Last day in Israel 20.5.2013

This was our last day in the country. After leaving our hotel we went to check some park where Vinous-breasted Starling is living.
This category C specie is originally from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma, Laos and other countries from that direction.
In the early 2000s it has become an invasive species in Israel, alongside the Common Mynah.
But what a heck to think about it.. Tick is a tick and we wanted to see it.
In the park was also one other specie witch missed in my Israeli-list, Monk Parakeet.
So high hopes to see two plastic birds in one day.
We parked our car near some entrance of the park and just walked around. It took only 2min to see Monk Parakeet! Nice. About 15min later when we tried to photo some parakeets, Petteri found our target. Three Vinous-breasted Starlings jumped on the grass. Very funny moving style and it´s totally different when compare to Common Mynah.  It was hard to get any pics when birds were constantly moving, but i got something.
Here is real plastic photo series

Rose-ringed Parakeet. 

Common Mynas. 

Monk Parakeet fight! 

Vinous-brasted

After this success we walk back to our car. On our way we saw little Cattle Egret colony in on tree and there was very young birds with totally black bills.

Young Cattle Egret. 

Also one some Hoopoes in the park. 

What a nice end for this trip.
Later afternoon our plane leave and i was back home at the evening.

I have to thank Jände, Petteri, Esko and Markus for excellent company. One of the best trips ever. So much hilarious  inside jokes!

Thank you Yoav Perlman for all the details and tips, without your help our Sooty Falcon project could have failed. Maybe next time we could have more birding together.

Also thank you Sarina for your patience of my seasonal stupidity! You are the best.

Next project is collect some year-ticks, so new post maybe soon.

-Tomppa- 

Ma´agan Michael 19.5.2013

I had very rough night.. Problems with my stomach.. Other guys went out and i continued sleeping.
Later they came back to breakfast and i felt little bit better, so i join them to Ma´agan Michael.
Lot´s of normal birds like Glossy Ibis, Night Heron, Little Bittern, Little Egret, Purple Heron, Spoonbill, Pied Kingfisher and lot´s of others.
We spend over 7 hours there just watching pools and having a little sea watch.

Pied Kingfisher. 

Spoonbill.

Glossy Ibises. 

Graceful Prinia. 

Purple Heron.

Black Tern.

That was almost whole day.. Later after little meal we went to Parder Hanna where we had little parakeet watch. This is maybe the only place to see Nanday Parakeet in Israel, but it´s super hard... We had no luck with that.
After Pardes Hanna we make last try for the Painted Snipes, but it seems that they are gone..
Last full day. Sadly it started with stomach problems. Tomorrow we have little time to check Vinous-breasted Starlings from Tel-Aviv, so not much program before flights back home.
Tomorrow last post from here.


-Tomppa-

Dead sea and others. 18.5.2013

Early start from the Kibbutz lotan.. We drove to Dead sea where we start our Sooty falcon project. After an hour, there was only little hope left and we changed our place few times. Last place was nice look out place with great view.
Petteri was the lucky one who found this bird! Very far away two Sooty Falcons had their pair display. Later birds were little bit closer and we got nice looks. Memorable lifer for all of us!
After these birds we drove to Metsuke Dragot where i felt so ill that i had to sit in the car... Thank god it´s over now. Egyptian Vulture, Fan-tailed Raven and lot´s of Nubian Ibexes there.

Fan-tailed Raven.

Blackstart 

Nubian Ibex.

Egyptian Vulture.

Tristram´s Starling

Later we had quite long drive to Netanya where we have our hotel. We dropped our bags and we went to Ma´agan Michael where we had many Herons, Gulls, Mynas, and best birds, Gannet and about 40 Cory´s Shearwaters! Nice ticks.
Lot´s of people in the beach because of some holiday.. Loud music and lot´s of questions about our doings.

Common Mynah. 

At the evening we tried to twitch Painted Snipes but no luck... Next try tomorrow morning, so let´s hope the best.
Tomorrow is also our last full day.
more text tomorrow.

-Tomppa-

Last day in Eilat area. 17.5.2013

This was our last day in Eilat area. Still no Sooty Falcon, but we have even bigger hopes to find it from the north.
Todays first places was km20 pools and place to see Falcon, but no falcon.. Sand Patridges were singing and Petteri saw female Red-footed Falcon.

Sand Patridge singing.

Slender-billed Gull in km20 pools. 

