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!

Champions of the Flyway 2024

On Monday (April 1st) it was Champions of the Flyway again, for the 11th year. It was a strange one, all-Israeli, without the international component. Because of the war we didn't even try to engage with the international birding community - not easy to be an Israeli organisation or individual these days. Despite the ongoing war situation, we decided to go ahead with the Israeli race this year for several reasons. First, the conservation project, to support Nature Tanzania's work in tackling illegal killing of White Storks and other birds, is so important that we were determined to raise whatever funds we can through COTF. Second, the race is a central event for the local birding community, bringing together so many people and connecting the birding community with conservation. It was great to be part of the leading team of COTF, with Alen and Noam but very strange without Jonathan Meyrav. You were missed, bro!

I headed down to Eilat on Sunday, March 31s, the day before the race. The weather turned terribly hot and migrant numbers on the ground were very low. In Yotvata sewage there were a few migrants, shorebirds, wagtails and pipits, best of the bunch was a Little Crake. In hot and windy Canada Park, this male Collared Flycatcher (one of my favourite birds) was the only migrant of note.

Over at the IBRCE we did a live birding webinar, broadcasting from the JBO (Dror), Hula (Nadav) and IBRCE (Daniel and Moritz ringing, I was out with my scope). You can watch the webinar recording here. I had phone issues (demonstrated also in the attached video below), so I contributed only visual, without sound. But it went OK I think. Outside of the zoom there were some nice birds in the park, including Whimbrel, Gull-billed Terns, a pale-morph Western Reef-Heron and Citrine Wagtails. Identifying this pale morph is a bit more challenging - note the dagger-shaped, non-black bill, and less black and yellow legs. It was also slightly larger that an adjacent Little Egret:

Citrine Wagtail

Whimbrel, Whiskered Terns, Glossy Ibis, Caspian Tern, Gull-billed Terns:

In the evening at North Beach the Brown Booby was sitting distantly on a buoy, and I saw my first White-cheeked Tern of the year.

Race day (April 1st) started in an unexpected way:

With this wake-up call (siren) teams sprang into action. I spent the whole day out in the field, with teams, making sure they are working well and seeing as many birds as possible. First thing in the morning I headed up to in Uvda Valley, that was actually quite good with decent numbers of migrants. The habitat looks great there - one of the few productive spots in the Negev this year. Most of the Negev is stone-dry, literally, after a rain-less winter.

My birding started well with a Striped Hyena that disappeared behind a ridge just as I got my camera on it... I had Bar-tailed and Med Short-toed Larks there, and another lark that got away and was probably Arabian. 

In Neot Smadar sewage a male Semi-collared Fly showed nicely:

Heading down towards the Arava valley, I intercepted a fantastic stream of migrating raptors, mainly Steppe Buzzards - thousands of them! Somehow, photos of such migration spectacles are always underwhelming; it is impossible (for me) to capture the size and power of this awesome experience.

During the hottest hours (it was already above 40 C / 104 F) I checked some sites near Eilat, including IBRCE and the football pitches. The most impressive creature that I photographed was this poisonous grasshopper Poekilocerus bufonius, here on its poisonous plant host - Sodom's Apple Calotropis procera.

In the afternoon teams started to concentrate in the Eilat sites. At KM20 Flamingo Pools there were many shorebirds and ducks, including two Red-necked Phalaropes and Collared Pratincoles. So great to see the kids and teens in action:

At North Beach the classic evening gathering of teams was photogenic as ever:

After dark we opened the finish line at the IBRCE and worked with the incoming teams until midnight.

On Tuesday (April 2nd) before the closing events I used the early morning for a little birding, with Itai and Meidad. In Holland Park it was nice to find a 'wild' Black Scrub-Robin (unlike the sedentary 'feral' ones in Samar).

At quick whizz through the IBRCE produced a columbinus Greater Sand-plover and a female Oriental Honey-Buzzard. I am still bewildered by their rapid expansion in Eilat - they have become a regular feature of birding here almost year-round. Note that in this photo the bird is half-gliding, therefore the first finger is tucked in.

