Special summary - my birding year in 2025

It’s that time of year again when I look back on the standout birding and wildlife moments of 2025. It has been a very strange year. From a birding perspective, it was remarkable—both in Israel and abroad. Yet on a national and human level, it was dreadful. I rarely write about politics here, but the situation in Israel is so severe that it touches every part of my life. As my beloved country continues to deteriorate, and life grows harder for a liberal, secular person, birding, nature, and time with like-minded people in the nature and science communities have become a growing beacon of light and hope.

2025 was a year of intensive birding in Israel, complemented by several fantastic trips overseas. In this summary, I’ll revisit the year’s highlights at home and beyond—local and national birding, twitching, fieldwork, photography, travel, and more. Enjoy.

A year of birding in Israel

The year 2025 has been exceptional for birding in Israel, marked by massive migrations during both seasons, and a productive breeding period despite ongoing drought conditions. Throughout the year, I proudly maintained my eBirding streak, recently celebrating seven consecutive years of birding. In 2025, I submitted 870 checklists and uploaded to the Macaulay Library 561 photos, 141 videos, and 72 sound recordings.

A significant portion of my birding consists of local outings. Thankfully, living in Israel offers a wealth of excellent birding opportunities within a 10 km radius of my home, and I take full advantage of local sites. Additionally, I continued my fieldwork with BirdLife Israel, participating in breeding bird surveys, various studies, and migration counts.

As of December 29th, an impressive 415 species have been reported on eBird this year, and I have observed 386 of them, which is quite satisfying. I was so busy towards the end of the year and missed several easy birds. Below are my annual totals for birding in Israel over recent years:

In 2025 I had two Israel ticks (Eastern Red-rumped Swallow in January, and Common Grasshopper-Warbler in May), bringing my eBird Life List in Israel to 493 species. At this rate, 500 isn't unimaginable, in a few years...

January

The year started well with a trip up north that produced several great birds, including Radde's Accentors, and Red-wattled Lapwing.

Close to home, my friend Micha found a Pine Bunting, coupled with a Yellowhammer, enjoyed with Piki.

On the last day of January I travelled down to Eilat, to twitch an Eastern Red-rumped Swallow, found by Noah konopny and Zvi Schwarzfuchs. The swallow showed very well!

February

In February I had some fieldwork duties in the far south, which was good fun. Towards the end of the month, first spring migrants - always fun to find my first Rüppell's Warbler of the season.

Nothing special, just a photo I liked

March

In March migration picked up, and I was all over the place. Early in the month I said goodbye to the overwintering Pied Bushchat before it departed.

I travelled down to Eilat twice during March. On the first visit I was rewarded with brilliant views of this neat Menetries's Warbler in the city.

In late March I headed down to Eilat for the Eilat Birding Festival and Champions of the Flyway. It was a wonderful time of year to be there, so many birds, great people and atmosphere - bliss. Race day was on April 1st.

Caspian Plover

Two long-staying Lesser White-fronted Geese

Black Scrub-Robin

Champions of the Flyway 2025 group photo by Yuval Dax 

April

In April, post Champions of the Flyway, despite not seeing any proper rarities, I thoroughly enjoyed massive spring migration.

Blackcaps in the Golan Heights

Semicollared Flycatcher in Yeruham

May

May is always a busy month for migration. May 2025 did not disappoint, in that respect. On May 8th I dipped on Israel's first Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in Eilat. Long drive for a dip. However, there were so many birds down there that we were only a tiny bit disappointed.

Mixed shorebirds

Gull-billed Terns

Terek Sandpiper

On May 11th it was Global Big Day. We had a fantastic day up north, with so many special birds and moments.

Rosy Starlings in Agamon Hula

On May 14th I was delighted to see a Common Grasshopper-warbler at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory. An Israel tick for me, actually it was my bogey bird, laid to rest,

June - July

The summer months were slower, though I enjoyed many breeding birds. A traditional trip up to Mt. Meron to appreciate the Eleonora's Falcons that spend the summer there was enjoyable.

August

In August autumn migration picked up, and good birds pored in. This stonking male White-throated Robin, part of a nice arrival in southern Israel, was a real poser.

September

In September shorebird migration peaked. I enjoyed visiting migration sites to take it all in. The Tel Avivian Pacific Golden-Plover returned for another winter.

 

 

This Pectoral Sandpiper I found on September 11th at Ma'agan Michael was well appreciated by many birders.

A pelagic trip off Eilat on the 19th produced a single Swinhoe's Strom-Petrel:

This year we counted raptors, and conducted research at our restoration projects. Phenomenal.

European Honey-Buzzard, one of many that roosted on the 8th at our restoration site in Kfar Ruppin

Levant Sparrowhawks over home, September 23rd

Obliging Red Knot at Ma'agan Michael, 26th

October

In early October I enjoyed counting large numbers of Lesser Spotted Eagles.

And White Pelicans

This fearless young Red-footed Falcon was near home, at Tal Shachar:

November

I enjoyed several morning with excellent active migration during the month. No outstanding photos from these events, but I enjoyed this Rook at Arsuf:

December

I was away in Uganda during the first half of the month, then super busy after my return. My final year bird was Cinereous Vulture - two birds in Haifa on December 24th.

