BirdingTours Hoopoes
We are a team of enthusiastic birders and truly thrilled to finally take part in the Champions race for the first time. There are several reasons why this is going to be one of THE highlights of our birding year:
All of us have visited Israel before on several occasions and got to know it as a dream location for birders. The diverse local birds, the stunning migration spectacle, the excitement of possible rarities and the helpful birder scene guarantee a wonderful experience.
In a country where bird migration is so prominent you are bound to eventually think about the problem of illegal bird killing. Thankfully, due to the efforts of BirdLife and other volunteer groups the situation is slowly improving step by step. Very small steps, patiently year after year, but every step counts! One of the most important first steps is to raise awareness and let people know what is going on. BirdLife has published two reports so far (appropriately named ‘The Killing’), demonstrating that in the Mediterranean area alone, around 25 million birds are estimated to be killed. Every year!
Raising this awareness is one of the prime goals behind Champions of the Flyway and the event is doing a brilliant job. Birders from many countries come together, joining forces to light a beacon for birds and let people know about illegal bird killing. We regularly read about the decline in bird populations in so many countries. But we shouldn’t stop worrying at our local patch, our next holiday destination. We have to tackle this every step of the way. Starting at our local habitats, ensuring food supply and habitat functionality, maintaining and protecting wintering habitats but also ensure safe passage during migration.
It is easy to help and starts with spreading the message. If you can, consider spending the next 1 or 2 beers on birds. 5-10 euros, dollars, shekels… or more if you can, and appreciate the birds in your garden every spring. Every step and every contribution counts. This year all donations will go directly to supporting projects of BirdLife Croatia and Serbia.
If you consider supporting our team, we’ll keep you up-to-date from the race and you’ll be right there with us, in the Negev sands, at Eilat’s North beach, in the Arava valley… searching for and helping our birds.
Stay informed, spread the message, start here:
Sponsored by:
Meet the Team:
Stefan Greif
Stefan Greif
Batman at night, chasing birds during the day… Stefan is what you would call a classic, sometimes seemingly a bit crazy but always mild-mannered scientist. More precisely a zoologist at heart, you will find him looking for all sorts of creatures, be it creepy crawlies on the ground, astonishing fish in the sea or his beloved birds in the sky… In his professional life he mostly works with bats and explores their sensory ecology, movement strategies, orientation, etc. This quest sends him all over the world, enjoying wonderful places like Panama, Thailand, Mexico, Mauritius or Bulgaria in the last two years. Obviously, binoculars are around the neck at all times… After his PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology (Seewiesen, Germany), he briefly worked at the Queen’s University Belfast (UK) and has now been at Tel Aviv University for some time.
In his spare time, Stefan likes to… watch more birds… but also is an enthusiastic diver, teaching the joys of being underwater and the amazing sides of marine biology. But now he is more than excited to roam Israel’s southern parts and take part in the COTF race for the first time. Not only will it be an adventurous and fun challenge, but combining it with the opportunity to raise awareness about illegal bird killing and support BirdLife will surely make it an unforgettable and worthwhile experience.
Tobias Epple
Tobias Epple
Tobias has been a passionate birder since he was 11 years old. He is a permanent tour guide for BirdingTours since 2012 and has travelled all over the world to watch birds. Tobias is founding member of the Ornithological Society and the Rarity Committee of Baden-Wuerttemberg in southern Germany. Being a versatile birder, he finds joy in twitching rarities just as well as spending time on detailed behavioural observations, watching migration or delving into tricky ID problems. He has visited Israel on several occasions and is excited to take part in the Champions race.
Michael Opitz
Michael Opitz
Michael Opitz is a 39 year old teacher from the Black Forest in South-Western Germany. After being in Israel and Eilat for six times, he is familiar with the great hospitality of the local birding community. Now he is very happy that the dream comes true and that he can take part in this phenomenal event, the famous Champions of the Flyway, for the first time. After doing many trips inside the Western Palearctic with his best buddy Lennart Hensle, it feels like a coronation for them. When not birding or tormenting his students, Michael is in love with his local football team SC Freiburg, which he thinks is the best team in the world. In addition to that, he was the former singer of a not really famous but loud and skanking Skapunk-Band, so you can always start a conversation with him about football and Punkrock, if there are no birds around to talk about.
Lennart Hensle
Lennart Hensle
Thanks to my dad who is an expert with bats I have been a birdwatcher since being a child. Because for me, bats were not colourful enough, and looking for them was really a hard job! Being a lazy guy I didn’t like that. So looking for birds was the solution.
Soon I was to learn that looking for birds can be even harder. But by then it was too late…
In the meantime I became an arts teacher, travelled a lot with my colleague and best friend Michael Opitz, met a lot of nice people in Israel and elsewhere, worked with a Lapwing conservation project, started bird photography just to learn that I prefer just watching them. Sometimes I even paint birds.
Birds became such an essential part of my life and my mental health, I couldn’t imagine a world without them. That’s one of the reasons why I am proud of being part of the COTF at last! …and I love the evenings in Eilat during the race days of course!
