Tropical Birding Trip Report Israel March, 2018 Tropical Birding Israel Tour March 10– 22, 2018 TOUR LEADER: Trevor Ellery Report and photos Trevor Ellery, all photos are from the tour. Green Bee-eater. One of the iconic birds of southern Israel. This was Tropical Birding’s inaugural Israel tour but guide Trevor Ellery had previously lived, birded and guided there between 1998 and 2001, so it was something of a trip down memory lane for the guide! While Israel frequently makes the international news due to ongoing tensions within the country, such problems are generally concentrated around specific flashpoints and much of the rest of the country is calm, peaceful, clean and modern. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Israel March, 2018 Our tour started on the afternoon of the 10th where, after picking up the group at Ben Gurion airport near Tel Aviv, we headed north along the coastal strip, collecting our local guide (excellent Israeli birder Chen Rozen) and arrived at Kibbutz Nasholim on the shores of the Mediterranean with plenty of time for some local birding in the nearby fishponds. Spur-winged Lapwing – an abundant, aggressive but nevertheless handsome species wherever we went in Israel. Hoopoe, a common resident, summer migrant and winter visitor. We saw this species on numerous days during the tour but probably most interesting were quite a few birds seen clearly in active migration, crossing the desolate deserts of the south. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Israel March, 2018 We soon managed to rack up a good list of the commoner species of these habitats. Wildfowl included Northern Shoveler, Green winged (Eurasian) Teal and Mallard. The pools also held several Little Grebes, plentiful Eurasian Coot and Eurasian Moorhen and some impressive flocks of Greater Flamingos. Great Cormorants were common but we also found several Pygmy Cormorants, a much desired species. Little and Cattle Egrets were common as were plentiful Glossy Ibis and a scattering of Grey Herons. Are only raptor of the day were several Eurasian Marsh Harriers cruising over the reed beds. This is a common winter visitor and passage migrant in Israel and we were to see them on most days during the tour. Several of the fishponds were semi drained and held good numbers of waders including Pied Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Common Ringed Plover, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Little Stint, Common, Wood and Marsh Sandpipers, Spotted and Common Redshanks and Greenshank, while the noisy and aggressive Spur-winged Lapwing were omnipresent. A quick look at the beach added Ruddy Turnstone and Black-bellied Plover. If you’re a wader fan it was certainly a great place to get to grips with the identification of a good variety of species. Gulls were also well represented with good numbers of Slender-billed and Black-headed Gulls plus a single Little Gull on the fishponds. Armenian and Lesser-black-backed Gulls were also seen passing overhead and Sandwich Terns were seen offshore. Feral Pigeons were abundant (here and throughout the trip) and we also found good numbers of Collard and Laughing Doves. Common Swifts arrive and breed early in Israel and could be found hawking aerial insects along with plentiful Barn Swallows. Our first dazzling Hoopoes (Israel’s national bird) were a real highlight while several large and gaudy Pied Kingfishers were also present around the fish ponds. Eurasian Kestrels gave good views, Hooded Crows were abundant and a few Jackdaws flew through. The overgrown fields alongside the fishponds held several subtly beautiful Crested Larks. The reed beds and scrub were excellent habitat for Warblers, Common Chiffchaff (a common winter visitor to Israel) were plentiful and we also managed good views of two reed bed skulkers Eurasian Reed Warbler and the much larger Clamorous Reed Warbler. The latter species lived up to its name with its calls which could be described as resembling grunts and bellows. Subdued Lesser Whitethroats and the much more attractive Sardinian Warblers skulked in the scrub but both eventually yielded good views. Graceful Prinia, (another ubiquitous species in Israel), showed extremely well singing from atop small bushes and showing off their black inner mouths, a feature that only appears during the breeding season. We also got brief views of several Bluethroats, another common winter visitor to Israel which especially like to forage on the ground at the base of the reeds. European Starlings were abundant but even more so the invasive Common Myna. Seventeen years ago this species was confined to the environs of urban Tel Aviv but we found it to be common everywhere we went on the