Here is a Green Prophet exclusive: our very own poll to vote for Israel’s National Bird!
Following on from the recent post ‘Choosing Israel’s National Bird’ (which you can read here) which explains the intense media and national interest in deciding which feathered friend should represent Israel from now on, in honour of the Country’s 60th; we here at Green Prophet are doing our bit and want you, our honoured readers, to join in and tell us which bird you want.
We will gather all the votes up, a few days before the official announcement to be made by President Peres on may 29th, and send the result off to our friends at SPNI (who are organising the official vote), so hopefully we can have our collective input.
But let’s see how close us Green P’s are to the mood of this great Nation – is the yellow vented Bulbul (the picture above) (‘Pycnonotus Goiavier’ Latin) (or just straight ‘Bulbul’ in Hebrew) our great choice, or could it be the Yellow Tufted Sunbird, also known as the Palestine Sunbird (‘Tsufit’), who flies into our hearts and becomes the symbol of the Nation?
Ideally we’ll all be out catching site of all these birds across the Country anyway (maybe even at the Los Caparos concert in the Valley of the Cross?), but if not, we will post a picture of the feathered contestants every other day to give a glimpse of what these beauties look like.
You tell us! VOTE HERE
Author: James Murray-White
Growing up in a green village outside Cambridge, UK gave me an eye into the natural world, and years later, after being an actor, dramatist, weary traveller and anthropologist, the environment fires me up the most – and the need to save and nurture it… while we live within it. I now live in the UK, with partner Tania and 2 pesky cats – writing and filming the world (slowly making a documentary about the Bedouin situation) take up my creative time. I do this while growing things organically and composting profusely take up the remainder. James can be reached at james (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
Three cheers and a vote for the bulbul. The consumate urban bird, always chattering and boisterous, and with a cute, yellow derriere to boot! Except I don’t think we have the Yellow Vented one, but rather the Spectacled Bulbul. Thanks for the poll!
Jared — I love the idea. The vulture is also connected to the shamir, the worm that carved the blocks for the holy temple, so I am told. Think I read it in Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews — Aggadah. I am still for the Hoopoe though. Salmon Rushdie influenced me: Haroun and the Sea of Stories…
I’d like to put in a plug for the Nesher (Griffin Vulture) – despite the fact that it’s clearly the ugliest bird in the running! If we’re indeed searching for a symbol to represent the land we live in, I find it hard to avoid the historical draw to our biblical legacy, where God speaks to the Israelites in the desert through Moses: “You saw what I did in Egypt, carrying you on vultures’ [nesher] wings and bringing you to Me.” (Exodus 19:4) How romantic! I’d like to think that the children of all religions in this land could be inspired by such a lofty (pun intended) representative of our obligation to preserve God’s creations.
I vote for the Tsufit (for obvious reasons).
Tsufit
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