First day in Eilat, southern Israel

I'm in Israel at the behest of BirdLife International Israel and others to compete in the Champions of the Flyways Bird Race to raise money and awareness for the plight of million of migrants that run the gauntlet of the many hunters that kill them in North Africa and the Mediterranean.

Along with several other teams from Israel, US and Europe the idea is to see as many species as possible in this amazing region over 24 hours this coming Tuesday. 

 Great scenery

Two minibus loads of birders were shown the lay of the land today in order for individual teams to work out their strategy for the day of the race.

 Some of the rabble

The terrain ranges from urban to out and out desert.

 The Negev

The possible birds to be seen is mind-blowing. Today, despite being in a big crowd we collectively managed to connect with Crowned Sandgrouse, Little Crake, Masked Shrike and even a vagrant Pied Bush Chat.

 Steppe Buzzard

 Bluethroat

 Lesser Whitethroat

A male  Ruppell's Warbler 

 Spur-winged Plover

A very brown looking Common Swift

RSPB Rainham Marshes Sunday stroll

 Howard Vaughan, warden with TUB on a similar walk in 2012

I had a lovely Sunday morning/early afternoon co-leading a bird walk at Rainham Marshes in the company of the hugely knowledgable Howard Vaughan and up to 40 eager birders.

 Some of the crowd

We saw a lot of the usual suspects - Shelduck, Wigeon, Teal, Kestrel and Skylark along with an unexpected couple of Red Kites that materialised distantly before vanishing.

 A couple of male House Sparrows in the car park

 A flitting Chiffchaff

 The same male between bouts of singing

 Greylags

A distant (and fuzzy) Red Kite

London's first Whinchat of the spring shows up at The Scrubs

 Daybreak at The Scrubs

I'm back in the saddle at my local patch having attended it three mornings in a row now, which is more visits than in the past two months!

 Singing Dunnock

A variety of songsters were clearing their throats including Wrens, Dunnocks, Robins, Song Thrushes and at least one male Chaffinch. I also saw a few Redwings on the move, a couple of Jackdaws heading east and at least four Jays along the embankment.

The best bird of the morning was a Common Buzzard that managed to raise the ire of around 150 Carrion Crows, all of whom rose up to escort the predator on its way. The groundsmen reported another Buzzard yesterday afternoon circling over the prison.

The most intriguing record was a very early Whinchat two days ago. It was seen on the same afternoon that a migrant Stonechat was frequenting the grassland. The observer, a visiting birder, was certain that the bird he saw was indeed London's first Whinchat of the spring as it is often possible to confuse juvenile/female Stonechats with Whinchats. A great record. Is this a sign of things to come?

A Carrion Crow on the lookout for passing raptors

Northern Shoveler

 A female Northern Shoveler

The Northern Shoveler, as its name suggests, is a bit of a northern duck. I'm not speaking about the north of England though. They breed largely, if not wholly, within the Northern Hemisphere taking in North America and the northern areas of Europe and Asia. In the winter they range further south of the equator and can very rarely found as far south as Australia.

Why am I discussing the humble Shoveler? Well, today I saw a beautiful drake fly through the sunlit mist at The Scrubs to reveal itself to me briefly before disappearing off southeast. You may be saying, 'so what', but I was in heaven. My morning had been made and my day set up. The reason for my jubilation was that the drake I saw was only the third time in 20 years that a Shoveler had been seen over my patch.

I remember the first time I ever saw one. It was during the winter of 1977 and I was sifting through the assembled waterfowl at Brent Reservoir when I happened across a flock of what to most people is a common duck. I was mesmerised by the males finery and the spatula-like bill that both sexes possessed. I have always liked Shovelers despite not being a great lover of ducks. The bird I saw today made me realise that even ducks can have an amazing grace about them.

A pair with the male coming out of eclipse plumage

Wanstead Flats

Football in the park

'What you raisin' your flag for mate? You don't know what it's for'.
'Square it!!! Square it!!!'

