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.

Bird list:

  • Alpine Swift
  • Arabian Babbler
  • Arctic Skua
  • Baltic Gull
  • Black Kite
  • Black Stork
  • Black-eared Wheatear (hispanica & melanoleuca)
  • Black-headed Gull
  • Black-tailed Godwit
  • Black-winged Stilt
  • Blackbird
  • Blackcap
  • Blackstart
  • Bluethroat
  • Booted Eagle
  • Brown Booby
  • Brown-necked Raven
  • Caspian Tern
  • Cattle Egret
  • Chiffchaff
  • Chukar
  • Cinereous Bunting
  • Citrine Wagtail
  • Collared Dove
  • Common Kingfisher
  • Common Redstart
  • Common Sandpiper
  • Common Shelduck
  • Common Swift
  • Coot
  • Cormorant
  • Crested Honey Buzzard
  • Crested Lark
  • Cretzschmar’s Bunting
  • Desert Finch
  • Desert Lark
  • Desert Wheatear
  • Dunlin
  • Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler
  • Eastern Orphean Warbler
  • Egyptian Goose
  • Egyptian Vulture
  • Eurasian Spoonbill
  • European Bee-eater
  • European Nightjar
  • Garganey
  • Glossy Ibis
  • Graceful Prinia
  • Great Egret
  • Great Tit
  • Greater Flamingo
  • Greater Sandplover
  • Green Sandpiper
  • Greenfinch
  • Greenshank
  • Grey Heron
  • Heuglin’s Gull
  • Hobby
  • Hooded Crow
  • Hooded Wheatear
  • Hoopoe
  • House Crow
  • House Martin
  • House Sparrow
  • Isabelline Wheatear
  • Jackdaw
  • Jay
  • Kentish Plover
  • Kestrel
  • Laughing Dove
  • Lesser Kestrel
  • Lesser Spotted Eagle
  • Lesser Whitethroat
  • Lichtenstein’s Sandgrouse
  • Little Egret
  • Little Grebe
  • Little Green Bee-eater
  • Little Ringed Plover
  • Little Stint
  • Long-legged Buzzard
  • MacQueen’s Bustard
  • Mallard
  • Marsh Harrier
  • Marsh Sandpiper
  • Masked Shrike
  • Montagu’s Harrier
  • Moorhen
  • Mourning Wheatear
  • Namaqua Dove
  • Night Heron
  • Nightingale
  • Northern Wheatear
  • Olivaceous Warbler
  • Ortolan Bunting
  • Osprey
  • Oystercatcher
  • Palestine Sunbird
  • Pallid Harrier
  • Pallid Swift
  • Pied Kingfisher
  • Pintail
  • Purple Heron
  • Quail
  • Red-necked Phalarope
  • Red-rumped Swallow
  • Red-throated Pipit
  • Redshank
  • ((Reed Warbler)) *
  • Ringed Plover
  • Rock Dove
  • Rock Martin
  • Ruff
  • Sand Martin
  • Sand Partridge
  • Sandwich Tern
  • Sardinian Warbler
  • ((Savi’s Warbler)) *
  • Semi-collared Flycatcher
  • Short-toed Eagle
  • Short-toed Lark
  • Shoveler
  • Slender-billed Gull
  • Snipe
  • Southern Grey Shrike
  • Spanish Sparrow
  • Sparrowhawk
  • Spur-winged Plover
  • Squacco Heron
  • Steppe Buzzard
  • Steppe Eagle
  • Swallow
  • Syrian Woodpecker
  • Tawny Pipit
  • Teal
  • Tree Pipit
  • Tristram’s Starling
  • Trumpeter Finch
  • Turtle Dove
  • Western Reef Egret
  • Whinchat
  • Whiskered Tern
  • White Stork
  • White Wagtail
  • White-crowned Wheatear
  • White-spectacled Bulbul
  • Whitethroat
  • Wood Pigeon
  • Wood Sandpiper
  • Wood Warbler
  • Woodchat Shrike
  • Wryneck
  • Yellow Wagtail (feldegg & flava)
  • Zitting Cisticola
156

Species

Note: ((heard)) *

9

Lifers

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