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.