Going south – no North

Woke up in the dark at the hippie hostel at Mitzpe Ramon and had breakfast at sunrise at nice sewage ponds outside the city. The idea being that Baillon’s Crake could possible be there. No Crakes but plenty of other nice birds.

We also had a suspected Marsh warbler, it wasn’t hanging out in the reeds, instead it choose the thick bushes close to the water. It was grayish in general, and the rump was clearly without red and brown. Since Marsh warbler is uncommon in Israel during spring, instead of ticking Marsh, Mårten took the extra time to do a deep study in the Advanced Bird Id Handbook: The Western Palearctic and the picture below shows that the emargination on outer web of p3 levels with secondary tips, in Marsh warbler more towards the wing tip, thus it is indeed a Reed Warbler ssp fuscus. Very very difficult, and truly hard to id in the field without the bird singing.
The book Advanced Bird Id Handbook, is an invaluable complement to the Collins guide.

Drove on to Sde Boker to look for Syrian Serin. First thing we heard when jumping out of the car was a calling Syrian Woodpecker.

Also the Palestine Sunbird was everywhere.

We met two local young birders there, Gal Marinov and Leor Dor. When we said that we were looking for Syrian Serin in Sde Boker, they said – uhh – why? You should be searching at Ben Gurion Memorial, we have the spot. A swimming pool next to our school. We went there but couldn’t

find the Serins. Desert Finches outside the Kibbutz though.

Gave up and went to a wadi close to km 152 where Rikard Ek had seen Arabian Warbler a few days ago. We found the warbler in the dry wadi at the very last light of the day.

Next day we started in Wadi Yahel, supposedly a safe spot for the Syrian Serin. Almost all birders we met have said that the Serins are easy in that wadi. Starting a day with some birding in the sunrise, and then do breakfast after an hour or two is a good way to start a day. No Serins though, Cretzschmar’s bunting, Scrub Warbler, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Subalpine Warbler and Ortolan Bunting.

At this point, the damned Serin sailed up to an unthreatened most-wanted-bird position. The Syrian Serin winters in the south, and breeds in the north at high altitude. When we received fresh reports from Avner Rinot with 6 Oriental Skylarks close to Kfar Rupin and a group of Cinerous Buntings at Mount Gilboa We decided to go north, to Mount Hermon where the Syrian Serins are easy.
Since we were now in the South, very close to the known site for the Black Scrub-robin, we decided to tick that first.

 

We arrived at the right fields in the north with maybe an hour left to  sunset. The fields were packed with Yellow Wagtails, several thousands. Mostly Felldegg, but also Beema and Superciliaris. Difficult to search for the Larks with the distracting flocks of Wagtails. We didn’t find the Larks, but it felt good. Thus we decided to give the same field another go the next morning. Started at sunset to methodically walk the fields. Soon we flush one Oriental Skylark, and then another. Decent views and we all heard the call perfectly. Nice, a hard-to-find bird in WP.

Went to Mount Gilboa to search for Cinerous Bunting. A nice hike up the mountain. No buntings though. They are on their way to Turkey. We did find Long-billed Pipit again though. A few days ago we worked really hard to get it, and now we just got if for free.

Compare to the picture from the Collin’s Bird Guide – it’s the right bird ehh.

Continued north, via a lunch at the shore of Sea of Gaillei, where we got Pygmy Cormorant and Pallas’s Gull.

Arrived at Mount Hermon, Majdal Shams in the afternoon. Now it was time to nail that boogey Serin. No Serins, a few year ticks though, Western Rock-Nuthatch and Sombre Tit. Birded the slopes of Mount Hermon into the dark and gave up, freezing like crazy.

Next morning, at dawn, we’re back in the same hills, and we find the Serin immeditaly. Perseverance pays off.

 

With everything in the north ticked off, we went south again. Passing through the city of Pardes Hana-Karkur where Nanaday Parakeet was seen many years ago. The Paraket is considered exterpitaded from Israel, however nothing wrong with having lunch there – dreaming – you never know. Pushed on towards Nizzana where we after a few hours searching found the McQueens Bustard in the last light.

This was a bird on the difference list, Mårten saw it in Kuwait, but although we searched for hours there after that bird, we never saw it again. It feels good to be able to remove a bird from the difference list.

Mårten maintains the difference list, and we have quite a few birds on that list today. Whenever there are two good beds and one not so good, whoever has the most birds on the difference list gets to get the poor bed. The idea being that the person that is worst at sharing gets the worst bed. Erik got a really good bird on the difference list this morning, one that’ll be hard to repair. Boring.