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. 

Fieldfares and other bits and pieces

Drove around a bit over the last couple of days and collected some nice stuff along the way. Yesterday at Ashdod not too many gulls or shorebirds, and nothing exciting among them. Single Greater Spotted Eagle and Short-toed Eagle (late!) were nice. These two female Mountain Gazelles showed me their butts as they sped away from my car. Are they being poached in that area? They were very very shy.


Later drove to Segula to look for the Fieldfare trio found by Re'a the previous day. The first look produced nothing, but after a short lunch break found them feeding quite relaxed on the lawn. They really let me approach - I never had such good views in Israel. These guys must have come from a village or town somewhere (in Russia?) - their tame behaviour suggested that. Great to see these Israeli rarities - hopefully we will have a good winter for them (and for their black-throated cousin tooo...)

This morning I was ringing at my local site in Ashdod. It was pretty good with many chiffies, Blackcaps, Bluethroats and Robins. A couple of Spanish Sparrows were nice, and this Moustached Warbler was my first for the season. Other birds about were a Reed Bunting flying around and dodging my nets, and several Water Rails heard calling.

Moustached Warbler

Spanish Sparrow

A short afternoon visit to Tsor'a didn't produce much. This female Stonechat posed nicely against the light:

And this late Isabelline Wheatear was pretty in the warm afternoon light: