Newsbook Photo by Edward Bonavia BirdLife Malta’s National Raptor Coordinator Each spring, millions of European raptors that have over-wintered in Africa set out from that continent for breeding areas in Europe to breed and raise young. Most leave Africa via the Strait of Gibraltar at the western end of the Mediterranean and via the Middle East over the outskirts of the coastal resort city of Eilat, in southernmost Israel. Others however migrate via the central Mediterranean via the Sicilian Channel between Cap Bon in Northern Tunisia and the Strait of Messina in Sicily. Although the Maltese Islands do not fall exactly on this central Mediterranean raptor migration flyway, when weather conditions are right, large numbers of raptors can be observed over Malta.