Last week I was in Bulgaria with my family for a short holiday. We spent a few days in the Rhodopean mountains, and two nights in Sofia the capital. Overall it was a lovely and much fun with the family. The scenery was breathtaking, weather was great - I loved Bulgaria. My birding was limited to early morning sessions before the rest of the family wakes up. My expectations were very high to start with, so altogether birding was fun.
In the Rhodoepan mountains we stayed on the outskirts of a small town named Smolyan. There's nice mixed forest around town, and I enjoyed walking there. Some big cliffs, that helf Yellow-billed Choughs, tower over the town. Black Woodpecker, Northern Nutcraker, many Hawfinches, and a nice mix of migrants made for pleasant birding along forest trails. Marsh Tit and Collared Flycatchers in the garden were sweet too.
Looking down from the top of a cliff
Marsh Tit
We visited the postcard-like Smolyan lakes
And impressive Trigrad Gorge, where I had a Wallcreeper flying across from side to side
The most exciting wildlife experience of the trip was a close encounter with two or three Brown Bears. We sat in a hide waiting for them for four hours (very proud of my family!). Eventually we enjoyed incredible views. However, it was pitch dark, with only super weak illumination that wasn't sufficient for photography. This is the best I could get at ISO 25000. Many thanks to Vladi and Minko for their help in setting this up.
Pamporovo Ski Resort wasn't high-altitude enough for proper alpine species, but the forest there was very nice.
While birding there I had an unusual observation. I spotted a tiny Goldcrest, likely young, dead, stuck to a sticky thistle, Greater Burdock. It probably went after tiny arthropods attracted to the flowers, and ended its fragile life this way. Apparently this happens quite often but I've never seen anything like this before.
European Serin
Habitat shot of Tree Pipit - quite many of them
I enjoyed spending quality time with Willow Tits - smart birds (even in tatty post-breeding plumage)
From Smolyan we returned to Sofia for two nights (one full day). We were greeted by a massive, crazy climate-change-style hail storm that lasted for about 10 minutes just as we were unpacking the car at our accommodation. Insane.
After the storm, the city was clean and shiny and the air was fresh. We enjoyed Sofia very much. It's a fine city.
My final morning birding session was on Vitosha mountain with my friend Ivailo. We had a grand time birding the subalpine zone in lovely habitat and great weather. Ring Ouzels, more Northern nutcrackers, Crossbills,. Thanks to Ivailo for a fun morning.
Two Crossbills
Hello Firecrest!
Northern Nutcrackers - such cool birds
Pristine juvenile Red-backed Shrike
More frosty Willow Tit action
My eBird trip report is here. Thank you Bulgaria, you were kind to us.
I had a brilliant time, as always, at Global Birdfair 2026. It was busy, with lots of people and activities throughout the weekend. Proud to represent Birds of the World/The Cornell Lab of Ornithology again. I was humbled to join the Cornell superstar team - Ian, Alli, Mitch, Iain, Stephen and Alex. We spent all weekend talking to folks about birds, science, conservation and people - so much fun. Of course, most conversations began with 'I use Merlin and it's amazing'. Incredible how popular Merlin is in the UK. Fun fact - on some days, around special birding events, Merlin is the most downloaded app in the UK!
The awesome power couple, Tim and Penny, that run Global Birdfair (with hundreds of fantastic volunteers), came down to our stand for a friendly visit. Note that 60% of the people in this photo are in shorts - the first day was scorching hot; inside the marquees it was steaming. In the next days the weather improved significantly.
Ian looking very professional here (he is), unintimidated by the monstrous Dartford Warbler in the background, threatening to predate him
I gave one presentation, about the present and future of Birds of the World. Thanks Mark for the snap.
Speaking of Mark, Global Birdfair is always special because of the great friends from all over the world. Some of my favourite humans globally were there, for example Amity, and Mark from the internet. So much love to all of my friends - you're the best.
Here they are again with Petra of Swarovski Optik.
Huge thanks to Swarovski Optik for hosting the Cornell stand again. The collaboration between Swarovski Optik and the Cornell Lab is so important and amazing. I was thrilled to use the new Swarovski scope, the AT Endura. It's super sharp, lightweight and compact - launched in September, surely it will be popular.
It was great to meet new friends, legends in this case. First, the mandatory Bonner Black selfie:
Bonner is awesome. We had a chance to hang out together for a bit, which was great fun. She gave a fantastic, albeit short show, playing some of her popular songs. I especially enjoyed her version of The Beatle's 'Blackbird'.
