Oh, what a lark.

Belatedly, as it turned out, decided to try and see the Buff Bellied Pipits at Yotvata today. My route took me through the Meishar plateau and, as I was deciding on a place to stop to look for Asian Desert Warblers (see Yoav Perlman's recent blog (http://nubijar.blogspot.co.il/) one flew across the road in front of my car! A little bit of patience was rewarded with some fine views of this uber-cute warbler.

I got a bit distracted by some Black Bellied Sandgrouse calls - didn't manage to see them - but soon after I heard Crowned Sandgrouse calls. A flock of 50-60 flew past at some distance (electricity wires adding to a terrible 'no-data' pic). No chance of ID'ing them visually at that range but their calls are so distinctive!

Inspired by this, I moved up the road a wee bit and chose a greenish patch of the plateau to have breakfast and see what would turn up. Movement amongst the stones/shrubs caught my eye and lo and behold - four Temminck's Larks! I've always loved its congener, the Shore Lark and have long wanted to see Temminck's. They are superbly camouflaged  desert birds - I watched this small group feed for 20 minutes or so before they flew off.

Now you see me,

 Now you don't,

Oh what a lark, 

A single Trumepter Finch added some extra zest to the morning (I haven't seen TF for ages) before I moved off down to the Arava. Which was dull, very dull indeed. I stopped off at all the usual places en route but there was very little around. Yotvata was even duller with no BBP around that I could see. Decided to head back home and dropped by the Re'im sewage pools - a bit surprised to see this Greater Flamingo!

I've only ever see these in Eilat, mostly with much cleaner necks but I guess that goes with the territory.

Urim fields again

A sunny, chilly start to the day in Urim and loads of raptors around. No Sakers (as far as I could see) today on the many, many pylons I scanned but I was intrigued by this falcon - a cracking juv Lanner. Probably 1cy.

Lots of Long Legged Buzzards around and at least four Eastern Imperial Eagles - three juvs and an adult. This stunning juv has its landing gear out, just about to land in a tree.

Peregrines, Kestrels, Merlin, Hen Harriers etc around but surprisingly I didn't see a single Pallid Harrier today - usually at least one harrier's it's way past during the day. Lots of Cranes in the fields too.

Urim fields

After a long spell of enforced non-birding (debilitating summer heat, lack of transport, job pressures) I took the camera out to the Urim fields this morning. Last week a Rough Legged Buzzard (2nd record for Israel) was seen there. Nick Littlewood and I were on site at the time but didn't see it. As usual, there were plenty of Long Legged Buzzards, Buzzards, Hen and Pallid Harriers, Eastern Imperial Eagles, Kestrels, Black Kites, singles of Peregrine and Merlin, around. I was surprised to see this Lesser Spotted Eagle - uncommon at this time of year.

And, of course, the Urim speciality - Sociable Plover. Two of the flock of 13 today (Yoav Perlman counted 18 in two flocks last week). Fantastic birds!

Dribs and drabs

Spring is winding down into summer. Still good numbers of Garden Warblers going through Sde Boker together with a couple more Barreds, Nightingales and Golden Orioles. Eastern Oliveaceous and Blackcaps still plentiful.

I've been stopping off at Revivim sewage ponds on the way home. This place definitely has potential. Curlew Sandpiper (not rare but a bit unusual this far inland) well into its gorgeous red summer plumage, ditto the Little Stints on either side,

 Wood Sandpiper (below), Common Sandpiper, Grey Plover (one flew hard north), Ruff etc,

and a Temminck's Stint lurking in the background.

A single Red-throated Pipit flew in, then off,

So, dribs and drabs but still good.

Barred Warbler

Very windy today so few birds in Darren's nets at Sde Boker (Garden, Eastern Oliveaceous, Reed warblers, Blackcaps, Lesser Whitethroats, Ortolan). As we were taking them down he spotted a large warbler at one end. Barred Warbler - my first of the year and my first in Israel. 

What an eye!

Devil's-flower Praying Mantis

Worked in the kibbutz gardens this morning so no birding but this stunning Devil's-flower Praying Mantis (Blepharopsis mendica) deserves to be shown off. I'm not sure if these are widespread here or not - when the camouflage is this good it's easy to be overlooked. You can make out a blue patch on the upper inside of its coxa. Not sure why it has these.

Olive-tree Warbler

I went round the nets today at Sde Boker with Elon (JBO) and was taking a Garden Warbler out of a net when he called me over. So, forget all my 'probables' and 'possibles'. THIS is an Olive-tree Warbler . . .

Very strong bill, wing panel, white outers to the outer tail feathers. Fantastic! With thanks to the ringing team - Elon, Darren and Anton.

Another Rufous Bush-robin, very photogenic in the dappled shade.

Apropos of dappled shade, a Garden Warbler (one of many passing through today) setting the bar for being dappled.

This Pied Flycatcher was in exactly the same place as the earlier Collared and Semi-collareds I've seen just outside the lab (plenty of Spotteds around - now waiting for a Red-breasted to complete the series). This one is sporting a faint second wing bar indicating winter plumage. Seems a bit late for that but the brown primaries do suggest Pied rather than anything else.

And finally, a couple of Whiskered Terns were hawking over the sewage ponds at Revivim on the way home.