Israel trip with Birdfinders - Final days 6 and 7. Sunday & Monday.

Sunday 27 March 2011

This was our last full day. A brief trip to Shulamit Park produced the usual mixture of migrants.  
This is a yellow vented (or spectacled) bulbul, a common bird in Israel but a lovely one.

Yellow-vented (or spectacled) bulbul

After an ample breakfast, we headed up to the mountains where there was a good chance of a large raptor passage. Our guides' hunch was correct. In about 75 minutes we enjoyed a constant passage of several hundred raptors. There were many steppe buzzards but also a number of black kites, steppe eagles, booted eagles, a long legged buzzard and an osprey.

Our next stop was Holland Park again. Whilst we were let loose all over the park, our 2 guides headed up to the far end. With hindsight, I can only imagine they had prior information which they wanted to check before calling the group. At some point Martyn had to come and find everybody, giving them instructions to make for a particular bush at the very far end of the park. This seemed rather inefficient and an example of poor communication.

Anyway, the bush in question was alive with small warblers. It gave me my first views of Ruppell's warblers, subalpine warblers and, very briefly, Menetries warbler.

Ruppell's warbler - male

Subalpine warbler

After Holland Park we headed again to Yot Vata for lunch. Then we split into 2 groups. I was loosely with a group looking for Caspian plover whilst the others looked for greater hoopoe larks. The Caspian plover hadn't been seen for a few days and I thought the chances were very slim. I stayed in the same place mainly photographing a northern wheatear beating the living daylights out of a beetle!

Northern wheatear - here he is about to start on the beetle!

Northern wheatear - "I'll have these legs off!"

Northern wheatear - the fight continues!

I also came across a woodchat shrike. . . .

Woodchat shrike - lovely bird

. . . an isabelline wheatear. . .

Isabelline wheatear

. . and a red-throated pipit.

Red-throated pipit

Subsequent, we split up again. Some of the group went looking for the reported Oriental turtle dove whilst others, including me, went to the salt pools looking for greater sand plovers. We did eventually see one very distantly, but the Oriental turtle dove was not to be seen. At the end of the day we watched a pair of very unselfconscious little crakes which came right out into the open about 10 or 15 m from us.



Little crake - female (sorry for the quality of this shot in the half darkness. It was taken at ISO 6400)

 This happened while we were waiting for dusk and the arrival of some Lichtenstein's sand grouse . They did eventually arrive but they landed on the far side of the pool instead of near us. We could just make out their silhouettes on the other side of the pool.

Monday, 28 March, 2011

This was the day of the 350 km drive back to Tel Aviv. However, we did make an early visit to a site close to Eilat in search of a hooded wheatear. It was not to be found but we did see a white tailed wheatear, a common cuckoo, some blackstarts, an eastern Bonelli's warbler and a very pale short-toed eagle.

Some of our number were keen to see long billed pipit. As we got closer to Tel Aviv we stopped at a nature reserve in the southern Judaean hills. The guides left all of us at the top of the valley whilst they drove most of the way down again, leaving unclear instructions. As a result I didn't see spectacled warbler and only saw long billed pipit in flight rather than being able to see it perched. This was another example of poor communication.

Nevertheless, I was very happy overall with the birds I had seen on the trip. James and Martyn used their experience and truly astounding call recognition ability to find many birds that I would never have seen. I would certainly recommend Birdfinders.

After the usual strict security at the airport, our flight was on time and arrived at Luton a few minutes early. It was quite chilly while we waited for the minibus to take us to the off-site car park. We finally got to bed at about 2 in the morning, exhausted but exhilarated by the trip.

Garden warbler at Banstead.

I had mistaken a blackcap in my garden for a garden warbler on song alone, so I was happy that David Campbell told me about 1 or 2 at Banstead Woods. I went up to meet him and we went to the spot where he regularly saw it. We heard it a few times but it was quite a while before it eventually showed. A lovely bird. Even though it is rather plain, its song is fabulous.

Garden warbler

Israel trip with Birdfinders - Day 5. Saturday.

