After a Journey of 3,000 Kilometers: a Songbird has Landed in Rosh Tzipor, Tel Aviv's Birdwatching Park

A Sylvia curruca bird, which hatched this year in Europe and was ringed at the Berlin area in August, has arrived at the ringing station in Rosh Tzipor – the KKL-JNF birdwatching park. This is a rare case in which a bird from Western Europe has crossed the Mediterranean and was identified in Israel (after traveling almost 3,000 kilometers) on its way to Africa.

On its way, the bird (which weighs about 10 grams) crossed the Mediterranean, and found a shelter in the middle of urban desert of the Gush Dan area, at the birdwatching park built by KKL-JNF for migrating birds. According to the details recorded on the ring around its leg, the German ringing center reported that the bird has been ringed at Joachimsthal in the state of Brandenburg in Germany on August 6, 2022.

Photograph: Danny LeviPhotograph: Danny Levi

Yaron Charka, KKL-JNF Chief Birdwatcher: "Rosh Tzipor, Tel Aviv's birdwatching park, is an important stop for songbirds during the autumn migration. In this season, a great mass of songbirds finds its way to the coasts of the Mediterranean. Most of the birds that come to us during the migration are from Eastern Europe and West Asia, but ringing gave us signs in the past that small songbirds also find their ways to us from Western Europe."

The ringing stations that we have recently opened in Rosh Tzipor provide us with important indications, that we did not have so far, that West-European birds also pass through our country in the autumn. The Sylvia curruca bird, which came from Germany, probably crossed the Mediterranean on its way to Africa, and the important stop established by KKL-JNF in Rosh Tzipor allows it, as it allows many other West European birds, to continue on its long way to its wintering areas in Africa."

Photograph: Lion Kaniel, Rosh TziporPhotograph: Lion Kaniel, Rosh Tzipor