Story By Katharina Hoeftmann Ciobotaru
Thousands of white pelicans came to Israel over the weekend for a stopover on their annual trek to warmer climates. About 50,000 pelicans migrate through Israel from mid-August to November to get to their winter quarters in Africa. They stay in the country for a short time before flying into the Sinai desert and further down the Nile to their winter ponds.
Israel’s Nature and Parks Authority fills water reservoirs and ponds in the central regions of the Hefer Valley with tons of fresh fish for the visiting guests to eat during this time. Fish are also distributed in the north of the country. This is also done so that the pelicans do not plunder the commercial fish farms.
The pelicans aren’t the only winged visitors: more than a million birds of prey migrate through Israel each year, and last month the first of tens of thousands of cranes arrived at the Hula Lake Conservation Area in northern Israel, opening a season where 80,000 to 90,000 of the birds will arrive.
