Global Big Day and Pin-tailed Snipe

Yesterday was Global Big Day, organised by eBird, part of the international events of Global Bird Weekend and World Migratory Bird Day. Our team 'Champions of the Flyway' traditionally included Jonathan, Re'a and me.

Initially, we had plans for a selective Big Day, focused on special specialties only, at a slower pace. Eventually, we changed our plans and returned to a proper, ambitious full Big Day effort, the way it should be done.

We left our homes in central Israel in the early hours to arrive in the Hula Valley enough time before dawn for some night birding. Our traditional Tawny Owl was waiting for us at the entrance to Hula NR. A night drive in the Agamon failed to produce other new owls (only Barn) or a nightjar, but produced a surprising, late Golden Oriole - our only one for the whole day, spotted by Re'a roosting in a big tree.

Several Jungle Cats were hunting in the dark, including this poser:

At day break, we were positioned at the southern end of the Agamon, and enjoyed this scene, now complete with crane cacophony:

The Agamon and adjacent fields were fantastic (eBird checklist here). Huge numbers of birds. many species, good quality including Moustached Warbler, Black Francolin, Pallid Harrier. A cut alfalfa field was coated with hundreds of Yellow Wagtails, and even larger numbers of Corn Bunting. Several Red-footed Falcons were hunting over the ploughed fields.

Red-footed Falcon

Montagu's Harrier

We quickly visited Lehavot Habashan fishponds - it would have been rude to leave the Hula Valley without seeing Marbled Teal. There were still good numbers of Marbled Teal there, 108, alongside a nice selection of shorebirds (eBird checklist here).

We left the Hula Valley satisfied with 114 species under our belt. When we arrived at Susita it was already very hot. Birding was tough, we missed Long-billed Pipit but added a few good species. While birding there news broke of a Pin-tailed Snipe in central Israel, close to home. We contemplated the option of altering our route to twitch the snipe. In an act of maturity and responsibility we decided to stick to Plan A and continue as planned. This came with some disappointment, as Jonathan and I are doing a Big Year. 

Global Big Day is timed to suit best N American birders' calendar. In Israel, both October and May Big Days happen when the weather is very hot. Yesterday was no exception, and when we arrived in the Bet She'an Valley the temperatures were soaring towards 40 degrees, making birding difficult. What to do when it's so hot? We walked a couple of alfalfa fields, failed to find Oriental Skylark but added Richard's pipit and a surprise Spectacled Warbler. We were melting. Bad choice. Birding the fishponds, for waterbirds, stationary, made more sense (eBird checklist here). The White-tailed Lapwing remained in it's wonderful pond that hosted many new shorebirds for the day. There were some raptors up in the air, though we failed to intercept a proper stream of raptor migration the whole day. Light conditions were harsh, and we were in a hurry, so I didn't take any photos. Jonathan shot this video of the wonderful pond with the lapwing: 

We left Bet Shean Valley with 142 species and headed cross-country towards the Dead Sea.

Ein Gedi NR carpark was exploding with humans rather than birds. Still, some nice desert species were present, including Fan-tailed Raven.

Note that the bird in the center is ringed:

Ashalim Reservoir is a stunning location, and I love birding there. It provided us with a few good species, including Dead Sea Sparrow and African Swamphen (eBird checklist here).

Late in the afternoon we arrived at Heimar Reservoir. Immediately we enjoyed a fantastic show by Sooty Falcons, at least four of them, hunting hirundines high up. Top quality birds. Just before dusk we Re'a struck again - Isabelline Shrike! Boom! Very nice surprise.

After dusk we checked a nearby site for Nubian Nightjar. It's not their main site, and habitat there isn't optimal, so it wasn't a big surprise we didn't succeed. However, the day was topped by a fantastic Desert Owl hooting in a nearby wadi.

