Hula Valley Bird Festival - day 6

It's my last day here in the Hula Valley and I'll be sad to leave.  The festival has been excellent with great birds, a fantastic location and, as in Eilat, world-class festival guides.

This morning we were out early for another Agamon Hula park mobile tour ride; we've seen some amazing birds this week but there can be few things that compare to thousands of cranes coming out of their roost in the morning.  The birds then fly into the nearby fields and allow a close approach by the tractors and trailers.

Other birds seen on the morning tour included two Marsh Sandpipers, a smart male Siberian (maurus) Stonechat, and close views of a Pied Kingfisher.  No sign of any Jungle Cats, which just goes to show how lucky we were with our multiple sightings earlier in the week.

Variation in Common Crane eye-colour:

After some breakfast back at the hotel we headed back to the park where we took a look at the family of Black-shouldered Kites, some Golden Plovers in one of the fields, more 'eastern' Stonechats etc. Then this afternoon we sat in on some of the lectures at the scientific conference that is taking place at the hotel—including excellent talks by Tim Appleton and Pete Dunne.