Hi everybody ,

On Sunday  6\12 at Birya's pustachio & almond grove -only small numbers + one
Pine Bunting , very shortly yet quite undoubtedly observed .
Yellowhammer      about 10
Brambling         about 10
Siskin               2-3
Hawfinch             3-4 probably all females
Dunnock              2
Pine Bunting         1 seen just for an instant. A bunting with a white chest
striped in brown and a head pattern rather reminiscent of a male House Sparrow .
(0n Wadi Rosh-Pina , later on : No Red Fronted Serins were seen.)

On Monday 7\12 at Kadita - a single huge cloud of Wood Pigeons , minimum
2500,probably more . What a sight !

                 good birding and  happy Hanukah !
                                      Sachy

This morning (8/12/09) at Ashkelon 08:00 - 09:30 with SE winds produced:
Yelkouan Shearwater 5
Kittiwake 1 ad.
Sandwich Tern 5

Yoav.

--
יואב פרלמן
מרכז הצפרות הישראלי
החברה להגנת הטבע

משרד: 03-6388750
פקס: 03-5374302
נייד: 052-3689786

Visit my blog: http://nubijar.blogspot.com/

Visit my gallery: http://www.pbase.com/yoavpe


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Hi,



This afternoon in Mt. Grizim, I heard Red-fronted Serin and see one bird
very loud, Probably there were more birds. Other birds around include
Chaffinches, Linnets and Corn Bunting.



Yosef Kiat



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After looking at photographs of one of the so called fulvescence eagles I
found it to be a juv Steppe Eagle with clear white underwing greater coverts
throughout. Interstingly little if no barring on remiges. The huge gape can
also be clearly seen past the eye.



Not just the birds are "rusty"



Zev



Zev Labinger

Avian Ecologist



Israel Ornithological Center

Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI)

18A Narkisim St

Tivon 36073

Tel: (972)4-9533045

Fax: (972)4-9533899

Cell: (972)52-2775910

Email: Labinger@...





Web:www.teva.org.il <http://www.teva.org.il/>



P

Please consider the environment before printing







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Hi all,
Five days of birding in the south, mainly Eilat area, didn't produced much:
Brown Booby - North beach of Eilat 28/11 +  30/11
White Pelican - A flock of 170 in K19 28-29/11
Ruddy Shelduck  - One in K20 28/11-1/12; One in Ketura 1/12
Red-breasted Merganser - 1 K19 29-30/11
Pallas's Gull - 2 K20 1/12
Cyprus Wheatear  - 1 K19 29-30/11
Desert Warbler - 1 K20 1/12
Yellow-browed Warbler - 1 Nafcha prison 27/11 (With Barak & Tomer)
Good birding
Rami


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Hi All

*Hula fluded area*
strong eastern wind (sharkia) prevented a proper observation
Equila clanga (fulvescens) 2
Black Sholdered Kite *was not seen*
Demoiselle Crane seen by Itay Shani

*Birya area*
Wood Pigeon 2500 (at birya forest)
Goldcrest 2-3 (at the same spot as last year)
*Birya pistachio area*
Hawfinch 3
Brambling some 10th
Siskin 7
Mistle Thrush 2


--
amir ben dov
amir.bendov@...
amir_bd@...
www.yoram.co.il
www.campus-studies.co.il


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Yesterday (1/12/09) Francis Argyle & Asaf Mayrose trapped a Paddyfield
Warvler late in the evening. The bird was released this morning. This is the
7th record for Israel.
Yoav.

--
יואב פרלמן
מרכז הצפרות הישראלי
החברה להגנת הטבע

משרד: 03-6388750
פקס: 03-5374302
נייד: 052-3689786

Visit my blog: http://nubijar.blogspot.com/

Visit my gallery: http://www.pbase.com/yoavpe


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Hi all !
Today in acer north beach
  Adult Great Black-backed Gull

���� �����
��: 0507977621
���"�: yaara-sh@...

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Nothing new but some nice birds and updates:



-Black-shouldered Kite: viewed on and off all day (2nd day since Tzahi found
it) south west Agamon� great clip by Liron Ziv. Looks like the Asian subsp.

