Israel 2019, day four - Sylvia Delirium

One of at least two male Eastern Subalpine Warblers in the Magic Bush - unbeatable...

 
After a long and productive day birding and working, I went to bed on the night of the 24th trying to deny that telltale getting-ill-fast feeling, and woke up to the pre-dawn alarm on 25th running on empty; the worst possible timing, with the Champions campaign about to hit the crescendo and IBOC following seamlessly on beyond it. After zero illness for many months and many a prayer to the contrary, I was cursing my luck as I stumbled outside....

... unless you prefer male Ruppell's Warblers, which is understandable

 
... but I was very glad I did. In the fine company of Yoav and Anat, we birded Holland Park (very slowly - thanks guys), the scrubby wadi on the northern edge of town - and, after a scattering of migrants (including the Black Bush Robin), stumbled upon what we christened and became known as the Magic Bush, a honey trap for every helpless Sylvia warbler within a 10 mile radius....

Female Ruppell's

 
My recollections of that morning are funny (at least in hindsight) - a blurred mixture of trying to stay upright (and sometimes failing), trying to stay awake (and just about succeeding), being in ideal and entertaining company, and lapping up a bucketful of electrifying Sylvias at almost point-blank range.

The rest of the day was all about steam-rollering through and fulfilling my comms goals as best I could, and hoping for improvement as soon as possible; but with Race Day kicking off at midnight, sleep was still a long way off....

Anat, thank you for leading me gently around the pharmacy like a shepherdess with a helpless lamb ;-)

One of five Penduline Tits that dropped in briefly on their northbound migration

Israel 2019, day three - a very friendly Steppe Eagle

A fantastic morning's birding in the Ovda valley (see last post) was punctuated by a ridiculously close, look-em-in-the-eye encounter with this beautiful beast - a Steppe Eagle, lazily circling low and directly above our heads before cracking on with its nortbound migration. Epic.

Israel 2019, day three - Ovda and the 'murcans

Crowned Sandgrouse

 
A very early start and a scouting excursion to the beautiful Ovda valley with a distinctly Nearctic bias - as well as the Mrs, our very lovely friends David, Mike and Trish made up the team and put Yoav and I in a Western Pal minority. Any time with these legends is always quality time well spent, and after a pre-dawn rendezvous at a filling station (comedy petrol-pumping setting the tone for the day) we arrived on the plains just as the sun began to rise.

Flight shot of one of many Pale Rock Sparrows

 
Of course, the birding and company were great - and of the former, we were treated to plenty of highlights against the backdrop of the desert plains and jagged, peach and black hills. Treats here included plenty of both Spotted and Crowned Sandgrouse (and great, close views of each), a superbly inquisitive Steppe Eagle (see next post), hundreds of Greater Short-toed Larks, Richard's, Tawny and Tree Pipits, dozens of Yellow and White Wagtails, single Citrine Wagtail and Bimaculated Larks, Isabelline, Northern and Black-eared Wheatears, Lesser Kestrels and more.

More sandgrouse action

 
Enjoying ourselves just a little too much, time was against us and a quick dash around Neot Samadar on the way home didn't do this fantastic site justice, but we still enjoyed Nightingales, Bluethroats, masses of Yellow Wagtails, a few Redstarts, Quails and other common migrants.

The rest of the day was spent further ratcheting up the COTF comms and social media feeds and then attending / working the opening evening ceremony at the IBRCE, with Jackals, Night-herons and Little Bitterns soundtracking the festivities.

Incoming Black-winged Stilt at Neot Samadar

 

Ah, the flavas..... barely any time with them this trip, but they still illuminated every day...

 

 

 

 

Israel 2019, day two - Eilat local patching

Masked Shrike, Ofira Park

 
A much-needed lie-in and a not-so-early start was followed by a meander around nearby Ofira Park, a small, manicured urban greenspace nestling within the labyrinth of huge hotels and busy roads in the middle of town. Which doesn't sound so good for birding, does it? - except anywhere with a little greenery here is magnetic for migrants, and as usual, it didn't disappoint.

A pleasant wander around the park produced a Masked Shrike, Nightingale, six Balkan Warblers, two sparring Wrynecks, an Ortolan Bunting, Hoopoe, lots of Lesser Whitethroats (of course....) and more before Champions of the Flyway responsibilities beckoned and began to build to a crescendo.

