We have closed the nets for the season at Lotan - what did we get?

So Jan Visser, our volunteer ringer who came from the Netherlands to run the ringing station, has left again, and we have taken down the nets, and closed the ringing station. Getting up every day well before dawn to open the nets and making our rounds to take the birds out of the nets in a timely fashion is over. This was the first year that we had a ringing station open for almost two months. We have had groups that came in to set up nets for a week or so in previous years, but this was a definite jump in our efforts.

The season was a lopsided one, I believe. Most remarkable was much smaller numbers of passerines that came through. There was a marked lack of wheatears, buntings, larks and shrikes. As I had reported earlier already, we had much more rainfall in February and March than our annual average. Around Lotan and further south towards Eilat we blasted through the annual average. The result was that for the first time the sand dunes in Jordan had a green hue on them, because of so many wild flowers that grew there. In the meantime the flowers have wilted, but they have spread a lot of seeds everywhere.

Booted Eagle

At our ringing station we had the following results (first captures, without the retraps):

In first place we had 562 Lesser Whitethroats (Sylvia curruca), followed by 314 Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla), 269 House Sparrows (Passer domesticus), 204 Reed Warblers (Acrocephalus scirpaceus), 179 Spanish Sparrows (Passer hispaniolensis),  and 159 Chiffchaffs (Phylloscopus collibyta).

This was to be expected, but the numbers were a less than we expected. This was borne out by the numbers in other ringing stations in the area, too, although there is no hard data from there yet.

Namaqua Dove

The surprises were the cool bit, though. One Booted Eagle (Aquila pennata) in the net that dove after a dove of some sort (the dove survived and the eagle was caught), one Black Bush Robin (Cercothrichas podobe) that was caught, and another that flew into the nets, but managed to extricate itself again. Also, one Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralloides), one Corncrake (Crex crex), one Namaqua Dove (Oena capensis), one Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica), one Little Green Bee-eater (Merops orientalis), one Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea), one Corn Bunting (Emberiza calandra), one Dead Sea Sparrow (Passer moabiticus) one Barred Warbler (Sylvia nisoria) and four Levant Sparrowhawks (Accipter brevipes). 

Black Bush Robin

Most of the retraps we got in the net were from our own ringing, but we did have one Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) that had been ringed in a previous year, and one House Sparrow that had been ringed last year.

The challenges we faced were first and foremost the number of stray cats that are around. Despite numerous pleas to the regional council, little was done about it. This is a problem not only here, but in the whole country. The other challenge was that we had nets in two locations for most of the time, which meant that we had to bike to the nets several times to check them. There were days where the temperatures far exceeded the 30 degree mark, so that took a little getting used to, but with very low humidity it was not a hardship.

Will we open next year? Well, that is still in the stars... We have to evaluate what we have done so far, and make a decision, as to what we will do in the future. We learned a whole lot, got some nice surprises in the nett, and got some response from the outside regarding Lotan as a birding hotspot.

All the ringing results can be seen on the website www.trektellen.nl.

Aside from the ringing the big story was the massive Steppe Buzzard (Buteo buteo vulpines)and other raptor migration at the end of March. Overall, we saw over 26,000 Steppe Buzzards and close to 6000 Black Kites (Milvus migrans).

Just a few of the hundreds of Steppe Buzzards overhead

One before the last ringing day at Lotan

Today, we had the penultimate ringing day at the ringing station here on Lotan. There were ups and downs in the ringing, and today we had only 27 birds in the nets, but of 15 different species. Highlights were two new species in the net, one Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) and one Squacco Heron (Ardeola ralliodes). 

The Squacco Heron had been near the nets for the past week, and never in it, but today, with a little more effort from our part, it was finally caught in the net. 

Squacco Heron

Squacco Heron with its bright white wings

The other bird was a Whinchat that was caught a little later during the day. Here are the pictures...

Whinchat

Black Bush Robin, photographed two years ago

In addition, we had another Rufous Bush Robin (Cercotrichas galactotes) in the net, and there are at least five males singing. Stay tuned for a next generation of Rufous Bush Robin. Yesterday, the biggest news was a Black Bush Robin (Cercotrichas podobe) that flew into the net before 6 a.m., but managed to fly out again. It did that to two nets, and still was not caught. It sat in a tree nearby, with its characteristic tail wag, and then was off to other parts.

Rufous Bush Robin

Around the net we also had one Golden Oriole (Oriolus oriolus) for the second day in a row, but no good pictures. Here is the best I could do, it only rested where there was no clear view of it, but here goes!

Golden Oriole', obscured by a Moringa tree

Ringing picking up a little...

So, ringing is picking up a little with just over 50 species in the nets, but the real story  is the overhead migration today, which has been spectacular. Well over 500 Steppe Buzzards (Buteo buteo vulpines), 36 Black Kites (Milvus migrans), an Osprey (Pandion heliaetus), an Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), a Booted Eagle (Aquila pennata), a Montagu's Harrier (Circus pygargus), a Pallid Harrier (Circus Macrourus), a few Black Storks (Ciconia negra), all gliding silently above us, while we were ringing. The numbers were not of all of the raptors overhead because we had a ringing station to run, but still gives a little bit of a sense of what was happening right above Lotan.