tour, from Mt Hermon in the far north, to Eilat, on the shores of the Red Sea, in the south. This was an impressive and somewhat worrying expansion of this aggressive non- native species. As is typical of this habitat White Wagtails (another common winter visitor and passage migrant) were common and we also had good views of several Meadow Pipits in the coastal mattoral. Finally there were plenty of House Sparrows (a common native here) and far more interestingly our first Palestine Sunbirds. The Sunbird is a common species in Israel but one it is hard to get bored off with the males’ iridescent purple and blue plumage and even the dull females appearing cute, with their down curved bills. We also managed our first mammal of the trip with an Egyptian mongoose crossing between fishponds. We finished the day watching the sunset over the Mediterranean and then enjoyed the first of many sumptuous kibbutz buffets while going over the day’s list. The next morning we started with some pre-breakfast birding in the fishponds. We added a number of new species including some Common Pochard the ubiquitous Great Egret and the rare Squacco Heron, plus some flyby Eurasian Spoonbills. A hunting Eurasian Sparrowhawk flew through while we also added more waders with Whimbrel and Green Sandpiper. An excellent find in the reed bed were several very attractive Penduline Tits and good views of Great Reed Warbler and Cetti´s Warbler, which we had only heard on the previous day. The scrub added a smart European www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Israel March, 2018 Stonechat and our first European Greenfinch and European Linnet, along with plentiful Spanish Sparrows and a couple of Great Tit. We also added more nonnatives with Indian Silverbill and Rose-ringed Parakeets, both of which are also widespread in Israel. Another brief visit to the shoreline produced the resident Yellow-legged Gull. After leaving the coast we began journeying NW towards eastern Israel and the Golan heights. We made several impromptu stops to add our first Black Storks, Short-toed Snake-Eagle, Eurasian Griffon, Black Kites and Long-legged Buzzards which were all picked up soaring from the car. Blue Rock Thrush (above) – fairly common on the rocky cliffs of northern Israel – this obliging male was in the car park at Mt Arbel. Rock Hyrax (below) – we had great views of these cute mammals at Mt Arbel. This individual had clearly been fighting. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Israel March, 2018 Crested Lark. A common species in northern Israel. Mt Arbel, Israel. Home to Rock Hyraxes and Blue Rock-Thrushes. www.tropicalbirding.com +1-409-515-9110 [email protected] Tropical Birding Trip Report Israel March, 2018 We broke up the journey with an impromptu stop at Mt Arbel, a traditional wintering site for Wallcreeper. We had no luck with the Wallcreeper and in all honesty we were probably too late as this species may well migrate north in February. Our stop was far from a wasted though as we had great views of several of Blue Rock-Thrushes, including an obliging male in the parking lot. Finches were well represented and as well as our first European Goldfinches and Common Chaffinches, we had brief views of a European Serin. Perhaps best of all though was out first real migration. While we had seen a couple of Black Storks soaring near the coast we picked up the beginnings of a stream which turned into a flood. We estimated one long flock of a thousand individuals passed north over head at one point stretching as far as the eye could see to the south. While Black Stork is a common passage and winter visitor to Israel flocks of this size are exceptional and it was a great introduction to the migration spectacle that makes Israel so exciting at this time of year. Standing on the top of Mt Arbel with the Sea of Galilee spread out below in a deep valley (which is really a norther extension of the great rift valley of E Africa) and watching these huge flocks pass directly north overhead was very impressive. In all probability these storks had probably wintered much further south than Israel somewhere in Africa, and were now heading north to their Eurasian breeding grounds. It felt like being stood beneath a great aerial, avian motorway and in fact that feeling was to be repeated daily throughout the tour as we frequently witnessed migrants pouring overhead, or simply flitting from bush to bush, all seemingly in a hurry and eager to get north. Mixed in with the Black Storks were our first White Storks, a species we were to see almost daily throughout the tour. Aside from the birds we enjoyed fantastic views of some obliging and tame Rock Hyrax and also several sunbathing Agama Lizards.