Migrating Birds over Hula Valley

"Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord." (Jeremiah 8:7)

The migrating big birds over the Hula Valley is a unique phenomenon.

The Syrian-African rift crosses Israel from North to South and has become to be the main migration route for big birds – 500 million birds twice a year: once crossing from Europe to Africa during the winter and the 2nd time as they fly back from Africa to Europe in the spring.

Many years ago, the Hula Valley was a swamp. During the late 1950’s it was decided to dry up the swamps for medical reasons, such as Malaria. However, after a few years, the government realized that the eco-system was disrupted. In order to re-balance the ecological environment, part of the area was re-flooded but in a controlled manner so that diseases such as Malaria will not reoccur. After the re-flooding, the migrating birds returned and with them the ecological balance was restored.

The Israeli law does not permit to hunt these birds – they are protected. Moreover, there are ecological programs and campaigns to ensure they continue to stop over in Israel during their migration (see next paragraph). Some of the birds, like the cranes, like stopping over in Israel and 40,000 cranes have made Israel their place of residence during the cold winter. Some of the storks have made Israel their permanent home.

In the past these migrating birds caused great damages to the farmers and their crops. The cranes used to swamp the fields and eat the crops. Some of the storks and pelicans ‘helped themselves’ to the fishes been grown in the fish farms (ponds). That was the trigger for the “Feeding Program”. Green organizations with the support of the government bring food for the migrating birds and spread it in the fields allocated for this purpose. The birds have been ‘educated’ and they know which fields they should be eating from. They are even smarter than that and they know to bypass flying over Lebanon as they know that there they will be hunted down given there is no law against hunting.

Today, Israel hosts Bird Watching Tours for bird watchers coming from all over the world. These tours include certain observation points along the Syrian-African rift: Eilat, Arava and the Hula Valley (Agamon).

You are invited to combine Bird Watching with a spiritual journey in the Holy sites where the Bible comes to life.

Cranes at the Hula Valley: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdE6WewHTbw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehW53bGbt1M