On Sunday Israeli naturalists counted 13,260 cranes who arrived in the north on the first pit stop of the season during their annual migration to the African continent for the winter, although some of them prefer to stay in Israel for the season.
Cinematographer Inbar Shlomit Rubin was there to film the breathtaking sight.
הבוקר נספרו באגמון החולה 13,260 עגורים, בספירה הראשונה לעונה.
בימים אלה מתחיל לפעול 'פרויקט העגורים' שמטרתו לשמור על השדות החקלאיים מנזקי העגורים מחד ועל העגורים כערך טבע מוגן מאידך.
צילום: עינבר שלומית רובין pic.twitter.com/btTdGXXUZH— Rubi Hammerschlag (@rubih67)
The Israel Ornithological Center is the standard-bearer in working with farmers, nature protection groups, tourism organizations and government ministries on a ‘Crane Project’ in the Hula Valley to preserve farmland from suffering damage as a result of the cranes’ voracious appetites and heavy traffic in the fields.
The project, launched in 1999, combines protection of the fields during the winter months, allowing the cranes to feed in some of the agricultural fields during the autumn months, and then providing food for them in the center of the Hula Valley during the winter, according to the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.