Its been a long and hectic week for me with guiding and monitoring throughout.
Bird migration is always a wonderful spectacle and there is always much to see (though not always what youexpect!). It started last Sunday when I was guiding Norbert Schafferand we had these wonderful birds which were described in my last post, but in fact, raptor migration kept on going in the most amazing numbers throughout the week and in one morning at least 70,000 Steppe Buzzards were counted during a single day!
Passerines numbers have been low this week and in fact it was a very hard work to find all that we were looking for, but still we managed well with some local ‘stars’ likeBimaculatedLark, Hooded Wheatears, Crowned Sandgrousesand anarrayof more common species.
The highlight was on Wed’ when an RBA broke the silence reporting of a Pied Bushchatwhich was very swiftly becoming the most interesting species of the week,
leaving the Daurian Shrike, Caspian Plover, Greater Sand Plover, Little Crakes, PharaohEagle Owl,Striated Heron, Macqueen’s Bustardand even the Black Bush Robinsall behind.
Thanks for the organisers and hope the season will keep on surprising us for the better. I’m off to the field, there must be something out there…
Itai Shanni
Itai Shanni is the coordinator of the Eilat Birding Blog, which is jointly written by the Israeli Ornithological Centre (IOC) and the International Birding and Research Centre Eilat (IBRCE). Itai is working to promote bird and wildlife conservation throughout this area. As an Israeli A licensed ringer, he also gives support for the IBRCE staff when needed. Itai has also developed a real passion for Odonata watching and spends many hot hours chasing also Dragonflies and Damselflies.
Leave a Reply