Tuesday, April 12

Night and day

Last night, we went out to Yotvata, in search of the rich nocturnal wildlife. Even before leaving the IBRCE, Bram and Teun got a lifer in the shape of a Levant Sparrowhawk flting overhead. A nice Hobby was hunting swifts at last light- a first for the season for me. We arrived to Yotvata at dusk- at first; the fields looked quite empty with only some Stone Curlews around. After extensive searching Itai located the famous Pharaoh Eagle Owl! The bird showed extremely well, most of the time hunting Stenodactylus Geckos on the ground! All the foreign volunteers enjoyed a highly wanted lifer…

Bram is Phonescoping(what the hell is Johannes doing?!)

   
Ringing this morning was better than the last few days, with a few good birds. A first for the season 2nd cy female Pied Flycatcher, and another 2nd cy male seen around.


A 2nd cy male Common Redstart.

The western birds(Phoenicurus phoenicurus) usually pass a few weeks later than the Eastern(Phoenicurus samamisicus).
I just can't get enough of those beautiful warblers…hope you don't mind another one ;-)

 The best catch of the day was actually a mammal-a Brown Hare (Lepus capensis)! The poor animal found itself inside one of our Helgoland traps just as I walked in during the first morning round…after a few photos she made her way out through a hall in the trap…

I spent 3 hours at the north beach this afternoon. Strong southern wind was blowing since the morning…the highlights were 4 Red necked Phalaropes flying among some Ducks, a Ruddy Shelduck, and a nice Arctic Skua.
 

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