Israel, spring '23 - days six and seven

Day six (26th) dawned cloudy and full of promise after the torrential rains and flash floods of the previous day and night, and with some birding time to spare, Yoav and I decided to focus on Eilat and its parks (joined by Amity for the first session and Anat for plenty of the morning's urban birdfun, her speciality up in Tel Aviv).

Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse by the roadside at km20

An early session in Holland Park (above) was pretty good, but not amazing - 100 Lesser Whitethroats, four Rüppell's, two Eastern Orphean, three Eastern Bonelli's, plus plenty of other common migrants - and so we soon headed further into the city, for some proper urban(e) migrant hunting. Both of our subsequent chosen sites were small, manicured, pretty disturbed parks deep within the city; sounds like a nightmare in any other place, but in Eilat, in late March, after rain? The very opposite....

Arabian Green Bee-eater (above) and Masked Shrike (below)

Our first stop was Central Park, where we'd the first Collared Flycatcher of the day, plus Wryneck, six Eastern Orphean, 60 Lesser Whitethroats, 40 Blackcaps, Rüppell's, three Hoopoes, a Common Whitethroat and plenty more; so many birds in such a small corner of habitat, and a very good sign.

The first of a fistful of urban Collared Flycatchers, and one of many tame Tree Pipits on the lawns

Some weirdo frightening the office workers 

We soon moved on to Canada Park, which was exploding with new arrivals.

Warblers were bursting out of every bush and tree, with at least 150 (!) Lesser Whitethroats, 70 Blackcaps, 15 Chiffys, six Eastern Oliveaceous, Wood and Sedge Warblers, five Common Whitethroats and two Rüppell's, while our ongoing black-and-white flycatcher hunt was rewarded with another three cracking male Collareds....

One of a good scattering of Eastern Orphean Warblers 

.... and as if that weren't enough, raptor passage over our heads was an absolute thrill, with 24 Steppe Eagles, Egyptian Vulture, Pallid Harrier, two Short-toed Eagles, 400 Black Kites, two Marsh Harriers and at least 1500 Steppe Buzzards (as well as 50 Common and 30 Pallid Swifts, Red-rumped Swallows and Pale Crag Martins) streaming over the city and around the tower blocks surrounding the park.

Egyptian Vulture (above), Steppe Eagles and Steppe Buzzards (below) migrating over the city centre 

An unforgettable session overflowing with migrants around and above us, all in two tiny urban parks that you could walk the lengths of in a couple of minutes.

By mid-afternoon we were back at the IBRCE for the Champions of the Flyway swap-meet, before Amity and I took off to Yotvata (via a quick stop for super-close Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse) for ice-cream and evening birding at the ponds - highlights here, aside from the ice-cream, included 11 Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters performing a perfect feed-up-and-fly-by and they migrated north, 34 (shades of) Yellow and five Citrine Wagtails, waders including Wood and Green Sandpipers and plenty of herons around the pond's fringes.

Low-flying Barbary Falcon, km76 

With COTF23 teams scattered across the Negev, we (Amity, Yoav, Anat and I) headed north for a morning session back at KM76 on day seven (27th) - the undisputed hotspot of the valley this spring and scene of some epic desert birding on our first day in the south (see here).

Migration madness at km76

Isabelline Wheatear 

The next two and a half hours were a whirlwind of birds - too many to mention here, but including Caspian and Siberian Stonechats, Temminck's and Bar-tailed Larks, 40 Isabelline Wheatears (as well as various other white-arses, including 20 Eastern Black-eared), Barbary Falcon, swarms of Tawny Pipits, Yellow Wagtails and Short-toed Larks, warblers scattered everywhere, hundreds of Steppe Buzzards and Black Kites, Bluethroats, six singing Savi's Warblers.... and much more. Full eBird checklist here. 

A local Great Grey Shrike eyeing up a Spanish Sparrow breakfast....

.... of which there was plenty of choice

The afternoon and evening were dedicated to covering and supporting the climax of Champions of the Flyway '23, as the campaign, and the teams, hurtled towards the finish line, via the traditional impromptu gathering at North Beach for dusk - ostensibly to pick up extra species, but also to connect and share experiences of the day with teams from across the world. (More on the race, and the people, to follow).

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear - numerous at km76 

A wonderfully busy, bird-filled, fun-filled couple of days - and we weren't done with the south just yet.....