Israel — an Intercontinental Highway for Migrating Birds

Abstract

Israel is a small country, yet it blessed with an extremely varied wildlife. Its avifauna is especially plentiful, with well over 485 species of birds recorded during various seasons of the year. Lying at the crossroads of one of the main migration routes from Africa to the Palearctic, Israel attracts many species of migrant birds, often in huge numbers. It is situated at the meeting point of three continents — Europe, Asia and Africa. Israel’s avifauna includes representatives from all three of them, as well as species of this region alone. It is one of the best places in the world for watching a great variety of migrating birds within a small geographical area. Several excursions have been made by the author to Israel during spring migration between March and April. Depictions of the highest seasonal totals of the six most abundant raptors over Israel in autumn and spring are shown, as well as figures of migration routes and major watch points. Different habitats in southern and middle Israel are shown, as well as typical migrating and resident bird species.