Super day at Maagan Michael

I don't do these kind of things anymore, report on a single days' birding. However, today was really brilliant and report-worthy. Once a month I spend a morning monitoring birds at our restoration project in Ma'agan Michael. I start early, and do point counts for about two hours. Then I spend the rest of the morning counting birds in the general area of Ma'agan Michael fishponds and beach. Today, my first point count was interrupted by flocks of hundreds of Great White Pelicans cruise low over me:

It was evident that there were lots of birds around. Flocks of wagtails and pipits headed south. My second point count had so many birds I struggled to end it on time. It was nice to see this migrating flock of Flamingos at eye-level.

At my third point count I had two Striated Herons - hatched this year I think. They are becoming more regular in this area, but still scarce.

Towards the end of the point count I noticed a shrike on a fence, quite distant and in bad light conditions. A quick look through the bins and I said to myself - hey, this is an Isabelline Shrike. The shrike flew out of view. I went around a small pond to try and get better views. Then a Red-backed jumped up. Disappointed, I discounted my previous ID. Only when I got back home and checked the photos I noticed it was actually an Isabelline - nice one.

The fourth and final point count was uneventful though it had lots of migrants. Then I went down to the beach to check what's on there. I bumped into this fine adult male Desert Wheatear - pretty scarce in this region, and such a beautiful bird.

I spotted a large shorebird flying south high up - Bar-tailed Godwit! Another scarce bird. Sweet.

Later on Yuval found one a couple of kms north - is it the same bird that U-turned, or another bird? This one showed really well, feeding in a coastal lagoon.

In a large dried up fishponds there were over 100 Black Storks. I checked them for colour rings and found three. 718N is from Estonia, ringed in 2022, and seen since every winter in Ma'agan Michael.

I am awaiting information about the other two - U199 and 15U6.

By 10am it was getting hot and I had to leave. My total was pretty good - 116 species. eBird checklist here.

First Responder's dilemma

Today while getting some work done at home the familiar Rare Bird Alert went off - Long-billed Dowitcher at Ma'agan Michael! I was super keen to see this species in Israel after missing two during my years in the UK. To go or not to go? There was no 100% confirmation yet, but as a First Responder I had no time to hesitate. I hit the road almost instantly - it's just 1.5 hours up the road, and I have a list to keep! While driving up I talked to those who reported it and circulated a poor photo that didn't teach much. When I got there, the beach was actually surprisingly quiet with human activity, which was very welcome after my last visit. There were plenty of birds on the beach, but no dowitcher to be found. I walked up and down the beach checking all coastal lagoons, and all fishponds too, to no avail. I did my best to stay focused on dowitcher-searching but was distracted by an Eleonora's Falcon that zoomed past at great speed, two Bar-tailed Godwits, Heuglin's Gull, Citrine Wagtails and in general enjoyable birding (86 species; eBird checklist here).

Czech-ringed Black Stork in a lovely fishpond by the kibbutz

Big cliffs, cool migration

Yesterday I worked with Re'a in the Judean Desert. We assisted efforts by INPA to locate and monitor nests of some of Israel's most threatened raptors. I can think of worse ways to spend the day - we had a long, beautiful hike through some of Israel's most scenic spots, looking for iconic species. We also had brilliant migration low over the desert plateau - mainly Black Storks and also several hundred Steppe Buzzard. A few small, mobile flocks of Pale Rock Sparrow zoomed through. The skies and cliff faces were full of swifts and hirundines. Bliss.

This is the stunning view east, down the mighty Ze'elim Gorge, Dead Sea in the distance:

Black Storks 

The weather was somewhat unstable yesterday. When heavy cloud rolled in and covered the skies, and it felt like it's going to rain, this passing flock of Black Storks struggled to migrate on. The flock was battling against the wind and flying too low.

Taken with my phone across the gorge

Eventually they decided to drop down and rest for a while on the cliffs until the weather improved.

Good activity of local species, including (the rare) Common Raven doing chough-like aerial displays:

Desert Lark looking rather dapper in this beautiful setting:

Some water left in waterholes after the winter floods:

Hosting a Grey Wagtail

Many thanks to Re'a, and to Jamil the local INPA ranger. eBird checklist here.

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. 

Raptor days

Raptor migration through Israel is picking up these days. The boring days of Honey Buzzards only are over, and now migration is much more varied, with two globally sensitive species, Lesser Spotted Eagle and Levant Sparrowhawk, passing in large numbers now.

Today I joined the team of our Soaing Birds Count in the Jizreel Valley, coordinated by IOC (myself and my colleagues) and supported by IAF. But first I had a couple of hours for birding in the Bet She'an Valley, that got slightly extended because I got bogged with my car in the sand plus my car battery died. This slowed me down but eventually I had a nice morning with lots of birds in the fields and fishponds. Also down in the valley raptors featured well. Tons of Black Kites already, plus many harriers, Short-toed Eagles and quite a few Ospreys around.

Marsh Harrier in nice setting

Osprey feeding on a fish caught in the fishponds - with the ever-loyal companion Hooded Crow:

Many hundreds of Black Storks hanging around, some moving south. Found this lovely Czech-ringed adult in Kfar Ruppin fishponds:

Lots of migrant passerines around - Yellow Wags, Willow Warblers, many shrikes, Whinchats, wheatears etc. Worth noting were two Richard's Pipits, one Blue-cheeked Bee-eater (not a passerine I know), my first Bluethroat of the season and that's it more or less.

Southern Grey Shrike (aucheri) - 1cy, quite an ID pitfall for pallidirostris, no?

Then I joined the team and toured between the stations to say hi to all the team members. At noon I arrived west where I helped Gaidis from Latvia to count the first major passage of Lesser Spotted Eagle this season - we had about 1000 in the hour I was there. Quite nice for some moments. With the main stream of eagles a few small groups of levants, Red-footed Falcons, one Steppe Eagle etc. Lots of Short-toed Eagles flying high but some stooped down to hunt during migration like this beast: