Last week, on Shushan Purim, the kids were off from school and we decided to take a little trip to one of our favorite spots, the Hula Valley. While it was a slightly hazy day, there was still a stunning view of the snow capped, Mount Hermon and the lush green fields were so lovely.
Little did we know that we were in for a big surprise........
We rented one golf cart and two bicycles, and started to make our way around the lake, when suddenly we heard the sound of a bunch of birds squawking........
.......and lo and behold there in front of our very eyes was a field full of migrating cranes, who had stopped in the Hula Valley for a little rest. Now, of course, this is the place that these cranes always visit on their way south, it's just that we had not merited to witness them, partly because I had been looking for them in the wrong part of the Hula Valley! I thought the cranes mostly visited the Hula Valley Preserve, and had even taken the kids out of school once to hopefully see them, with no luck whatsoever.
But dear readers, next to the Hula Lake, which is farther north, the birds are fed grain of some kind in a field, so one is sure to find them there if it's migrating season.......so happy to finally have sorted this one out! And now I understand what the tractor was doing in the field in a movie we had seen at the preserve — the tractor spreads the grain around the field, making the birds go wild, which is the noise we heard!
So amazing! I didn't actually get this close, but thought I'd show you a magnified version of my photo, to give you a better idea of what you're actually looking at. Stunning.......
And equally stunning!
We continued on our way around the lake...........
......enjoying the wild life, like these birds, which are called Spur-winged Lapwing ......
........and quite a few of these funny fellows, who are called coypus, and are about the size of full grown rabbit. They're not native to the area or even to Israel, but have flourished in the Hula Valley after being dumped there when a fur trade idea didn't work out! And for some reason they're quite unfazed by people and you can get fairly close to them, that is when they decide to take a break from swimming and come up on shore for some munching!
For those of you who are wildlife buffs, I thought I'd share with you a photo of this sign next to the lake. I have seen wild boars near our home 40 minutes south, but we didn't see any here in the Hula Valley!
Before heading home, we had a picnic in this beautiful spot on the lake......an amazing time was had by all, and I'm hoping to go back again soon to catch some more cranes on their way south!
