"What is that in the sky"? The migration of honey buzzards over Israel has begun
The migration season opens these days with the passage of hundreds of thousands of European honey buzzards, making their way from the forests of Europe and Asia to wintering areas in Africa. The Society for the Protection of Nature explains: "They are among the first raptors to migrate, feeding mainly on raiding wasp nests." Later in the autumn, storks, pelicans, and tens of thousands of other raptors are expected to pass over the country.
The autumn season brings with it one of the most fascinating phenomena in local nature, and these days the migration of European honey buzzards has officially begun in the skies over the country. In the coming weeks, about 400,000 individuals of this raptor are expected to pass over Israel as part of their long journey to the neighboring continent.
A transit station on the way to Africa
European honey buzzards make their way from their nesting areas in the forests of Eastern Europe and Western Asia towards wintering sites in East Africa, located south of the Sahara Desert. Nadav Israeli, a senior ornithologist at the Society for the Protection of Nature, explains that the European honey buzzard is a medium-sized raptor with a wingspan reaching about 130 centimeters. Its name was given to it because it feeds mainly on raiding bee and wasp nests in the wild.
The opening of the great migration season
The Society for the Protection of Nature notes that European honey buzzards are among the first raptors to migrate over Israel this season. Their appearance actually serves as the starting shot for the great autumn migration: later in the season, tens of thousands of additional raptors are expected to pass over us, including short-toed snake eagles, lesser spotted eagles, black kites, eastern buzzards, and about 20 other species of raptors. Besides them, flocks of storks, pelicans, cranes, and dozens of species of waders, ducks, and songbirds will also migrate in the skies of Israel.
