Whilst birdwatching the Jubail area I came across a very smart looking male Black-headed Wagtail feeding along a dirt track. It was not at all afraid of the car and allowed very close approach as it busily feed on insects. Mid-February is the start of the spring passage for this species and Black-headed Wagtail feldegg […]
Tag: yellow wagtail
Early morning at Ghaftayn
On Wednesday morning, I got up early at Ghaftayn rest house to see what passage there had been over-night. These desert stops have highly variable windfalls of migrants during the passage seasons. One morning can be heaving while another can have virtually nothing. The same goes for the rarity of the birds. This was only […]
Melanistic Montagu’s Harrier and other Raptors
Here are some of the raptor photos we managed to see with my Swiss group from Arcatour last week. The wind direction swung around to give us moderate to strong Levante (easterlies) for five days and only died down on our last two days. Still, knowing what the migrating raptors do and where they will […]
UK wagtails face long-term decline
The three species of wagtail that breed in the UK are suffering long-term declines, a study has revealed. Yellow wagtails, grey wagtails and pied wagtails are all in decline, according to the annual breeding bird survey’s latest report, though conservationists say the reasons for the reductions are not clear. Yellow wagtails, farmland birds which migrate […]
Migration on high gear
Back from Spain and it seems that migration down the southern Arava and around Eilat are on high speedalready. I had great time on the Iberian peninsula with many interesting and enigmatic species and un-president numbers of Vultures and great company of people, but as always it is great to be back in my local […]
Alarming disappearances among our familiar countryside birds
The latestState of the UK’s Birdsreport, published today, reveals many of our most familiar countryside birds are undergoing sweeping changes with some experiencing ‘plummeting population declines’, compared with the 1990s. It is now known that in some parts of the UK these birds have disappeared completely. A section of the report looks at the UK’s […]
‘Shocking’ decline of UK countryside birds revealed
Some of Britain’s most familiar countryside birds have plummeted in numbers since the 1990s, and some species have disappeared from parts of the UK, according to an authoritative annual report. Numbers of the farmland-dwelling grey partridge have halved since 1995, while the turtle dove has declined by 95%. The yellow wagtail, which inhabits farm and […]
More news and updates from Eilat region
September is here and there are certainly many birds around! While Waders are coming in big numbers and variety, it is great to see also many new passerines moving through. The most thrilling for me was a bird i found last Friday (probably as a 40th birthday gift for myself) – a beautiful Grasshopper Warbler(only […]