The GRAND Opening!

One may ask, what are we opening?! Several things will follow:

It might be too egocentric to introduce at first the opening of the new blog-site of International Birding & Research Center Eilat; so- spring will go first.

Winter sunset at IBRCE
שקיעה חורפית בפארק הבינלאומי לציפורים אילת

Spring had arrived to Eilat. Slowly, not yet with vast quantities of migrants, not yet with amazing variety of species but slowly and surely- migrants are here.

It started already in early January with Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis עיט ערבות heading north-east.

First tremendous flocks (hundreds) of Pallid Swifts Apus pallidus סיס חוורוור,

Rock Martins Ptyonoprogne fuligula סנונית מדבר

House Martins Delichon urbicum טסית בתים

and few Barn Swallows Hirundo rustica סנונית רפתות flying all together were observed on January 4^th at Elifaz (approximately 50km north to Eilat).

Winter is always good time to focus Waders and other Water birds. Now we enjoy few Whiskered Terns Chlidonias hybrida   מרומית לבנת לחיover water sources around southern Arava Valley. Magnificent flocks of 4 Swallows species mentioned above are passing daily (in lower numbers, but continuously).

Waders and juvenile Flamingo at IBRCE salt pond
חופמאים ופלמינגו צעיר בבריכת המלח של פארק הציפורים

Other birds around water sources- Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo at K19עוד ציפורי מים באזור אילת- קורמורן גדול בק"מ ה-19 

Other birds around water sources- Greater Flamingo Phoenicopterus roseus at K19עוד ציפורי מים באזור אילת- פלמינגו בק"מ ה-19

Western Reef Egret Egretta gularis at Northern Beach, Eilat.
לבנית ים סוף בחוץ הצפוני של אילת

During winter our bird-ringing project slows down a little. Instead, we are focusing on many educational projects, maintaining the Park's vegetation+ foundations, joining the yearly Israeli water-birds count, making other different surveys etc. Not too much spare time is left for ringing our wintering birds, what we obviously do despite the lack of time.

On 11^th of January we ringed the first spring migrant- 2^nd year (5 in Euring code) Common Whitethroat Sylvia communis סבכי קוצים. January 28^th remarked a new step towards "real" spring ringings- two Reed Warblers Acrocephalus scirpaceus קנית קטנה, after winter moult in Africa, were ringed. All three warblers with low, yet valid, score of fat.  

Not only the migrants are celebrating the longer and warmer days. Many locals had started singing- Spectacled Bulbuls Pycnonotus xanthopygos בולבולים are leading, Sardinian Warblers Sylvia melanocephala momus סבכים שחורי ראש  are giving fight, tinny Prinia Warblers Prinia gracilis פשושים invest all their energy so they'll be heard from a distance. (I'll avoid the description of our volunteers in short sleeved T-shirts, singing in the thicket while fixing Heligoland traps). 

We can't welcome the spring without sharing with you some of our favorite wintering species- Pallid Scops Owl Otus brucei שעיר משורטט. This winter at the Arava Valley very few PSO were observed (about 5 in total). One of them was ringed at the IBRCE Park, found asleep early in the morning.

Pallid Scops Owl Otus brucei שעיר משורטט

Pallid Scops Owl Otus brucei שעיר משורטט

Pallid Scops Owl Otus brucei שעיר משורטט

Pallid Scops Owl Otus brucei שעיר משורטט

Desert Warblers Sylvia nana סבכי מדבר are seen regularly along Arava Valley during winter. Many of them are seen in pairs, hopping on the ground or among the low dry vegetation. This year was even better than usual and many Warblers were seen.

Desert Warblers Sylvia nana at Evrona
סבכי מדבר בעברונה

Preperations for spring 2014 included ringing course with the best of our volunteers:

ההכנות לאביב 2014 כללו גם קורס טיבוע עם מיטב מתנדבינו:

Spring is here, spring is awaited...

As we say her- "Yalla!"

Yael Lehnardt

Head ringer and Guide, IBRCE

Notice PVC rings: We made history! Wader-wise...

 The IBRCE is team is proud to be part of a new recovery- the first recovery of Waders in the country (when not at the original ringing location). In this autumn, Yosef Kiat and a group of ringers gathered together for ringing Waders in northern Israel, using PVC - colour rings with identification codes. Few hundreds of waders were ringed during September-October including Plovers, Sandpipers and Stints. 

Today, 05/11/2013, we located the first recovery from these ringed waders- A juvenile Dunlin Calidris alpina חופית אלפינית with green rings at the salt ponds of K20, near Eilat. This specific bird was ringed at Maayan Tzvi, in fishponds by the Mediterranean sea shore, 6/10/2013. We still can't tell for certain but perhaps it will winter in our region like many other waders do. Lets hope A64 will fly to a country where it will be seen and reported (open your eyes wherever you are!)

The "celeb", A64, serious crop:

Dunlin Calidris alpina  A64 חופית אלפינית
By Jan Visser
צולם על ידי יאן ויסר

328KM approximately

In the last decades ringing of Waders was done at the IBRCE and so we had lots of ringed birds coming and re-trapped for a couple of years. Some were only passing through and some are wintering in the salt-ponds at the IBRCE. Despite all the effort, none of those birds was ever seen in other parts of the country. Maybe we should also focus on using the PVC colour rings? It might bring us some interesting results…

Besides the special event mentioned above, at the ringing station, things are as usual- lots of birds are ringed daily (up to 120 regularly, some higher peaks). Nowadays we enjoy many winter species-

Chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita עלווית חורף,

Robins Erithacus rubecula אדום חזה,

First Song Thrush Turdus philomelos קיכלי רונן.

In addition, some species are still showing nice migration-

Bluethroats Luscinia svecica כחול חזה

Blakcaps Sylvia atricapilla סבכי שחור כיפה

Common Redstarts Phoenicurus phoenicurus חכלילית עצים

Tree Pipits Anthus trivialis פיפיון עצים

We wish to continue with such projects, which bring us new data and expand our knowledge about the migration and behavior of these special species.

With expectation for lots of new findings,

Yael Lehnardt,

Ringer & Guide, International Birding & Research Center Eilat (IBRCE)