a good one...

Daim, what a fresh morning we had!

As we opened the newly erected mist-nets (put them up yesterday), the great number of Red backed  and Masked Shrikes around. Probably all arrived the previous night…till the end of the day we caught 8 Red's and seen over 30(!) Most being adults.

Here's one for you-

As I got to the "East bank" nets , a yellowish belly caught my eyes vibrating in the net . "what the hell is wrong with this Blackcap?!" crossed my mind. Two steps forward- "it's yellow! It's not smeared with Acacia pollen! Hey, that’s an Icterine Warbler!!"

A rare but regular migrant and a new hand species for me!(not very cooperative model though…)

Over 60 birds, 17 species, finally a descent ringing morning!

Other good birds- a beautiful adult Common Whithroat

A juv Orphean Warbler, quite a few of those are caught and seen these days.

Fun as always-

A late Olive tree Warbler was hopping around, a Lesser Grey Shrike, some Spotted  Flycatchers…

Yesterday's evening, the relentless Yotam opened the Swallows ringing season, with a modest but encouraging 16 birds catch.

You can be sure- many more Swallows, carrying foreign rings will get down here soon…

Waders?....wagtails?! …stay tuned !

  

Moonless nights

Ringing on

Moonless nights are known for being good for wader catching. So I spent three nights out at the salt ponds (30/31.8 1/2.9 and 3/4.9) setting-up 90 meters of low (two shelves) mist nets. Wind is the real problem here in Eilat, Strong winds which normally will keep me home in other places blow for the greater part of the night. Yet catching was reasonably good, with birds of a rather normal verity: Little stints, Ruffs, Ringed and Kentish plovers, two Curlew sands and a Redshank.

On the night of the 3/4.9 two more special waders were add to the list: Marsh sandpiper (a ringing tick for me) and Broad billed sand; all in all 48 waders of 8 species in 3 nights, a good beginning.

At the station a great change is underway, during the last days a drop of 5-6 Celsius degrees makes it possible to resume ringing with mist nets, and today we opened 7 of them although no many passerines are around they will soon arrive, and we'll be waiting with open nets. In the 'firsts' section: Collared Flycatcher, Sedge Warbler, Little Crake, Spanish (punish) Sparrow , Willow Warblers  and many (up to 7) Lesser grey Shrikes in the area.

First of many: a Willow Warbler

Juv. Collared Flycatcher (note the worn tail)

Of last week catch, the first Yellow Wag.

Out in the fields we continue to catch Bee eaters as a damage reduction project for farmers. The Bee eaters surprisingly eat the bees the farmers use to fertilize their watermelons crops. The bees react by falling back into the hive and brave the colorful storm by waiting safe inside. This is great for the survival of the bees but damages the farmer's corps as there are almost no natural fertilizers around. We release our catch as far away from the hives as we can: Tabba border passage (14 km).

During a bee eaters catch on the afternoon of the 31^st I saw a single Black winged Kite, probably an Asian bird of the ssp. vociferus. A nice bird after a month at Eilat!

last days notes

So, species count is rising daily, with an Olive Tree Warbler near the ringing station yesterday and another one today. These badass migrants peak around mid July and those should be considered rearguard (but still the first one I have seen this autumn)!

Other good stuff around from the last days  includes a Black Tern and some 80 Garganys at K20 salt ponds (thanks Itai!), a Sooty Falcon attacking a Barbary Falcon at the Red Canyon (upper Eilat Mountains) – a good clue for a nesting territory. Yesterday, a Black Bush Robin was found at the Hai-Bar reserve near Yotvata, by Shay Kabbessa . Great find and thanks for the photo!

A fledgling Rufus Bush Robin was caught today.

Note the partial post juv. Moult pattern-

A juv Masked Shrike from today-

The Lehnardt family is working full power! Yael is here for 3 days (a vacation from the army), and already mended all the holes at the Heligoland traps, and re-count the rings stock (would take me for ages…)

The relentless Yotam is working on new waders traps; hopefully tomorrow they will prove efficient! 

And how can I neglect the bugs? On Sunday I had a male Red Veined Darter (Sympetroom fonscolombii) at the reedbed of "Anita's lake". The last record of this species (as far as I recall) was during march!

