Aarhusbirder

søndag den 13. november 2011

Rødhovedet And i Egå Engsø

Lokale HLL fandt lørdag d. 12/11 hele tre Rødhovedet Ænder i Egå Engsø. Efterhånden også lang tid siden, der har været noget ordentligt i kommunen. Det drejer sig om det første fund for Århus Kommune og måske de samme fugle som set i Østerild Fjord 9-10/11.

13/11 Rødhovedet And 2 hanner + 1 hun/1k Egå Engsø

RDN

fredag den 11. november 2011

Bonaparte's Gull, Hirtshals Harbor 10-11/11-2011.

This adult Bonaparte's Gull represents the 4th danish record and more amazingly the third from Hirtshals Harbor.

mandag den 7. november 2011

Lesser Whitethroat ssp? part two

The bird was refound at Grønningen on sunday the 6/11 by HKR and FSH. The bird was frequenting the same bushy area as on the day before. The bird was heard several times always giving the same chatter reminiscent of a mixture between Tit and Sardinian Warbler.

A permission from the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen to try and ting the bird was obtained and a net was placed between its two favourite bushes. Several birders were now on site all having succesfully twitched Denmarks third ever Black-eared Wheatear (second record of ssp. hispinica, a potential split from the eastern race melanoleuca) at Thorsminde first. The bird went missing for an hour before Martin Søgaard relocated it in its favourite bush. The two bushes were sourrounded and soon after a bird flew into the net, a Wren.... The disappointment was enormous. That only lasted for five seconds as the Lesser Whitethroat flew out of the bush and into the net. The bird was quickly secured and put in a bag. What seemed to be an impossible task had turned out just as we wanted it. The bird was taken to Blåvand Fuglestation for measurements and photos whereafter it was released at the same spot as where it was caught. A feather was taken for DNA-analysis. The following day the bird was still present in the same area (OA).

Please do comment on the bird

6/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp? Blåvand Fuglestation. The eye-color was a bit less dark than on the picture

6/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp? Blåvand Fuglestation

6/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp? Blåvand Fuglestation. A wing of 59 mm and hp2 = hp 8. I will try and get all the measurements from the ringers.

6/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp? Blåvand Fuglestation. Clear white outer tail feather with white also present on the second and maybe also the third tail feather. The extent of white on the second outermost tail feather maybe indicating ssp. halimondendri?

6/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp? Blåvand Fuglestation. The sandy brown back clearly extending into the "hood".

6/11 Henrik Kristensen at Blåvand Fuglestation

RDN

lørdag den 5. november 2011

Lesser Whitethroat ssp?? Grønningen, Blåvand.

This interesting Lesser Whitethroat was found by Henrik Kristensen on Grønningen near Blåvand in the afternoon on 5/11. It gave a very sandybrown overall impression. The bird was seen foraging on the ground several times and flicked its tail often when seen foraging in bushes.
The bird only called once with a rattling chatter. Six birders manage to see the bird before darkness.
Please do comment on the bird.

5/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp? Grønningen, Blåvand. Note small size, small bill, overall sandy color (wing giving the impression of an Desert Wheatear).

5/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp? Grønningen, Blåvand. Note short primary projection and sandy brown back extending onto the head

5/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp? Grønningen, Blåvand.

5/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp? Grønningen, Blåvand. Note short primary projection, small size and sandy brown back extending onto the head

5/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp?. Note small size, big head, short bill and "cute" face.

5/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp? Grønningen, Blåvand. Note small size, short primary projection, sandy-brown back and small size. When seen without the overall sandy color of the bird was very obvious.

5/11 Lesser Whitethroat ssp??, Grønningen, Blåvand.

RDN

fredag den 4. november 2011

Israel 7/3-13/3 2010

8/3

Left Neot Hakikar at 0530 to eat breakfast at little lake just south of the Dead Sea. The lake is situated one kilometre north of the Harava Junction on the eastern side of the road. Reedbeds surround the lake and these need to be scanned thoroughly in order to find Clamorous Reed Warbler and Dead Sea Sparrow. We found a big flock of Dead Sea Sparrows roosting in the south-western part of the reed beds. The birds flew out of the night roost at 0615-0630. Clamorous Reed Warbler sang during the entirety of our visit but we had to work hard to see one. The lake should also be a good place to spot spotted/little crake though we did not see any during our visit. A Ferruginous Duck was a nice find though.

Some big cliffs extending for kilometres along the south-western shores of the Dead Sea holds a large breeding colony of Pallid Swifts and we saw 1000’s of birds as we passed going north during the morning.

A small lake near Nehe Sowar (there is a gas station) should be a good place for Dead Sea Sparrow but we did not have time to check this.

En route to Wadi Mishmar we passed several small wadies and added Tristams Starling, Blackstart, Rock Swallow, Nubian Ibex and Dorcas Gazelle but do not use time here even though it might be hard. These species were all common later on.