World birding

In April I went with my family to Greece. It was my first visit to this wonderful country. I enjoyed birding the countryside, where Cirl Buntings and Eastern Subalpine Warblers were common. I had one global lifer there, Rock Partridge, that I didn't succeed to photograph.

In late May I flew to California, where I presented at a conference in Stanford University. Before the conference I spent two days of whirlwind birding with my friends Brian and Aaron - thanks guys! those two bird-packed days blew my mind.

Black-footed Albatross

Lawrence's Goldfinch

Mountain Quail

Lazuli Bunting

Wilson's Phalarope

In July I participated in Global Birdfair, representing Birds of the World. Here I am with my Cornell Lab team mates, Iain, Alex, Ali and Ian.

I didn't neglect my role as director of BirdLife Israel, and supported Alen from my team when she shared her experience in a panel on the healing power of nature.

In late November I flew to amazing Uganda, to participate in an exceptionally awesome FAM tour. We saw so many incredible birds and mammals. I am slowly posting about this trip. I took so many photos that it's taking me too long to sort and edit them. Stay tuned for more updates.

Shoebill

Papyrus Gonolek - poor photo of a great bird

Mountain Gorilla

Serval

That's it for 2025, more or less. There's a storm blowing outside now, seawatching tomorrow, so maybe one last good bird tomorrow morning? In the meanwhile, I am so thankful for the opportunities I had in 2025 to be outdoors, to spend time with good people, to experience nature at its best.

My love and appreciation to my family for their support throughout the year and always. 

We had an incredible year together, with so many happy moments and also sad periods, including the loss of our beloved dog Lola.

Huge thanks to all my birding mates, who share those wonderful moments with me. Love you all.

I thank my employers at SPNI/BirdLife Israel and Cornell Lab/Birds of the World for enduring my birding. Swarovski Optik have been providing me with the best optics, for which I am grateful.

I thank all my supporters and followers in Israel and worldwide, here on my blog and on my social media platforms. Please, keep on birding, be good to each other an to our world. I wish us all a wonderful 2026!

Non-stop birding

In recent weeks I have been trying to make the most of this wonderful time of year for bird migration in Israel. Because of climate change it's still horribly hot here, but late autumn and winter migrants are pouring in following their evolution-imprinted internal clocks. These past few weeks have been packed with birding, every day. Like a birding junkie, I need my daily dose of migration. Most days I bird close to home, sadly without Lola since October 18th. Sometimes I have opportunities to bird in other parts of the country. I have a few weeks of birding to cover in this blogpost; I will do so in chronological order.

Red-footed Falcons are typical October birds here. The region where I live, in central Israel, is quite good for flocks stopping over. They're so popular with photographers here (justly, they're wonderful birds), so I avoided several popular sites and flocks as long as I could. While birding near home on October 14th I bumped into a small group of these elegant little devils. 

They're so small that Jackdaws and even Mynas give them a hard time. I wish this pursuit between a Jackdaw and a female Red-foot happened a bit closer to me.

One young Red-foot was super obliging.

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It's been a few good weeks for Willow Warblers

I have been so busy with work in recent weeks that I had to skip several twitches. These included a mega Verreaux's Eagle roaming the Eilat Mts., and a very showy Ring Ouzel in a small park in Mitzpe Ramon. I eventually made it down to Mitzpe Ramon (with Meidad) only after the ouzel had departed, on October 27th, but enjoyed close views of a gorgeous Olive-backed Pipit:

In Nafha farm, a Spotted Crake utilized the malfunctioning water treatment plant that created a wonderful, bird rich sewage wetland. Check all the bird calls in the background:

On October 30th I birded with my mate Frank in the Bet Shean Valley, that was full of birds as always. How miniature Black Storks look, dwarfed by the monster Great White Pelicans:

We spotted an odd raptor on an irrigation line, with white on its neck and belly. It took off, I fired off a few shots, and dismissed it as a funny Black Kite. A couple of days later, when I downloaded and edited the images, conspiratory thoughts infiltrated my mind - I was blown off course by the short, square tail, and the bill looked heavy. But after close inspection, Amir noticed that the tail is clipped. So it is a funny Black Kite eventually, with two off characters (the clipped tail and white regions).

On October 31st we held a big public event in Ma'agan Michael. I started off with a couple of hours of early morning vismigging for the soul. It was amazing, with huge numbers of Chaffinches and Skylarks (eBird checklist here). Wild easterlies squeezed everything towards the shore - migration was really dense. Because of the strong wind I couldn't hear much, but spotted a Bimaculated Lark and a Hawfinch flying by. Many skylarks migrated over the sea, low above the waves. Breathtaking.

On the way out I enjoyed this 1cy male Siberian Stonechat, that could be Armenian (ssp. variegatus), based on the limited white on the base of tail feathers. 

During a birding walk I guided, we appreciated this spectacular Citrine Wagtail, as bright as they get.

The continuing easterlies and hot weather created conditions that are rare on the coast, and resulted with fairly decent raptor migration, including this 1cy Bonelli's Eagle:

And a dark-morph Eleonora's Falcon:

Yesterday morning, birding near home, nothing too special, just a nice selection of migrants:

Hen Harrier, one of three

1cy female Siberian Stonechat

Stock Dove is a bit of a thing in Israel:

coutellii Water Pipit - catching a bug: