Every year, during the Northern Hemisphere spring and autumn, the skies over Lebanon are dotted with millions of birds on their epic migrations. From soaring Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) to charismatic white storks (Ciconia ciconia), more than 500 species of birds traverse the African-Eurasian flyway, which funnels over Lebanon, as they migrate between their breeding […]
Tag: Honey Buzzard
The Dale continues to deliver
This week has not only been about reminiscing about the weekend and I have been out in the Dale although with lots of rain my visits have been short. There has still been lots to see though. The Three-toed Woodpeckers seem to have failed with their breeding as a 70 minute vigil at the nest […]
Crested Honey Buzzard in Alheefah Park – Tanoumah
We went to look for Eurasian Griffon Vultures at the lookout point in Alheefah Park and were rewarded with a female Crested Honey Buzzard that flew along the escarpment before disappearing. The species has only been seen five times previously in the summer in the Kingdom but this record being mid-may could be a late […]
Back to life, back to reality
Yesterday was my last day in Eilat as part of our three back-to-back international events (Eilat Bird Festival, COTF and IBOC). I spent the final morning at IBRCE, that at last was in proper form after admittedly slow days. The trees were dripping with Lesser Whites, reedbed exploding with Reed Warblers, hirundines, pipits, wagtails, nightingales, […]
Eilat day 4 – race day
What an amazing day it was, made even more mentally challenging with the sad news coming from across the pond of the departure of our dear friend and comrade BT3. I received the news while standing at a watchpoint overlooking the Arava Valley and Eilat Mts., watching a River of Birds pouring through the sky. […]
Friendly Oriental Honey Buzzard in Tadoba
On this safari into Tadoba Tiger Reserve’s core zone, we reached the territory of the Tigress, popularly known as Choti Tara, in anticipation of another display by her cubs. While we patiently waited for the cubs to show up, a Oriental Honey Buzzard flew in and perched on a dead tree not far from us […]
Autumn Migration
Raptor and passerine migration is now well and truly underway in my region of Japan. The Chinese Goshawks have finished and now it is the turn of the Oriental Honey Buzzards, Grey-faced Buzzards, Eurasian Sparrowhawks and smaller numbers of Northern Hobby and Japanese Sparrowhawk. The Eurasian Kestrels have just arrived at Isahaya, along with the […]
Balearics at Dungeness and a Bonaparte’s at Oare
Birding has been very limited of late save a quick trip to Fairlop in the the week to catch the local Hoopoe so today we decided on a trip to Dunge for a spot of early morning sea watching. Arriving at 6.30am we were rewarded for a two hour stint with several Arctic Skua, three […]