Saturday, 26 March 2016

Champions of the Flyway- Scouting Days One and Two

 Arabian Babbler
 Palestine Sunbird
 Yellow-vented Bulbul
 Spanish Sparrows dancing
 Brown-necked Raven
  Desert Lark
 White-crowned Black Wheatear
 Steppe Buzzards migrating over the Eilat Mountains. At least 6000 this morning, also Black Kites, a Pallid Harrier, a Booted Eagle, Black Storks, Alpine Swifts and Pallid Swifts migrating through the mountains this morning 
 Dark phase Booted Eagle
 Male Pallid Harrier
 Rufous phase Steppe Buzzard
Shoveler, Pintail and Garganey

 Eilat Mountains raptor viewpoint
 Team mates Niki and Simon 
 Evening briefing
Planning for race day

Had a great couple of days, large shambolic to be honest, scouting Southern Israel ahead of the Champions of the Flyway race day on Wednesday this week. We stayed on a Kibbutz the first night and headed to Eilat for the rest of the week. Tonight there is a major storm passing with a year's worth of rain predicted to fall in one night so it should have a significant effect on the migration. There was a big push today with raptors pushing low through the mountains and good numbers of passerine migrants concentrating around the birding centre in Eilat.

 Highlight migrants over the last couple of days included Semi-collared Flycatcher, Red-necked Phalaropes, Bluethroats, Wryneck and large numbers of Red-rumped Swallows.

Please donate to our team to help us raise our £3000 target for funding to tackle the problem of illegal bird killing on the Eastern Flyway:




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