my job. It was such a great hour, actually 38 minutes of joy, that I think they're worthy of a blogpost. During those 38 minutes I counted 1456 raptors of 13 species. And when this happens in my garden, with a cold beer in my hand, I feel vert content. Main species were Black Kite 608, Lesser Spotted Eagle 454, Levant Sparrowhawk 368. Full eBird Checklist here.

Black Stork

Booted Eagle

Lesser Spotted Eagle

Black Kites, Marsh Harrier and a few Levants

Marsh Harrier

Unlike most other raptors that don't look down when they migrate, Short-toed Eagles often feed on the wing. I watched this youngster leave a stream, drop several hundred meters for a scan after a juicy snake, and moved on.

After 38 minutes I had to get inside (my daughter's birthday), but whenever I found an excuse to look outside the aerial highway was still busy.