Another good reappearing species I had yesterday - Blue Empror (Anax imperator), again,  a species that was last recorded here during mid-spring.

Itai reports of Red-veined and Violet Dropwings as well as Desert Skimmer (Orthetrum ransonnetii) from Beer-Ora.

The Ischnura senegalensis seem to be doing well hunting tiny insects at the salt pond's shore! Here's a nice "lucky" shot I made last week-

An afternoon walk around Eilat (Holland park area) provided great incounters with some residents- many "baby face" half grown Sand Partridges were running  around, 2 families of Desert Larks, and a noisy bunch of  Arabian Bablers. Just before sunset I found this beautiful Sand Gecko (Tropiocolotes nattereri). This is the smallest gecko in Israel (adults get to 6 cm). the back pattern of this individual is rather odd and unique.

Yotam is going out this evening for a waders catch…so stay tuned!

a call for Volunteers!

Autumn is here and to open the season we ask you for your help!

If you have interest of ringing and birding at the IBRCE as a volunteer, we would be happy to hear from you. Apart from ringing, work with us includes gardening, repairing of traps and equipment and general help around the park. Free time for travelling and birding will be given. We prefer volunteers with ringing license and proven experience. 
Accommodation  will be available (at the IBRCE-room with air-condition) but due to budget constrains, we will not be able to provide living expenses during this season. Having a valid International driving license will provide the option of using the park's car. 

Just to mention some species that were Caught and/or seen at Eilat during last few autumns: Black Crowned Sparrow Lark, Oriental skylark,  Hume's, Green,  Paddyfield, Syke's, Cyprus  and Menetries's warblers…Daurian Shrike, Syrian Serin, Caspian&Sibrian Stonechats, Pied Wheatear, "Eastern" Black Redstars, Olive Backed and Buff Bellied Pipits, Citrine Wagtail,  Black Winged Kite, Crested Tern and many more…   

You may have seen some of the photos below in previous posts, but just to remind you how good looking our volunteers are and how much fun we share:

Dutch, Finish, Bulgarian, and Israeli (sound like the beginning of a joke)…

The Swedish-Spanish connection-

Our Top Model, Teun Van Kassel of Holland-

Please contact us by Email at:

ibrce@bezeqint.net or ficedulars@gmail.com or iocitai@inter.net.il

And of course some birding updates: today we ringed our first Eastern Olivaceous Warbler and Reed Warbler for the season! A somewhat out of date Steppe Buzzard flew overhead as well…

New arrivals

We have a new man aboard!          

Yotam Lehnardt started his one year service at the IBRCE this week. Let me tell a bit about him- he is a professional B ringer, very tall and likes bread with chocolate. Last autumn he was fortunate to catch Israel's 2^nd Black Throated Accentor! So be ready for some great stuff he will find during the coming year (while I will be serving in the army…).

And now the keyboard is passed to Yotam: the summer is biting hard in Eliat. Seawacthing  is quite well though: Itai watched a single Bridled Tern yesterday and another 6 this morning at north beach, also present there as in the last few weeks are a small flock of Cory's Shearwaters about 8 of them. A dozen Common tern,1 Whiskered tern, 1 White-winged Tern, 1-3 white-cheeked Tern and the local White-eyed Gulls.

At the park the work to fix the Heligoland tarps for the autumn had begun piece by piece in the comfortable 35 degrees in 06:00 every morning, soon the traps will be catching the many migrants we are waiting for.

And yesterday these migrants finally arrived in the shape of few eastern Eastern Orphean warblers , several Lesser Whitethroats , Eastern Olivaceous Warblers and a flock of 40-50 White Storks. Soon, as weather will improve we will hopefully catch more migrating passerines and not only Sparrows and Bulbuls (today we had  some 50 House sparrows in 1 trap).

The first for the autumn- a juv. Eastern Orphean Warbler!

Itai reports of some waders around the IBRCE salt ponds- Broad Billed Sandpiper, 3 Culew Sandpipers, quite a few Ruffs & Tringas, increasing numbers of Little stints etc...

