On March 29th I was involved in this year's Champions of The Flyway bird race held in Southern Israel. The whole idea was to raise money towards stopping the illegal hunting in Greece. Team Extremadura and I contributed towards raising of $70,000!
Of course, there was birding to be had in and around Eilat and into the Negev Desert. As I arrived a few days before the race I took full advantage of the time sifting through migrants and looking up at the magnificent kettles of migrating raptors.
Full species list is below.
Crested Honey Buzzard - the rarest bird of trip
Purple Herons
A trio of Glossy Ibis
White-crowned Black Wheatear
Steppe Buzzard
Steppe Buzzards and a Black Kite
Black-headed and Blue-headed Yellow Wagtails
Spur-winged Plover
Black-eared Wheatear
Bird list:
Little Grebe
Brown Booby
Cormorant
Night Heron
Cattle Egret
Squacco Heron
Little Egret
Western Reef Egret
Great Egret
Grey Heron
Purple Heron
White Stork
Black Stork
Glossy Ibis
Eurasian Spoonbill
Greater Flamingo
Common Shelduck
Egyptian Goose
Mallard
Pintail
Shoveler
Teal
Garganey
Egyptian Vulture
Osprey
Lesser Spotted Eagle
Steppe Eagle
Short-toed Eagle
Booted Eagle
Black Kite
Marsh Harrier
Montagu’s Harrier
Pallid Harrier
Long-legged Buzzard
Steppe Buzzard
Crested Honey Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Kestrel
Lesser Kestrel
Hobby
Chukar
Sand Partridge
Quail
Moorhen
Coot
MacQueen’s Bustard
Oystercatcher
Black-winged Stilt
Little Ringed Plover
Ringed Plover
Kentish Plover
Greater Sandplover
Spur-winged Plover
Dunlin
Little Stint
Wood Sandpiper
Green Sandpiper
Common Sandpiper
Redshank
Greenshank
Marsh Sandpiper
Black-tailed Godwit
Snipe
Red-necked Phalarope
Ruff
Arctic Skua
Black-headed Gull
Slender-billed Gull
Baltic Gull
Heuglin’s Gull
Sandwich Tern
Caspian Tern
Whiskered Tern
Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse
Rock Dove
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Turtle Dove
Laughing Dove
Namaqua Dove
European Nightjar
Common Swift
Pallid Swift
Alpine Swift
Hoopoe
Common Kingfisher
Pied Kingfisher
European Bee-eater
Little Green Bee-eater
Syrian Woodpecker
Wryneck
Crested Lark
Short-toed Lark
Desert Lark
Sand Martin
Rock Martin
Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
House Martin
Tawny Pipit
Tree Pipit
Red-throated Pipit
White Wagtail
Citrine Wagtail
Yellow Wagtail (feldegg
& flava)
Nightingale
Bluethroat
Common Redstart
Northern Wheatear
Isabelline Wheatear
Black-eared Wheatear (hispanica
& melanoleuca)
Mourning Wheatear
Hooded Wheatear
White-crowned Wheatear
Desert Wheatear
Blackstart
Whinchat
Blackbird
Graceful Prinia
Blackcap
Whitethroat
Lesser Whitethroat
Eastern Orphean Warbler
Sardinian Warbler
Zitting Cisticola
((Savi’s Warbler))
((Reed Warbler))
Olivaceous Warbler
Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler
Wood Warbler
Chiffchaff
Semi-collared
Flycatcher
Great Tit
Southern Grey Shrike
Woodchat Shrike
Masked Shrike
White-spectacled Bulbul
Palestine Sunbird
Arabian Babbler
Jay
Jackdaw
Hooded Crow
Brown-necked Raven
House Crow
Tristram’s Starling
House Sparrow
Spanish Sparrow
Greenfinch
Trumpeter Finch
Desert Finch
Ortolan Bunting
Cretzschmar’s Bunting
Cinereous Bunting
156 species
9 lifers
