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!

Hot hot hot - but some good migrants going through

This morning I ringed at my site in Ashdod. Weather was terrible - very hot with relative humidity of 200%. As a result I closed the nets very early - it became too hot for the birds already at 08:00. I was pretty busy during the short period when the nets were open. Lots of Reed Warblers, and a mix of other local species and early migrants. As expected a few Kingfishers were flying up and down the creek (my first this autumn), and we caught one.

Kingfisher - 1cy male

The only surprise this morning involved a Thrush Nightingale. They normally don't arrive here before late August, but this bird is not an early autumn migrant but a stranded spring migrant that got stuck here for some reason and could not complete its migration.

Thrush Nightingale

 It was at the end of its complete moult - primaries almost complete, and four secondaries still growing. It was in heavy body moult too that's why it's scruffy-looking. Note that the moulted GC and tertails have these small buff tips, normally associated with young birds.

Thanks to Arad and Shlomo for their sweat this morning.

Back again

Soory for disappearing again, a mixture of good and not-so-good events kept ma away from the field and from computers as well, but life is back to normal now. I moved to a new house and started working on my garden list. Best birds till now were overhead Green Sandpiper and Red-footed Falcon.
Anyway, yesterday I had a ringing session at my site in Ashdod. It was bloody hot and humid like bloody Bangkok but ringing was OK. Surprisingly Willow Warblers were almost absent but were compensated by Lesser whitehtroats that were caught in good numbers while coming to feed on the flowering Apple-ring Acacia Faidherbia albida - an indigenous and endangered tree of which I have a nice stand in my site. Some good birds included two Sprossers, Tree Pipit and several Kingfishers which are always crowd-pleasers. Quite good visible passerine migration in the early morning, a trickle of juv. Honey Buzzards overhead and a juv Little Crake along the creek.

Thrush Nightingale (Sprosser)

Kingfisher

Apple-ring Acacia (Faidherbia albida)

Ashdod ringing

Yesterday I had a productive ringing session at Ashdod, with big numbers, good diversity and excellent weather. Best birds were several Barred Warblers, Nightingales and Sprossers.

Barred Warbler - adult male

Male Prinias are very attractive during breeding with their black bills:

Ashdod ringing

On Friday I had a productive ringing session at Ashdod, with many migrants around. Newcomers to my site were several Sprossers:

These are not Levant Sparrowhawks on migration - this is a small part of a swarm of mosquitoes that escorted us most of the morning:

After ringing we had a quick look at the gull ponds. There were only 100 gulls left - fuscus, heuglini, cachinnans and armenicus. Among them three birds with rings - two from Finland and one from Norway, all long-staying birds that do not want to leave. Other than that several hundred Yellow Wagtail (incl. supecilliaris and beema), and a single Citrine Wagtail was a good local bird.