Then it was the traditional group photo at North beach, classically interrupted by a passing Eurasian Curlew:

And a proper photo by Yuval Dax - thank you to all who participated!

The award ceremony was exciting and emotional as ever. Five titles were awarded to different teams - Guardians of the Flyway (most fundraising) to Women in Steppe, Knights of the Flyway to the young Bee-eaters (most noise and impact towards the cause), Green Champions of the Flyway to the Francolins (on foot in the heat!), IBRCE Champions of the Flyway to the Woodchat Shrikes (full day in the park), and classic Champions of the Flyway to the Desert Owls, led by Nitay Hayun, with an excellent score of 152 species! They received Zeiss binoculars, donated by Zeiss Birding - thank you! The Desert Owls are a brilliant team - exceptional birders and fine young lads - from L to R Yagel Yamin, Nitay, Beeri Abramov and Amit Spivack. This photo and the next are also by Yuval - thanks!

Uplifting to see the engagement and commitment of so many young birders to the project (41 participants under 18!) - not only their participation in the bird race itself. I also witnessed the importance of the conservation component and the connection of the younger participants to a 'bigger' story. I only wish there were more girls in this photo - still a big challenge we need to overcome, how to make birding more inclusive and safer for young girls.

From a birding point of view it may have been one of the quieter Champions, with very high temperatures and low numbers of migrants on the ground. However, this made the race itself even more challenging. With harder work of all teams most expected species were seen (195 species seen in total during the race by all teams) and lots of good species. Check my eBird trip report for the three days here.

From a public POV, as always, this event is so unique and motivational that I am very proud to be part of its leading team. Of course, that lack of international teams decreased the volume of the message, the importance of the battle against the horrible illegal killing of birds, and also decreased the amount of money raised for Nature Tanzania. You can still donate to COTF and support the work carried out by Nature Tanzania to tackle illegal killing of birds - please follow the link here,

Within Israel this still is one of the most prominent birding events of the year, that connects birding with conservation. IBRCE hosted the event and the the team did a stellar job. Huge love and appreciation to Noam and all IBRCE team - Tzadok, Libby, Sasha, Shachar, and Moritz and Daniel who operate the ringing station.

Alen and Noam deserve huge thanks for leading the whole campaign and event, with the online support of Mark Pearson. Hats off - you all did a great job in difficult conditions. Thanks as well to all of my team who came down to participate and help - Yuval, Meidad, Yotam, Ofir and the entire JBO team, and two BirdLife Israel 'affiliates' - Dan Alon and Amir Balaban - thank you all!

See you in Champions of the Flyway 2025! Go Champions!

Eilat Bird Festival and Champions of the Flyway 2023

My head us still buzzing after my return from Eilat. I spent almost a week down there, joining the Eilat Bird festival, this year led by Alen, followed by Champions of the Flyway, led by Jonathan. It was an amazing week, full of fantastic birds and birding, wonderful people from all over the world and from Israel, and conservation, friendship, diversity and collaboration. Traditionally it is one of the highlight weeks of my year, and this year was no different. The birding was really good, with intensive migration both in the River of Birds in the Sky and down on the ground. It was great to spend time with some of the best people in the world, all flocking here to Eilat. My BirdLife Israel team, Eilat Bird Festival guests, Champions of the Flyway teams - what a bunch of extraordinary people. Together we watched bird, promoted conservation and had a few beers.

I headed down to Eilat early on Thursday, March 23rd. I picked up Ugandan super-tracker and bird guide Patricia Kansiime from the airport too early, and dragged her with me to Mt. Amasa. Poor girl, she was totally exhausted after a long trip and I made her climb hills and wadis and chase after some little birds. It was a great session, wasn't it Patricia? Highlights were Cinereous Bunting, Eastern Subalpine Warbler and three Rufous-tailed Rock-Thrushes.

Cinereous Bunting

We took the scenic route down to Eilat through the Negev towards Eilat, encountering clouds of White Storks and Black Kites, pretty extreme migration to start with. I arrived in Eilat and joined the festival group that had been running already for a few days. The first afternoon session I led was to north beach that was fairly quiet but hosted this stunning, cooperative blue morph Western Reef-Heron:

I birded with the festival and independently until Saturday, including a night trip for Nubian Nightjars (sadly the Desert Owls didn't show, again...), Arabian Warbler in the northern Arava, mind-blowing raptor migration up in the mountains, Black Scrub-Robins breeding in Samar - top quality stuff! I had a great time with the festival guests, I hope they enjoyed the birding too and also the conservation context that is a part of birding in Israel with BirdLife Israel.

Then it was on to Champions of the Flyway, meeting, greeting and helping teams prepare for the Big Day, scouting sites - all great fun. With a weather change and shifting winds, Saturday and Sunday were super exciting with tons of active bird migration, birds literally dropping out of the sky and going in all directions. The sky was full of raptors, bee-eaters, Hirundines, pipits, wagtails, larks, buntings and all sorts of other active migrants. On the ground, the bushes and fields were exploding with passerines, trees dripping with Sylvia (now Curruca?) warblers. The best birding Eilat can offer.

Tree Pipits

Collared Flycatcher

Masked Shrike

Steppe Eagles

Go Go Geese

Champions of the Flyways race day and events were an enormous climax of birding and friendship, working with teams, doing media stuff, very busy but lots of fun. I spent the morning with some teams at KM76 that is the most productive site at the moment, it was absolutely exploding with birds, so much stuff on the ground there, I enjoyed it very much. Check our eBird checklist here.

Hen Harrier

Caspian Stonechat

Spanish Sparrows looking all glorious

Appreciate the habitat where this Savi's Warbler is reeling:

Back in Eilat, there were some quality birds on show, including a young Bonelli's Eagle terrorizing pigeons at the cowsheds near KM19, and a pair of Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse showing so wonderfully at the little grove by the entrance to KM20. Exquisite birds those sandgrouse are. Check those feather patterns...

The closing event was incredible, all people gathered together for conservation, solidarity and friendship. Champions of the Flyway winners were The Wrens, who scored 181 species on the big day! The team is comprised of the Zaitlin family from Jerusalem, and included Klil who grew up at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory and then did a year at Eilat Birding Center. Klil is an outstanding birder and a great young man. I look forward to see him develop in the world of birding and conservation. Most importantly, COTF is about raising funds for ACBK and BSPB to protect Red-breasted Geese (still time to donate!), and bringing people together to act for conservation. The atmosphere during the closing events was truly inspiring, amplified by the shit storm Israel is going through currently, demonstrating that conservation and international solidarity and collaboration are the real thing, not this politics bullshit.

Photo by Yuval Dax - thanks Yuval for everything!

This is the place to say special thanks to my team who worked so hard on these events and made them so successful - Alen, Jonathan, Noam, Mark, you are legends. IBRCE team formed the backbone of the event. Yuval, Nadav, Meidad, Yotam and Ofri from BirdLife Israel team participated too - thank you! So many wonderful people to thank - sorry if I forgot anyone.

As an aftermath or after-party to COTF, on Thursday, still high on Adrenalin, I headed up to Kfar Ruppin. I met up with The Birders Show for some filming, talking about our restoration work there, led by Nadav. They flew in to participate in COTF, and continued to focus on our restoration work. I had a great time with the team - Chris, Julian y Santi - you guys rock! While talking and watching birds in peace, news broke of a Yellow-billed Stork nearby. We made a quick dash for it, wonderful bird!

Yellow-billed Stork! Yesterday while filming w @TheBirdersShow in Kfar Ruppin we got alerted of this mega. A few minutes of rally-driving later we enjoyed fab scope views. @ChrisBellCOL is in the background...@_OSME pic.twitter.com/yPw5cEQFcw

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) March 30, 2023