Later we drove around Eilat and Yotvata. Not much to tell about birds.. Same Cuckoo was in Canada Gardens, Some Broad-billed Sandpipers in IBRCEpools and soon after non about 800 Honey Buzzards went over Eilat.

Curlew Sandpipers. 

Light morph Booted Eagle.

Honey Buzzards. 

Tomorrow we go to Dead sea area and then to Hadera where we are going to twitch Painted Snipes, if they are still there :)
Let´s hope we have some luck tomorrow. Hear you soon.

-Tomppa-

Eilat and later else 16.5.2013

Today we started again from the N-beach. Nothing special so we went to km20 pools to had some raptor watch. Our Sooty Falcon project is still alive and we had high hopes! Of course we had to leave without this bird, but we have still enough optimism to go there tomorrow again :)
Again we had Barbary Falcon, Collared Pratincole and other same birds. Many Eastern-olivaceus Warblers in the pool area today.

The Warbler. 

Eastern-olivaceus is quite common here. Yesterday we had about 45 birds and today about 40, so much! Never seen so much actually!
After pools we had breakfast and we got some bad news.. We had to leave from the hostel where we lived.. Some formal detail was against us.. :)
So we contact to Kibbutz Lotan and we got room for us.
We dropped our bags and then we went to km76 where we had nothing... Some Rufous-tailed Robins but nothing else..
After km76 we went to Neot Smadar to have some lunch and rest. Soon after food we went to Uvda area where we had nice 3 hours. Nothing interesting..
Later we checked Neot Smadar sewage and there was some finally birds.
Many Rufous-tailed Robins, Garden Warblers, Citrine Wagtail and so on. Nice birding there.

Hooded Wheatear in Uvda. 

Some Great-grey Shire in Uvda..

This beautiful Rufous-tailed Robin was in Neot Samadar sewage. 

Now in Lotan and planning something for tomorrow. We have some Sooty Falcon plans and some Olive-tree Warbler plans. :)

Best.

-Tomppa-

Eilat birding 2 15.5.2013

Still driving around Eilat places and hoping to see Sooty Falcon. Early morning and we start from the North Beach, nothing special this time.. Later we went to km20 pool where we had raptor watch for the Sooty Falcon... Sadly this long waited raptor did not show up. Of course we had some other birds. Black-headed Bunting was new Israeli tick! Nicely found Petteri!
Later after breakfast we went back to km20 pools. Little pressure came when somebody found two Falcons flying above the pools. Two Barbary Falcons! What a nice birds.

Black-headed Bunting. 

Barbary Falcon.

Collared Pratincole. 

Here´s some birds from the km20 pools.
Later Markus guided us to Canada park or something like that. We found Common Cuckoo, Barred Warbler, and some other birds.
Sadly Markus had to leave to pack and later he had to leave the country. Thanks Markus for great company :)

Common Cuckoo.

Jumping Cuckoo. 

Barred Warbler. 

We had also one little raptor watch in the mountains, but nothing.. On our way to Holland Park i almost killed Lichtenstein Sandgrouse baby.. Whole family walked across the road! What a rare sighting.

Baby! 

In Holland park where we had about 30 Eastern-olivaceus Warblers!
Later Sea-watch in north beach and when we were driving to the beach someone found weird Honey Buzzard from the sky. Very quickly we noticed that this is Crested Honey Buzzard! What a bird! Third bird for me in the Israel and fourth in WP.

Crested Honey Buzzard! photo by Jände. 

Sand Patridge. 

What a great day.

-Tomppa-

Eilat birding 14.5.2013

Nice birding around Eilat. We picked up Markus at early morning and then we met Yoav Perlman, Itai Shanni and Meidad Goren in north beach. I got lifer when Striated Heron walked on a buoy!
Other nice birds for the morning were three White-cheeked Terns and four Oystercatchers! Nice start.
Later we drove aroun km20 pools, Eilat area and Yotvata.
In Yotvata we had nice Hoopoe Lark singing, some Namaque Doves, Purple Heron and so on. Very hot! In km20 pools we saw lots of Curlew Sandpipers, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Honey Buzzards and Black Flamingo, witch is melanistic bird or something.

Striated Heron! Finally!

White Stork in Yotvata.

Black.winged Stilt.

Honey Buzzard in km20 pools. 

White-eyed Gull.

Nice day with some Israeli ticks and lifer :)
still some problems with internet, so not much text and few photos.

-Tomppa-