The Spokes Folk team
are less than 24 hours away from departing the UK and we are bound
straight for Israel! Excitement and anticipation are at a high, only
dampened by the disbelief that we are really REALLY about to
participate in the legendary Champions of the Flyway!
Follow all the
teams’ progress and success on twitter with the hashtag #COTF17
Let me take this
opportunity again to thank Viking Optic for their extremely generous
support by providing us with some class optics. Also a massive thank you is due to everybody who has
kindly donated to BirdLife Turkey through our just Giving page to
support migratory birds through Turkey.
If you can make a donation, and every donation is a massive boost to the team, then PLEASE follow the instructions on our page. Thanks.
On arrival in Eilat tomorrow, we plan to
meet with other teams competing in the race to share and update our
birding gen and get out in the field ASAP! A rough plan of action
involves scouring various scrubland habitats on the northern edge of
Eilat for migrant passerines, heading to the beach for gulls and
seabirds, finding a spot in the mountains to the NW of Eilat for a
raptor passage vantage point, scan the K19 and 20 salt pans for
waders and sandgrouse at dusk and most importantly to familiarise
ourselves with the International Birdwatching and Research Centre of
Eilat which boasts an impressive diversity of riparian species, a
welcoming start to our visit.
The team . . . .
Samuel . . the Bird Encyclopaedia
Erin . . the ever smiling enthusiast
George . . . the heart of the SpokesFolks
Gary . . . The Biking Birder
As you may already know
we have taken on a green aspect to the race as well as the time
leading up to it as we will be exploring the area as best we can by
bike and foot. This will be a physical challenge too as we will have
to manage our time out in the sun sensibly, find areas of shelter
during the midday heat and make the most of the early morning and
later afternoon period. Our ambition to conduct all this by green
methods has the added benefit that we will be spending an even
greater proportion of the time in the field than would be the case if
we were sat in the seat of a car simply hopping between hotspots.
Who knows we may even stumble on a great hidden gem that we may have
simply bypassed had we driven by it, personally I’ve seen and found
some great birds simply whilst sat on the saddle.
Things to work on in
preparation for the big race day will include genning up on raptor
ID, particularly those in flight, calls of commoner species so that
we can at least recognise when we are hearing something scarcer,
familiarise ourselves with the landscape, birding sites and what time
of day to visit each, push our physical limits and see how much we
can achieve but most importantly we all want to have a load of fun.
Whatever happens, I’m sure that’s guaranteed!
From North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory, Orkney, UK to Eilat, Israel . . .
Bring it on!!!
http://www.champions-of-the-flyway.com/the-spokes-folks/
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