Thursday, August 29

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 TurnestoneBroad-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!

Saturday, August 17

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

Saturday, August 3

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...