Our daily total was a very satisfying 159 species. This is our best autumn Big Day score so far. This is the second time we do a cross-country effort. In May 2019 our route was even crazier, because it included also Mt. Hermon, and we ended up with 164 species. So our score yesterday is pretty good for our effort I reckon. Of course, like in every Big Day, we missed a good number of silly species, and gained a few 'Wild Cards'. 

Thanks Re'a and Jonathan for another memorable Big Day. It was a day full of quality birding and lots of fun with the best possible team. Thank you guys.

Thanks to the organisers, eBird and Global Birding - always a pleasure to participate in this global event. Thanks to Swarovski Optik for the privilege to use the best optics in the world.

####################### Post-script ##############################

After a well-deserved night sleep, this late morning I went with Jonathan to look for the snipe at Tel Afek. We weren't optimistic. This is a super intensive site, most it it developed for recreation. Yesterday, as the park filled up with hundreds of noisy families, the bird vanished. This early morning many birders searched for it, without success. We birded the park hard, checked all habitats that made some sense for a skulky snipe, without success either. Then Oren Maman called - 'Come quick, I found it!'. It was sitting quietly under a tree in the most intensive section of the park, between picnic tables and screaming kids. We must have walked right past it, as did many other birders. 

It sat there motionless for a while until a screaming kid that ran past it flushed it a short distance. Fantastic views of it. Great year bird, and a good rarity in Israel, with about 14 records only. The identity of this bird was confirmed by call, and by photos of it preening (by Ron Singer), displaying its pin-like outer tail feathers.

Note short tail

Open face

Pin-tailed Snipe, Tel Afek NP. Amazing bird in a silly place, between picnic tables and screaming kids ('habitat' photo below)
חרטומית חדת-זנב הבוקר בגן לאומי תל אפק
Taken through @SwarovskiOptik ATX85@BirdLifeIsrael @JMeyrav @SPNI @rashut_hateva @BirdGuides @TarsigerTeam pic.twitter.com/vPTMagA0Nz

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) October 10, 2021

Milestone celebrations

Yesterday I reached a significant milestone in eBird's checklist-a-day challenge. I completed 365 days of daily birding, i.e. 'proper birding' - not just submitting a checklist but actual daily significant birding activity.

I started this checklist streak when I was in the UK a year ago. Then, on August 14th, 2019, a one-day stutter shattered my previous streak of 234. Basically, since December 23rd 2018 I have been out birding every day except once. Some may say this destroys my life. True, I am in a constant semi-zombie state, fighting tiredness and fatigue. Others might argue that this daily birding activity keeps me sane. In the bottom line, this is my new life style, and I have no intentions to stop. 

To celebrate the 365-streak, on Wednesday I headed down to Eilat. I spent the evening at North Beach with Shachar and Shmuel. Terns included Bridled, Lesser Crested and many White-cheeked, but no too much else; eBird checklist here.

Yesterday morning I started early at KM20 flamingo pools with Itai. Shorebird numbers are building up there, and there was some interest too, in the form of a Sooty Falcon perched on the border fence, and a flock of six White-cheeked Terns circling over the saltpans - first time I see these strictly-marine terns inland. eBird checklist here.

My true reason for heading down to Eilat was to join the monthly monitoring pelagic trip in collaboration with INPA. I met up at IBRCE with the team. A very quick wander around the park produced a Lesser Gray Shrike and a checkered Western Reef-Heron.

We set out to sea, and reached our position near the border triangle, as deep as possible without a passport. We started chumming, and fairly quickly I picked up a Swinhoe's Storm-petrel that made a typically fast and directional fly-past. Better views than last year - shorter distance and slightly longer duration, but still no photos of this rarity. The rest of the trip was fairly quiet (eBird checklist here). Two lovely Cory's Shearwaters kept us focused (when will they be split from Scopoli's?). They certainly performed well. No wilson's, again...

Thanks to skipper Chen, Eran from INPA, and Noam and Gal from IBRCE for this great opportunity.