Another legend I had a chance to finally meet in person was Kenn Kaufman. I felt ashamed to ask for a selfie with him... Maybe when he comes to Israel. Here he is with another legend, and friend, Stephen Moss, talking about his birding and his books.
While I was not waving the Israel flag, it was my pleasure to feel part of the BirdLife family at Global Birdfair. There were representatives of 17 BirdLife partners, and I was honoured to join the VIP lunch with some of BirdLife International's most important partners and supporters. Thanks Martin for inviting me.
The conservation cause for Global Birdfair 2026 was the special and threatened birds and habitats of São Tomé and Principe. It was wonderful to meet the dedicated conservationists who came over to talk about their work. The mural created by top talented artists was stunning.
While mid July isn't the most exciting time of year for birding in the UK, birding was done, to enjoy what there is to see, while keeping my eBirding streak. I birded different sections of Rutland Water, and Eyebrook Reservoir. Some early returning shorebirds were nice, and plastic waterfowl are always fun. The most exciting observations I had during GBF were a roding Woodcock that flew over the road one evening on the way back to the accommodation, and a Turtle Dove that flew over the grounds.
Mandarin Duck
Canada X Græylag Goose hybrid
Since my return home I was asked by many people in Israel how did it feel to be an Israeli at Global Birdfair. I can report here that I had zero unfriendly encounters. On the contrary, I felt so much appreciation to what BirdLife Israel is doing. So many birders miss birding in Israel. I am sure that when things calm down over here, international birders will return.
After Global Birdfair I headed over to Norfolk, where I stayed with Mike and Deborah - thank you! I spent two full days visiting friends and birding. I am embarrassed that I twitched the long-staying Black-winged Kite near Sea Palling. I see them in Israel on a daily basis. As this is still such a rare bird in the UK, and I was in the area already, I thought it would be rude no to. It took a bit of searching, until I finally spotted it from a huge distance. Probably more significant observations to the region were two Corn Buntings, and a Western Yellow Wagtail.
Volume up - nice commentary by other twitchers
On my final morning, en route to Stansted Airport, I visiting Cattawade, Manningtree, with Mike, for the Hudsonian Godwit. We found it fairly quickly, feeding on a flooded saltmarsh, locally known as North Marsh. We had great views with an assembling crowd. Light conditions were harsh, and it was a bit distant, but hey ho - super bird.
Every keen birder-lister-twitcher has a bogey bird. This bird that keeps evading, missing it by minutes, dipping on it multiple times, the one that everyone else saw and celebrate. Mine is Great Shearwater. I have seen it outside of Israel, but in Israel not yet. It is not that rare, with 11 records to date. Until this summer, all records came from the Mediterranean coast, typically during January and February. Almost all records came during rough seawatches, often without documentation. Previously, only one hag around for a bit. In 2015, Shahar Alterman found one off Jaffa, that circled in the area for an hour and allowed a handful of local birders to twitch it, and it even got photographed (see photo here). I was living in the UK back then. In January 2026, a moribund individual was picked up north of Tel Aviv (images here). It was taken into care and subsequently died. A couple of twitchers headed to the INPA wildlife hospital to see it before it passed away... That's not my style. For years, I have been going seawatching during westerly storms in January and February with one species on my mind: Great Shearwater. No luck yet, made even more painful by missing it several times by minutes.
Fast forward to Saturday, June 20th. Like almost every Saturday early morning, I circled around Hulda Reservoir, birding peacefully, as appropriate during the cucumber season. I enjoyed a handful of early migrant shorebirds (eBird checklist here). Then at 07:13 my phone starts beeping and my calm birding is disrupted. Shahar Shalev had just found a Great Shearwater in Eilat, showing well, sitting on the water. However, Eilat is about 3.5 hrs drive... I sped back to the car, dropped my dog off at home, picked Rony up and soon we headed down to Eilat. We were on the phone with Shahar and others on the beach. The bird was showing well until 09:30 when the local birders left home. We arrived to North Beach at 11:52 and started scanning like crazy. The weather was awful (42 degrees, horrible wind and dust storm), so conditions weren't great. We scanned and scanned until the evening and couldn't find the bloody bird, despite our best efforts. We did see a couple of OK birds (eBird checklist here) but that didn't make the dip any easier.