-Purple Swamphen viewed several time from the south view point (Mahanyim)

-one field with 8 eagles including 2 fulvescens (juv and sub ad), 2
Imperials and the rest Spotteds

-Juv Bonelli's � seen several times over past 2 weeks.

-3 peregrines chasing each other overhead

-male, female and juv Pallid Harriers seen regularly

-very few Hen Harriers



Overall a pretty nice day!

Zev







Zev Labinger

Avian Ecologist



Israel Ornithological Center

Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI)

18A Narkisim St

Tivon 36073

Tel: (972)4-9533045

Fax: (972)4-9533899

Cell: (972)52-2775910

Email: Labinger@...





Web:www.teva.org.il <http://www.teva.org.il/>



P

Please consider the environment before printing







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Hi all,
Orr Spiegel & Roi Harel saw a flock of ten Dotterels in the upper Hever wadi
in Judean Desert yesterday (30 November).

Cheers,

Nir

--
Nir Sapir

Movement Ecology Lab
Dept. Evolution, Systematics & Ecology
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
101 Berman Building, Givat-Ram, Jerusalem 91904 ISRAEL

Phone no. Office: +972-26586080, Mobile: +972-528330954

nir.sapir@...


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Hi everybody,
Yesterday, Nov.29, at 15:00 - a Black Shouldered kyte was seen at the south
-western part of the Agamon. The  bird was observed for half an hour.

                     Cheers ,
                        Sachy

Hi all ,

On Friday Nov. 27 , together with Rei Segali and Liri
,  about 30 Fieldfares ( 28 were counted in one flock + 1-2 others) were
observed at El-Rom eastern orchards  (northern Golan).

On Saturday Nov.28, some 1800-2000 Wood Pigeons were seen at Kadita area , at
the south eastern corner of Dalton volcanic Plateau( 5 km  west of Safed
,eastern Upper Galilee).
The area is undoubtedly the best site in Israel for this species : Every winter
up to 2500 Wood Pigeons are gathered there ,roosting at the safety of the
planted pine groves and constantly flying back and forth to the nearby ancient
olive and fig orchards and to the edge of the volcanic plateau. What a great 
sight to see these masses on the move ! They probably feel quite secure 'under
the auspices' of up to  100 Hooded Ravins who harass and scare off every small
and medium - sized raptor which might have got closer to those orchards
mentioned above.

The area, though small, is quite untouched and very  diverse ,being the meeting
together of at least 4 different habitats :
1. Volcanic plateau (Golan style ,in miniature), dotted with small ponds or
puddles , in winter .
2. Two water bodies -a big artifitual reservoir and a small seasonal lake.
3.Olive & fig orchards, old and mostly abandoned.
4.Open hills of soft chalk ,covered  with scrub -mainly Prickly Burnet
(cropoterium spinosum).

In consequence there are considrabie quantities and a great variety of birds ,
in stock :
Hundreds of seed-eaters - mainly skylarks ,Goldfinches,Linnets,Chaffinches ,
serins and some Corn Buntings .On Saturday  some 4-5 Rock Sparrows were  seen
also.
Dozens of White wagtails and Meadow Pipits.  A Water Pipit was seen, for the
first time locally,on Saturday.
Lapwings -up to 100 .
Raptors are represented by a couple of LLBuzzards,1-2 Common Buzzards,1 Greater
Spotted Eagle( 3 individuals last year),and 2-3 Imperial Eagles.( A 2ed year
juv. and a 5th year\adult are evident.IEs are very fond of the place and come
constantly every winter. last year there were 4 individuals.)
Dozens of Black Kytes , 2-4 Sparrowhawks .
A Peregrine Falcon was seen on Saturday ,for the first time after an absence of
nearly 2 years. Good News !

                              cheers ,
                                 Sachy

Hi to all,

Amos Stein reports a Cinereous Vulture in the fields�next to Kfar-rupin on the
28th November.

