Northern Israel, 04/JAN/06

Northern Israel, 04/JAN/06
Tomer Landsberger

On the morning of January 4^th, I met with Avner Cohen at Acre coast.

The rocks along the shore inhabit large numbers of Gulls - thousands of Black-headed, hundreds of Armenian, tens of Caspian, Slender-billed and several Pallas's.

The long staying Knot, the first to be recorded wintering in Israel, was also present accompanied by the local Waders - Dunlins, Little Stints, Turnstones, a Sanderling and a Curlew.

The powerfull easterly wind did not encourage us to stick around for much longer then an hour. Just before we left, 2 Yelkouan Shearwaters, undeterred by the wind, flew south very close to the shore.

We continued towards Rosh Pinna area in the Galilee. We took a stroll in a Wadi just above the city, were Red-fronted Serins had been sighted recently.

The place was swarming with passerines, mainly Chaffinchs but also a few Siskins, Bramblings, tens of Song Thrushes, a single Rock Sparrow and a Wren.

After a long hour of waiting, I was rewarded with great views of 4 Red-fronted Serins. The Serins were perching on fig trees with the other seed-eaters for several minutes before disappearing.

Meanwhile, Avner was trying for the large flock of Wood Pigeons which winter in Tel-Kadesh area annually. He managed to see a few tens flying around, and had glimpse of an odd Fieldfare.

On our way back south we made a quick stopover at Gesher fishponds. Around the reeds in the small ponds we saw a Purple Heron, a Whiskered Tern, some Spoonbills and a couple of Reed Buntings.

Finally, in the fading light, we located the two Greylag Geese (around since November) sitting with Grey Herons in the middle of a large dried reservoir.