Have a good weekend, Yotam & Re'a.

better late then never

Yeah, I know it's been a week and a half since I got down from Israel's highest (and only?) mountain- the Hermon…I have very good excuses for not posting earlier, if any one has any wish of hearing them he may contact m privately :-P

Every second weekend July, we(Israel's ringers community) gather for a ringing session at the northern tip of our little country. Two afternoons and two mornings, in a compeltley different world-

The species caught make a rather unique list for us; mostly seedeaters, for some Mt. Hermon is the only breeding area in Israel.

The Syrian Serin might be the best example.

Rock Buntings make a good Hermon specialty.

These may be the most vulnerable birds in hand. Therefore we try to handle them as quickly and minimally as possible to avoid injuries.

In most years Pale Rock Sparrows are found breeding only on the Hermon. Some springs, mostly rainy ones generate massive influxes of up to thousand of pairs nesting in the desert areas of Israel. This species is not caught yearly during the Hermon ringing session. This time  we got 2 fledglings!

Not every day you get a Pale Rock Sparrows in hand!

Not a seedeater but nevertheless a distinctive Hermon specialty- Semirufus Black Redstart, female.

Some badass species are residential, and seen year round on the Hermon, typically they are not found anywhere else in Israel. Somber Tit is one of them, this one is a juv.

It may sound weird to you Europeans, but here Nuthatches are a real attraction! Only one species, only one location- Western Rock Nuthatch

This year a whole family of them was jumping on the rocks around our ringing site, giving great entertainment.

Only one was caught and well photographed!

Some other good Hermon breeders-

A Rock Sparrow, juv.   

Black Headed Bunting, male after post-nuptial moult. Most of these stunners are probably gone and on their way to India.

Linnet, among the commonest species on the mt.

Our ringing site- artificial ponds, at around 1700m above sea level.

Thousands of tiny Green Toads Bufo viridis were jumping about, on the pond's banks…

 "Chavooshit" peak above us-the highest areas inhabit tragacanth vegetation with alpine climate.

 That's how it looks when the birds arrive from the nets-

And that what happens when the sun get high and birds are scarce…

Cool birds and large numbers to be ringed are among the virtues of the Mt. Hermon ringing session. Though, if you would ask me, Hermon ringing is really about meeting friends from all over the country, have great time and laughs in one of Israel's most incredible locations  , and above all eating "Shamy" mulberries(an amazing breed f mulberries, tasting like nothing else and painting your limbs and face with blood red colour) on the way down ,where one of Israel's best trees is growing just on the road!

Yoav and Eli claiming their share of the fruit, monkey style…

Special thanks to the incredible Hula Valley ringing team for the great organizing and running of the ringing session!

See you all next year(if the army allows…)

what a night ina'al dinak

Back to Eilat, after a long wild weekend up north… I think I have way too many photos…hummm…I think I will have to start from the beginning- Wednesday afternoon I joined Yosef, Yotam, Yohay, Avishay and Gilad at Atlit(Northern Mediterranean coastal plain) for a Terns ringing session. Israel's largest Common and Little Terns nesting Colony is situated inside the salt factory area.  As early as the first net round it was obvious we are having a good catch, with around 25 birds caught, but nothing could prepare us for the rest of the night…

We were ringing, and drinking Turkish coffee (a very important part of bird ringing!)…

The second round birds just arrived from the nets, and while I was taking photos of a White winged Black Tern

I heard Yosef shouting "taba'at me Lita!!!"("a ring from Lithuania!!!") . I quickly released the little beauty and raced back to the ringing table. I haven't seen Yosef smiling like that for a long time!  He has been monitoring these amazing migratory birds for two seasons now, and a foreign ring was definitely the best he could think of…or maybe not?!

The next bird to be registered in the notebook was(unbelievably!) carrying a German ring! Two, foreign ring n common terns, one night, middle of July- where are they coming from? And where are they going? Spring or autumn migrants? So far we didn't get any answers, but hopefully it will become clearer soon.

I had an amazing night , with cool birds and great company!

The next morning we headed up to the Mt. Hermon annual ringing session. That’s a big one that will probably spread across the two next posts. Here is a little taste for the mean while-