March 19th, 2006. K20 salt pools, Eilat.
| Lesser Flamingo Phoenicopterus minor - New to Israel
| This
bird was discovered by Dr. Svetlana Annenkova (of Birdfinders and
Kazakhstan Bird Tours) at about 15:00hrs, and confirmed immediately by
Vaughan Ashby and myself. About two-thirds of the World's population of Lesser Flamingo
breeds in the alkaline lakes of Eastern and Central Africa. This part
of Southern Israel is well situated to receive a genuine vagrant, a
pattern which has been reflected in other East African species in the
past such as the Southern Pochard discovered nearby in April/May 1998.
This particular bird, an adult, was very probably a fresh arrival on
the southern weather system that had been a feature of the previous
twenty-four hours. In fact, the southern wind was so blustery on that
afternoon that our group found itself sheltering behind the tour buses.
With at least one accepted record for Egypt, and the regular (though fluctuating) presence of over 500 Greater Flamingos at this site, Lesser Flamingo did
seem like a reasonable candidate for vagrancy to the Eilat area of
Israel. Unfortunately, the vagrancy patterns of this species in Western
Europe have apparently been clouded by the escape issue.
Congratulations to Sveta on her fantastic discovery.
More images of the Lesser Flamingo can be seen at the excellent Israeli birding website (Israbirding.com).
| Photo-notes (1:6) from the Birdfinders tour to Southern Israel 2006.
| | Images taken using Canon Powersjot A95 through Swarovski HD telescope. |
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