Late September 2003 Bird Sighting Summary - Israel

29th September - The plunge of cool, westerly air brought almost complete cloud cover for much of the morning at Ginnegar, only giving way to more typical blue skies in late afternoon. Some of the western stations even reported light rain this morning!

The pattern of the previous three days was again evident at Ginnegar with a reasonably constant steady passage in the morning until noon.

There was also a good selection of passerines in the Ginnegar area this morning with Great Reed Warbler, Citrine Wagtail, Red-backed Shrike, Whinchat, Willow Warbler, White Wagtail (my first of the autumn/winter), 6 Zitting Cisticola, and at least 10 Red-throated Pipits all visible in the immediate area of the counting post.

To date the survey team have totalled over 300,000 Honey Buzzards, 74,000 Levant Sparrowhawks and 51,000 Lesser Spotted Eagles.

30th September - A rather cool, partly cloudy day with a strong south western breeze at Alonim. Although the numbers of raptors were rather small today, the passage was constant enough to keep a high level of interest throughout the day.

309 Lesser Spotted Eagles, 10 Levant Sparrowhawks, 25 Short-toed Eagles, 12 Honey Buzzards, 12 Black Kites, 2 Booted Eagles, 7 Red-footed Falcons, 4 Marsh Harriers, 3 Eurasian Sparrowhawks, 2 Ospreys and singles of Griffon Vulture and Lesser Kestrel passed south-south west.