Rare Wheatear Time!

It was pretty hot today and the ringing slowed down fairly soon this morning but Rueppel’s warblers were well represented with 5 ringed. Next to that just the ordinary species we ring these days. I saw the first Saw-scaled Viper today in a Salvadora bush.

Around noon Roni, Christian and I decided to go birding. The others thought it was too hot and windy for birding but they were proved wrong! Just when we got out of the IBRCE gate Christian discovered a Wheatear sitting in a small bush next to the road. We stopped the car and quickly looked at the bird: Cyprus/Pied Wheatear! It was a stunning adult bird and showed well from pretty close by. We called the others and they came quickly and saw the wheatear too. First we thought it was Cyprus Wheatear but later we took a proper look at all the photos and it seems that the features point more towards Pied Wheatear: a small terminal band on the tail, broadening towards the end, the p10 is of the same length as the primary coverts, the white on the hind-neck is not broadening to the sides and finally, the white on the rump seems to be quite extended, but this is not visible well on the photos. Christian took better photos (tail visible, p10 visible etc) with Roni’s camera then I did. We’ll post those later. I will just show you a overall pic of the birds.

Pied Wheatear/ Oenanthe pleschanka, IBRCE park

After this discovery we proceeded to K19 where the first summer male Citrine Wagtail was showing exceptionally well, from a few metres distances. Moreover, 2 Blue Rock Thrushes were on the fence on the southside of K19. At K19 a Barbary Falcon was really busy with the hunt on the feral pigeons overthere. It tried several times, but failed. Both Isabelline and Black-eared Wheatears were present at K19.

Citrine Wagtail/ Motacilla cinerea

Blue Rock Thrush/ Monticola solitarius

From K19 we drove to K20 where we discovered our second rare wheatear! A first Cyprus Wheatear was perched on the fence next to the road! We had good views on the bird, and took good photos again. This one was a much clearer wheatear with a broad terminal band and very few white on the rump. There seems to be a small wave of Cyprus Wheatears since one was also discovered at Neot Smadar.

 Cyprus Wheatear/ Oenanthe cypriaca , K20

Cyprus Wheatear/ Oenanthe cypriaca : broad terminal band on the tail and the few white on the rump

Amram’s Pillars was also on our ‘to do’ list for this afternoon. We turned the car at Be’er Ora seeing a female Hooded Wheatear sitting in a bush next to the highway. We briefly saw it, which was a pity. We took the road to Amram’s Pillars, seeing very few birds on our way. At the Amram’s Pillars it was interesting with another lifer: finally Sinai Rosefinches! Throughout the couple of hours we spent there we counted 14 of those. Also, a pair of White-crowned Wheatears, quite a few Sand Patridges  and a few pairs of Desert Larks were seen in this beautiful scenery.

 A very handsome male Sand Patridge/ Ammoperdix heyi

 Sinai Rosefinch/ Carpodacus synoicus

White-crowned Wheatear/ Oenanthe leucopyga

The swallow ringing in the evening was improved with 20+ swallows ringed. Another nice catch was a Long-eared Owl that was caught by a fish net! This was probably the bird that has avoided us for a couple of days already, sitting on mistnetpoles and poles of the Heligoland. But now we got it! It was sitting on a mistnetpole and the bird totally ignored us. Ron and Yotam approached it, and eventually swooped the net over the bird! One of the funniest catches ever!

Roni having some alone time with his beloved Dead-sea Sparrows

 Modelling with a Long-eared Owl!

Wonders how it ended up in the fish net..

Ringing totals:

Balkan Warbler 1 - 1

Barn Swallow 23 - 1

Blackbird - 1

Blackcap 2 -

Bluethroat 2 - 3

Chiffchaff 40 - 9

Collared Dove 5 -

Common Whitethroat 1 -

Dead-sea Sparrow - 2

Eastern Orphean Warbler - 1

House Martin 3 -

House Sparrow 4 -

Lesser Whitethroat 10 - 8

Long-eared Owl 1 -

Penduline Tit - 2

Quail 1 -

Red-rumped Swallow 3 - 1

Redstart - 1

Rueppel's Warbler 4 -

Sardinian Warbler 6 - 2

Savi's Warbler 2 - 1

Sedge Warbler 1 - 1

Silverbill 2 -

Spanish Sparrow 3 -

White-spectacled Bulbul 1 - 3

Woodchat Shrike - 1

Wryneck - 1 Total 117 - 39 = 155 27 species