21/01/2014
So what did we have here during December 2013:
There was a huge rain storm this month bringing abnormally cold weather with it. However, this didn’t appear to disturb the birds that are wintering here. The migrating birds had all left by the middle of December so those that are still here will remain for the rest of the winter, though we do have some surprise visitors.
The last of the White Pelicans Pelecanus onocrotalus left by the middle of the month, the Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo arrived in impressive flocks and will winter here.
the Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia and the Black Storks Ciconia nigra are moving around the fishponds before finally deciding on their wintering sites.
The sites that have the most birds this month are the fishponds and reservoirs that are being emptied for the winter, so, in the shallow water, there are fish and all kinds of tasty creatures in the wet mud that attract a variety of different species: hundreds of Great Egrets Egretta alba, Little Egrets Egretta garzetta and Grey Herons Ardea cinerea, and dozens of Night Herons Nycticorax nycticorax. With them are several Little Bitterns Ixobrychus minutus, Bitterns Botaurus stellarus, Squacco Herons Ardeola ralloides and Purple Herons Ardea purpurea. Hundreds of Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus flock together in the shallow water.
The pools of water that remain in the fishponds after the fish have been removed are ideal for different species of waders such as the flocks of dozens of Ringed Plovers Charadrius hiaticula, Kentish Plovers Charadrius alexandrinus, Northern Lapwings Vanellus vanellus, Little Stints Calidris minuta, Redshanks Tringa totanus, Snipes Gallinago gallinago, Ruffs Philomachus pugnax, as well as hundreds of Water Pipits Anthus spinoletta.
There are also species in much smaller numbers of only several individuals: Greater Sand Plover Charadrius leschenaultia, Curlew Sandpiper Calidris ferruginea, Temminck’s Stint Calidris temminckii, Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola, Spotted Redshank Tringa erythropus, Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa and Jack Snipe Lymnocryptes minimus.
The wintering ducks are also here and some of them prefer the shallow water: Teal Anas crecca, Shoveler Anas clypeata, Ruddy Shelduck Tadorna ferruginea, Shelduck Tadorna tadorna, Wigeon Anas penelope; and some of them are happier in the deeper water: Mallard Anas platyrhyncos, Pochard Aythya ferina, Ferruginous Duck Aythya nyroca, and Red-crested Pochard Netta rufina.
At the fishponds the thousands of Black-headed Gulls Larus ridibundus and Armenian Gulls Larus armenicus were joined by several hundreds of Pallas’s Gulls Larus ichthyaetus and several individual Caspian Gulls Larus cachinnans, Slender-billed Gulls Larus genei and Baltic Gull Larus fuscus fuscus.
The wintering raptors that were seen were: Long-legged Buzzard Buteo rufinus, Common Buzzard Buteo buteo, Sparrowhawk Accipter nisus, Merlin Falco columbarius, Peregrine Falcon Falco peregrinus, Pallid Harrier Circus macrourus, Marsh Harrier Circus aeruginosus and Hen Harrier Circus cyaneus. An Osprey Pandion haliaetus or two are seen near each area of fishponds and thousands of Black Kites Milvus migrans come to roost each evening between Kfar Ruppin and Neve Eitan.
At the end of the month we had some special visitors: six Greater Flamingoes Phoenicopterus ruber arrived at the fishponds of Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin. There were two adults and four juveniles. A flock of Little Bustards Tetrax tetrax has been seen in the alfalfa fields west of Kfar Ruppin. They are very rare visitors!!