Itai
�I'd rather go birding...
***************************************
TEL: +972-523-689773
iochula@...
itaisha1@...


http://www.geocities.com/itaisha1


P.O.Box 63, Yesod Hamaala 12105, Israel.
OR
P.O. Box 47419, Nairobi, Kenya.

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Hi all

not too much to tell nevertheless 2 things wotrth mentioning

brown necked Raven 1 over the norht beach to aqaba
brown Booby 1 north beach
White Pelicans 171 at K19 - perhaps the largest wintering flock in Eilat
past years and perhaps due to the behaviour of the fisherman at the other
areas

other then that - many waders, ducks and 1 Rami Mizrachi

--
amir ben dov
amir.bendov@...
amir_bd@...
www.yoram.co.il
www.campus-studies.co.il


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Hi

Today ,26.11 ,  2 White tailed Eagles at Emek -hefer.

1 juv
1 sub-adult

also

1 Bonellis Eagle (juv)

Noam & Ofek Kirshenbaum

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Gerda observed ten Alpine Swifts last Sunday (22/11/2009) at 4.30pm flying above
Kiriat Yovel, Jerusalem
Ruthie

Hi all,



Sorry for the belated report.



I spent the 21-2-/11 hiking in the south eastern part of ramon crater.



The hottest thing around now is fling by mega rarities so i decided to go
with it- on the 20th morning a pale, breast streaked and pale\white bellied
pipit flew(not high) over my head south(I was on karbolet hareyrim at that
time). The pipit called clearly a few times-I got a very good impression of
the calls. Immediately I thought It is an odd call(not that iv heard
before). Back at home on the evening of the 21st  I compared the calls with
the calls of blyth's pipit(haven�t heard before) and richard's pipit(have
heard a few times before). Of course that the right call(can't be 100% sure
due to the time between the actual sight and hearing the records) was of a
blyth's...yet another frustrating over head.



Other than that:

3 Syrian serins (wadi gevanim).

5 Sinai rosefinches(ardon mt.).

13 black storks(migrating? South over karbolet hareyrim).



Iil be back

Re'a



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Hi !
This morning in Ein Afek 1 Fieldfare

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��: 0507977621
���"�: yaara-sh@...

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21/11/09
Hi all,
This morning 12-13 individuals, around the valley fish ponds.
Between Beit hashita to Ein harod.
9 of them, were seen from one point.

Good birding
Niv

Shalom all!
Belvoir (Kochav hayarden) Israel - 20.11.09:
Red-tailed (persian)  weatear - 1 adu. male  ssp. xanthoprymna
best wishes!
David porat Afikim Israel

Hi All

today 20/11/09 at Ashdod sea shore another very late Desert Wheatear
photos taken

--
amir ben dov
amir.bendov@...
amir_bd@...
www.yoram.co.il
www.campus-studies.co.il


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Hi all

Shachar Alterman and I went again to the High Negev Mt, this early morning.
We started at Bahad 1. At about 07:00 we heard a group of migrating Skylarks
which probably flew quite low, passing near us. Our attention was drawn by
a distinct and unfamiliar call, which was heard  several times, came from
the Skylarks flock and was obviously made by something else. We tried to
locate the flock but failed to do so. The call reminded me an old telephone
ring (double call).

Right after that we decided to play two larks species calls - Black Lark and
White-winged Lark - since none of their calls were familiar to
me, and since none of the other larks that were previously recorded in
Israel produced that sound, I was curious to check some potential vagrant
larks. After hearing Black Lark call, It was clear it was not our bird.
Then, in order to avoid any bias I imitated the call again before Shachar
played the White-winged Lark call. When the call was eventually played , we
were amazed! It was just identical to what we heard and extremely similar to
my imitation. We are completely certain that we heard the first White-winged
Lark for Israel today.

The flock disappeared to the south and we understood chances to relocate it
were near zero. Yet we checked some places which fit for larks south of
Mitzpe Ramon such as Hameyshar, Neot Smadar Ketura and Yotveta (anyway at
our route). Of course we couldn't find any clue of that bird.

