“If they don’t eat, they don’t fly,” is what one Israeli ecologist recently said in a Haaretz article on the new Pelican Restaurant, open for business in the Hula Valley.
Some 500 million birds will be flying through Israel this fall, as they migrate from Europe to Africa. Fish farmers in Israel, irate over birds pillaging their fish ponds have been known to open fire on the birds. To keep nature in balance, the government has approved NIS 300,000 to stock the Hula Valley pond with tons of fresh tilapia for the pelicans and storks to feed on.
I’d recently interviewed the chief avian ecologist for Israel, Oded Hatzofe, who talked with me about the immense numbers of environmental stressors birds face while migrating.
Competing with fish ponds is a small part of the problem. Hunting for fun, is a bigger problem, says Hatzofe, with 1 in 4 birds prey of prey found to have a lead bullet inside it. People in Arab countries, and minority populations in Israel, people in Africa, Malta, Greece and France (the only ones who hunt for food), are decimating bird populations.
Fragmented territories, decimated wildlife reserves and ponds, environmental hazards like electric wires, all take a toll.
For more on birding in Israel, see the Israel Birding website.
::Haaretz
Author: Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist, innovation strategist, and founder of Green Prophet, one of the Middle East’s pioneering sustainability platforms. She has ranked in the Top 10 of Verizon innovation competitions, participated in NASA-linked challenges, and spoken worldwide on climate, food security, and future resilience. With an IoT technology patent, features in Canada’s National Post, and leadership inside teams building next-generation agricultural and planetary systems — including Mars-farming concepts — Karin operates at the intersection of storytelling, science, and systems change. She doesn’t report on the future – she helps design it. Reach out directly to [email protected]
As the old Cole Porter song goes:
“Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly…”