West bank? East bank!

Hi all,

During the last year a thick reedbed  has developed on lake Anita's east bank. This area was virtually unused for ringing since last May.

During the last three days Bram, Teun, Itai, Tzadok and me were working hard on putting a mist-nets complex at the heart of this highly putative habitat.

This morning, the first tryout took place and the results weren't late to come- 30 out of 40 birds caught today(the best day so far this spring) were trapped in these nets. A nice variety of species was  noted-

6 sedge warblers… such a cute couple!

2 Savi's Warbler, firsts for the season!

A Reed Warbler, also first for the season, hope to get a shorter&rounder winged bird soon…

A nice Cetti's Warbler, it will be interesting to find out whether this is a resident or not.

I have heard some little crakes and water rails calling around. Just for now, Re'ut is pleased with this young Moorhen :

And to top it all, our first "successful" Swallow ringing for the spring with 1 Barn Swallow in the net!!! You can surely see the excitement on the guys faces:

While trapping in the mixed desert vegetation and Acacia groves is still rather slow the reedbed is definitely alive!

Hope these nets will keep us well occupied during the coming months, and maybe even get us some good quality species.

Tomorrow we go into the water!