Champions of the Flyway 2025

Champions of the Flyway 2025 is done and dusted, and, oh boy, what a whirlwind of birding, conservation and people it was. COTF25 was expertly led by Alen Kacal and Noam Weiss from my team at BirdLife Israel, and was hosted at the Eilat Bird Sanctuary/IBRCE. This year, COTF was boosted by an international workshop, funded by the Ministry of Regional Cooperation, that brought almost 20 international birders to take part in the event. Above all, the main benefactors from COTF are the birds - this year we raised funds to better protect the main breeding colony of Common and Little Terns in Atlit. We are very proud of all the teams that worked together to raise over USD10K for the terns!

I headed down to Eilat on Sunday, March 30th. I didn't have much time for birding en route because I had to be in Eilat by lunchtime for the workshop and some TV stuff. I stopped briefly at Mitzpe Ramon where I had a lovely male Semicollared Flycatcher. Then in Yotvata I quickly connected with three Caspian Plovers that remained there for the next few days and made many birders very happy. A four-minute stop at Samar sewage for the two lingering Lesser White-fronted Geese was sweet. Then, so many birds at Eilat. I dipped on the Hypocolius in Holland Park despite two visits. I *think* I heard it once, but couldn't locate it or sound record it, so it doesn't count.

ON March 31st I spent part of the day with the workshop, and had a few meetings, including the official COTF briefing for all participants in the afternoon at IBRCE. It was great to spend time with new and old friends taking part in the workshop - there were birders from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria and Ethiopia! Together we saw some cool birds such as this male Oriental Honey Buzzard in Yotvata. It is interesting that in recent years, more and more OHB are seen in the southern Arava rather that in Eilat itself, perhaps following the colonization of Oriental Pygmy Bees in this region, and the depletion of bee nests around Eilat by the honey buzzards.

A quick look in Ofira Park was productive. I love this little park in the middle of the city, it often holds nice numbers of migrants, which are often very tame.

Tree Pipit

Wryneck

Race day, April 1st, was super intensive. I was up for all 24 hours of it, working with teams in the field to make sure they worked well, saw the birds and stayed out of trouble (which some of them didn't...). I got to see lots of good birds myself that day. First thing in the morning Yafruk plains, at KM86, was fun. Early on a group of four Asian Wild Asses galloped past me:

There were several good larks around, including Hoopoe (their song...), Temminck's (in the photo below) and Bar-tailed. 

Lots of Eastern Black-eared Wheatears were throughout the day

First COTF teams arrived there - I helped them get on the key species. This team is the JBO Sparrows - kids from the JBO youth club, with their leaders Rafi and Haim.

Then I headed up to Neot Smadar, where I met a few more teams, a TV crew, a Richard's Pipit, more flycatchers and overall many birds, which was hectic but enjoyable.

Richard's Pipit (Crested Lark in the background)

Woodchat Shrike

Thanks Omri for the snap

In Kibbutz Samar, I joined the teams searching for the Rosy Starling that showed up, and the local Black Scrub-Robins.

Rosy Starling destroying a date

Female

KM20 flamingo pools are a must-stop for racing teams. Most teams show up there in the afternoon, and indeed there were lots of cool birds, including Red-necked Phalaropes, Greater Sand-Plovers, and Gull-billed Terns. 

Sadly 'Freddie' the melanistic Greater Flamingo, that has been returning to Eilat for a decade, does not count as a separate species.

Marsh Sandpiper does

From left: Meidad Goren, me, Jonathan Meyrav and Dan Alon (COTF founders - respect!), Yuval Dax. Happy to see Jonathan racing this year. Next time try a little harder mate...

At north beach, before dusk, many teams congregated and I helped them to quickly see the Brown Booby, White-eyed Gulls and other specialties present before it got too dark. Thanks again Yuval Dax for this photo:

My day ended well into the next, with me meeting teams handing in their lists, reviewing the lists and doing the rankings. I think Alen took this photo, of me sitting down with David, Patrick and Michael (from Israel, Germany and Kyrgyzstan) and their list, close to midnight. I was very tired by then.

Next day, April 2nd, post race, pre closing event, I started early, birding with Patrick in Holland Park and Ofira Park again. Still lots of migrants around, nothing too exciting. This Western Yellow Wagtail was intriguing because it looks like a perfect feldegg but gave a pure flava call - will share sound recording when Patrick sends it to me.

The traditional north beach group photo - by the intrepid Yuval Dax:

Alen and me

The award ceremony at IBRCE was moving and emotional as always. Seeing all the kids, women, people from different backgrounds and cultures, share the moment together, for conservation, gives me a sense of hope for a better future. Photos from the award ceremony by.... Yuval Dax:

Champions of the Flyway 2025 - Woodcocks, with 158 species! Ori Gal, Yagel Yamin, Moshe Zinger and Adam Rosenfeld.

Guardians of the Flyway 2025 - Transitivas, the team who raised the most funds, Dror Lavee, Mars Cohen and Osnal Shalem, here with Noam and Alen. They are the first transgender team racing in COTF ever - I am so very proud of them. Thanks to Zeiss Birding for supporting COTF and providing us with the prizes for the winning team.

