Saturday, February 18, 2017


Northern Birding

In Gamla resereve we had rare birds that includes Radde's Accentor, Black Vulture, Bonelli's Eagle,Wryneck  and Woodlarks and also regulars like Griffins Vultutres, Common Whitethroats, Finches Wheathears, Blue Rock Thrushes and Hen Harrier.


Black Vulture


Griffin Vulture

Radde's Accentor
Wrynecks isn't common in this time of the year



Also in Hula valley we saw our target species. The highlight was the Bean Goose, only the 5th for Israel, additionally we saw Marbled and Tufted Ducks, Common Pochard and White-Headed Ducks.


Bean Goose


Marbled Ducks


White-Headed Duck with Tufted Duck



Saturday, February 11, 2017

 Judean Birding  

2 weeks ago a dutch birder found a Pallas's Leaf Warbler at En Gedi reserve,the 5th for Israel!
Last week Nisim Primo relocated her.
Today we found her after  30 minutes search. we spent  2 hours with this beautiful bird.


Pallas's Leaf Warbler





Mountain Buntings were also in En Gedi reserve


  After we left the reserve we went to Wadi Mishmar , where we saw Cyprus and Spectacled Warblers. 
with the good vibes we continued to Jerusalem. Bramblings and Redwing were the highlights.


Redwing

                        
Brambling

                            



Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Birding in Thailand

Last month my family and I flew to Thailand for 10 days vacation in Khao-Lak,
2 hours north from Phuket. It wasn't a birding trip at all but I was birding were I could.
I visited 3 times in Leam Pakarang, one of the best birding sites for waders and seabirds
in the west coast of Thailand, one time at Sri Phang-Nga National Park and one day with a birding Guide.



Leam Pakarang


If you will stay in Kho-Lak or Phuket I recommend you to visit there.
Big numbers of Terek Sandpiper, Greater and Lesser Sand Plovers, Red-Necked Stints,
Whimbrels and Curlews, Bar-Tailed Godwits,Pacific Golden Plovers, Grey Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, Pacific Reef Egret  and Brahminy Kites. I had lucky to see White-Bellied Sea- Eagle and Grey-Tailed Tattler.


White-Bellied Sea-Eagle


Grey-Tailed Tattler with Greater Sand Plover




 Red-Necked Stint



Pacific Golden Plover

Lesser Sand Plover

Whimbrels

Terek Sandpiper

Pacific Reef Egret


Sri Phang-Nga 

Birding in the Jungle is very hard mainly in your first time but I did what I could.
Abbots Babblers,Arctic Warblers,Black-Crested BulbulsCrismon Sunbirds,Black-Winged Flycatcher-Shrike,Swinhoe's Minivet and more.In the way back to the hotel we spotted a Dollarbird.
Dollarbird



Black-Crested Bulbul

Swinhoe's Minivet

Birding day with a Ike Suriwang

In our day we stoped in three places.
We started at Sri Phang-Nga national park, we were trying to ticked the Banded Pitta but we did'nt 
find her. We saw Red-Bearded Bee-Eater not realy well,Asian Brown Flycatchers,White-Rumped Shamas,Chinese Blue Flycatcher,Abbott's and Grey-Throated Babbler, Asian Glosy Starling, Ochraceous and Hairy-Backed BulbulGraeter Racket-Tailed Drongo,Grey-Rumped Treeswift,Chestnut-Headed Bee-Eater also we heared Great Hornbill and Japanese Paradise-Flycatcher.


White-Rumped Shama


Chinese Blue Flycatcher


Greater Recket-Tailed Drongo


Asian Brown Flycatcher


Abbott's Babbler

Chestnut-Headed Bee-Eater

In our next stop we saw one of my target species in Thailand, the River Lapwing.

River Lapwing



In the end of the day we have been searching for the Spotted Wood Owl and
we found two pairs! In the same area we saw Brown Shrike,Vernal Hanging-Parrot and  Gray-Capped Pigmy Woodpecker. 

Spotted Wood Owl
                       

Vernal Hanging-Parrot 
                       


Brown Shrike
                      \

                 
Gray-Capped Pigmy Woodpecker
                                         


It was a privilege to spent a day with Ike, thank you on a great trip.


I also want  thank to my grandfather who organized this vacation. 

Weekend in the north  My father was invted to a doctors convention in kfar Blum, Hula Valley and I joined him. In Friday I visited The...