On the way back home I made a quick diversion for the Blue Pansies at Neot Smadar. They were extremely active at their spot, quite many of them. They kept chasing after each other, and refused to open their wings for me. What a contrast between the wonderful upperwings (see e.g. here) and the rather dull underwings. Incredible how they are found in Israel at one small roundabout in Neot Smadar ONLY.

The first that got away

I had a meeting in Eilat today, conveniently timed for late morning so I could bird en route. First thing I was at Neot Smadar. I arrived there with low expectations - in recent years this site tends to be quiet. However, as I got out of the car, the air was alive with bird calls - pipits, shrikes, redstarts - very nice. I birded the fields with pleasure - Richard's Pipit flew over calling, Corn Crake, oddly alive and well, jumped up from the tall alfalfa, a Sooty Falcon zoomed through, and a Black-winged Kite that's less common in this part of the country perched up on wires:

At a spot with some Willow Warblers I tried the trick that rarely works, and played potential vagrant music. Booted Warbler - nothing. Dusky Warbler - nothing. Greenish Warbler - instant response, boom! I heard one classic Greenish Warbler call and immediately switched off my player. I heard another call, a call that I know so well, nice and clear, up somewhere in a tree a few meters away. I switched on my sound recorder - but nothing! Two calls is all I heard. I was all pumped up and searched for the bird but frustratingly saw only willows. I tried hard to find the bird or get some vocal response, but nothing at all. After about an hour I gave up and had to leave. Shame. There are no records of Greenish warbler in Israel, yet. I am 100% confident this was a Greenish Warbler - this is a call I know very well and I heard it perfectly. However, I know that for a country first some kind of documentation is necessary. Therefore, no cigar today.

eBird checklist here.

With Adrenalin still pumping, but feeling disappointed, I moved on to Yotvata circular field (rather dry and empty) and on to Eilat, where an Oriental Honey Buzzard casually flew over the road by the IBRCE.

After the meeting I went over to KM20 saltpans, that were full of shorebirds - quite impressive actually, haven't seen the saltpans like that for a long time. It was very hot and windy, not ideal conditions for careful scanning through the hundreds of Little Stints. Best I could come up with were a couple of Broad-billed Sandpipers and a Red-necked Phalarope. eBird checklist here.

Broad-billed Sandpiper - 1cy 

Those supercillia...

On the way back I stopped at Neot Smadar for another go, but it was still very hot and windy, and bird activity was low. Of course there was no further sign of the suspect. Fingers crossed it will be refound in the next few days!

Nightjar Night

Last Night I completed my Nubian Nightjar monitoring efforts for this year. The moon was almost full and the night was warm - perfect conditions for this activity.

I met up with Barak who stayed with me all night (thanks B!) and we drove down in the late afternoon. En route we had a quick look to check whether the regular breeding pair of Sooty Falcons had returned from their winter travels - and indeed there they were, possibly checking out nest sites. Great views but terrible photo conditions:

Wildlife Photography at its best - male Sooty Falcon

Then we went down to Sdom Saltmarsh where we worked for the whole night. For shorter periods of the night we were joined by Ayla and a few other birders - thanks to everyone. Bring more food next time will you? 

We really struck gold with the nightjars - the males were very vocal and we were very efficient. By the time we left after 03:30, we encountered more than 40 singing males! And quite a few others in areas I had already checked earlier this season. The totals for this year will be over 60 singing males. Due to access difficulties (mine fields) my ability to record real breeding success is limited, so I use singing males as an index for population size. 

Another example of stunning wildlife photography - Nubian Nightjar take-off:

Other night birds we had were some Night Herons, Stone Curlews and one Barn Owl. There was some other wildlife as well. We had a few foxes, hares, Wild Boar and this very tame Fat Sand Rat (Psammomys obesus):

Towards the end of the night we had a pretty scary encounter. The night was very warm so we decided to go in for a quick dip at a small 'secret' oasis. After cooling down a bit, we walked out through the bushes towards the car. I suddenly heard a characteristic 'hsssssssssssssssssss' just by my bare feet - a large and nervous Painted Saw-scaled Viper (Echis coloratus) luckily jumped back from where it was sat about 40 cm from my feet, rather than striking. It retreated into the bushes while continuously hissing - scary shit. Certainly got the adrenalin pumping hard for a couple of hours.

