Rufous Bush Robin

Rufous Bush Robin - a common breeder and seen every time I visit Besor in the summer months. They are quite shy and don't often pose for photos. This one obviously had other things on his mind and put on a dazzling display of tail cocking and wing shivering. I, for one, was totally won over.

Not passing up the chance of a meal.

Also got a glimpse of a Purple Swamphen by the pool. It's the first one here for along time but good to know they are still in the area - unless it's a migrant.

Upcher's Warbler

Spent a pleasant couple of hours this morning with Itay Herling looking for Upcher's Warblers. They are uncommon and very local breeders here but there's usually a couple on the side of a certain hill an hour's drive from Nir Oz. Upcher's Warblers really are drab but there's something about them that is also very attractive. As Yoav Perlman says, they are a birder's bird. Perhaps it was the morning light but this bird has surprisingly warm tones.

Pin-tailed Sandgrouse and Little Bitterns

An interesting mix of sandgrouse and bitterns this morning at Besor Reservoir this morning. Started off with a glimpse of this Little Bittern through the reeds.

 Saw a second bird by accident as I took a photo of this superb summer plumage Squacco Heron.

I edged round the reeds to try and get a better view and disturbed another one which flew off to the other side of the pool. Two females together.

 Another one (or one of the original three?) in the reeds.

The far pool also held a couple and I found two more as I walked back along the reservoir bank. Seven in total! An impressive number.

A few Little Stints by the pool, showing the red of summer plumage. Interesting apparent size difference.

The Night Herons have returned but instead of a large pool of water and dozens of trees they have a rapidly shrinking 'puddle' and only a couple of roosting trees.

The large and mostly dry bowl of the lake bed held the other surprise of the morning. 14 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse in three small groups. Great birds - it's always a thrill to see them.

A really good morning's birding - lots of colour (Rollers, Bee-eaters,

Hoopoes) and lots of interest with the seven Little Bitterns and 14 sandgrouse, topped off with a Hobby on a roadside plyon.

Georgia - Tbilisi Botanic Gardens

April 26 - May 3 2017. We had a bit of spare time in Tbilisi before we met our guides and the botanic gardens seemed like a good place to whet our appetite for the birding to come.

After a morning stroll through the delightful streets of Old Tbilisi I arrived at the botanic garden gates at opening time (nominally 08:00, entry 2 lari) to be greeted by a couple of Yellow Wagtails,

a Caucasian coloured Jay

and many Phylloscopus warblers most of which seemed to be Willow Warblers. Walking into the gardens proper I was gratified to spot a pair of Red-breasted Flycatchers.

Then I saw more, and more. The place was full of them, one or two every 100 m or so.

Other Ficedulas were a pair of Semi-collareds

and a single Collared.

Collared Flycatcher doesn't often appear on Georgian trip reports and it seems to be a fairly uncommon migrant.

I was focussed more on the warblers. Green Warbler was one of my target species for this trip and I thought the gardens would be as good a place as any for them. However, working through the quick, darting movements of warblers in the canopy was not easy. Finally though, I was rewarded with brief views of this little wing-barred beauty.

I left to meet up with Rod and we returned to the gardens after a quick bite to eat. It was much busier with visitors than the morning and although we saw plenty more Red-breasted Flycatchers the other two species had moved on and neither did we see any other Green Warblers. That was disappointing but we saw other birds that I have not seen for years. Dipper - a personal favourite ever since seeing them in Wales when I was a young boy. Black bellied ones here. Very nice.

And Long-tailed Tit. Common enough in our Scottish garden but unknown in Israel.

The few hours spent here was really productive - many species and large numbers of them - Blackcaps, Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats, the flycatchers, Dipper, wagtails, tits, a flock of Bee-eaters flying over. A great start to the trip in a really beautiful setting.

A caveat - Rod revisited the gardens 10 days later and saw very few migrants. We hit it lucky to visit when we did and caught a major fall.