Coastal birding

Yesterday morning I left home early, with some expectations for decent 'weather' and migration. I arrived at Arsuf (just north of Tel Aviv) at dawn, to discover clear skies and no wind. Disappointing. Still, there was some movement of pipits and wagtails first thing as I stepped out of the car. I started walking through tall grass and an Oriental Skylark flew up buzzing. Nice. I birded the coastal scrub habitat for a couple of hours. 

Despite active migration being rather slow, there were still some nice birds to see. Best was a young (Daurian) Isabelline Shrike. It was very mobile - must have just arrived, so my photos are from quite a distance. Not a huge rarity but always fun to find one.

Missed an opportunity for Photo of the Year, with the shrike, Palestine Sunbird and Painted Lady; sadly the shrike turned its head away and the distance was too long:

Several Siberian Stonechats were seen among the large numbers of European Stonechats. The males were Caspian; regarding the female - hard to tell in the field.

Missed money shot

Like everywhere in and around Tel Aviv, there were so many invasive species around, dominating the avifauna there. Also large numbers of crows. This Hooded Crow had caught a young Greek Tortoise.

eBird checklist here.

Fine bunting

This morning I went birding at Wadi Kos which is in southern Jerusalem, near the neighbourhood of Gilo. Avner Rinot found there last week two Pine Buntings among a nice flock of Yellowhammers. Arrived there in the morning and was joined by Ron Haran. Together we worked our way down the wadi birding the slopes covered with almond and olive trees. Took us some time to get onto the bunting flock but eventually we found a flock of 15. They were very very shy and mobile, like they usually are here in Israel. Took me a while to scan through them but eventually managed to get only brief views of a female Pine Bunting - no image. 

Yellowhammer

Other than lots of common finches and thrushes, one Fieldfare was the only other bird of note.

So common that Ihave never bothered photographing them before - Hooded Crows:

This was quite a sentimental morning for me. I grew up in Jerusalem, very close to where we were birding this morning. I used to bird this area as a kid almost daily. In winter we had a regular flock of about 100 Yellowhammers and 25-30 Pine Buntings in that area, but since the huge developement in that area, buntings went missing from this area for some years. So it was really good to be back in the area, bird in the habitat I know so well from childhood.

Wadi Kos