Sooty Falcons

The Sooty Falcon is one of Israel's most fascinating and least-known breeding birds. Data on population size and trends was last collected in 1984 by Ron Frumkin, and since then some indications seemed rather negative. Meidad Goren, director of Ramat Hanegev Birding Center, organized a breeding survey in large parts of the Negev in 2011 and 2012. He carried out much of the fieldwork, together with Barak Granit, with the aid of NPA wardens and ecologists, and many other birders and volunteers. During the survey they visited some extremely remote parts of the Negev, and described previously unkown pairs from new regions. In addition they compared their data with the data obtained by Frumkin in 1984. Results were sobering in some areas, with low densities. In addition, these super-hunters are facing some serious risks in Israel and on their unknown wintering grounds in Africa.

Meidad and Barak will present their results in the annual Bird Day next monday, in the Tel Aviv University. I contributed the images below to their presentation.

Sooty Falcons breed very late, and time their breeding according to passerine migration - they feed on the wing mainly on active migrants, preferabely hirundines. In late September I helped Meidad with the fieldwork. We were fortunate enough to visit a breeding site in the high Negev Mt. We stayed away from the nest (we heard the chicks calling from inside the nest), but we positioned ourselves rather close to the preferred perch of the parents, across the gorge from the nest. Both adults met there every few minutes after a hunting tour, socialized, exchanged food, preened etc. The visits to the nest were very brief, and out of view from where we were sat. In total we were there for less than an hour, but what an hour it was! 

Don't forget to get a martin on the way back home! Sooty Falcons - female (left) and male (right)

These falcons are possibly the ultimate aerial hunters. At one moment we heard calls of Sand Martins - a small flock passed overheard on migration, heading south. The male falcon heard them too. He looked up, shrugged, took off and out of sight, and after a minute or two returned with a martin in his talons - unbelievable! To maintain such ultimate hunting ability, they need to keep their feathers in perfect shape. So after each hunting attempt they both spent several minutes preening, regaining absolute aerodynamic structure.

Sooty Falcon - male preening

Here's the female - after preening and stretching - time to take off and get some more food!

The falcons were quite indifferent to us, and flew over us several times, so fast and so close we could hear their wings cut through the air. I was never fast enough to capture these close passes.

On our way out the female sat on a rock right by the trail. It refused to fly away, and just sat there, 10 m away from us, watched us and then started behaving in a manner I can only interpret as acting or showing off. She looked us straight in the eye, stretched, scratched, flapped, preened for about 20 minutes - it really felt like she was doing it especially for us. Amazing experience.

To conclude, this was one of the most amazing mornings I had with birds in my life. Many thanks to Meidad for this special opportunity. Thanks to Meidad and Barak's hard work, I hope that this valuable data will help us protect these beautiful birds better.

Sooty Falcon breeding habitat 

More nightjar stuff

last night I returned to Neot Hakikar to complete my monitoring duties for this season. I was joined by Jens from Denmark. We met up early enough for some afternnon birding. First we went to check whether the local Sooty Falcons have already returned to their territory, and indeed we found the male there. He was doing nothing and looked quite bored - perhaps the female has not returned yet. This is my humble attempt to phonescope it:

Sooty Falcon - male

Down in the valley, a small marsh had some good birds in it. Late migrants included Whiskered Tern and Great Egret. Good local birds included many Namaqua Doves, Clamorous Reed Warblers, Little Bitterns and a single Indian Silverbill.

