Gil Zohar
Special to the Jewish News
Kiryat Shemona
T
o the delight of birdwatchers, tiny
Israel is a feathered superpower.
At least 500 million birds —
including pelicans, cranes, storks, falcons,
eagles and warblers — wing their way across
Israel's skies twice a year during the trans-
continental migration seasons. In the fall,
they make their way south to Central Africa,
and in the spring they return to Europe to
mate and reproduce.
Israel owes its remarkable avian biodiver-
sity to geography: The country — situated
between the equally impassable desert and
the Mediterranean Sea — lies astride the
birds' major migratory corridor along the
Syro-African Rift Valley. As well, 525 species
of birds live in Israel year-round, which is
quite high for such a small country. And to
the fascination of professional and amateur
ornithologists, the best bird-watching site
of all is the Agamon Hula Preserve in the
Galilee Panhandle. (Agamon is the Hebrew
diminutive of agam, meaning a little lake.)
The wetland preserve was ground zero
for the week-long second International Hula
Valley Bird Festival, which wrapped up in
late fall.
"Sometimes the birds are in conflict with
the farmers," explains Dan Alon, director
of the Israel Ornithological Center. "But the
conflict can also make an excellent tourist
attraction:'
Indeed watching vast flocks of pelicans
with their 3-meter (9-feet) wide wingspan
fattening up before flying south to Africa's
Lake Victoria is an awe-inspiring sight.
Thomas Krumenacker of Berlin, Germany,
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February 14 • 2013
is one of those mesmerized by the Hula
Valley migrations. "I'm a birder since child-
hood. I love the phenomenon of migration.
I really appreciate to see birds I know from
Germany here. I love to tell people that Israel
isn't only about conflict," he said.
Krumenacker, 47, gave the opening lec-
ture at this year's festival, which was held
at Kibbutz Kfar Blum's Pastoral Hotel — a
name well-suited to the Hula Valley's peace
and quiet.
Martin Garner, 48, of Sheffield, UK, was in
Eilat for the spring bird migration and com-
pares it favorably with the fall avian spec-
tacle. "Birds pass through here from a very
wide vector. There's a lot to be discovered
here in Israel:' he noted. "Israelis a massive
wow. There should be way more people com-
ing here. The festival is excellent:'
Tristan Reid of Cambria, UK, concurred.
"I'm having a fantastic time. The range of
wildlife is very impressive. To see 30,000
cranes before breakfast is very emotional:'
Two years ago, BBC Wildlife magazine list-
ed the Hula Agamon as No. 9 out of 20 sites
for wildlife viewing in the world. That coup
was followed when the U.S.-based National
Geographic picked the site for the launch of
Great Migrations, a TV series chronicling the
instinctive travels of migrating species across
the globe.
"This is what National Geographic lives
for," said Adam Taylor, the show's executive
producer, who travels to the Upper Galilee
every few months. "Choosing Agamon Hula
as the premiere site for the new series gives
a sense of the way we take care of our planet:'
While today birders from across the world
come, binoculars in hand, to see the won-
der of the Hula Valley, a scant two decades
ago the site was all but unknown except to
experts in ecological disaster. Once a vast
wetland akin to the Florida Everglades, in
the mid-20th century Israeli politicians and
planners decided to drain Lake Hula and
convert the malaria-infested swamp into
farmland.
The draining of the shallow lake dove-
tailed with the Zionist ethos of conquering
the wastelands. But few understood how
marginal would be the newly-reclaimed
farmland — and how complex the environ-
mental impact.
Apart from destroying the unique habi-
tat of flora and fauna, the peat soil proved
unsuitable for agriculture. Once ignited, fires
there proved hard to extinguish. Moreover,
without the wetlands acting as a vast
sponge and filter for the spring runoff from
Mount Hermon and the Jordan River, the
dirty water threatened the quality of Lake
Kinneret — Israel's primary freshwater
aquifer.
Thus, in the early 1990s, the government
initiated the Hula Restoration Project aimed
at undoing the ecological fiasco by re-flood-
ing some of the original wetlands. Officially
opened in 1994, Agamon Hula has proven
that eco-tourism and conservation along the
flyway are a far bigger bonanza than growing
peanuts. Today, farmers in the area spread
two tons of corn seed daily during the migra-
tions to appease the hungry cranes and keep
them from consuming the peanut harvest
"We know that we have not reached an
equilibrium with our environment:' said Dr.
Omri Boneh, northern director of the Jewish
National Fund. The staff at Agamon Hula are
constantly working to improve the balance
between the farmers and the visiting birds.
The peak time to visit Agamon Hula is
October through December. The birds begin
returning north from Africa in late February.
Apart from the Agamon Hula, Israel offers
bird lovers a series of bird-watching sites
stretching along the main migration route.
These include the Beit Shean Valley's Kfar
Ruppin, Neve Eitan, Maoz Hayhim and Tirat
Zevi, where there are major concentrations
of fishponds, i.e. lunch for raptors.
The Jerusalem Bird Observatory is located
on 5,000 square meters of prime real estate
between the Knesset (the Israeli parliament)
and the Supreme Court. The site includes a
ringing (banding) station and a visitors' cen-
ter with a computerized classroom.
Further to the south in the Arava desert,
north of the Red Sea port of Eilat, the birding
center at Kibbutz Lotan is also a favorite spot.
One only needs to look up and see the sky
full of eagles, storks or pelicans. At Evrona,
just north of Eilat, a flock of wild flamingoes
are tickled pink not to have to commute to
Africa any more, preferring to dine at the
local fish ponds.
At the peak of spring, hundreds of spe-
cies from Asia and Europe stop by Eilat's
salt ponds, including large raptors such as
steppe eagles, sparrow hawks and white
storks. "The dominant species are blackcap
warblers, barn swallows and European bee-
eaters, one of most colorful birds in Israel:'
according to Rea Shaish of the International
Birding and Research Center in Eilat.
As well, the Gamla nature reserve in the
Golan Heights is the home of the spectacular
Griffon vulture, which uses its 2.5-meter
(8-foot) wingspan to soar on hot air currents.
These centers include telescopes and
conduct guided tours. The most important
of Israel's several bird research centers is Tel
Aviv University's International Center for the
Study of Bird Migration at Latrun, which
uses radar to track the birds, and updates the
birds' movements on the center's website.
❑
Gil Zohar is a Jerusalem-based journalist and
tour guide, and can be reached at
GilZohar@rogers.com .
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