Champions Of The Flyway 2024

Saving White Storks in Tanzania

DONATE TO #COTF24 AND HELP SAVE WHITE STORKS HERE!

Due to present circumstances in the region, we are unfortunately unable to hold the international race as planned this year. However, we are committed to raising funds for this year’s cause – White Storks in Tanzania – and we’re full speed ahead with the national race, involving many teams (and many youth teams!) from across the country, on April 1st. Watch this space for more, and please donate if possible!

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CHAMPIONS 2024 IS GO! We are very excited to announce that our latest campaign is dedicated to combating the illegal killing of the White Storks Ciconia ciconia and other trans-Saharan migratory species in Tanzania.

Our latest Champions campaign – culminating in the famous 24-hour Bird Race in Eilat, Israel, on April 2nd next spring – is in collaboration with our friends at NATURE TANZANIA, our BirdLife International partner-recipient, who will use 100% of funds raised to stop the tragic mass killing of birds in this key wintering zone for Eurasian migrants.

DO YOU FANCY TAKING PART OF THE WORLD’S FRIENDLIEST AND MOST EXCITING BIRD RACE? WE ARE NOW SEEKING TEAMS FOR THE RACE AND CAMPAIGN! CONTACT ALEN AT Alenk@spni.org.il NOW!

Join our journey on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE 

Champions of the Flyway is now a well known fund- and awareness-raising event in global birding and conservation circles. Since our humble beginnings back in 2014, we’ve raised over $500,000 for projects tackling the illegal killing of birds migrating along the flyways. Over these past nine years we’ve shone the spotlight on the many challenging issues birds face, helping ten different BirdLife International partners in their ongoing struggle against the slaughter of migrants on the ground.

The Champions Of The Flyway family is coming together again, and from now until the end of March ’24, it’s all about raising funds and awareness to help save White Storks and other Euro-african migrants in Tanzania! Watch this space for further details of the wonderful projects and outputs our partners have lined up for when they recieve the COTF24 campaign funds …..

DONATE TO #COTF24 AND HELP SAVE WHITE STORKS HERE 

COTF ’24 is generously supported by ZEISS BIRDING

2024 – PROJECT OBJECTIVES

Our partners in Nature Tanzania will use 100% of the funds raised to combat the issue of Illegal Killing of Birds (IKB) in Tanzania, with a focus on the White Stork. Surveys conducted by Nature Tanzania estimate that over 84,000 birds are killed each month – and among these are an estimated 10,000 White Storks killed every migratory season.

The project will focus on the following activities:

Educating and engaging the community by direct communication, village assemblies, radio and television, and school programs – Focusing on White Stork conservation, stopping IKB and the negative impact on human health resulting in consuming birds killed by poisoning.

Recruiting and training hunters as White Stork Conservation champions to help with monitoring poaching and hunting hotspots.

Identifying socio-economic factors driving IKB in Tanzania in order to develop more targeted intervention plans for: public education, alternative livelihood strategies, policy & legislation formulation and enforcement by government agencies and other stakeholders.


Promotion of low scale livelihood activities among converted poachers to address IKB from an economic angle. This include poultry farming and beekeeping to increase family incomes and reduce the reliance on hunting.

A bird race with a difference:

  1. We celebrate the miracle of migration and the joy of sharing outstanding birding experiences
  2. We operate on a global scale. Birders from every corner of the world participate – whether bird-racing, fund-raising, spreading the word  following events live online.
  3. Teams generate funding that results in direct conservation action for birds on the Mediterranean flyway and beyond

As race teams post their adventures in real time, anyone, anywhere in the world can follow the race live on Twitter, Facebook or on this website, participating virtually and cheering their favourite team on to victory…

HOW IS CHAMPIONS 2024 DIFFERENT?

We’ve reinvented the race and awards to focus on sustainable methods!

The race element is open to everyone, wherever you are in the world 

Our Eilat Race will use carbon-offset schemes

There are new awards for our participants – watch this space!

Together we make a real difference for the fortunes of migratory birds – join the Champions family and help us turn the tide!