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!

High expectations, slim pickings

I left Norwich early this morning with Phil and Will, with soaring expectations: weather conditions could have not been better for a fall, and/or for something really good. Burnham Overy Dunes was our choice. We were surprised to be the first birders there. As we walked out, the White-winged Tern showed nicely, albeit distant and in bad light conditions. A bird I wouldn't twitch in the UK, but was still really nice to bump into:

White-winged Tern

We worked the dunes hard, again and again, from Gunn Hill to the woods. At first there were no migrants to be found at all; evidently there was no fall. In those moments of disappointment, someone always uses the useless phrase 'biggies always travel alone'. If there were any biggies around, we missed them. News started to pour in, of decent arrivals and scarcities elsewhere in Norfolk and along the east coast; this enthused us to do another circuit of the dunes, and another... Then we had to move on, leaving the dunes goodies to be found by others. Between our group of 4/5 (including James and Dave Appleton) we did find eventually singles each of Pied Flycatcher, Common Redstart, Tree Pipit, Whinchat and Cuckoo. There were also 3 Wheatears, presumably local breeding birds. A Little Ringed Plover flew by uttering its sad call over the saltmarsh, and a Merlin bombed around Gunn Hill. On the marsh the distinguished residents showed OK - Spoonbills and Great White Egret. Two Barn Owls hunted out in the open - always fun. On the way out, several Bearded Tits pinged from the reedbed, and among a distant group of lingering Brent we found a striking Pale-bellied. The total for the morning was 95 species (check my eBird checklist here) - not bad I guess. And if you read the list above it feels like a pretty good morning. However, my expectations were much higher, both for quality and numbers. But hey, better to look at the bright side and enjoy what we did see, which ain't too shabby.

Stonking male Pied Flycatcher

Pale-bellied Brent

Barn Owl

Some other fauna and flora included:

One of quite many Wall Brown

Female Muslin Moth

A scarce hoverfly identified by Phil - Scaeve selenitica

Southern Marsh Orchid

We then went to Titchwell for a quick visit. The Greenish Warbler was surprisingly vocal in the midday (relative) heat, and showed OK, demonstrating its very faint wingbars; sadly I failed to get a decent photo.

I sound-recorded its vocalisations with my phone. Song came out rather OK; I need to work more on the calls. James got similar results with his iPhone...

We drove back by Choseley, where we added Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer to our day list, bringing it up to 99. 

Thanks to Will for driving there and James for driving back; good day out - maybe there still is another chance for a fall or a biggie this spring.

East Hills

Nice day on East Hills today - another one of those sites I had heard so much about. Low tide was at midday so we were forced to a late start, which was a good excuse for us lazy and mildly hung-over birders not to make an early start. The weather was brilliant, too brilliant in fact - pretty strong easterly but sunny and warm, but no rain. We parked at Warham Green and had a look around - some migrants there, including 2 Pied Flys, Spotted Fly, Redstart and I also heard a Yellow-browed Warbler. Two Spoonbills were on the saltmarsh. We headed off towards East Hills and the walk was rather quiet, a few Wheatears and a Whinchat, and some Greenshanks in the creeks. East Hills themselves felt rather quiet, but eventually we picked up some migrants in OK numbers. Some of my UK friends called it a fall but it certainly didn't feel like one, birds were quite few and far between. Total migrant numbers were 10-12 Pied Flys, 20 Wheatear, 5 Redstart, 2 Spotted Flys, 1 Reed Warbler (sadly just an out-of-place Reed Warbler), which is alright I guess but not more than that. One Hobby flew over and on the way back I flushed two Short-eared Owls - they flew off with the wind directly into the sun, and all I managed was some distant record shots, but they were the highlight of the day.

Pied Flycatcher

Wheatear

 Common Redstart

Short-eared Owl

Many thanks to Keith, Reg and Dougal for the great company.