I just had a few hours on my final morning before heading back to the airport for my early afternoon flight. After the exertions of the previous day, it was hard to motivate myself to do anything since I didn't really expect to find any new birds. There had been a very strong southerly wind the previous evening, however, which was whipping the sea into a frenzy more typical of Ostend than Eilat, so I visited North Beach once again, where this Striated Heron was calmly hunting its way along the row of buoys. On the way there, 3 Common Mynah were feeding in Ofira Park, another species I'd not seen the previous days and which seems to have colonised the whole of Israel since my last visit, when it was only found in the north of the country. An immature Armenian Gull was the third new species of the morning, thus taking my short holiday list to 77 species in 4 days. I was also pleased to spot this lionfish loafing around the rocks within the harbour, before returning to the airport and the grey skies of Belgium.