Common Nightingale, Ofira

 

Wrynecks - hopping around with House Sparrows on the pavement

 

A quick buzz around K20 saltpans pre-dusk with Jonathan and Amity was fairly quiet but still produced Namaqua and Turtle Doves, Freddie the partially melanistic Flamingo, and all the expected waders and gulls. The evening was taken up with the Future of the Flyways event, with great talks from Anat and Mike and a frenetic first contact for all our teams on the ground. COTF19 Race Week officially started here....

Wood Sandpiper, K20

 

Freddie - sooo goth

Israel 2019, day one - Doctor Nightjar & the Tristram's Murders

After such a great early morning session at Mount Amasa (see last post), we gunned south to Eilat for early afternoon, stopping at several lookouts to take in the epic desert landscapes along the way. Painted Lady migration was equally epic, with countless waves sweeping across the baking, barren landscape, a event that would continue (and even intensify) as the trip wore on.

At one such spot we watched fascinated as several super-smart Tristram's Starlings lay in wait for cars to pull up, and then proceeded to climb onto the front grilles (and often all the way into them) in order to extract the numerous unfortunate dead or dying butterflies trapped there. Ingenuity in spades.

A quick turnaround in Eilat to check in and dump our gear before heading back in the direction we'd came, but this time in a coach - as part of the Eilat Birding Festival night tour excursion (led by Yoav and 'assisted' by us). This entailed several stops, the first of which was a pre-dusk scan of Navit Pools, a blink-and-you'll-miss-it but very productive wetland by the roadside just south of the Dead Sea, with highlights including several African Swamphens, Clamourous Reed Warblers, plenty of Ferruginous Ducks and lots of other waterbirds.

Then onto the nocturnal specialities. A stakeout for Desert Owl was partially successful, and while they refused to play nicely, they did call (all three of them) all around us. Next onto an agricultural area by the Dead Sea known to be a haunt of Nubian Nightjars, a very rare and endangered taxa and a holy grail for many visiting birders. The newly christened (PhD approved) Doctor Nightjar pulled out the stops and provided a memorable experience for a coachload of tired but very content international visitors...

Israel 2019, day one - Mount Amasa

Pale Rock Sparrow - ridiculous views

 
Well, if I've any chance of rattling out a full series of posts covering our seventeen days in Israel, then it's gonna have to be lean on the flowery prose and straight to the source... so here goes. We arrived in Tel Aviv on 21st, reunited and overnighted with the wondrous Perlman clan (more of them to follow), and then headed south towards Eilat on 22nd for ten days of happy mania immersed in Champions of the Flyway and the International Bird Observatories Conference (much more of them to follow).

Batha habitat = birder's Nirvana

 
On the way down, we detoured via Mount Amasa, a stunningly flora-rich and fauna-filled area of lush, rolling hillsides, known as Batha in Israel (similar to the Garrigue in southern France). It was a genuinely wonderful morning, just full of great birds in beautiful surroundings - too many to list, but highlights included...

White Storks thermalling above the hills before moving on

 
.... Pale Rock Sparrows (or Rock Finches, or Hill Sparrows, or whatever you prefer) singing and displaying, Finsch's Wheatears (as well as Black-eared, Isabelline and Northern), breeding (regular) Rock Sparrows, a single Cinereous Bunting among numerous gorgeous breeding Cretzschmar's Buntings, Blue Rock Thrushes, rising columns of hundreds of White Storks, healthy scatterings of Corn Buntings, Desert and Crested Larks ....

Persian Wheatear - more ridiculous views

 
...singing Cuckoos and Long-billed Pipits, nesting Scrub and Spectacled Warblers, Common and Brown-necked Ravens, and plenty more - and as luck would have it, the Persian Wheatear had not only returned to overwinter but also stuck around long enough for us to enjoy it, performing perfectly in the warm post-dawn sunshine.

Huge thanks to brother Yoav for the first of many great sessions during the trip - a baptism of fire, and all the better for it.

Finsch's Wheatear

Spectacled Warbler

Cretzschmar's Bunting

Male Blue Rock Thrush

Cinereous Bunting

Rock Sparrow

Cool wife