Champions of the Flyway 2022

 After a short break at home, I returned to Eilat for Champions. I joined the organising team. Heading down to Eilat the weather was quite horrible with nasty winds blowing dust down the valley. Birds were struggling to migrate into the wind.

Baltic Gulls

Montagu's Harrier

After the traditional swap meeting and briefing at IBRCE, I went with Jonathan to KM20 saltpans. It was actually OK there with birds moving through, albeit with difficulty because of the wind. Nice to see the long-staying Lesser White-fronted Goose. 

Green Sandpipers

Osprey

Many Ruff (and a Marsh Sand)

Curlew Sand with friends

Red-necked Phalaropes actually have legs!

flava Western Yellow Wagtail

On race day the wind dropped thankfully, though it was very hot. I headed up the Arava Valley very early for some desert larks. I checked nice desert habitats and found most necessary larks (Hoopoe, Arabian, Temminck's and Bar-tailed). They were all in song but only half-heartedly - it's very dry up there and I'm not sure they will actually breed. 

It was thrilling to bump into a few migrants in the middle of the desert, in total non-habitat, including this beautiful nominate Common Redstart:

Then I proceeded to Wadi Sha'alav. There were far fewer migrants there compared to my previous visit during the festival, yet it was productive with Levant Sparrowhawk, Blue-cheeked Bee-eaters, quite many Tree Pipits and other stuff. There were lots of raptors on the ground - mainly Steppe Buzzards and Black Kites. 

Tree Pipit

Tawny Pipit

Back in Eilat, I quickly visited the Semicollared Flycatchers at Canada Gardens:

In the afternoon I met up with many groups congregating at KM20 saltpans, trying to help them be efficient and move on before the light runs out. Again, there was good bird movement.

The JBO Tits and their driver/chaperone Tzoor

Gull-billed Terns (jet in the background is in Aqaba airport)

Greater Sand-plover with Kentish Plover

Down at North Beach teams were frantic with last light efforts to add species to their lists. Lots of birds were flying around.

Garganey

Western Reef-Heron adapting to beach life

I created a little eBird Trip Report of the birds I saw personally during race day - check it here.

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@flywaychampions closing ceremony soon! Tension at its peak! Who will be this year's winners? pic.twitter.com/BcP5o28i83

— Yoav Perlman (@yoavperlman) April 6, 2022

The #COTF22 Race is run! An incredible effort by all our teams, and vital funds raised for the #YearOfTheDove throughout. Results to follow soon! Our campaign and fundraising continues, however.... donate here: https://t.co/CsbhXOVA7g

Special thanks to @ZEISSBirding! pic.twitter.com/Y68ENs9MsH

— BirdLife Israel (@BirdLifeIsrael) April 6, 2022

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It was very special to see all the kids who took part in this project. Really heartwarming, also the increasing number of women, and birders from different sectors. All those who participated, either physically at the race or through their contributions, are true Champions. Thickbills, Blackcaps, Kowa Women in Steppe, Zeiss BirdLife Malta - you rock!

Special thanks to COTF organiser Jonathan Meyrav for the amazing work he did this year, despite some very challenging circumstances. Hats off to the rest of my team at BirdLife Israel who contributed so much to the event, especially Alen Kacal and Noam Weiss. Shout out to Zeiss for sponsoring the race. Mark and Arad did excellent work behind the scenes - thank you. 

Fundraising hasn't ended - please donate here to express your #dovelove and save Turtle Doves in Malta, Cyprus and Greece.

See you in #COTF23!

Fieldwork therapy

My busy spring continues. More fieldwork thankfully steers me away from thoughts about the future of my country and enables me to enjoy the magic of migration. A few days ago, with Mark still around, I collected data again in our Batha mapping project, north of Jerusalem. Pale Rock Sparrows, Calandra Larks, lots of common migrants in beautiful habitat - I certainly am lucky that this is my job.

Somewhat small-billed Calandra Lark

Mourning Wheatear

Tree Pipit on a rock - abundant migrant in all habitats, nevertheless sexy

Judean Iris - almost as good as a bird

Another crappy morning with @yoavperlman in Israel - bird-filled, rolling hills in golden morning sunshine (Calandra Lark, Mourning Wheatear and Long-billed Pipit pictured). Can't wait to get home to the super-abundant rollercoaster of East coast spring birding. #zeissbirding pic.twitter.com/QVKzULS3ee

— Mark James Pearson (@Markthebirder) April 7, 2019

Before dropping Mark and Amity off at the airport we made a 'small diversion' via Kfar Ruppin. I had a meeting there and I wanted M&A to experience the fabulous Bet Shean Valley. After the meeting we had 38 minutes of joy in the fishponds - huge streams of migrants overhead - storks, pelicans, eagles; the fishponds were full of good stuff. 83 species in 38 minutes - pure bliss (eBird checklist here). Light conditions were horrible and I was tired, so I left my camera in the bag - surely Mark will blog about it soon.

Yesterday I spent a morning mapping birds in the Poleg region, north of Tel Aviv, with INPA's Ohad and Tzlil. This is an interesting and relatively under-watched part of the country, despite being right in the center. No amazing rarities were seen, just a abundance of breeding species and migrants in surprisingly good habitats. I was busy counting so had little photo opps. eBird checklists here and here.

Skyfull of birds

Yesterday early morning I headed over to Ben Shemen forest, to witness the anticipated massive Lesser Spotted eagle take-off. In the previous afternoon massive numbers had been moving until late, so it was expected that they will roost at their traditional roost site. When I got there few eagles were seen perched on treetops. While waiting for the air to heat up and the eagles to take off, I walked around in the adjacent scrub and olive grove, where I enjoyed nice numbers of migrants and some favourite species too:

Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

Tree Pipit

Spotted Flycatcher

Many shrikes around, this male Red-backed Shrike was one of those individuals with some white primary bases:

Masked Shrike

Turkish Meadow Brown

Olive grove and scrub; non-native pine forest in the background where the eagles roost

Then the main show started. When the eagles decided it's warm enough to start searching for thermals, large numbers started pouring over from all directions. The skies were full of birds in all directions. First low, soon they started to gain height using the first thermals of the morning. Some individuals passed very close, allowing the assembled crowd to admire their plumage variation:

Lesser Spotted Eagle, made in 2018

When the thermals started forming very close to where we were positioned, the obligatory 'Whoooo' and 'Wow' were noted.

Soon the eagles were too high for photography, but the continuous stream intensified - many hundreds of eagles that had roosted in the forest were now on the move.

Mixed among them were some other species. There were a fair number of Levant Sparrowhawks, but all larger flocks were very distant and into the sun, so no photos of flocks sadly.

Go Ninja!

This lucky Levant probably made a narrow escape from a Lebanese poacher the day before:

Western Black Kite - 1cy

Dark Booted Eagle (with adult Lesser Spot)

Pale Booted Eagle (with adult Lesser Spot)

Long-legged Buzzard 1cy - possibly a local bird

Other than those species here was a Greater Spotted Eagle, and a group that stood in another spot had an Eleonora's Falcon.

Well that was awesome! Amazing to think that now the birds might be already across the Gulf of Suez after crossing Israel and Sinai. Migration Champions!

Check my full eBird checklist here.