I Think I Saw A Few Cranes In The Hula Valley

On my way back from the Hula Valley to Tel Aviv, I'm taking advantage of the wifi on our base. I've seen a lot of crane migration in my life and I've loved them all, but Israel is creeping up to the top spot in my heart.  The Hula Valley is an incredible story of conservation, partnership and sheer biomass beauty.

Here's an up close shot of one of the 30,000 cranes.  It is a common crane (Grus grus) and they sound an awful lot like sandhill cranes but look a bit different.

 

Black-shouldered Kite

Here is a video from Liron Ziv of a black-shouldered kite family in the Hula Valley. There is a nest this year and the local birders are quite proud of this new nest species in this area. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FXOyFfkutA

They look very similar to the white-shouldered kites I've seen in the US. They are beautiful little birds. Still has been a treat to watch them.

Random Laughing Dove

20111120-120924.jpg A laughing dove taken with my iPhone and spotting scope. These were one of the common birds outside my hotel room in Tel Aviv.

Shalom from Israel!

Greetings, in case you haven't heard I'm currently in Israel while poor Non Birding Bill has to live the bachelor life back in Minneapolis.  I'll be posting photos when I can on my Twitter feed and on my Facebook page (you should see what I've been eating).  I'll of course update here, but from what I've heard, it sounds like this trip is the sort where they get you up and dawn and bird the crap out of you until 10pm, so we'll see what happens here.

This weekend was spent mostly in Tel Aviv and we birded around the Negev for some desert species.  Above is a long-legged buzzard that I shot with my iPhone.  I'll note when I can which photos are from my SLR and which were taken with my phone.  This is mostly for me as I'm on a quest to see if I can eventually go out in the field with just my iPhone instead of my camera to document birds.  The long-legged buzzard is in the same genus as red-tailed hawk.  Those are a couple of hooded crows on the fence.

Some of the Negev is cultivated and some is desert.  The brown landscape is full of brown birds (I'm so happy!).  I love travel, it's always been one of my goals with the blog, but I still can't help but look around and think, "How the heck did I end up in the Middle East to go bird watching?"

Here are some of the elegant brown bird running around in the above photo.  These are called cream-colored coursers and they scurry around eating insects, they are so delicate and perfect in their shape, size and movement, they look as if they were designed by the artist Erte.

It's been hard for me to figure out what bird has really knocked my socks off--they are all amazing and I tend to find my favorite bird is whatever bird is right in front of me.  But these Namaqua doves above (taken while balancing a Swarovski spotting scope on the car window with my SLR are made up of pure awesomesauce.  You are looking at thinking, "Yeah, Shaz, I see a bluish gray dove with a black mask and beard, that's a cool looking dove."

But what you can't see is that these guys are about the same size as a house sparrow!  BT3 is commented that they are like a Harris' sparrow of doves.  It's like someone took a little budgie, a little Harris' sparrow and a mourning dove and conjured up this.  Awesome little guys.

Quite a few of the bird species that are in Israel are some of the same that I saw in Kazakhstan a few years ago like the above juvenile red-footed falcon.  It's great to see birds that I was not sure I would ever see again.

This is a photo from my hotel balcony in Tel Aviv this morning.

What I'm most looking forward to in this trip is learn more about the conservation efforts of Israel.  We're on our way to spot with tons and tons of cranes and I hear we are in mobile blinds...as in the blinds move as we are in them.

This was one of the photos they sent along with the information about the Hula Valley Bird Festival.  I noticed the cranes were flushed and that a tractor was pulling the blind bird watchers are using to view cranes.  This is not something that is done at other crane festivals, but the local ornithologists tell me that there is specific method in this madness and we will see why they do it first hand (it's to help the cranes out).

So excited to learn some new bird stuff!

 

Birdchick Podcast #79: Birder Packing, Protesting: Birding Style!

I have no idea what's going to happen with the podcast over the next week and a half.  I'll be in Israel and though I'm assured that there will be Internet access-I have no idea about what kind of free time I'll have and so we may have a podcast before December 1 or we may not.  Speaking of traveling, I have a post on 10,000 Birds about essentials all birders should back when traveling. In the meantime, check out Twin Cities Naturalist--he has a contest!

Right now if you order a pair of binoculars from Eagle Optics, you can get an ABA membership for $15 instead of $45.  Listen to the podcast for a discount code to Eagle Optics.

Dead found in a salad bag.  What species could it be?

Non Birding Bill's Kickstarter Project!

Birders who are protesting the Sandhill Crane Hunt in Kentucky are buying a license and a lottery ticket.  Only 400 will be given out and it's only $13 to enter if you are a non resident.  This same strategy was used by Paul Johnsgard in the 1990s to protest a prairie chicken hunt and was successful.

Some western marsh harrier males have permanent female plumage. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaa?

Fascinating article about veery migration--where they go, how long they stay.  Wow, if we found this out about veeries, what else don't we know.  This is what a veery sounds like.  If you have never heard one in the wild, it is a moral imperative that you rectify this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK1gaTqBRRk[/youtube]

Birdchick Podcast #79



Golden Eagle and Bald Eagle Field Trips

Can you tell the difference between these 2 birds?  If not, you should consider coming to the National Eagle Center's Golden Eagle Field Trips.

Identifying bald and golden eagles in the wild can be a challenge. We are fortunate to be able to see both bald and golden eagles in the Upper Mississippi River region in the winter months.  During the NEC Golden Eagle seminars and field trips, you will learn what to look for to distinguish bald and golden eagles, including juveniles. You’ll also gain valuable raptor field identification skills from experienced birdwatcher and NEC Education Director, Scott Mehus.  Each field trip begins at the National Eagle Center at 1:00pm. After a brief classroom session learning tips for identifying golden eagles, participants will caravan out to a field site to observe golden eagles in the wild.  Call (651) 565-4989 or email nationaleaglecenter@gmail.comfor details.

I've already had a couple of golden eagles show this fall during my travels so they are definitely back along the Minnesota/Wisconsin border.  That's a photo of a juvy golden that I got a couple of weeks ago.  Not that eagle watching ever gets tiring but it is fun to pick the golden eagle needle out of the hundreds of bald eagles in the haystack.