No vultures

Over the last few days I have seen many birds, none included rare vultures. On Thursday I was planning to be a bad boy and twitch the Lappet-faced Vulture in Yotvata, but it made a bunk and disappeared. Rather than driving all the way down to Yotvata for nothing, I worked near Ezuz with Jonathan, which was good fun. In the early morning thick fog prevented fieldwork, but as soon as it lifted it became evident that there had been a massive fall of migrants, especially Thrush Nightingales. There were tens everywhere, in very high density. Lovely. Also many Redstart, Masked Shrike, Willow Warbler etc.

The morning was dominated by migrants, though I did find the expected breeding species - bustard, courser and sandgrouse. There was good active migration of swifts and swallows through the morning, providing enjoyable photography subjects as they flew low over the desert.

eBird checklist here.

While waiting for the coffee to boil at nearby Be'erotayim Grove, the roosting Long-eared Owls played ball:

This morning I joined the team at JBO for a rather intensive ringing session. There were many birds around, and good quality too, in the form of River Warbler, many Olive-tree and Barred, a nice fall of Red-backed Shrike, and a few European Nightjars. eBird checklist here.

It was very difficult to stay focused during the ringing when news broke of the White-backed Vulture relocated in the Bet She'an Valley. I couldn't go today, which was nerve wrecking. It was seen to go down to roost in the valley - fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Back to the hills

After the short Cypriot break, I resumed fieldwork in the Batha hills north of Jerusalem. On Thursday I surveyed some higher-elevation hills. While bird densities were somewhat low, perhaps due to higher levels of anthropogenic disturbance, I did find most expected breeding species including Long-billed Pipit, Cuckoo, many Eastern Black-eared Wheatears and Cretzschmar's bunting. As expected at these higher elevations, there was quite good activity of Woodlark - top quality bird IMO.

That wing pattern

Zoothera Lark!

Also Spectacled Warblers were pretty active and showed nicely, though light was a bit harsh:

On Prickly Thornet (Sarcopoterium spinosum)

With Red Everlasting (Helichrysum sanguineum) bottom right

Despite the near-shrubless habitat, there were hordes of Blackcaps in the low bushes, and Ortolans, mainly on the move but some came down to drink in puddles:

Black-veined White are very common in this habitat:

Pyramidal Orchid is one of the latest-flowering orchids in Israel:

Yesterday in the afternoon I visited Gazelle Valley in Jerusalem with Piki and my brother. We searched without success for a Great Snipe that is still there. Big numbers of swifts were impressive - those ultra-aerobats drinking in the main pond against the sun provided some photographic opportunities that I barely grasped:

Gazelle Valley eBird checklist here.

Today was super-productive at my local patch and at home. I had a Little Bittern surprise me in the garden while hanging up laundry, and a Red-footed Falcon flew over.  An early morning visit to my patch, Nahal Ekron (see checklist here) produced the goods - Little and Spotted Crake, Little Bittern and Barred Warbler on a fantastic Mulberry tree that also hosted 2 Golden Orioles.

Attaching geolocators to swifts

On Friday I took part in an effort to attach geolocators to two Common Swifts breeding in Tel Aviv. This project is coordinated by Amnon Hann, our swift man, and the geolocators were supplied by Lund University (Sweden). I hope we will obtain some good data on the migration of these fascinating birds.
Yuval Dax made a great video of the session - have a look:
http://vimeo.com/11980693

Mammals in Nizzana

Yesterdsay I visited another Nizzana atlas box. Bird numbers dropped considerabely compared to March and early April - it is already very hot, and many breeders have already disappeared, God knows where. Has anyone got an idea where are all the Spectacled Warblers and Desert Wheatears that fledged just a couple of weeks ago disappeared to? They have evaporated completely, and are not anywhere to be found in Israel at the moment.
Still had some good birds, including a few MacQueen's Bustards, CCC's, two Lesser Short-toed Larks and several flyover Hill Sparrows.

In recent visits I have seen many mammals and reptiles. I suppose that the rising minimum temperatures results in better mammal activity. I had good observations of canines - Wolf, Golden Jackal and Red Fox - yesterday I found these three curious cubs outside of their den.

Dorcas Gazelles are seen in good numbers, and I had a few Wild Ass a few days ago. Cape Hares are pretty common too. Yesterday on the way back found a road-killed Desert Monitor of moderate size (about 70 cm long) - so sad to find such a rare and beautiful animal dead. I hope to get images of it soon.

In the evening I went to Neot Hakikar for nightjar monitoring. Driving down there was a dramatic weather change, with a cold front entering quickly. This knocked down many thousands of migrating Common Swifts, that on normal weather must migrate too high up for us mortals to notice. Along the road east of Dimona, thousands of birds were feeding low over the road, some stupid birds even getting themselves killed by passing vehicles. But the view was quite amazing.