We had a Thrush Nightingale (Luscinia luscinia) in the net today, as well as a Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus) in beautiful summer plumage. The number of Lesser Whitethroats (Sylvia curruca) is starting to dwindle, and the Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) are rising. We also had a large number of House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) in the net, the Spanish Sparrows seem to have moved on.

Here are two pictures...

Thrush Nightingale

Redstart

Steppe Buzzards

We have been having several days here at Lotan which were extraordinarily quiet in terms of birding. The ringing station was recording between 24 and 45 birds per day, while we had days of over a 100 birds a week before. Usually the bushes around here would be full of sylvia warblers feasting on the pollen and the insects, but this year it is very quiet. As said already in the past few weeks, we have had extraordinarily much rainfall over the winter and early spring, and this must have meant that the birds do not have to come to the green spots, i.e. the kibbutzim in order to find food, there are insects and seeds everywhere, and this is what we are experiencing.

Further north, in Jerusalem and further outside the desert, the ringing stations are reporting good numbers, with little noticeable dips. That means that the birds either do not stop in the desert or have stopped elsewhere and are fully fueled for the continuation of the trip. Hopefully, the migration numbers will pick up again, so that we have something to do. An example is also the almost total absence of wheatears, pipits and larks in our area. What compensates a little bit is the overhead migration that is good to very good.

we have gotten our first Thrush Nightingales (Luscinia luscinia) of the season, and we have been catching the same Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) in the net for the past 6 days. Numbers of Lesser Whitethroats and Blackcaps have been steadily declining. You can see the ringing results of each day on the following website: Trektellen www.trektellen.nl

David

Champions of the Flyway - our team's results

So we had an exhausting, but very productive day in the very first 24-hour race to see the most species in the Negev desert. The boundaries of the area were the Egyptian and the Jordanian borders down to Eilat, and the northern border formed a line from Nitzana through Be'er Sheva to the Dead Sea. There were over 20 teams from overseas and Israel that took part in the race.

Our team, the Arava Eagles  (Steppe Eagles in Hebrew), decided to focus our attention on Eilat and the southern Arava desert. We did not leave the Hevel Eilot regional council. The farthest north we got was Kibbutz Yahel. We started out at 4 a.m. and rolled back into the hotel just after 11 p.m. We had a total of 141 species, of which one was not accepted.

Here are the species, starting with the stars of the show: 

Isabelline Shrike - not accepted

Hoopoe Lark - twenty meters away, after we had already given up!!

Pomarine Skua

Parasitic Skua

Whimbrel

Wood Warbler

Montagu's Harrier (a beautiful male)

Pallid Harrier

Desert Finch

Whinchat 

Egyptian Vulture (sitting in the desert at 6:30 a.m.)

In addition, we had the following: 

Scops Owl, Barn Owl, Stone Curlew

Lesser Kestrel, Kestrel, Barbary Falcon

Sparrowhawk, Booted Eagle, Osprey

Steppe Buzzard, Black Kite

Spotted Sandgrouse, Crowned Sandgrouse

Quail, Sand Partridge, Rock Dove

Collared Dove, Namaqua Dove, Laughing Dove, Turtle Dove

Hoopoe, Little Green Bee-eater, European Bee-eater

Wryneck, Pied Kingfisher, Rose-ringed Parakeet

Cattle Egret, Squacco Heron, Little Egret, Great Egret

Striated Heron, Night Heron, Spoonbill, Greater Flamingo

White Stork, Black Stork, Eurasian Crane

Shoveler, Wigeon, Pintail, Teal, Garganey,

Shelduck, Mallard, Little Grebe, Little Crake

Cormorant, Coot, Egyptian Goose, Moorhen

Spur-winged Lapwing, Black-winged Stilt

Collared Pratincole, Little Ringed Plover, Kentisk Plover

Grey Plover, Dunlin, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank

Marsh Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe, Ruff

Black-headed Gull, Slender-billed Gull, Yellow Legged (Armenian) Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull, Little Tern, Sandwich Tern

Gull-billed Tern, Common Tern, Caspian Tern

Barn Swallow, Rock Martin, House Martin, Red-rumped Swallow

Crested Lark, Bar-tailed Lark, Desert Lark, Short-toed Lark

Tawny Pipit, Water Pipit, Tree Pipit, Red-throated Pipit

White Wagtail, Yellow Wagtail, Citrine Wagtail

White-spectacled Bulbul, Nightingale, Rufous Bush-robin

Bluethroat, Redstart, European Wheatear, Isabelline Wheatear

Desert Wheatear, Black-eared Wheatear, Mourning Wheatear

White-crowned Wheatear, Blackstart

Whitethroat, Blackcap, Eastern Orphean Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat

Sardinian Warbler, Rueppell's Warbler, Scrub Warbler, Sedge Warbler

Reed Warbler, Olivaceous Warbler, Willow Warbler, Balkan Warbler, Chiffchaff

Woodchat Shrike, Masked Shrike, Indian House Crow, Brown-necked Raven

Tristram's Starling, House Sparrow, Spanish Sparrow, Ortolan  Bunting

What we missed: Hooded Wheatear, Brown Booby, White-eyed Gull, Arabian Warbler, Arabian Babbler, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater and a whole host more

What was most important was that our team raised over US$1500 for the fight against illegal hunting. The atmosphere was very competitive, yet very friendly!