Ashdod rarities

This morning we had a gull-workshop at Ashdod with the top Israeli gullers - Ehud, Amir and Sassi. Not too many gulls about but as always the variety is terrific - many fuscus, heuglini, cachinnans and armenicus, with smaller numbers of intermedius, barabensis and a possible michahelis that didn't allow good views. Still so much to learn on the variation of this group.

We had an adult Common Gull - a pretty tame bird. As the name implies, it is a good rarity in Israel...

Numbers of Pallas's Gulls typically rise during January. Today about 20 birds:

On the way out Ehud found two Desert Wheatears - a good winter bird for this area. This is a record shot of the male: