A Yellow Ending

Our last ringing session of the year was held at my site and it's clear the woods have become really empty now.. Last year saw us ringing on the 10th of July as well and last year's session stood in big contrast with the ringing today. The birds have gone quiet, only very few birds were singing. The Robins continue, with every now and then a Song Thrush but otherwise it's quiet. No singing Wood Larks, Tree Pipits, Redstart or Pied Flycatchers (and so on) anymore. I think the latter two have moved away from their breeding grounds already, I didn't observe a single bird of both species. I was surprised to hear both Woodcock and Nightjar still singing during this time of year. I was able to make a recording of the Nightjar, as it was singing from a reasonable distance.

Nightjar, Caprimulgus europaeus by Fmeijer

During this time of year it should be booming with juvenile birds. There were quite a few juvenile tits etc. around but none were found in the nets. And if those are missing out, the numbers of birds ringed can be considered quite poor. Sometimes it's just a matter of luck..

The ringing today was not particularly boring, as the species diversity was reasonable - for the amount of birds being caught. The highlight of the morning was the male Yellowhammer that finally found its way into the net, after so much avoiding of the nets:)

Blackbird 1 - 2 new juvenile, retrap adult female and juvenile
Blackcap 1 - adult female
Great-spotted Woodpecker 1 - juvenile male
Goldcrest 1 - adult male
Robin 5 - 1 all new juveniles, 1 retrap adult
Short-toed Treecreeper 1 - adult female
Yellowhammer 1 - splendid adult male
Willow Warbler 1 - juvenile

15 birds in total..

Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), adult male

Goldcrest (Regulus regulus), adult male

Short-toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla), female; this could be a 2cy because of the pattern (and now it's moulting, the large contrast) of the (brown/worn) old outer primary coverts. You can see the old ones have a narrow buffy/white shaft on the outer web, whilst the new ones have a dark buffy tip (adult type pc?) on the point of the primary coverts. I know that this feature can be used for ageing Treecreepers (Certhia familiaris), but I'm not sure it can be of use with the brachydactyla. This year and last year I took a look at the juvenile Short-toed Treecreepers and I found out that some juveniles had a smaller buffy tip (adult type?) but on the outer pc's this tip was sometimes somewhat larger. Others had more extensive buffy/white colouring , like the bird above. Here are just two random pic's to illustrate

Juvenile Short-toed Treecreeper from last year; note the outer primary coverts

Juvenile Short-toed Treecreeper from this year; note the smal(ler) tips on the pc's, the outer ones as you can see, somewhat larger. This is maybe not the best example as the wing is closed.. 

I don't know what experience/knowlegde other ringers have on this subject but I'm interested to know!

This was it!

My glorious adventure in Israel has ended! Back to the confrontating truth!

It feels so weird to be back home now, waking up, without hearing any singing Bulbuls or Laughing Doves, yes I miss Israel already.. But hey, it feels good to have a sleep-in for a change :)

I had my last morning at the JBO yesterday. It was a great ending of a enjoyable week in Jerusalem. 2 Nightjars in the early morning, and a River Warbler later in the morning were the definite highlights! Thanks to all the nice people from the JBO for the past week!

Then it was time to check out from the Abraham Hostel and wait for the airport taxi. I arrived around 14:00 at Ben Gurion Airport. After the check-in I ate some pizza of the Pizzahut and continued my way through customs. At 16:50 the plane would leave. I was a bit sleepy so I fell asleep as soon as we got in to the plane. I woke up after an hour, still under the impression that we still hadn't taken off yet, but we were flying above the Mediterranean Sea, leaving me a bit disoriented haha.

At 21:15, Middle-European summer time, we landed at Schiphol airport. I picked up my baggage quickly from the baggage hall and then at the arrival hall, I saw my family again after two months :)

 Spotted Crake (Porzana porzana), I had my big lens with me, but the light was still terrible in the early morning..

A Jackal came out in the open, to relax a little bit near the water, such a dog!

Thrush Nightingale (Luscinia luscinia) , foraging in front of the hide

European Nightjars (Caprimulgus europaeus), both were males, on distinctively bigger and more defined (better looking) than the other. The wings were respectively 195 mm and 210 mm (210 was out of the 'normal range' for Capeur!) 

Note the differences.

And an overall shot of the best-looking one of the two.

River Warbler (Locustella fluviatilis)

And one more interesting picture from a Pied Flycatcher from monday the 23rd. On the right wing, p5 had dropped out for some reason, and it was now full regrown again, the new p5 showed a white spot on the shaft, unlike the left wing...! The photos below will illustrate this:

Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca), overall shot

 Left wing

Right wing

Bye bye Israel!