Every spring and autumn the residents of the Dead Sea area wake up to the sound of the wing beats of half a billion birds flying over the Dead Sea, in the heart of the Syrian-African Rift. The birds, which sometimes rest in private back yards, too, stop at the lowest spot on Earth after a tiring trip over the desert, on their way from Africa to Europe and back.
The area of the Dead Sea and the Judean Desert is an extreme desert region blessed with oases, impressive cliffs, twisting canyons, plateaus and wildernesses. The area features a variety of bird habitats and excellent vantage points for viewing the migration.
These conditions make the area one of Israel’s most important bird-watching spots, serving as a central location for research and tourism, with an emphasis placed on bird migration and desert bird observation.
Bird-Watching on the Shores of the Dead Sea
In the Dead Sea area, the permanent bird population is regularly banded and monitored. This population includes a variety of desert birds such as eagles, falcons, vultures and more.
Over the next few years, a new interdisciplinary research center is planned for the region, for studying various aspects of the Dead Sea area. Among other things, the center will include a bird-watching center that will be established at the Ein Gedi Field School, north of the Nahal David Nature Reserve. The school overlooks the reserve and the Dead Sea, and constitutes an ideal place for observation and study of bird migration along the Great Rift.
The bird-watching center is expected to be part of a national network of bird-watching centers consisting of 15 stations, and to focus on research, education, and conservation of the birds and their habitats. The center will also promote relations with similar centers in Jericho in the Palestinian Authority and in Wadi Mujib in Jordan.
Pink Surprise
The Dead Sea is always full of surprises, and the migrating birds sometimes provide rare sights. During the great migration period of May 2009, in the Einot Tsukim reserve on the northern shore of the Dead Sea, a beautiful flamingo was observed, probably a Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus), an infrequent visitor to Israel, on its cross-continental journey.
Shiran Ben Yaacov, a Nature and Parks Authority worker at the Einot Tsukim Reserve, managed to capture the flamingo at rest with his camera.
A Shared Life on the Shores of the Dead Sea
In addition to migratory birds, the Dead Sea area has many permanent residents, including the Arabian Babbler (Turdoides squamiceps). The babbler is unique in that it lives in groups all year round.
The social behavior of the babbler population has been studied since the early 1970s, and this research led to the discovery of the “handicap principle”, which explains the development of various social phenomena in animals and in humans. During the day, the babblers guard the group from a high vantage point, with the dominant male and female spending the longest amount of time on guard (the handicap principle). The entire group raises the chicks, which means that in many cases, the identity of the biological parents cannot be known for sure.
This behavior is echoed in the collective human lifestyle that has dominated the Dead Sea area for thousands of years. The Judean Desert cult, known as the Essenes, who lived at Qumran, also lived collectively, and most local council communities today are kibbutzim or other collaborative communities.
One might say that this collective behavior is a result of the difficult physical conditions imposed by the desert on those seeking to reside in it.