Cory's Shearwater
White-eyed Gull
I had to head back home that evening, driving through the dark desert in agony. Rony stayed over with Rami, and next morning (Sunday) they enjoyed fantastic views of the Great Shearwater. Arrrghhh but congratulations to Rami who's the first person to reach 500 species in Israel. I had work I couldn't miss on Sunday and Monday and decided to try again on Tuesday, following a boat-load of happy birders that had an amazing experience with the bird on Monday (see Oz's checklist here for example). I left home with Gal at 02:30 to arrive in Eilat at dawn. We headed out into the bay on a boat of a friend, Itzik. Several birders were scanning from shore. The bird couldn't be located from the boat nor from shore. I was gone. Not see again since Monday. Second dip. Again, good birds were seen from the boat (eBird checklist here), only not the one that I wanted so much. I was a very enjoyable boat trip, thanks Itzik!
Cory's Shearwater flew by close
Many terns were out in the Gulf, often being harassed by skuas/jaegers
Parasitic Jaeger
On Thursday I returned to Eilat, this time for a planned weekend holiday with my family, scuba diving and birding. I was still hoping that the Great Shearwater would make a comeback, but it didn't. My early morning sessions at North beach were nice, but lacked any Great Shearwaters.
Bridled Terns
Plenty of White-cheeked Terns around, this is an immature
This tatty 2cy Mediterranean gull was surprising, as it is out of place and out of time.
Some non-avian action - I think this is a Green Sea Turtle
Unless this bird reappears in Eilat, I will have to wait for another winter of rough seawatching - maybe finally I will get lucky with my bogey bird.
Yesterday it was Global Big Day, plus World Migratory Bird Day. Twice a year, I do my best to see as many bird species as I (reasonably) can in a day. This time, my regular team was disfunctional. Jonathan bunked out completely. Rea was busy with other commitments (?!?) so he joined only for the Agamon Hula part of the day, then left. I birded the full big day with Omer and Shalev (a young keen birder). We birded our 'regular' northern birding route, which isn't regular of course - it's spectacular. Over the years we figured out it provides the best possibilities for great birding in one day and we repeat it almost every Global Big Day.
I left home at 02:00, picked Shalev and Omer up en route, and arrived at the entrance to the Hula Reserve at 03:56. Tawny Owls were properly active as they should:
We drove around in the open fields around Agamon Hula before dusk, in hope for some nightjars that we did not see. We did have however Barn and Scops Owls. We birded the first couple of hours of the morning in and around Agamon Hula. The lake itself hadn't anything special, but the groves and fields surrounding the lake were great. The mulberry trees attracted many migrants, including Olive-tree, Willow and Garden Warblers. The big Eucalyptus trees held nice numbers of Golden Orioles. We heard their fluty vocalisations all over, and saw many briefly, but taking a photo was something else...
Typical view of a Golden Oriole
We left the Hula Valley around 08:30 (and said goodbye to Rea) with 94 species - not bad. We climbed up Mt. Hermon, and swept up mid- and low-elevation specialties efficiently - Western Rock Nuthatch, Sombre Tit, Syrian Serin, Rock Bunting, Eastern Black Redstart, Eastern Bonelli's Warbler. We birded there in typical big day fashion, fast and furious, and none of the birds were showy, so no photos at all.
When we descended to the Golan Heights in the late morning, the temperatures rose up to 37 degrees C (99 F) which made birding unpleasant. We made a few roadside stops to add species but escaped back to the air conditioned car. Valley of Tears was pretty good, with lots of birds singing and being active despite the heat. Black-headed Bunting, Upcher's Warbler, Woodchat and Red-backed Shrikes - good fun. A Eurasian Eagle Owl was scoped sat inside its burrow, our fourth owl species of the day.
Languid Warbler
In the early afternoon we birded some fish ponds in the Bet Shean Valley, braving the extreme heat. Ma'ale Gilboa fishponds had Broad-billed, Curlew and Temminck's Sandpipers, a large flock of Collared Pratincoles, Blue-cheeked Bee-eater and Namaqua Dove. In Kfar Ruppin fishponds we had a nice tern selection including Common, Little, Gull-billed and Whiskered. We also had a few duck species including two Marbled Ducks.
I was under time pressure to return home, plus I was exhausted, and hot, so we called it a day. Arabian Green Bee-eater was our final new bird of the day. We ended the Big Day as a team with 149 species - pretty good I think (I added Lesser Kestrel on the drive back home). Check our eBird trip report here.
Thanks to Omer, Shalev and Rea for a great day - it was very good fun and totally awesome to be out in big day mode.