Knights of the Flyway 2025 - Hawfinches, the team who made the most noise, were most creative in their actions, for the second year running! Check this video for example. They are Ilai Parfinian, Geva Be'er, Lotan Strul, Adam Weinstock, and Itai Lahovitzer, aged 11-13. Here they are with their leaders, Shai Vashdi and Yehudit Mandelbaum.

Huge thanks again to Alen and Noam who led COTF this year, with the support of BirdLife Israel team - Yuval, Meidad, Reeva and Yotam. IBRCE team and volunteers, Tzadok, Leaby, Sasha, Daniel, Noah, Zvi, Eden and Shira were amazing. Thanks again to the Ministry of Regional Cooperation and Municipality of Eilat for supporting the event and bringing over our friends from overseas. Zeiss Birding have been our partners for many years now - thanks Petra and team!

From a birding POV, this was a good year for migration on the ground. Lots of common migrants which is great. On race day the weather was weird so raptor migration was blown to some direction. After a very dry winter the desert holds birds in low densities but it is always great to be out there. Check my trip report here.

That's all for now, see you in COTF26! Go Champions!

Eilat Birding Festival 2022

After two years of covid, finally this year our successful Eilat Birding Festival returned. It was so wonderful to see here again visiting birders - festival guests and others. I joined the week-long festival halfway through, on Wednesday, and returned home last night. It was a busy few days, leading tours and helping Jonathan and Alen with logistics almost 24/7. Birding was brilliant, some sites were packed with migrants, and there were lots of good birds to see. 

Heading south on Wednesday, I intercepted Lesser Spotted Eagle migration south of Be'er Sheva:

Further south, I made a quick stop at Wadi Sha'alav, in hope that the Turkestan Shrike would still be there. It wasn't, but the place was literally hopping with birds (eBird checklist here) - thousands of warblers, larks and wagtails feasting on abundant caterpillars. It was beautiful there despite the high temperatures and harsh light.

Western Yellow Wagtails (2x feldegg, 1x flava), two Chiffchaffs, Lesser Whitethroat and a local Crested Lark:

In the afternoon I already took a festival group out to Yotvata. The fields were somewhat quiet (eBird checklist here), but the sewage was productive (eBird checklist here).

Next day (March 31st) we started off early at Uvda Valley. It was a bit slow to start, but eventually we found where the birds were concentrated and enjoyed fab views of Crowned and Spotted Sandgrouse, and had fun with Bar-tailed and Temminck's Larks. eBird checklist here. On the way back we stopped again at Wadi Sha'alav that was still productive, and there was nice raptor migration overhead (eBird checklist here).

In the afternoon we checked KM20 saltpans (Black Scrub-Robin jumped along the road heading in...), then north beach. At north beach the Brown Booby was showing, albeit distantly, a few gulls and terns were knocking about including four gull-bills, and a Western Reef-Egret flew by, heading to roost probably at IBRCE. eBird checklist here.

On April 1st the festival group had a late start, so I went for an early morning, pre-breakfast session at IBRCE. Always great there, with Little Crake, Little Bittern, Red-necked Phals. eBird checklist here.

After a fantastic breakfast we went up to the mountains for raptor migration/hawkwatch. It was an amazing session, with over 12k Steppe Buzzards passing through in less than two hours, alongside many other raptors (eBird checklist here). When we arrived a Temminck's Lark was running in the carpark (thanks Tamir) - very unusual there. 

There were so many birds taking off in all directions, at different levels and distances. really overwhelming, especially for Hannah and Erik - it was their first morning in Israel.

Spot the Lesser Spot?

Especially dramatic views of the birds migrating against the dark volcanic rocks of the Eilat Mts. 

A Nubian Ibex joined our hawkwatching squad:

White-crowned Wheatear and Jonathan's group:

Back down in the city, Ofira Park produced an Olive-backed Pipit! Exciting stuff. 

As I was getting prepared for a much-needed powernap in my room, the rare bird alert rang - my mate Eran had just found 4 Caspian Plovers at KM20 saltpans. I sacrificed my siesta and dashed off to see them - stunning birds, one of the signature species of the festival.

An hour later I was there again with the group, and connected with them, to the groups' delight. On the way out and north, Ilan and Rivka pulled us over - they had just found four Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse at the little grove by the junction - amazing daytime views of them:

Later in the afternoon we saw a pair of Arabian Warblers in wonderful aerial display in Shezaf NR - what an ending to a fabulous day.

Yesterday (April 2nd) I went for a quick solo scouting session at Holland Park, finding a Hume's Warbler, three pale Rockfinches and a few other target species. I returned there later with the group and we had a great time with a showy Black Scrub-Robin:

Then two Oriental Honey-Buzzards bombarded us, the female too low over our heads, leaving us in a state of shock:

Carrying a piece of beehive

The male was a bit farther away:

That tail

On the way out, by the carpark, we had our second daytime encounter with Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse, this time a wonderful group of seven:

eBird checklist here.

Then it was time for me to say goodbye to the lovely guests, and I headed home for a short break. Tomorrow I return to Eilat, for Champions of the Flyway. There is still time to take part and contribute - please check this page and consider donating to help protect Turtle Doves.

Thank you to Jonathan, Alen, Noam and IBRCE team for the great effort and work during the festival.