Ode-vent Day 7

There are several bluets in the genus Coenagrion, but all of them have a different-shaped black pattern at the base of the abdomen.  In Azure Damselfly (C.puella), by far our commonest species, this takes the form of an elongated U, somewhat resembling a rugby goalpost.  Other, much rarer and localised species, have markings bearing resemblance to a chalice, a spearhead or even a spider.

Eilat day 5

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.

Ode-vent Day 6

The Common Blue Damselfy (Enallagma cyathigerum) is another widespread and abundant species and the only European representative of a mainly North American family.  It is best told from the similar bluets by the distinctive mushroom-shaped black mark at the base of the abdomen.

Ode-vent Day 5

The bluetails are probably the best known of our damselflies with their distinctive 'tail-lights'.  The bicoloured pterostigma also helps tell them apart from other bluets.  Only two species occur in Belgium and most of Europe, the blue being closer to the tail tip on Scarce Bluetail.  This Blue-tailed Damselfly (Ischnura elegans) is one of our commonest and most abundant species and easily found wherever there is some standing water.

Eilat day 4

Spurred on by my success of the previous day, I took the early (06h30) bus to Uvda valley, an extremely remote and extensive wadi which potentially held at least five more lifers for me.  Before arriving in Eilat, I had no idea this area could even be reached by public transport but Noam's excellent directions convinced me to give it a go, especially since I was told there were lots of Temminck's Larks around.  I was thus hopeful of finding at least one new species but, once there, the plain seemed totally devoid of life, as is often the case in the desert.  The first bird I saw was a Hoopoe Lark, a highly sought-after species I'd only seen once before, although it took me quite a while to work out what it was in the early morning light.  I then found a swath of green stretching across the valley which was alive with wagtails, Stonechats, Desert Larks and Mourning Wheatears. Here, I spotted a small, black wheatear perched atop a bush and immediately noticed a more compact profile, more rounded head and shorter bill compared to the more elongated, almost Blue Rock Thrush-like profile of the many immature White-crowned Black Wheatears I'd seen over the past two days.  It soon dropped down from the bush and flashed white at the bases of the primaries, leaving me in doubt that I was watching a Basalt Wheatear!  This is an extremely rare and little-known taxon with an estimated population of just a few hundred pairs restricted to the basalt desert of southern Syria and northern Jordan, a very small percentage of which (probably less than 10 individuals) overwinters in a few scattered and isolated localities in southern Israel.  It is currently considered a subspecies of Mourning Wheatear but may well be raised to species status soon, so was a semi-lifer.  As exciting as it was, I still hadn't found any of my target species and it was already very hot out on the exposed plain so I pressed on, conscious of the need to get to somewhere with shade as the temperature rapidly approached 30°C.  Despite the reports, however, the only larks I could find were Desert and lots of Crested, so I reluctantly headed back to Eilat, where I could only muster the energy for a short visit to North Beach in the late afternoon, finally managing to identify some of the gulls as Heuglin's.  This is another taxon in limbo since it is either a distinct species or a Siberian subspecies of Lesser Black-backed Gull, depending on which authority one follows.

A desert in the desert; female Desert Wheatear which took me far too long to identify!

Ode-vent Day 4

Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis), is by far the commonest spreadwing and easily recognised by its cream-coloured pterostigma.  It prefers ponds surrounded by trees and hundreds of them can be found during late summer in places such as Rouge-Cloître/Roodklooster and the Sonian Forest.

Ode-vent Day 3

The Lestes, or spreadwings, are, as their name suggests, the exception among the damselflies since they perch with their wings open.  Not particularly common or easy to see, some of the five species occurring in Belgium are difficult to tell apart, with the amount and shape of the blue markings on males as well as the shape of the appendages at the tip of the abdomen being diagnostic.  Another very important feature for all odonata is the pterostigma, the coloured patch along the leading edge of the wings, which is dark in this Emerald Damselfly or Common Spreadwing (Lestes sponsa).