Raptor rewild party

I spent this morning in Kfar Ruppin, at our rewilding site, with Nadav. The morning started pretty wild with a violent thunderstorm that went through, quite quickly. It remained overcast most morning, making birding quite pleasant. This is a photo of our wetland from spring - we spent some time overlooking the wetland from the hill at 10 O'clock of the image with the white structure.

There were many waterbirds in the wetland, but the main attraction was raptors. The big raptor migration is over, but there was still lots going on. A fresh northerly was blowing, and many raptors took advantage of the updrift to hover and, seemingly, play around with the wind. Honestly, it felt that some birds were really enjoying it. There were Booted and Short-toed Eagles, Long-legged, Common and Steppe Buzzards, Marsh and Pallid Harriers, a young Peregrine, Osprey, Sparrowhawks, lots of Black Storks going through - very good fun. I recently bought myself a new camera Canon R7. This was the first time I could test it properly in the field. I have lots of learning to do, but I am already impressed by the focus tracking and by the image quality.

Steppe Buzzard 1cy

Booted Eagle

Peregrine

Attacking a passing Short-toed Eagle

Marsh Harrier - camera coped well tracking it against a cluttered background

Same with this Osprey

eBird checklist for Amud Reservoir here.

On the way out had a quick look around the remaining fishponds (eBird checklist here), and said hello to the remaining White-tailed Lapwing (here with friends - Little Ringed-Plover and White Wagtail):

Just another day in the office

This morning I went out to get some fieldwork done in the northern Negev. We're working there with INPA at a new nature reserve, Loess Plains NR, mapping breeding birds. Most of the reserve is pretty flat Loess plains. My section this morning flanked the Besor River, the main watercourse of the northern Negev, and quite a serious corridor of vegetation in contrast with the barren surroundings. 

I arrived at my section early in the morning, and quickly understood that this morning would be more about migrants than breeding birds. It was a cool and overcast morning after very hot weather yesterday, that must have affected migration. The air was full of birds and bird calls on the move - bee-eaters, hirundines, swifts, pipits, buntings, chats were hopping on tops of bushes - bliss. Down the wadi, the trees were full of birdsong - mainly Eastern Olivaceous Warblers and Turtle Dove. Hundreds of migrant warblers were ticking from the vegetation. Collared Flycatcher, Redstart, Thrush Nightingales, Wryneck - so much good stuff in there. In the distance I spotted a group of falcons hovering over the plains - mixed Red-foots and Lesser Kestrels.

Ortolan

Whinchat

Turtle Dove was present in very high density - there were tens of displaying males parachuting through the air. It was also heartwarming to see many flocks of migrants, some of several tens.

Hundreds of Steppe Buzzards roosted in the reserve by the wadi, especially on the shoulders.

When the air started to heat up they took off, and were joined by other raptors - Lesser Spotted, Short-toed and Booted Eagles, Pallid, Marsh and Montagu's Harriers.

Lesser Spotted Eagle

Booted Eagle

Receiving a warm welcome from the local Brown-necked Ravens:

Lovely 2cy male Montagu's Harrier

After the migrant flocks of European Bee-eaters left, the many breeding pairs became prominent. There was also a pair of Arabian Green Bee-eaters, so beautiful in the soft light.

Then I heard the familiar call of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater. For a few seconds the three species were sat together on the same bush. By the time I picked my camera up the blue-cheeked flew off; later on I relocated it on nearby wires. They have bred in the region in the past - I will follow up.

European (left) and Arabian Green (right) Bee-eaters

Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters

Towards the end a couple of small groups of pelicans went through:

Smaller than the mega flock I had over home on Saturday:

Pelicans migrating over my town yesterday. Commentary by @MartaAcacio
Note the leucistic bird, there were three in this flock @BirdLifeIsrael @SPNI @flywaychampions pic.twitter.com/R9DlPj4nwR

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) April 17, 2022

What a fantastic morning to be out. Thank you spring.

eBird checklist here.

Tern-mystery solved

On March 21st I photographed a Caspian-type Tern at North Beach. I was together with many other good birders, the bird flew by and we dismissed it as a caspian. I deleted all images from my memory card apart for this one which I uploaded that evening.
This bird set alarm bells off around the world, as it had a bright orange, pale-tipped bill, plus a few other features that could point towards Royal Tern - shape of black cap, overall paleness, bill shape.
I managed to recover the deleted images from my memory card (thanks Gal!), and the bird is a caspian after all. Note especially the extensive dark wingtips and short tail. It had my adrenalin pumping for a few hours but eventually we did not screw up a first for Israel as I was afraid (and hoping...).

On the way back from Eilat yesterday had a look at Uvda valley which was amazingly green. I had a few couples of Thick-billed Larks but they were all distant. Many Steppe Buzzards stopped there, going for insects: