The Pelicans Migration In Israel 🦆

A Common Pelican is a large and heavy animal.

The weight of an adult pelican can reach 10 kg and its wingspan is about 3.5 m, and the pelican is mainly fed by fish that it catches in its lower source.

The pelican nests in southeastern Europe, western and southern Asia, and large parts of Africa. The global population of pelicans now numbers about 250,000 to 300,000 individuals, of which about 40,000 are in the Placid region, located in Europe and Western Asia, between Greece and the Caspian Sea.

This population migrates south in the fall season, returning north in the spring and burning in Africa, where there is also a stable population.

All the migratory details of this population pass through Israel during the migration seasons in the fall (between August and November), and in the spring (between March and May).

Only a few hundred pelicans remain in Israel.

The pelicans suffered during the 20th century from damage to wet habitats throughout Europe, and they are defined at risk.

As a heavy bird, the pelican is forced to conserve energy to fly 5,000 kilometers in autumn migration from Europe to the south of Africa, to the sites of the African heat up the Nile.

The migration strategy of heavy birds is built on weight storage before migration, as well as on constipation during migration for eating. Indeed, research on the physiology of pelicans found that a significant proportion of the pelicans that stop in Israel during migration to eat must eat to collect the energy needed to continue their migration to East Africa.

In the past, the pelicans that passed through Israel enjoyed their migration from the coastal plain in the Hula Lake and the Coastal Plain.

These places served as the last fueling stations before crossing the desert in Israel and Africa.

All of these nice photos were shot during our way back home when @simba spotted them at the sky while driving 😉 so I cracked open the window to take them and that is why some came out a bit blurry...

Enjoy!

Canon PowerShot SX60 HS

Info: parks.org.il