Champions of the Flyway 2016 – help us stop the illegal hunting and killing of birds in Greece

Birdwatch News Archive

Posted on: 02 Feb 2016

A team from Birdwatch and BirdGuides will join this year's Champions of the Flyway bird race in Israel to raise funds to prevent the illegal killing of migrant birds in Greece.

The Birdwatch-BirdGuides Roadrunners will race once more this spring at the annual Champions of the Flyway event to raise funds for bird conservation in the Mediterranean. The team was crowned Guardians of the Flyway in 2015 after raising more than £4,700 towards frontline protection work to help end the illegal killing of songbirds on a huge scale in Cyprus.

The Roadrunners will run again in the bird race in Israel on 29 March, competing against many other birding teams from all over the world to record as many species as possible on the day. The Guardians of the Flyway award is given to the team which generates the most funding for the chosen conservation project; in total the 2015 event generated more than £34,700 for BirdLife International conservation projects on the island.

The Birdwatch-BirdGuides Roadrunners hope to raise even more money this time around, as well as draw attention to this year's project: stopping the illegal trapping and killing of birds in Greece. The event will collaborate with the Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS), BirdLife’s partner wildlife charity in Greece, and focus on two distinct topics: the illegal trapping and shooting of European Turtle Doves, Common Quail and other migrants on two of the most popular Greek tourist islands, Santorini and Zakynthos, and the illegal trapping of songbirds for the black market in cagebirds, which takes place on the mainland and on many of the islands. More than one million birds are killed every year in Greece across a broad front, while resident songbirds also suffer.

Continued ...