{"id":2058827,"date":"2019-05-15T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?guid=aeaf19e2a708504544bb79bb5f6139e9"},"modified":"2019-12-23T01:43:27","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T12:43:27","slug":"global-big-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/global-big-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Big Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday I teamed up with Jonathan and Re’a to take part in Global Big Day. Our plan was to record as many species as possible, and also to connect with some specialties that are less likely to get recorded elsewhere.<\/p>\n

We did not plan our route too carefully, as this was not a competition but a challenge, and we were prepared to adjust and be spontaneous if necessary. Still, our plan was pretty ambitious – it included cross-country, night-to-night birding. I set off after 02:00 to meet up with the others.<\/p>\n

Tawny Owl<\/p>\n

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Just outside my town a European Nightjar was sat on the road – good start! We then drove al the way up to the Hula Valley. In Ayelet Hashachar we had a vocal family of Tawny Owls, but failed to find other owls. Luckily Jonathan had scops and long-eared before we met up.<\/p>\n

We were joined by Hula-man Nadav for an hour of dawn birding at Agamon Hula which was pretty sweet. 76 species, highlights included White-tailed Eagle, Black Francolin, Marbled Duck, Golden Oriole, Spotted Crake and many more.<\/p>\n

Perhaps most impressive was a phenomenal roost take-off of Sand Martins. We VERY conservatively estimated 20K, but in the car quietly suggested six-figures. Quite a spectacle. A jungle Cat that trotted along in front of our car at dawn was sweet too.<\/p>\n