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| Running comms for the International Bird Obervatories Conference 2019 was a huge pleasure |
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| Jerusalem Bird Observatory - full of lovely people |
And so, by mid-March on a particularly dark, cold and damp Yorkshire coast, we were all set for three weeks in Israel.
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| Vismigging at the Eilat Birding Centre with comrades from all four corners of the globe |
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| The closing evening of IBOC at the IBRCE |
The two wonderful flagship events we were fortunate to be involved with - Champions of the Flyway (COTF) and The International Bird Observatories Conference (IBOC) - ran concurrently in Eilat, and involved not just an intensive (but enjoyable) work schedule but also a lot of fine, fine people; and of course, some great birds and birding opportunities.
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| Sneaky seawatching between lectures at IBOC 2019 |
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| Celebrating International Migratory Birds Day with the kids |
Of those fine people, well there were too many to even think about namechecking, but catching up with dear friends from the international birding and conservation communities, and forging many new friendships while reinforcing existing ones, is just about as good as it gets - it's hard to imagine any other circumstances where one could feel so at home and at ease, and so fully topped up on the psychological / philosophical fuel that is so essential to navigating the more mundane day-to-day trials of modern life.
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| The Three Golden Domes of Eilat |
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| IBOC! |
It's hard to oversell just how affirming and dynamic these two incredible events were, but being part of so many diverse and genuinely inspiring people from across the planet coming together and joining forces is a special privilege, especially when that community becomes so much more than the sum of their parts.
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| Typical hospitality from the mighty Nadav (beers out of shot) |
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| How's the migration this evening, Anat? |
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| BT3 - always with us! |
And then there were the birds.... I managed a blog post a day (well, when I got back) and they can be accessed chronologically by starting here and then clicking on 'newer post' at the end of each piece. (Alternatively, check out the monthly collections here and here).
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| Eastern Subalpine Warbler |
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| Rüppell's Warbler |
Of those birds, well, as I'm now privileged to confirm, early spring in Eilat is always a glorious kaliedoscope of migration, and it was another memorable birding adventure; positioning yourself smack bang in the middle of one of the busiest bottlenecks bridging the African and Eurasian landmasses in peak migration is, well, not dull....
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| Egyptian Vulture |
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| Ibex |
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| Nubian Nightjar |
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| Little Crake at the IBRCE |
Back home for the second week of April, and the survey season was about to kick in - more to follow.
