You know the drill by now, a day off before means Low
Mountain was once again my destination for the day. For the most part it was a
fairly good day, once the raptors got moving late morning. I had around 3000
Steppe Buzzards, a good count for Low Mountain, with a few more birds mixed in;
the usual Black Kite, Egyptian Vulture, Long-legged Buzzard etc. A double
figure count of Booted Eagles was a surprise, especially given that they were
all pale phase birds, with only one dark phase in the mix. Perhaps the
highlight of the day was watching two male Sand Partridges have a fight, by
thrusting their tails into each other’s faces so that they couldn’t be bitten.
-Pallid Harrier
Species List:
Low Mountain: Booted
Eagle, Steppe Eagle, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Egyptian
Vulture, Long-legged Buzzard, Steppe Buzzard, Pallid Harrier, Marsh Harrier,
Trumpeter Finch, Striolated Bunting, House Sparrow, Laughing Dove, Collard
Dove, Spectacled Bulbul, Tristrams Starling,
Day 55 01.02.2018
High Mountain was once again the destination of choice,
which meant hopefully an increase in the number of birds passing. It was a good
day overall with just short of 20000 birds in total, including around 16000
Steppe Buzzards and an awesome 2500 Black Kites. Without doubt the highlight
was a stunning Crested Honey Buzzard, the fourth I’ve found during my time
here, which flew over low but into the sun. A stunning young Greater Spotted Eagle
was also nice, as it was flying against the mountain below us revealing the
beautiful plumage that gives the species its name. The variety of other species
was much the same, although Hobby was a trip tick, when one flew low past us.
-Crested Honey Buzzard
-Black Kite
Species List:
High Mountain: Steppe
Eagle, Eastern Imperial Eagle, Greater Spotted Eagle, Booted Eagle, Short-toed
Eagle, Pallid Harrier, Marsh Harrier, Steppe Buzzard, Long-legged Buzzard,
Crested Honey Buzzard, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Hobby, Black Kite, Desert Lark,
Hooded Wheatear,
Day 56 02.04.2018
After the late push the previous evening I was hopeful that
today would be the day when tens of thousands of birds would stream past the
mountains in the migration event that had been promised. Sadly it did not
transpire as such despite an early start by the birds. We still managed a
respectable 15000 birds, mostly buzzards, but with the usual nice variety.
Today was particularly good for eagles. Of late the number of eagles had
dropped off and double figures in a day were unusual. We managed 40 Steppe
Eagles as well as Greater Spotted Eagle and Lesser Spotted Eagle, many of them
straight overhead allowing us to really study the birds.
-Osprey
-Greater Spotted Eagle
Species List:
High Mountain: Steppe
Eagle, Lesser Spotted Eagle, Greater Spotted Eagle, Booted Eagle, Short-toed
Eagle, Pallid Harrier, Marsh Harrier, Steppe Buzzard, Long-legged Buzzard, Eurasian
Sparrowhawk, Black Kite, Desert Lark, Hooded Wheatear,
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