Yesterday news came out of a Yellow-billed Strok that was found by Irad Solnik in the Harod Valley. I immediately started itching and twitching as this was my bogy bird - I missed the two birds present since 1985 when I started birding.
This morning I left home very early to arrive on site (Tel Yosef fishponds) at first light. Very soon a nice group of birders assembled, and rather quickly we got on the bird, in a field among a flock of White Storks. We had good scope views (but crap record shots, sorry) as the bird fed in the field, and later on it flew east and disappeared for the rest of the morning. Other birders refound it later on in another fish farm. There are so many fish farms in the valley, and so many storks.
Regarding the age of this bird, it's young but I'm not sure how young. As many other tropical species their breeding depends on rainy season, so it's hard to say when this bird hatched. Conventional Northern Hemisphere ageing codes (1cy, 2cy etc.) do not apply to this bird.
Congrats to Irad for this great find and info!
Yellow-billed Stork
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