More news and updates from Eilat region

September is here and there are certainly many birds around! 
While Waders are coming in big numbers and variety, it is great to see also many new passerines moving through. The most thrilling for me was a bird i found last Friday (probably as a 40th birthday gift for myself) - a beautiful Grasshopper Warbler (only the 10th record for Israel if accepted and my 2nd in Israel). The bird was seen well in a bush next to the main track leading to the centre of Yotveta N. circular field and than jumping and hiding low in the "Wheat like" field on the other side of the road.

The huge groups of Yellow Wagtails have been swapped by many hundreds of Short-toed Larks and Willow Warblers and there are Red-back and Masked Shrikes almost everywhere, likewise Isabeline & Northern Wheatears and some Ortolan & Black-headed Buntings. 

From the reports I gather from the Southern Arava and Ovda Valley, there are also very many migrants elsewhere and despite not being on the main season for the area, we seem to enjoy a very fruitful season down south.

On late June I found at K20 Salt ponds a Turkish ringed Greater Flamingo. Precisely one month later I relocated it again but this time with another Turkish ringed bird. Last week, at last I received the ringing details and it is very thrilling to see that both birds were ringed at the exact same location as pullus one in Aug 2004 and one in July 2007. I presume that they didn't follow the Green line but the Blue line...

Wake me up when September comes?!

Green day punk band have almost got their lyrics right as it should have been - wake me up when September comes! 

After a long and hot summer it is very refreshing to see many migrants arriving on a daily basis with many juv individual among them. Eilat area is not at its best during Autumn with regards to numbers but nevertheless there are many interesting species and some big flocks do come down using this route as well.

Over the last few days numbers of Ringed Plovers, Little Stints, Ruffs, Redshanks, Wood and Green Sandpipers have shown nice dynamics while other species like Greenshanks, Rudy Turnestone, Broad-billed Sandpipers and even a lone Red-necked Phalarope can be seen in the right habitats and still there are new generation of Spur-winged Plovers to rise...

Arrival of Yellow Wagtails and Sand Martins has also been very evident likewise Greater Flamingos numbers which have started to rise. Eastern Orphean Warblers and Lesser Whitethroats are jumping in the Acacia's alongside with Eastern Olivacous and Reed Warblers as well as Lesser Grey, Red-backed & Masked Shrikes.

And as always it is great to see these huge Pelicans with the local background...

On North Beach one can still see big numbers of White-cheeked Terns but also some Armenian and the first Baltic Gulls and new arrivals of local breeders like this Western Reef Heron.

September usually marks the time when temp' are falling a little which allows more hours out in the field scanning for the new arrivals. So please do, wake me up when September come!

The time they are a changing...

When we were much younger every vacation day was a big bless as we could enjoy more birding, camping... But now that we've grown every day of vacation for the kids means that we should practice our flexibility in multiple-tasking.  

As the Autumn progress my personal 'Zugenruhe' is becoming very itchy and despite that, I have 2 wonderful kids in the house who enjoy the fun of summer vacation. So, both my wife and I have taken ourselves a week long vacation and travelled up north to visit the family and enjoy Israel northern frontiers...

Had great time with Odonata watching

Evan's Bluetail

Syrian Demoiselle

as well as a great morning up the Hermon ringing with a team of ISR ringers who came for the 2nd round of monitoring of this summer.

3 Serin species

While away I kept on getting report from Shachar, Shimon and the rest of the gang who stayed back in the south, of a growing migration of waders and passerines as well as more observations of our local species.

The pick though was yesterday when Shachar sent me the following photos of a juv' Caspian Plover which is a rarity in Israel in general but in Autumn it is even much rarer.

This afternoon when I came back, i went to see what else is new around and found another pair of Caspian Plovers at K20!

Now that I back home I'm hope to have more regular reports regarding the progress of the migration around here.

All the best and stay tuned
Itai

Great fun down the beach

The last few weeks have been amazing down at N. Beach as can be seen in my previous posts. It is like going back in time to the mid 80's when I've just started birding and Eilat north beach was teaming with great birds.
Bridled Terns which have shown a great influx this summer and daily groups of up to 15 birds seen very close to N Beach (this morning while enjoying with my kids at the Coral reserve had a group of 11 flying very close).

But no less interesting: White-cheeked Terns have become the most common species over the last 2 weeks with groups of up to 35 individuals regularly seen.

Cory's Shearwaters have also been regularly seen (up to 5 individuals together) and the odd Arctic Skua, Lesser Crested Tern  were all spotted regularly.

We've had a great time so far with no less than 7 Tern species occurring regularly (4 species in this photo).

Off course we all eyed for some specific species which we all  been very eager to re-connect with, namely Red-billed Tropicbird and Sooty Tern both seen once each since mid July but with no luck so far...

Here is Shachar's report from this last Fri' "pelagic outing" we had:

"Friday, 5:30 in the morning, 11 enthusiastic and excited Eilat Birders set sail to watch some of the wonderful sea-birds in their natural environment. Expectations were high as the past week had daily reports of Bridled Terns, Lesser Crested Terns, Shearwaters, Skuas and even Sooty Falcons hunting over the sea. The previous evening I watched five Cory's Shearwaters cruise down the waters on the Jordanian side and come to rest on the sea opposite the North Beach.

No sooner had we left the marina and the first White-eyed Gull passed across our bows and was soon followed by a steady stream of White-cheeked Terns heading out to fish. On the bouys just past the Hotels we spotted two Mangrove Herons, one juvenile and one adult. We then headed as close to the sea border with Jordan as is permitted. On the border bouys sat White-cheeked Terns and White-eyed Gulls while a Sea-turtle poked his head out of the water next to the boat.

When the action dried up we headed out to sea and met our first group of seven Bridled Terns. These elegant birds are a special sight on the open sea. On at least 4 more occasions we saw groups of Bridled Terns including two who flew straight over us and one that sat on a small buoy.

There were some long periods without action where you could enjoy the wonderful views, excellent weather and great company. While the Shearwaters kept their distance, two Arctic Skuas did the rounds of the South Beach and a Sooty Falcon tried his luck catching terns. While heading back to the marina we pulled up alongside a row of White-cheeked Terns for some close up views.

What a wonderful way to spend the morning! Eilat and it's birds are truly breath-taking!"

Apart from N. Beach, many birds can be seen in various places and Autumn is surely on the move. Wader numbers are steadily increasing at K20 and new arrivals are seen daily. Larks have started their post breeding movement and both Thick-billed,Hoopoe and Bar-tailed Larks were seen more than once already in usual spots and this is true also to Hooded and Mourning and White-crowned Black Wheatears.

Last but surely not least; a bird which I photographed in Aug 2000 has just been re-considered and is now believed to be the first ever Mongolian Plover of the more eastern subspecies group in Israel - surely there is plenty to look up towards this coming month...

Rarity alert...

Around 06:15-20 while scanning the area of ​​the border buoys my eyes fell on a big and dark tern which sat on the southern most buoy’. At first I thought it was a Bridled Tern as for the last three days I’ve observed 4 - 9 individuals each morning fly around the bay, but after a few seconds 3 Bridled Terns landed next and immediately I could distinguish it and call it a Sooty Tern. The differences in colour (Sooty's darker back mantle and nape) and the difference in size (about 15% bigger from the 3 Bridled which just arrived) were all very clear!

After a long minute, in which I could study the differences in size and colour, all four terns took off aiming south. This allowed me an even better comparison of the differences in size and colour as well as noticing the great under wing contrast which is striking. The black trailing edge is becoming black under primaries rather than the whitish under primaries of Bridled. In flight this gave a very strong contrasting under-wing pattern.

The flight seemed to be heavier than the accompanied Bridled and also the tail seemed longer with a deeper fork (but this may have been a function of the size difference).