Those were the cries that greeted me on my first official visit to Wanstead Flats, Redbridge in East London. Yes, the Sunday League footballers were out in force vociferously playing the game that they love. It's a wonder that any wildlife exists in a place that is totally covered in people during the weekend. It was my first official visit because on this occasion I was escorted around the premises by local Eastend birders and Wanstead Flats regulars, Geoff and Kim Gramlick.

Wanstead Flats

 It actually wasn't my first visit to this fine eastern spot, if the truth be known, because I popped over a couple years ago on a random visit to try to re-find a spring Ring Ouzel that had been reported a few days previously. The site is well covered by a band of dedicated birders who saw over 130 species on the site last year. Over the years they have had some great finds like Wryneck and Stone Curlew plus they regularly get Wheatear, Ring Ouzel and the other migrants that I get at The Scrubs. Indeed, this place has been unofficially twinned with The Scrubs by some birders.

 Carrion Crow

Today was the warmest day of the year thus far and at times I was actually sweating. A far cry from the largely grey and wet winter that we have been enduring. It for days like this that makes it worth hanging on during those cold dark days.

Corvus corone in flight

 Spring was definitely in the air with Blue Tits busily displaying to each other; the males conducting their cute butterfly-flappy flight for the females. This is a display so rarely spoken about.

 Ring-necked Parakeets

 A hung Common Gull

We unfortunately came across this poor Common Gull that had unwittingly flown into fishing wire that was deliberately laced between the trees obviously designed to maim passing birds.

The gull in context

 What kind of imbecile would do that??

Singing Robin

 Songbirds were out in force headed by Robins, Dunnocks and Wrens but I also heard my first singing Chiffchaffs on British soil today too.

 Common Coot

 Black-headed Gull

 Wood Pigeon

 Common Buzzard

We also recorded a Buzzard passing over. Funnily enough, I saw one in roughly the same location the first time I came to Wanstead flats two years ago.

 Skylark

If the Meadow Pipit is the species that has come to symbolise The Scrubs then in my book it is the Skylark that is Wanstead Flats' signature bird. I was told that the site holds some 10 pairs - pretty good for an urban site. Like at The Scrubs, the birders at Wanstead Flats are having problems trying to keep people and dogwalkers out of the grasslands too.

 It was glorious to see and hear them sing

Wanstead Flats is a nice bit of natural London that is well worth a visit and even more so, support. If you ever get there let me know how you got on.

A rare treat

When the world renowned bird artist Ian Lewington told me at the British Birdwatching Fair last year that he was finishing illustrating a new tome to be called Rare Birds of North America I started salivating on the spot. He is one of my favourite bird artists - ever - and the rare birds of America intrigue me greatly. So when my postwoman dropped the package containing the book through my letterbox I was waiting to catch it before it hit the floor. I was reading it before I had even taken of all the packaging!

The authors definition of a rarity is very clear and that is, 'no such definition will ever be perfect - nature does not fit into boxes of human construct -'. The book deals with species that are truly rare within North America as a whole as opposed to just being rare in one region yet common elsewhere, for example. Thus, understandibly many of the species featured in the book emanate mostly from Asia and the Neotropics. The authors also make the destinction of featuring the rarities and their trends of appearance since the 1970's.

The opening pages discuss in some detail the essence behind vagrancy and rarity in North America. It talks about the likely provenance of certain species or groups of species as well as examining some of the stats involved in the rare bird records. It's all written with a very easy style that doesn't leave you feeling like sticking matchsticks between your eyelids to keep them open. But it is the species accounts that interested me most, not least because they were accompanied by Ian's superb artwork. As a British birder I wasn't too interested in reading about the field identification of many of the species featured although, I totally got the need for it as many of my North American colleagues would not have the intimate knowledge of Lapwings that perhaps I have. On my side of the pond I have access to a  myraid of fieldguides that do just that. However, I must state that the last comment was a purely personal one as there is absolutely nothing wrong with the book's treatment of the individual species. Indeed, it was very useful to read about the field characteristics of the Kelp Gull, for example, because I don't see them too often. I could liken reading the species accounts to having a delicious fruit cake in front of me but instead of eating it slice by slice I devour the individual raisins first. And the 'raisins' in this case were the 'Comments' section for each species which were written in a non-prescriptive and conversational way. Sentences like 'Jack Snipe are amazing' - the opening line within the Jack Snipe's comment section - made me feel very excited. If I lived in North America and hadn't seen a Jack Snipe before I certainly would want to after reading that line!

