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We had just entered the 3rd decade of the 21st century. To celebrate this arbitrary milestone, I generated a comprehensive database of all the rarity records in Israel since the turn of the millennium. To this end, I integrated data from multiple sources, namely this website, the old ISRABIRDING yahoo group, birds.org.il, the RBA on telegram and personal recollections.

The database covers 102 species with <15 records in the years 2000-2019, comprising ~360 records altogether. During that period, a total of 489 species were recorded, of which 21 were recorded for the first time ever. Records are stratified by species, month, year, region, habitat and likely area of origin. Statistical inference confirms some suspected occurrence trends. Finally, for those of you less fond of graphs, a photo gallery of all (photographed) species is included.

The database is intended to be embedded into israbirding.com in the near future. In the meantime, as they used to say, enjoy and good birding.

Full records chart by species. Since the pool of potential 1sts is so big (hundreds I would say), this chart is dominated by singletons.

*Vagrants = species with 1-4 records during 2000-2019; Very rare = 5-15 records.

Left pane: A nice surge during the second part of the second decade, perhaps due to increasing popularity of birdwatching?

Right pane: November, which is traditionally regarded to be the best month for rarities, is indeed strongest overall but is superseded by January with respect to vagrants. Even slumberous June had its share of hits over the years.

Left pane: Bodies of water are by far the best place to look for birds.

Right pane: Eilat is clearly a magnet for rarities. Ma’agan Michael has an impressive yield considering its small size, which is why I treated it separately from the coastal plane.

Left pane: Visitors from north America are extremely rare. With the exception of the American Golden Plover, that appeared subsequently in Acre and Ma’agan Michael (same winter and probably the same bird), no species made more than one appearance.

Right pane: Occurrence of African species is strongly biased towards spring-summer, while European species are biased towards autumn-winter.

*Autumn-winter = September-February; Spring-summer = March-August.

Left pane: Statistical testing shows a strong bias in rarity occurrence towards the autumn-winter period compared to the spring-summer period.
* Autumn-winter of year n is actually of year n - n+1.

Right pane: Analysis of recurrence patterns reveals that occurrence of a given species generally anticipates occurrences of the same species on the next year, and possibly up to the next 5 years.

Photo Gallery

Franklin's Gull, Km 20, June 2003 Scaup, Kfar Ruppin, December 2003 Plain Martin, Km 19, July 2003 Smew, Revaya reservoir, December 2004 Masked Booby, Rishon Letzion beach, July 2004 Long-toed Stint, Maoz Hayyim, October 2004 Red-necked Stint, Km 20, April 2003 Goosander, Kursi beach, January 2004 Dalmatian Pelican, Hula reflooded area, February 2004 White-rumped Sandpiper, Maayan Zvi, April 2004 Intermediate Egret, Yotvata sewage, November 2004 Shikra, Kfar Ruppin, November 2005 Tundra Swan, Hapaapil, January 2005 Painted Snipe, Ein Hahoresh, September 2005 Shag, Maagan Michael, July 2005 Raddes Accentor, El Rom, November 2005 Eyebrowed Thrush, JBO, November 2007 Great Black-backed Gull, Acre Shore, January 2006 Lesser Flamingo, Km 20, March 2006 Red-billed Tropicbird, Eilat north beach, April 2006 Yellow-breasted Bunting, Hula reflooded area, August 2007 Goldeneye, Meizar, February 2008 Bean Goose, Eilat, March 2007 Crested Tern, Eilat north beach, March 2008 Basra Reed Warbler, Lehavoth Habashan, May 2008 Great Bustard, Maale Gamla, February 2008 American Golden Plover, Maagan Michael, November 2008 Pectoral Sandpiper, Gesher fishponds, May 2008 Red-throated Diver, Acre, November 2009 Turkestan Shrike, Eliphaz sewage, April 2008 Green Warbler, Sde Boqer, May 2008 Sabine's Gull, Maagan Michael, May 2009 Rustic Bunting, Nafha vineyard, November 2009 Red-headed Bunting, Nizzana, May 2010 Red-flancked Bluetail, November 2011, Eilat Whooper Swan, Tel Anafa, December 2011 Dark-throated Thrush, Kerem Ben Zimra, January 2011 Rough-legged Buzzard, Urim, November 2012 Alpine Accentor, Arbel cliff, January 2015 Arctic Warbler, Eilat, September 2018 Ashy Drongo, Gan Shmuel, December 2014 Asian House Martin, Maayan Zvi, December 2016 Bald Ibis, Yardena, December 2017 Barnacle Goose, Hula reflooded area, December 2018 Black-throated Accentor, Nativ HaLamedHe, November 2010 Blyths Pipit, Arsuf, March 2017 Black-throated Diver, Maagan Michael, October 2013 Yellow-throated Petronia, Eilat, September 2017 Crab Plover, Eilat north beach, May 2018 Crossbill, Har Herzel, Nov 2016 Dark Chanting Goshawk, Yotvata, April 2014 Dusky Warbler, Yerucham lake, October 2012 European Storm-petrel, Deep sea Haifa, October 2016 Black-crowned Finch Lark, Yotvata, November 2010 Firecrest, Har Baron, December 2012 Common Grasshopper Warbler, Yerucham lake, May 2019 Great Shearwater, Jaffa port, January 2015 Horned Grebe, Kfar Ruppin, January 2017 Grey Hypocolius, Eilat, November 2011 Kittlitzs Plover, Km 20, March 2009 Lappet-Faced Vulture, Hai Bar Carmel, June 2015 Verreauxs Eagle, Eilat mts, December 2013 Lesser Sand Plover, Maagan Michael, July 2013 Lesser White-fronted Goose, Maoz Hayyim, November 2016 Lesser Yellowlegs, Newe Eitan, September 2008 Long-billed Dowitcher, Km 20, April 2017 Manx Shearwater, Eilat north beach, June 2016 Paddyfied Warbler, Eilat, Pallass Warbler, Yerucham lake, November 2016 Persian Wheatear, Amassa mt. Pied Bushchat, Yerucham lake, October 2012 Pintail Snipe, Maagan Michael, October 2013 Pink-backed Pelican, Yerucham lake, 2017 Red-rumped Wheatear, Ovda, March 2017 Red-wattled Lapwing, Kfar Blum, November 2017 Red-necked Grebe, Eilat north beach, May 2015 Ring Ouzel, Nafha vineyard, November 2015 Lammergeier, South golan, November 2016 Ruppells Vulture, Lachish, May 2014 Senegal Thick-knee, Maagan Michael, July 2015 Snow Bunting, Acre shore, January 2014 Swinhoes Storm Petrel, Gulf of Aqaba, September 2017 Tawny Eagle, Zeelim, July 2017 Wilsons Storm-petrel, Gulf of Aqaba, September 2017 Atlantic Puffin, Bustan HaGalil, September 2018 Yellow-billed Stork Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Gaash turf fields, October 2018 Yellow-billed Kite, Km 19, July 2018 Broad-billed Roller, Karmia, September 2019 White-throated Bee-eater, Km 20, August 2019 Booted Warbler, Eilat, October 2019

All images are © of the photographers. Full size images are watermarked accordingly.


Caspian Plover
(Charadrius asiaticus) Arava valley, Apr.05

Nubian Nightjar
(Caprimulgus nubicus) Southern Dead-sea, Mar.06

Saker
(Falco cherrung)Western Negev, Nov.05
 
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