A week in the UK

Earlier this month I participated in the World Congress of BirdLife International in Cambridge, UK, celebrating 100 years of the most powerful conservation partnership in the world. I represented BirdLife Israel - Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. It was a great celebration indeed, meeting so many friends, old and new, from all over the world. It is truly inspiring and empowering to feel a part of something so big, a giant, special, sometimes a bit crazy family, working together for nature and people. After several years of zoom meetings, it was awesome to meet people in person, actual people with legs and all. 

The congress included a European Partnership Meeting, where important work was actually done, and included amazing displays of solidarity with our partners in Ukraine and Belarus (check this Youtube video). Then there was a Partnership Fair, like a mini BirdFair where each organisation could present their work. This is my stand, adjacent to MME/BirdLife Hungary and natur&ëmwelt/BirdLife Luxembourg:

Something very weird happened during the Partnership Fair

I *think* I just arrived at the @BirdLife_News World Congress and watched Jarvis Cocker play two songs about birds but there's also every chance that this is a mad dream? pic.twitter.com/JalngpridP

— Rory Crawford (@redkingcraw) September 13, 2022

Of course, I had to keep my checklist streak. In most days I walked around local sites, such as Stourbridge Common and Ditton Meadows. As expected, with the weather and location, there were very few migrants around, still enjoyed it. Tried to force a Reed Warbler into becoming a blyth's, without success. Nice to share that moment with my mate Simon from BTO, where banana posture just ain't good enough.

Had a good time with my mates from Cornell Lab, including an early morning visit to Fen Drayton Lakes RSPB, providing Cullen with quality life birds such as Eurasian Green Woodpecker and Common Kingfisher.

Then I headed over to Norwich for a long weekend of birding and birding friends. Two mornings were spent seawatching off Sheringham. The wind wasn't perfect but the sea was nice and rough, and I enjoyed birding with mates. There were many birds that I enjoyed, even some OK stuff - Cory's Shearwater, Sabine's Gull, Long-tailed Skuas. There were many skuas in general, divers, scoters - birding experiences that an Israeli like myself appreciates. And it was cold! I really enjoyed feeling cold after the scorching hot summer in Israel.

Just finished a 10 hour(!) sea-watch at Sheringham, 6am to 4pm. Going east were 206 Little Gull, 80 Arctic Skua, 12 Great Skua and 3 Pom Skua, while 6 Sooty Shearwater went west. Other highlights were 90+ Manx, 2 Long-tailed Skua, 3 Black Tern, 2 Hobby and a Puffin. #rbnNFK 😀 pic.twitter.com/nLNgdsqzoB

— Drew Lyness (@DJLbirding) September 16, 2022

On my final morning went with Robin to Cantley Sugar Factory, which was alright. Many hirundines over the pits, some shorebirds, first Pink-footed Geese. Among the House Martins there were a couple of striking birds that the late Martin Garner would have enjoyed. Extreme Common House-Martins I guess.

Was I one week too early, or was the nighthawk one week too late?

Not sure what’s more British? A large bunch of twitchers looking at a bird on a garden fence from point blank range or the lady turning her back on it and getting her knitting out! 😂🇬🇧 #wantagetwitch vs #wantageknit pic.twitter.com/oDOLqUopWH

— David J Bevan (@djbevanphoto) September 27, 2022

Milestone celebrations

Today I celebrated a special milestone, 1000 days of consecutive birding. In 2019 I started my participation in eBird’s Checklist-a-Day-Challenge. I elaborated by increasing my effort, not only submitting any checklist, but by actually going birding every day. I developed my personal definition of meaningful birding – at least 30 minutes of proper birding, fully absorbed in birding, with binoculars around my neck. On August 15^th 2019, while I was in the UK for a family visit, I had a one-day glitch that disrupted a 234-days long streak, and started counting again. Since August 16^th 2019 I have birded properly every day, and today was my 1000^th day. This streak has taken me through the entire COVID-19 pandemic… Now, birding and eBird is solidly a part of my being – I just have to go birding every day, and I hope I always will.

I celebrated this birding milestone by an early morning visit with my dog Bamba to my very local patch, Nahal Ekron. My alarm rang at 05:30, I started birding at 05:49. I walked 0.84 km one way, and then walked back the same route. 

The track takes me along the Ekron stream, that runs here in a ditch and has reeds growing on the shoulders. There are some scattered trees on the shoulders, and adjacent gardens of houses flanking the stream are attractive to birds too. The annual vegetation has mostly dried up by now. The walk one way and then back took me 54 minutes, which is longer than my average, because today I carried my camera and spent few minutes on photography. I normally don’t carry my camera when I visit my local patch. Today I decided to carry it, to celebrate the milestone and also because yesterday I had a close camera-less encounter with a Little Bittern, and had to make do with a ropey phone photo taken through my bins.

It was an OK morning session (eBird checklist here), a solid 40 species, without any crazy highlights but a few things that made me happy:

·       There were many babies out today, including my first-of-year Red-rumped Swallow, Goldfinch and Linnet. Linnets breed in nearby vineyards and orchards; a family party flew over the stream.

·       A large mulberry tree and adjacent huge Blue Jacaranda were full of warblers, higher-than-average numbers of Blackcap and some Garden Warblers too. There were two Barred Warblers (not Two-barred Warblers) flying in and out of the tree. They were too quick, or I was too slow, so this is the only reasonable photo I managed of one of them, likely a young female. The number of warblers seemed higher than normal, representing the massive migration experienced in different parts of the country.

·       Swifts! I love swifts. My love of swifts perhaps isn’t so strongly expressed as Hanna’s, but they certainly make me very happy with their utter awesomeness.

THEY ARE BACK! THE FIRST 4 SWIFTS HAVE RETURNED! #WELCOMEHOME #swifts pic.twitter.com/ZaqbbetiaI

— Hannah Bourne-Taylor (@WriterHannahBT) May 8, 2022

·       This soundtrack:

Then in the afternoon I submitted another checklist. It was my grandmother's memorial anniversary - she passed away 27 years ago. My family gathered in the main cemetery of Jerusalem, including my brother. This cemetery is not very well vegetated so there weren't many birds. Yet, the Linnets there made me happy, and sad - perhaps one of the last pairs breeding in Jerusalem; they used to be much more widespread. Alpine Swifts, Short-toed eagle, a Willow Warbler hoouiting, it was OK I guess. eBird checklist here. Does anyone else record birds during memorial services?

Southern Arava minus birds...

Yesterday (10/10/09) I went scuba diving at Eilat. Before my dive buddy woke up, I had a couple of hours of birding in the traditional birding sites of the southern Arava - Yotvata, Samar and Elifaz.

Contra to the situation in spring, when the whole region is teeming with birds, this period of autumn is actually very boring. It seems that most migrants stop for refueling in central Israel before crossing the vast deserts of N Africa.

So I started birding, with very sentimental memories from March. Both the sewage farm and fields of Yotvata were very empty. Also nothing to photograph, only this 1cy Masked Shrike posed in the early morning sun though too distant:

However, I seem to be having some luck with Red-breasted Flycatchers this season: I had four different birds this morning - one at Yotvata sewage, two in the Samar date plantations, and one obliging individual at Elifaz sewage:

Actually, Elifaz sewage was the only site which had good numbers of birds - it looks quite promising for November, when I'm sure it will host a good sibe. But till then, I had to settle with many acros (all those I saw well were reeds), several Savi's Warblers, Indian Silverbills etc.

So it wasn't too frustrating for me to end the morning's birding and go to Eilat for some diving...