Early October 20003 Sightings Summary - Continued

We welcome Roelf Hovinga of The Netherlands, who will report from the field for the next couple of months.

October 5th - In terms of migration this was one of the slowest days of the last weeks. At Afula the most common migrant was Black Stork (76) with some tens of Lesser Spotted Eagle, Levant Sparrowhawk, Black Kite and a single Red-footed Falcon.

Two hours of birdwatching after we closed the stations put the smiles back on our faces. We birded the fishponds and agricultural fields around Tirat Zevi finding Quail (1), White-winged Black Tern (25), Black Francolin (6) and, best of all, a beautiful male Daurian Shrike.

October 6th - Today was Yom-Kippur, and subsequently there was very little traffic on the roads, and the normally noisy post at Alonim Junction was unusually silent. During the day an impressive total of 16 species of raptors were observed with, for example, Griffon Vulture (1), Osprey (1), Short-toed Eagle (97), Lesser Spotted Eagle (536), Greater Spotted Eagle (1), Long-legged Buzzard (1), Steppe Buzzard (9), Honey Buzzard (56), Black Kite (21), Marsh Harrier (6), Pallid Harrier (1), Eurasian Sparrowhawk  (22), Levant Sparrowhawk (36), Red-footed Falcon (2) and European Bee-eater (85).

In the afternoon migration shifted towards the East (around 14:30) and we moved to the station at Ginnegar. Whilst watching a few distant migrating Lesser Spotted Eagles, I suddenly found huge lines of White Pelicans behind them. In total 2400 birds passed within a few minutes, for me one of the most spectacular moments of this year's survey. The Pelicans were enjoyed by other survey participants who were about 12 kilometres East of the flocks!

October 7th - The smaller numbers of raptors today were compensated by a relatively large number of Short-toed Eagles on the move. At Gevat I counted 210 Short-toeds, with smaller numbers of Lesser Spotted Eagle (37), Booted Eagle (1), Long-legged Buzzard (1) and Red-footed Falcon (4). Good views of Red-footed Falcons were obtained as they hovered above a recently cut cotton-field. A Quail was flushed here as well.

In the evening we went to see a juvenile Little Gull at the Ma'oz Hayim fishponds, which was discovered by Yoav Perlman and Rami Lindroos earlier that morning.

Vincent de Boer reported a male Namaqua Dove in the agricultural fields Northwest of Kefar Ruppin.

October 8th - A day soon to forget! For most raptors migration is evidently passed its best for this autumn. After a really slow morning at Ginnegar I saw a few tens of raptors in the afternoon. Notable were Long-legged Buzzard (1 beautiful bird hovering above my head for a while, before migrating to the Southwest), Pallid Harrier (2 juveniles) and a single Red-footed Falcon. Again, White Pelicans saved the day with 1180 birds passing in four groups.

Local birds in the immediate area included Roller, Red-throated Pipit and Short-toed Lark. We spent the last hours of daylight around a few dried-out fishponds near Ma'oz Hayim. Waders were plentiful with good numbers of Little Stint (305), Kentish Plover (25) and Temminck's Stint (12). We were also very pleased to see Turnstone (1), Jack Snipe (1), Citrine Wagtail (1) and a Curlew Sandpiper.

The Daurian Shrike, first discovered on the 5th, was still present. Other birds of interest were Wryneck, Indian Silverbill (8), Savi's Warbler and Ring-necked Parakeet (28).

October 9th - The early morning found us at the Ma'oz Hayim fishponds once again, where we scanned through the empty ponds for waders. Highlights included Avocet (1), Savi's Warbler (3) and a Citrine Wagtail (1st winter). The wagtail was particularly interesting because it had some black feathers on its breast, potentially confusing with juvenile White Wagtail.

A juvenile Lesser Spotted Eagle allowed good views while it perched in a dead tree, a rare moment for us counters, as we usually have to remain content with in-flight only views of this species on the survey.

It was also my day off and during the morning I 'worked' the agricultural fields north of Kefar Ruppin. One particular alfalfa-field was especially good with good numbers of Tawny Pipits (100), Red-throated Pipits (10), Short-toed Lark (2), Whinchat (15) and Richards' Pipit (1). Closer to the border with Jordan there were plenty of Chuckar (40), Black Francolin (3) and a single Desert Finch.

A visit to the fishponds produced a juvenile Little Bittern, Collared Pratincole and 2 Savi's Warblers.

October 10th - With apparently no migration and no raptors passing , we decided to close the stations early and go birding to the coastal birding hotspot at Ma'agan Mikhael, just south of the city of Haifa.

One of the biggest fishponds was almost dry and held large concentrations of gulls, waders and egrets. Amongst the common species we found Spoonbill (55), Ruddy Shelduck (1 female), Spotted Crake (1), Little Gull (1), Slender-billed Gull (100+) and Citrine Wagtail (3).

The beach held comparatively small numbers of waders, though Greater Sand Plovers were easy to find with at least 18 birds, along with smaller numbers of Grey Plover, Turnstone and Kentish Plover.

An adult Golden Plover was an unexpected find there but much appreciated by all the survey crew! More updates will follow soon,

Roelf Hovinga, Bet Shean Valley, on behalf of the Birdingisrael Team

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