Late April 2009 Birding Observations

All images are copyright of Jonathan Meyrav

Spring is changing color, warmer days and nights replace the winter coolness, preparing for the long hot summer. Misty mornings make way to bright blue skies, nearly white around midday. The sun sets late which makes for nice long afternoons. Birding is very enjoyable as this is one of our favorite periods in the spring migration. Here are some of the significant sightings during April.

March ended with a nice male Menetrie's Warbler that I found at a small JNF forest right of the 90. The bird was rather skulking and I could not get any photographs. The bird was seen the following day by a group of visiting Fins, but was shy and unfortunately they could not get any images either. Another good bird was a beautiful male Pied Wheatear found further north, around Arad on the 27th of March. The bird lingered for a few days.

April started with a nice wave of Thrush Nightingales and several bright Rock Thrushes were seen here and there. Things started heating up around mid month. On the 14th 3 Caspian Plovers a male and 2 females were found at K20. In general this seems to be a very good spring for this species, with 8 individual birds seen till May.

On the 15th another Menetrie's Warbler was caught and ringed at the ringing station in Eilat.

On the 16th a major influx of Ficedula Flycatchers started. Many Flycatchers, mainly male Collared Flycatchers were present everywhere. A drive through some sites in the Negev produced no less than 60 Flycatchers, 48 male Collared, 9 female Collared, 2 Semi-collared Flycatchers and a single male Pied Flycatcher.

Such influxes occur every few years and usually involve several species of Flycatchers. A wave of such magnitude is something that has not been recorded for 5 years, with the last being in late spring 2004, involving hundreds of Semi-collared Flycatchers.

An interesting record was a male Yellowhammer that was seen flying north over Ketura on the 16th.

With the flycatchers came huge numbers of Thrush Nightingales. 100's of birds could be seen feeding on lawns and in the scrub everywhere in southern Israel. Corncrakes have made an appearance on Lotan's Lawns, feeding tamely in the open.

On the 23rd visiting birder and friend Eric Didner reported a Pectoral Sandpiper from the K20 pools. The bird did not linger but was photographed by Eric and will represent Israel's 8th record to date. Eric also reported 4 more Caspian Plovers from the K20 pools, 3 males and a female. These birds lingered till the 28th April at least.

We can safely say that the spring 2009 migration is reaching its last leg. Classic late spring migrants are pouring in. Blackcaps are literally everywhere as are very large numbers of Ortolan Buntings. Large flocks of Common Bee eaters are joined by smaller numbers of Blue checked Bee eaters. First Rollers and Rose colored Starlings add some more color. On the water bird front many White winged Black Terns can be found at various pools and reservoirs and numbers of Waders are rising as well.

Levant Sparrowhawks have swept the Arava and Eilat in the last week of April and hundreds could be seen in the early mornings rising from date plantations in the valley.

Good friend Dr. Paul Sterryspent some time on Lotan together with Andrew Merrick in late April. Their goal was to photograph drinking Levant Sparrowhawks, and Paul constructed a very nice model Levant, that they placed at the waters edge. It was an ambitious project that involved precise planning, timing and a lot of luck. After a few sessions Paul and Andrew succeeded in getting some amazing shots of these beautiful and elusive Accipiters. The guys got some very nice images of other attractive species and we will be happy to upload a gallery of their excellent images soon.

With photographers in mind we have to once again mention Thomas Krumenacker's    excellent website. Thomas is back in Berlin and had recently updated the galleries with some incredible shots from Israel, including excellent Greater Hoopoe Lark and Sinai Rosefinch images from Israel's remote deserts. Be sure to check out –  www.krumenacker.de

So with photo opportunities so ample, we hope you enjoy the images fresh from the field. Some interesting stuff I plan to upload soon includes a short piece about an interesting Ficedula Flycatcher photographed by Lee Gregory in Israel in Late March 2009, possibly a Pied X Collared hybrid. Hybrids like this are documented occasionally in central Europe, but this is the first to be recorded in Israel. The record is currently under review, I will post some of Lee's images soon.
Stay posted as May rolls in with the Honey Buzzards peaking, with daily sightings of Crested Honey Buzzards, large Hipollais Warblers and many more.
One of the best periods for vagrants is just around the corner.
Good birding.

Jonathan Meyrav 

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