Before breakfast I was in Shulemit Park by the hotel. The bottlebrush tree was a lovely backdrop to the local birds. The migrants were in other parts of the Park.

Blackcap - male

Blackcap - female

After breakfast we went back to the sewage pools at Km 19 where we had been previously. In the reedbeds we saw Dead Sea sparrows, Sardinian warbler, woodchat shrike, red-throated pipit, isabelline wheatear and a fine male namaqua dove nearby.

Isabelline wheatear

Sardinian warbler

Namaqua dove - male

Red-throated pipit

Also present were 2 spotted eagles which drifted off towards Jordan.

Spotted eagle

Next stop was the saltpools of Km20 where there were a couple of hundred slender-billed gulls, 25 ruffs, etc.

It was our last chance to go to the firing range for desert species so we drove north to Ha'Meishar plains. Larks abounded including thick-billed, greater short-toed and bimaculated.

Thick-billed lark

Our main target was crowned sandgrouse and we were lucky to come across a flock of over 100 which allowed us to approach relatively near.

Crowned sandgrouse. Female on left, male on right.

We moved to a different range where we were fortunate to encounter a small flock of bar-tailed larks.

Bar-tailed lark

There was little else of note, despite a diligent search till just before sunset. Ah well! Back to the hotel for another splendid buffet dinner.

Radipole / Lodmoor dowitcher and more

On my way to Plymouth I called in to Lodmoor to see the long staying long-billed dowitcher. It was a little more colourful in summer plumage:

Long-billed dowitcher, an American wader

Also present were some bar-tailed godwits in breeding plumage:


Bar-tailed godwit. The worm was taken and washed before being eaten



Bar-tailed godwit. You can see the barring on the tail.

some whitethroats:

Common whitethroat.

some sedge warblers:

Sedge warbler

a magpie which tried out the post used by kingfishers:

Magpie

and a kingfisher, shown here leaving the nest:

Kingfisher leaving the nest

and here on the usual post:

Kingfisher

Makes me want to go back in a couple of weeks when the young are out!

Israel trip with Birdfinders - Day 4 - Friday.

We picked up a breakfast box from the hotel reception and left shortly after 6 AM for what was going to be a very long day. Israel has many military firing ranges. Entry is prohibited during the week but permitted during the Israeli weekend. We drove 100 km to Hyyon plains firing range in light rain. It was cold on arrival and the wind was cool. Initial searches gave nothing apart from a couple of desert larks.

Desert lark

 A gorgeous male pallid harrier flew purposefully by.

Pallid harrier - male

When the sun came out a beautiful Temminck's lark appeared and showed well for 10-15 minutes.

Temminck's lark

A desert rat also made an appearance!

Desert rat

The greater hoopoe larks that we were apparently looking for did not appear. Brown-necked ravens did.

Brown-necked raven

We went back to the buses to eat our boxed breakfasts, before driving another 100km to small pool and reedbed where a Clamorous reed warbler responded quickly to a call. We had good though distant views before it retired back to the reeds. At a stop at the services for a drink 2 blackstarts entertained us nearby.

Blackstart

On again to the resort of Ein Gedi where Lynne and I decided to eschew birds for an hour or so to take a dip in the Dead Sea! Well, you've got to swim in the Dead Sea once haven't you? Swimming wasn't really possible. The water gives such buoyancy that the only comfortable position is on your back. If you turn onto your front the buoyancy is such that it feels like someone is holding your legs and lifting them up so as to push your face in the water. Very disconcerting! 10 minutes was enough and then we got out.

Me and Lynne in the Dead Sea

I photographed some Tristram's grackles but failed to get a shot of the attractive orange wing panels which are visible mainly when they are in flight.

Tristram's grackles (aka Tristram's starlings)

We went back to the carpark where a visible migration watch was in progress. We saw several raptors, vultures and cranes over the high cliffs. We decided to go higher and went to a car park in the mountains overlooking the Dead Sea where we observed some fairly large-scale migrations of common cranes, black storks, etc. with frequent views of Egyptian vultures and griffon vultures. Lynne talked to the local Bedouins who were having a picnic and they kindly gave her a cup of tea! We also saw a pair of sand partridges, black stork, kestrel, pallid swift, alpine swift and white-crowned wheatear.