I’ve watched them for a minute or so till they disappeared in the south and approx’ 10 minutes later, I’ve found them again flying at sea and once again the contrasting under-wing was particularly noticeable as well as the size.

I have seen both species along the East African coastline before and today I’ve managed to see all the relevant identification signs apart from the white forehead and black eyestripe which I could not see due to distance and the dark under-tail which is diagnostic for Sooty.
If accepted (and I don't see a reason why not) it would be the 5th ever Israel record and my 1st in Israel.

Later this morning, another big tern landed on the same line and immediately identified as Lesser Crested Tern!
Throughout the morning about 9 White-cheeked Terns flew around (all adults and one juv’) as well as 7-8 Little Terns. Also present was a 2nd cal Parasitic Skua and Slender-billed and White-eyed Gulls.

This is how it looked on my Facebook...

Red-billed Tropicbirds at the gulf

Late June 2001, while writing my final work for my B.Sc and before leaving Israel and going to start my life in East Africa, I was standing on North Beach in Eilat together with Barak Granit and admiring my first ever Red-billed Tropicbird which came in from nowhere and gave me my farewell present from Israel.
Last Sat' (12 years and one month later) I went out with Avi Meir and Ilan Biel to watch (and photograph) birds at the gulf. Once again, out of the blue sky an adult Red-billed Tropicbird which was later joined by another adult bird, flew overhead (too far and fast for the photographers) and made me a very very happy man. What an amazing bird with its long fluttering tail!

Since we did not get any photo of these birds we had to settle for a pair of White-cheeked Terns who were very friendly and allowed very close views.

By the end of the day we added also 3-4 Bridled Terns, 2 Arctic and 1 Pomarine Skua. 

Migration is starting to pick up very slow still, but surely there are new birds arriving daily:
Juv' Black-headed Gulls (the closest breeding is probably in Turkey?!)

Wader numbers are growing steadily with the first Little Stints & Greenshanks joining the groups of Green & Wood Sandpipers.
The first Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters were found today by Yaniv Basher and since i was around I've managed to get a 'digiIPhone' record shot...

Namaqua Doves are still being spotted daily in various places and Striated Herons are chasing one another when not fishing or modelling...

Nearly Autumn

It is mid July and the daily average temp' is around 35-37 deg' with daily max' temp raising to 40-42 (and sometime even higher up to 45-47). The nights are short with average temp of 27-29 with daily min' temp of 22-24 deg and yet, another Summer is going to come to its end soon and Autumn is already starting its swing...

Many juv' birds can be seen almost any where with local specials like this Little Green Bee-eater

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Juv'

Thick-billed Lark fledglings were seen and photographed around K20 by Shachar Shalev last Sat'

and as one comes to K20 the feeling is that the ponds are filled with juv' Black-winged Stilt and Kentish Plovers (which are finalising their 3rd brood for the season) 

While Greater Flamingo's are dancing 

and others are coming from afar (like this Turkish T/DCP).

At Yotveta, the Pharaoh Eagle Owl is present again

and Namaqua Doves can be seen almost daily in various places

A White Stork  was spotted this evening by the torch resting on a tree, I wonder if it is
one of the lingering ones we had during the summer or a new bird which have travelled from the north?!

Yesterday I've bumped into this 2nd Cal Sooty Falcon (a morph which I haven't seen too often before). Most of the birds are already on their territories and it won't be too long before we start seeing them displaying.

At the IBRCE ringing station the first Eastern Orphean Warblers are seen together with the returning Eastern Olivacous Warblers and the cheerful Rufus Bush Robins.

At North Beach we have great views of Striated Heron and groups of Little & Common Terns. Up to 8 Bridled Terns, 2-6 White-cheeked Terns, 1-3 Sooty Shearwaters are seen daily now from the coast.

Despite being still around mid July, I can really smell the Autumn in the air and hope to have more reports coming soon...