Whiskered Tern

After nightfall we started working on Nubian Nightjar territories I hadn't visited the previous night. Again, we had a fantastic show - all nightjar families were in place and were very active in the perfect conditions - full moon, pleasent temperatures, no wind and massive moth activity. We also returned to some territories that needed a second look, and I was very happy to see at least four families with recently-fledged youngs.

Nubian Nightjar - adult (sorry about the clipped tail)

Nubian Nightjar - recently-fledged juvenile

Unfortunately we were not able to relocate the egyptians, but I hope to return there again next week. 

In total, this is a good breeding season for the nightjars, and now it's my job to protect as much of the habitat as possible. The next few months are expected to be critical and dramatic with the planning process reaching its climax - I hope to bring good news soon.

Thanks to Jens for his great company and help during the long night.

Kvalitet fugleferie

Yesterday I met up with Søren Kristofferson from Denmark. We had a great afternnon and evening with some of our region's best birds. We started off watching a family of Sooty Falcons, on a cliff high above the Dead Sea. We had a great show watching the two recently-fledged juveniles practicing flight, and chasing their parents and each other. I a couple of weeks they will have left us, on their way to Madagascar. fantastic birds but poor images.

Sooty Falcon

After dusk we went to look for Nubian Nightjars. The evening was very pleasent with comfortable temperatures, bright moonlight and no wind. However it took us some effort to have good views of a nightjar. But finally this moulting 1cy showed extremely well. Søren was very pleased of course.

Nubian Nightjar

Some additional adventures from last week: on Monday I went up north for a family holiday. We stopped briefly at Ma'agan Michael where I saw the lingering Pacific Golden Plover. Migration is very visible with lots of birds up in the skies and in the bushes and trees.

I need to sign off as I'm waking up in a few hours for ringing. Good night.

Summer fun

Yesterday I met up with Mats from Sweden, and together we drove towards the Dead Sea region. Our first stop was for Sooty falcons - and indeed we found a pair showing interest in a nset site. They've just returned from God-knows-where, and will soon start breeding. This record shot of the male is from about 300 m, across the canyon.

Then we wento down to Neot Hakikar. Daytime birding was productive with Namaqua Doves, Clamorous Reed Warblers, Rufous Bush Robins etc. This Purple Heron was a bit of a surprise:

After dusk we checked a few of my Nubian Nightjar territories, and had very good activity, including some juveniles.

Nightjar action!

Yesterday I completed my Nubian Nightjar monitoring for the season. I found activity and indications for breeding success in most territories I'm familiar with, though since last year two territories (out of a national total of 20!) have been destroyed and had no nightjar activity.
I drove down in the afternnon with Edith, Ran and Guy. On the way down we had a quick look at the regular pair of Sooty Falcons, and indeed they showed well. We saw one quick copulation and quite nice activity, but as always it's too distant and dark across the gorge for photography.

This adult nightjar posed nicely:

This newly-fledged juvenile demonstrated some extreme action in nightjar standards: it caught a fairly large Praying Mantis, and started swallowing it while it was not dead enough. The mantis started to fight for its life, and scratched the nightjar like crazy on the face and inside its mouth (from personal experience I can admit it's quite painful!). In the end the nightjar gave up, got rid of the mantis and flew away. As usual I was driving and missed the photo-opp, but many thanks to Edith for allowing me to use her great series of images of this scene:

We had quite a few animals, including several hares, fox, jackal, and one large (ca. 120 cm) Diadem Snake.

Neot Hakikar - Nubian Nightjars and more

Last night I went to Neot Hakikar for Nubian Nightjar monitoring with Avner and Eli. On the way down I was happy to see the pair Sooty Falcons returned to their breeding site near Ha'Arava junction. They were flying back and forth along the cliff, and probably checked potential breeding sites.
As darkness fell we started to survey several nightjar territories. We had eight nightjars in four different territories, though I had no indication of successfull breeding - no juveniles seen. But it's worth another check.

We had some nice animals - a couple of hares, a fine Ethiopian Hedgehog showing its dark mask, and several species of bats.