Foto Friday – Jerusalem Bird Observatory

August 13, 2010 - 6:15 PM by · 1 Comment
Filed under: education, Environment, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture, Life, Profiles, Social Justice, Travel 

Not many seats of government can lay claim to being located on one of the world’s prime birdwatching sites. In fact, Israel’s Knesset may be the only one.

The Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO) is a 5,000 sqm (one acre) plot of prime real estate, between the Knesset and the Supreme Court. The site is one of the few traditional birdwatching areas in Jerusalem and houses the Israel national center for bird-ringing (also called banding or tagging). Bird migration patterns are studied throughout the seasons, data collected and analyzed in a comprehensive database.

The JBO has four main goals: 1. environmental education, 2. conservation research, 3. eco-tourism, and 4. creation of a common forum for Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Educational activities include training courses in tagging birds, courses in photographing birds, birdwatching tours, a birdwatching club, lectures , presentations of current research, and education about bird watching for kids.

The JBO website has an active community of members who upload photos from around the country of rare birds that have been sighted and tagged.

So, for example, on July 1 after a busy day of tagging 40 Green finches and Spectacled Bulbuls, JBO volunteers Ora and Avner met a surprise with bird number 41: an Indian silverbill. The report: “It was molting heavily and not at its prettiest! Nonetheless, a darling bird, tiny as can be, with a sharp bill!”

Volunteer Ron Haran, a talented nature photographer, snapped the finches in action…

and a bulbul, too.

And JBO volunteers Yotam and Yosef from the Zora ringing station, outside Jerusalem, report that — despite the summer heat — preparations for the fall migration are already in place: “The little warblers… are getting fatter and beginning to vacate their nests for their northern cousins who will pass our way in a month en route to Africa. This morning there were the first two European warblers… The first group of storks has settled in the alfalfa fields and we’re awaiting the pelicans.”

They also ringed a Red-rumped swallow…

a Little Bittern…

and a wren.

The JBO is an amazing place and the central location can’t be beat but if you can’t visit right away, check out the website. The list of sighted ring recoveries reported by birders all over Israel makes for a fascinating read. It also serves as a glossary of bird names in Hebrew, English and Latin. That’s how I learned that the bulbul is called that in English, too.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Israel is for the birds

February 27, 2009 - 1:59 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Environment, Travel 

Gray cranes flock over the Hula Lake. More than half a billion birds of some 400 hundred species pass through the Jordan Valley to Africa and back to Europe when summer comes. (Getty Images)

Gray cranes flock over the Hula Lake. More than half a billion birds of some 400 hundred species pass through the Jordan Valley to Africa and back to Europe when summer comes. (Getty Images)

One of our favorite places in the country is the Hula Lake Park, just a little south of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee. There, you can rent bicycles or a family-sized golf cart and tool around the spacious lake to view some of the most amazing birds in the world.

Enviro-nerds that we are, we bring a bird-watching book, and over our four visits to the park in recent years, we’ve checked off a good three dozen birds sighted there. The Jewish National Fund-operated Hula Lake is one of the most important bird-watching sites in the world as annually, white cranes on their way to Southern Africa, stop there one last time before they begin the Sahara Desert portion of their flight.

And now, the Hula is getting some international recognition. BBC Wildlife Magazine, the world’s best-selling natural history and environmental magazine, has named it one of the most outstanding sites in the world for nature observation and photography. According to a JNF press release, it was ranked 9th on a list of 20 exceptional nature sites chosen by 300 international experts including scientists, photographers and television producers.

Even though it hosts hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, we’ve never found it too crowded. But that could change with this international recognition. So get there soon. As an incentive, an international arts festival hosted by JNF and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel will be held at the Hula Lake on March 6-15. The festival will feature crafts workshops, tours, lectures, and meetings with artists from around the world.

Tags: , , , ,

 

© 2012 ISRAELITY | Site by illuminea | Sitemap