Wadi Mishmar is probably the best and most unspoiled of the wadi’s south of Ein Gedi. Be sure to go the end of the dirt road to park the car next to a small fenced area. Fan-tailed Raven, Arabian Babbler, White-Crowned Black Wheatear, Cypress Warbler, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Bonelli’s Eagle, Scrub Wabler, Blue Rock Thrush and Rock Hyrax. Half of our group also saw Mountain Bunting. The Wadi should also be good for Sinai Rosefinch.

Ate lunch at the visitor centre at Ein Gedi which did not produce anything new. Did some shopping in the Kibbutz and headed southward. Near Masada we found two Pale Rock Sparrows.

In Shizaf Reserve we met up with Oded Kenyan. Shizaf Reserve has several breeding pairs of Arabian Warbler. On our way to the warblers Oded showed us a Spiny-tailed Lizard which was truly amazing. Unfortunately we could not locate any warbler maybe do to the fact that we arrived late in the afternoon. Remembering Odeds youtube-videos that he had send us while we were still in Denmark we quickly decided to give it a go again the next morning.

In the evening Oded gave us spotlighting trip around the Shizaf area. It was quite productive with Arabian Wolf (probably of the small desert subspecies), Cape Hare and Lesser Egyptian Jerboa 2 being the highlights. Spent the night at Harezeva

Fan-tailed Raven, Wadi Mishmar

Cypress Warbler, Wadi Mishmar

Blackstart, Wadi Mishmar

Tarucus rosaceus, Wadi Mishmar

Golden Spiny Mouse, Wadi Mishmar

Sand Partridge, Wadi Mishmar

Southern Grey Shrike, Shizaf Reserve

Near Masada we found two Pale Rock Sparrows.

Nubian Ibex

Rock Hyrax, Wadi Mishmar

Tristams Starling, Ein Gedi

Yellow-vented Bulbul, Ein Gedi

Just south of the Dead Sea

Arabian Wolf (probably of the small desert subspecies)

Dead Sea

Pallid Swift, Dead Sea

Together we will find everything!

Text RDN and photos SSL

tirsdag den 1. november 2011

Tour de PIK

To fine 1K hanner af Middelhavs- og Ørkenstenpikker gæstede denne dag (1/11-2011) Vestkysten.

Black-eared Wheatear ( 1cy male ), (Oenanthe hispanica) ssp. hispanica

Fuglen var meget aktiv, og opholdte sig en del på tagene.

Black-eared Wheatear ( 1cy male ), (Oenanthe hispanica) ssp. hispanica

Ole på fotojagt.

Billedet er taget kl. 16.32 i det sidste lys.

Desert Wheatear ( 1cy male ), (Oenanthe deserti)

søndag den 30. oktober 2011

Israel 7/3-13/3 2010

7/3

Got our cars at 0530 and headed straight towards Ashdod where we were going to meet up with Yoav Perlman for some gulling. Common Myna and Ring-necked Parakeet were both easy on the drive from Tel Aviv to Ashdod. Ashdod is situated right at the Mediterranean Sea and offers very close views of different gull species/subspecies that are very rare in north-western Europe (cachinans, barabensis, heuglini, fuscus and armenicus). We definitely got our gulls on! At the coast we saw the only Pallas Gull of the trip, an adult in summer plumage at sea off Ashdod. Other birds of interest included 2K Pallid Harrier, Rüppels Warbler and Syrian Woodpeckers. Mountain Gazelle and several Harduns were other gems.

From Ashdod we vent to Hulda Reservoir were White-headed Ducks are numerous during the winter. The Reservoir is fairly small and packed with ducks. Other birds of interest included 2 males of Ferruginous Duck and some passage of White Storks. A European Chameleon was a first for everybody except Yoav!

We left Hulda and headed towards Lahar Reserve making a short stop at a local Falaffel Bar recommended by Yoav (it was great). The place was also good for the local race of Jay.

Lahar Reserve is breeding site for Long-billed Pipit and an overwintering site for Finsch’s Wheatear. The pipits are quite easily found on the slopes of the hills – we had 3-4 singing individuals. A male and a female Finch’s Wheatear were seen along the rocky road to the hills. Remember to keep your car in sight during a visit to this area. Yoav told us that cars often get robbed her, so look out for the local shepherd. It is fairly easy to tick of the pipit and have the car in sight though. At Lahar Reserve we also saw our first Golden Jackals (4) of the trip.

It was now late afternoon and we had to get going if we were to see any Nightjars at Neot Hakikar. A small detour to a cliff near the Goral Junction with breeding Lesser Kestrel was successful.

At Neot Hakikar Yoav gave a short introduction to the miserable situation of the Nubian Nightjar which is one of the rarest breeding birds in Israel. Spotlighting along the roads and over the fields gave good views of 4 Nubian Nightjars including two seen on ground. Unfortunately they did not stay long enough for us to take any photographs.

We spend the night at the Cycle Inn in the local kibbutz. A short spotlighting walk within the kibbutz produced nothing of interest though everyone agreed that it had been a perfect day to the begin our tour of Israel.