North America is a massive place and although it is home to a multitude of birders not all of them are out there looking for rarities. The beauty of this book is that it could serve as motivation for the birders who may not have realised that the chances of finding a rare bird whilst out on the patch or just generally birding is very real and actually much more likely than initially supposed.

This work pays homage to the books that have covered the same ground for the rarities in Europe and has been long overdue in North America.

Rare Birds of North America is worth every cent of its $35 price tag and deserves to find its way on the bookshelves of every North American birder plus a few other bookshelves elsewhere in the world.

Rare Birds of North America  ISBN-13: 9780691117966

Available from Wildsounds quote code URB35

http://www.wildsounds.com/lookup.htm?ref=URBAN&prodid=9780691117966

The Urban Birder in Southern France

 Alpine Accenter the prize bird in Les Baux

I have spent a glorious week co-leading a Shetland Wildlife tour of Southern France that took in parts of the Camargue and the French Pyrennes.

We managed to catch up with a host of great species, some of which were not expected to have been seen so easily and quickly such as Eagle Owl and Slender-billed Gull.

 Alpine Accentor habitat in Les Baux

 House Sparrows in a White Stork's nest

 A Booted Eagle being mobbed by a Yellow-legged Gull

 Two gorgeous Greater Flamingos over the Camargue

 The Shetland Wildlife Tour participants

 A foggy male Dartford Warbler

 A Pyrenean scene

 A Golden Eagle eyeing us up

 A flyby Great Cormorant

A flyaway Yellow-legged Gull

We are doing it all over again on 20 - 26 February 2015. Join me then.

Shetland Wildlife Southern France Tour 21 - 27 February 2014

Great Crested Grebe

Black-necked Grebe

Dabchick

Cormorant

Night Heron

Cattle Egret

Little Egret

Great Egret

Grey Heron

White Stork

Black Stork

Glossy Ibis

Spoonbill

Greater Flamingo

Mute Swan

Greylag

Shelduck

Mallard

Gadwall

Pintail

Shoveler

Wigeon

Red-crested Pochard

Griffon Vulture

Golden Eagle

Booted Eagle

Red Kite

Marsh Harrier

Hen Harrier

Common Buzzard

Sparrowhawk

Kestrel

Merlin

Red-legged Partridge

((Water Rail))

Moorhen

Coot

Crane

Little Bustard

Avocet

Stone Curlew

Ringed Plover

Kentish Plover

Golden Plover

Grey Plover

Lapwing

Sanderling

Dunlin

Little Stint

Spotted Redshank

Redshank

Curlew

Snipe

Ruff

Black-headed Gull

Slender-billed Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Little Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse

Feral Pigeon

Stock Dove

Woodpigeon

Collared Dove

Eagle Owl

Kingfisher

((Green Woodpecker))

Skylark

Crested Lark

Woodlark

Calandra Lark

Crag Martin

Water Pipit

Meadow Pipit

White Wagtail

Wren

Alpine Accentor

Robin

Black Redstart

Stonechat

Song Thrush

Blackbird

Blue Rock Thrush

Blackcap

Sardinian Warbler

Dartford Warbler

Moustached Warbler

Zitting Cisticola

Cetti’s Warbler

Chiffchaff

Firecrest

Great Tit

Coal Tit

Crested Tit

Marsh Tit

Long-tailed Tit

Bearded Tit

Penduline Tit

Wallcreeper

((Short-toed Treecreeper))

Iberian Grey Shrike

Magpie

Jackdaw

Rook

Carrion Crow

Raven

Starling

House Sparrow

Tree Sparrow

Rock Sparrow

Chaffinch

Linnet

Goldfinch

Greenfinch

Citril Finch

Siskin

Serin

Crossbill

Reed Bunting

((Cirl Bunting))

Corn Bunting

121   Species

3       Lifers

((heard))