Black stork

White-crowned wheatear

At sunset we went to our rendezvous with the Official Israeli guide who was to show us Hume's owl and Nubian nightjar. The first was in a steep sided gorge where we had brief views of a male Hume's owl. We then moved to a kibbutz near the Jordanian border where nightjars perched on the paths and could be picked out with torches without flushing them. We had views of several nightjars in flight and on the ground only 3-4 metres away.

Nubian nightjar

We had got the 'big five', and now came the long drive back to the hotel where we arrived, exhausted, just before midnight.

Israel trip with Birdfinders - Day 3.

Day 3. Thursday, 24 March, 2011


Next to our hotel was Shulamit Park, a magnet for migrants. On other days, several of the others had gone birdwatching even before breakfast. I decided to go as well today. The park is planted with many trees, and the lawns are watered every day. At the top of the central mound, where the winos sleep, there is a very attractive bottlebrush tree which attracted most of the migrants. Wryneck, eastern olivaceous warbler, eastern Bonelli's warbler, blackcaps, lesser whitethroats and Spanish sparrows were all in evidence. However, I was not in the park. A small heron had been seen in the marina and I got up before 6 AM to see it before it flew away. I saw it only briefly and distantly and against the light of the rising sun. It was a striated heron.

After breakfast we left at 7:45 AM as usual and drove to kilometre 33 to look for Dunn's lark. On arrival at this desert site there was a solitary car. Nearby, a photographer had set up a hide and a small battery driven water fountain to attract the birds. I wondered what he thought of 16 birdwatchers suddenly descending on his remote watchpoint! In the event, we only saw desert larks, a bar tailed lark, a woodchat shrike and a flyover short-toed eagle. We also flushed a large Cape hare, which bounded off into the distance.

Bar-tailed lark

Cape hare

We moved on to Yot Vata. On a nearby site of acacia forest we hoped to find Arabian warbler, one of the "big five" most wanted birds. Arabian warbler is a very localised bird, but it is resident and sedentary. At first we saw eastern Bonelli's warbler, hoopoe, a couple of very nice blackstarts, etc before the Arabian warbler eventually appeared and showed well for several minutes. We also saw a scrub warbler and a gecko, and some people saw a couple of sand partridges in the distance. Flyovers included a black stork and booted Eagle.

Arabian warbler

Geckoey thing

Next stop was the Yot Vata sewage ponds where we found our first cattle egrets, reed warbler, squacco heron, woodchat shrike and, further on, citrine wagtail and Dead Sea Sparrows. A little further on we heard our first turtle dove and a masked shrike performed for several minutes nearby. On the way back an amazingly confiding wryneck performed on the path in front of us.

Masked shrike

Black-eared wheatear

Wryneck

It was only a short hop to the cafe at Yot Vata where we had lunch, followed, for me, by the now traditional large ice cream! As it was fairly warm, we went up into the mountains to the Shizzafon sewage ponds. These were sewage ponds with a difference! There wasn't much water and the ponds were landscaped with attractive vegetation, bushes, reeds, etc. Here we enjoyed squacco herons, linnet, bluethroat, citrine wagtail, Northern wheatear and a solitary white stork.

Citrine wagtail

Black-winged stilt

Northern wheatear

White stork

Having found no hooded wheatears we made our way back to the fields at Yot Vata. This yielded several firsts for me including a small number of Cretzschmar's bunting, an ortolan bunting, large numbers of white wagtails, greater short-toed larks, bimaculated larks, desert wheatears and yellow wagtails. There were also smaller numbers of red-throated pipits, water pipits, Siberian stonechat, woodchat shrike, masked shrike, and kestrel. One kestrel caught a quail and proceeded to eat it on a roll of straw in full view! Finally, a couple of tawny pipits were another first for me. A fitting end to another good day!

Cretzschmar's bunting

Desert wheatear

Ortolan bunting

Tawney pipit

Kestrel with quail (alive when we first saw it)!!