Apart from that:

At Bahad 1: Fieldfare 11, Mistle thrush 2

At Nafha later on: Yellow-browed Warbler 1, Fieldfare 4, Mistle Thrush 1-2,
Syrian Serin 1, Hawfinch 10

At Hameyshar: Hoopoe Lark 1.

At Wadi Ketura: Pallid Scops Owl 1

At Neot Smadar - nothing worth mentioning (the same for Yotvata).

All best
Barak Granit


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Hi all,



today, the 20.11.09 i saw 1 Oriental Skylark south to Lachish areas.



yours,

Ezra Haddad





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Today, at about 3pm, I saw a couple of swifts (about 5-6birds) flying over the
Valley of the Cross in Jerusalem for a few minutes, and then they were gone.
Shabbath Shalom, Ruthie





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Dear all,
Today while scanning a field north of the Agmon lake, I found among a mix flock
of Starlings, Collared Doves and Feral Pigeons a small Dove which seems to fit
the description of an African Collared Dove S. roseogrisea arabica
The bird was noticeably small and comparing to the many Collared Doves around,
it was about 3/4 of the size with a sandy brown upperparts. On a first glance I
was sure it is going to be just a Laughing Dove, but as I’ve placed my scope
on the bird I could easily see a collar. The head seems to be much smaller with
a very steep forehead and a clear pale eye ring.
Every few minutes the all group was lifted to the air, but the bird was easily
re-located after a short scan of the area where they landed. I managed to take
only few record shots of it and they will be uploaded later to the Israbirding
forum.
After this thrilling encounter I climbed the tower at the ‘big Island’ in
the Agmon site and while scanning the water and looking for ringed Cranes, I
located a Purple Swamphen.  To my surprise, it wasn’t the more ’common’
madagascariensis’ subspecies but rather a bird of the ‘caspius’ subspecies
with no trace of green on the back and a pale head. I called Francis Argyle that
was at the time working in our ringing station and he also managed to get a
glimpse of the bird that was an Israeli tick for him.
All the best
Itai Shanni 
I'd rather go birding...
***************************************
Itai Shanni
Manager
Hula Birdwatching Centre
Israel Ornithological Centre (BirdLife partner in Israel)
TEL: +972-523-689773
iochula@...
itaisha1@...
 
http://www.geocities.com/itaisha1

P.O.Box 63, Yesod Hamaala 12105, Israel.
OR
P.O. Box 47419, Nairobi, Kenya.

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All:

I have seen quite a few Asian House Martins in Japan and China and don't recall
seeing a noticeable pale band between the primaries and the coverts on the
underwing. In addition the throat appears to be too contrastingly dark. While
Asian House Martins tend to have a slight dusky wash/faint fine streaks on the
underparts, it is never as dark as this and not concentrated on the throat.

This is definitely an interesting bird but I think other possibilities (from
Africa??) should be considered.

Regards,

Nick Lethaby
nlethaby@...


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Shalom

Today at 0630 Or Berghaus and myself where
in Qibutz En Gev Harbor when we saw in
a group of barn swallows a small sized
swallow ,the bird was smaller than House Martin
and flew in a weak way which make me think its
not a House Martin.the bird had short tail with
sahllow fork that we could hardly see the fork.
the rump patch was smaller and dirtier . the underwing
pattern was allsaw diffrent with good contrast
between the dark wing coverts to paler primaries,
allsaw a pale bar was seen between the primaries and
the wing coverts.the throat was dark like i never
saw with house martin. i took some poor record shots
that you will find them in the link.

http://israbirding.com/israelbirdsforum/forum_entry.php?id=1191
Lior


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hi

24 dotterels were located near talmi yosef - western Negev, by iftach magen and
me

Dotan


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Hi

was requested by Ishay Landoy to report
2 Red Fronted Serins were found by Ishay at Beit El sewage pond
on 14.11.09

--
amir ben dov
amir.bendov@...
amir_bd@...
www.yoram.co.il
www.campus-studies.co.il


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Hi,



On the 13/11, at 07:00 am, single Great Bittern observed at very close
quarters, within BG airport area, completely in the open!



Keren.



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