Eilat day 2 (part 2)

I then headed back to Eilat along the drainage canal, seeing plenty of immature gulls I couldn't identify as well as Black Stork and Caspian Tern, before heading up into the hills and Wadi Shachamon.  This wadi contains typical desert habitat right on the edge of town and used to be a regular wintering site for Pallid Scops Owl.  There have been no reports so far this winter but Noam was confident they should be back already and told me how to look for them so I was pretty confident I would find one if it was there.  It wasn't, of course, but I thoroughly enjoyed my first taste of desert birding in seven years, with White-crowned Black-Wheatear singing within sight of Eilat's last apartment blocks, Blackstart (above), one of my absolute favourites, everywhere, Palestine Sunbird, two Desert Larks feeding at my feet, and a pair of Scrub Warblers showing exceptionally well.

There was also a flowering bush covered in butterflies but, in my rush to check every acacia tree for the owl, I only took pictures of one species.  It turns out to be an African species which is rapidly colonising the eastern Mediterranean and has the wonderful name of Pomegranate Playboy (Deudorix livia).

Eilat day 2 (part 1)

Having already been to Israel, and Eilat, 4 times, this holiday was more about relaxed birding and regularly working my temporary patch than chasing after the few highly localised and difficult species I've still not seen.  So, after an early morning walk around Ofira Park with much the same birds as the previous day as well as a noticeable arrival of Chiffchaffs, I headed to the IBRCE, where I met with its director Noam Weiss.  He was extremely helpful and gave me all sorts of tips and directions to find some lifers so that I decided to give some of them a go after all.  I spent the rest of the morning around the reserve, which was rather quiet but nonetheless provided Little Green Bee-Eater, Graceful Prinia and one or two Marsh Sandpipers, and enjoyed watching a mixed flock of winter-plumaged Dunlin and Little Stints feeding right in front of one of the hides.

Eilat day 1

Eilat is one of my favourite places in the world to go birding.  Being at the junction of three continents, there is a wonderful mix of European, Arabian and African species, supplemented twice a year by the millions of migrants passing through on their way to or from their wintering grounds in Africa.  As such, there is always a feeling of excitment to birding around Eilat, not quite knowing what could turn up next, together with a myriad of non-breeding plumages to keep even the most experienced birders on their toes.  With just a week's holiday to take this year and only a short weekend in Dublin since I started my new job back in May, it didn't take me long to decide where to spend it once I found out about the ridiculously cheap flights Transavia are offering from Amsterdam to Eilat this winter.
When arriving into a new country, I always wonder what will be the first bird I encounter, and the new Ramon International Airport, located out in the desert, didn't disappoint as the very first birds I saw were a pair of Brown-necked Ravens playing with a stick.  Once in Eilat, having spotted some Greater Flamingoes from the bus, I was pleased to find my room looked out over Ofira Park.  This city park is perhaps my favourite place within Eilat as, during spring migration, it has been so full of migrants you are almost kicking the Wrynecks out of the way!  This was the end of November, however, with migration seemingly over.  Still, my first short walk around the park provided lots of wintering White Wagtails, a juvenile Masked Shrike, plenty of House Crows and a mixed flock of both House and Spanish Sparrows, not bad for my first twenty minutes or so.
I then headed towards the infamous North Beach and was amazed to see Tristram's Grackle at the marina.  This used to be a truly desert species for which one had to travel all the way up to the Dead Sea in order to have a reasonable chance of seeing, but seems to have expanded its range and now hangs around the hotel balconies in downtown Eilat!

The seafront gardens provided another desert species which seems to have moved into town, namely Rock Martin, while North Beach itself was quiet other than a single Common Sandpiper and lots of White-eyed Gulls coming in from Jordan to roost at dusk.  Nevertheless, I was very happy with my first afternoon's birding and full of anticipation as to what the next few days would bring.

Like lightning

It has gotten cold this week so, yesterday afternoon, I hung a bag of peanuts out on my balcony for the first time since March.  I've written before about how quick my local birds react to me resuming my winter feeding but, yesterday, they smashed all records as I had both Great Tit and Blue Tit feeding within ten minutes!  How is that possible?  It's almost as if they've been sitting there waiting for me to get my act together since autumn began.  My local park has been devoid of Chiffchaffs for a few weeks now although I did find one in some waterside willows elsewhere in Brussels last weekend.  More unexpected, though, was a group of around 20 Lesser Black-backed Gulls.  We usually have one or two overwintering along the canal somewhere but mid-November is very late for such a large group this far inland.  Other lingerers making the most of the sun were some Sympetrum dragonflies and a couple of Clouded Yellow butterflies, which are scarce in Brussels in general but almost unheard of in November.