Reuven Yosef

Portrait of Reuven Yosef in front of the Centre’s ringing station in Eilat, a major bird migrating zone.

Yosef holds a red-backed shrike. Billions of Eurasian birds stop at the salt marshes near Eilat.

Yosef observing gulls inside the bird sanctuary in Eilat.

Yosef in front of the entrance of the centre he set up. Birds stop in the area on biannual migrations.

The booming tourist resort of Eilat. Unchecked development has threatened the local ecosystem.

Yosef is slowly transforming this waste land into avian feeding grounds.

Part of the sanctuary. The birds that stop near Eilat are crucial for ecosystems in Asia and Europe.

Yosef by his jeep contemplates his sanctuary at dawn.

Yosef removing a swift from a net for ringing, measuring and classification.

Deniz Agyen extracts a marsh warbler for ringing. Young people from around the world work at the centre.

Yosef measuring a migrant warbler. The centre ringed over 10,000 birds in the first half.

Yosef ringing a rufus bushchat. Some 300 species of migrating birds transit through Eilat.

Kenyan volunteer David Gitau, Deniz Agyen and Yosef at work in the centre’s ringing station.

A bird is released by Yosef and some of the centre’s volunteers.

Yosef holding a short-toed eagle which was injured by a car near Eilat.

A squacco heron about to be released from the International Birding and Research Centre.