It’s been a few days since Champions of the Flyway happened. I’ve been super busy and couldn’t find the time to write about this inspiring event until now.
Champions of the Flyway 2026 conservation project was to protect falcons in Israel, including from poaching - #letfalconsflyfree
My team at BirdLife Israel and the team of Eilat Birding Center have been working hard for several months on this event, planned for March 26th. Our plans for an international event went up in the air, literally, with the Iran – Israel war. When the war escalated and didn’t end, we considered canceling the event altogether, in fear that no Israeli teams will commit to take part in the project, due to the security threats and instability. However, we decided to postpone the race day to April 27th, in hope that the war will have ended by then. Finally, the war did end, and 17 teams showed up in Eilat for the race. Originally, the date shift to the end of April seemed very promising from a birding point of view. Traditionally, this is one of the busiest periods for migration in Eilat, with huge numbers and diversity of migrants expected.
I arrived in Eilat on April 26th and met with some of the teams that were in Eilat for final briefing. I managed a little bit of birding en route and in Eilat, and was shocked how few migrant passerines were around. This is possibly linked with the exceptional rain in the desert, providing migrants with rich stopover conditions all over the desert, making the traditional stopover sites of Eilat almost redundant.
On race day, April 27th, I was out all day with the teams, making sure everything was working fine and the teams were keeping safe and seeing birds. It was a tough day for birding for all teams, confounded by the lack of migrants. A few teams struggled to find some common migrants. Shorebirds were OK though, as were raptors. It was a big day for Levant Sparrowhawks, with hundreds taking off from the Eilat Birding Center in the morning. One got caught in the nets:
Noam Weiss, director of Eilat Birding Center, appreciating
Plenty of Euro Honey-Buzzards going through too:
There were a few Little Herons at the IBRCE too - are you OK with that new name? Fine bird nevertheless.
Some team members needed some assistance using my scope:
The Black Scrub-Robins in Kibbutz Samar were active as they should be - breeding now:
CF
Sorry for the poor sound recording - noise and wind and haste:
At the entrance to KM20 saltpans, a lone Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse showed very well. Stunning bird.
Supreme camo
This Blue-cheeked Bee-eater was one of quite many that moved through during the day:
So great to see these youth teams racing like pros:
Flyway Generations and IBRCE's Verreaux's Eagles at KM19
Before dusk teams congregated at North beach for the final push of diurnal birding:
Sooty Shearwater
Jonathan Meyrav, the person behind COTF for many years, now competing and leading the way
Proper North Beach photo by Yuval Dax
Personally, I had a good day of birding, despite the lack of migrants.
104 species ain't too shabby.
Next day (April 28th) I had time for early morning birding at Holland Park. It was so empty of migrants that the only bird photo I took was of these Laughing Doves. Nice to have a pair of Striolated Buntings on territory.
We met at North Beach for the traditional group photo. There were some distractions in the process, in the way of this fishing Western Reef-Heron:
Then we spotted a moribund Leopard Torpedo (what a cool name to an amazing fish) stranded in a coastal puddle. One of the guys found a bucket and released it back into open water. Sorry for embedding this X tweet, not the video itself - blogger wouldn't allow me to upload it.
The traditional group photo is by Yuval Dax and almost all following wonderful people photos are as well:
Getting ready for the award ceremony at the IBRCE (my humble photo):
Congratulations to the Great Tits - Ido, Ofer, Michael and Gur, a group of teenagers, for scoring 127 species and winning the Champions of the Flyway 2026 award! Huge appreciation to Hadas, their guide and mentor since a very early age, and to Adam, who was the 'responsible adult' of the team.
The Green Champions of the Flyway, Cream-coloured Coursers - Haim, Gabriel and Moshe. G and M are 14 and 16! Birding on foot all day, they are amazing!
Sanctuary Champions of the Flyway, the Ma'agan Michael Sandpipers, represented our Ma'agan Michael Birding Center, birded all day inside the IBRCE and did great!
Team Transitiva, an all-LGBTQ team, Dror, Tahel and Ruhama, won Guardians of the Flyway for raising the largest amount for conservation. They received as a prize for their efforts, three Swarovski Optik CL Companion binoculars.
Knights of the Flyway, the Goldfinches, an all-woman team, including two non-Jewish birders - Doris and Hulud, did a stellar job promoting the conservation cause, and also have been racing at COTF since 2015 without missing a year! You are awesome! Here they are in action at KM20 saltpans:
All COTF26 participants under 18 - the best thing about this race. Watch them - the future birding and conservation leaders of Israel.
Importantly, the substantial funds raised for protecting falcons in Israel will hopefully make a real impact, supporting better applied research, our anti-poaching unit, and outreach activities.
Thanks to Alen, Noam and my entire team at BirdLife Israel for organising Champions of the Flyway so well, once again. Eilat Birding Center hosted the events - thank you to the entire team who make us feel so welcome every year. Thanks to Yuval for photographing the event. Thanks to Swarovski Optik for supporting COTF. See you in Champions of the Flyway 2027.
Go Champions!
