Cranes Migrating Home To Europe On A Rainy Day

Yes, dear readers, we know that Spring is quickly approaching, even in some of the colder countries in Europe, as the twice-yearly crane migration is happening! This is one of our favorite things to witness, here in Northern Israel, and family members generally shout to one another “cranes!” and everyone comes running, as it is truly a sight not to be missed. Sometimes small groups of cranes fly close enough to even see their tiny feet with the naked eye, while most of the time the cranes are rather far away. Today, amidst the rain clouds I spotted several very large groups of cranes, and ran to grab my camera. Today, possibly because of the weather the cranes were flying higher than usual, though the sighting was still exciting. Keep on reading to see the entire grey sky filled with tiny cranes, stunning!

This is basically what I witnessed as I was taking in the laundry before the storm. Yes, I do try to hang laundry outside to dry when possible, and have trained my teens to at least hang towels to dry, even inside. Israeli culture, unlike American culture, generally does not depend on using clothes dryers as they are a relatively new thing, and surely run up the electric bill when drying outside is free! New apartment buildings provide a hanging area for each apartment with a metal screen of sorts to hide the hanging clothes.

Look at the interesting shaped formed by the birds!
Not sure why they are in clusters, I guess they think they are coming close to their resting spot, which is indeed try, the Hula Valley Nature Reserve is a 45 minute drive north from our home, and the cranes are fed there in the fields.

Here is a photo take a few days ago, with a zoom lens, against the blue sky the black and white feathers are amazing! And just by the way, when the Corona virus is stopped in its tracks and you are considering travel, either within Israel or from abroad, so include the Hula Valley on your lists of destination, there is a new visitors center at the Hula Valley Lake (where they feed the cranes) and at a separate location there is a museum presentation and 3d movie about bird migration which I recommend especially for kids.