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A
multi-disciplinary interactive and computerized project, combining
themes from
geography, physics, biology
and technology sciences, through the unique
phenomenon of 500 million
migrating birds over Israel skies every year!
The
“Migrating Birds Know No Boundaries” project started 4 years ago
in Israel and 70 schools are participating with the project this year!
The idea came from Dr. Yossi
leshem, who did his doctoral research on migration
routes of soaring birds over
Israel, a cooperative venture with the Israel Air Force.
With the assistance of the
Ministry of Education, the SPNI (the Society for the
Protection of Nature in
Israel) and the University of Tel-Aviv, an educational project
was designed for high
schools all over Israel, in order to continue the research through
studying and teaching in a creative and attractive way!
The
objectives of the project are:
- Studying in different and more
attractive methods.
- Gaining self-studying abilities.
- Using computers by surfing in
Internet, processing data analysis and
presenting conclusions and knowledge acquired in an
attractive way.
- Communicating via the Internet with
children living along the migration route,
children from the countries of the breeding grounds in
Europe, Asia and Africa
and children from the region.
- Emphasizing environmental protection
by exposing students to information
based on field tours.
- Emphasizing joint educational
endeavours for students in Palestinian,
Jordanian and Israeli schools under the heading: Migrating
Birds Know No
Boundaries.
- Continuing the research with the
military and civilian aviation in order to
reduce the collisions on air to minimum.
The
project deals with a complex of environmental problems being solved by
variety of organizations
such as:
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The
project to save the lesser Kestrel nesting in Jerusalem, being
almost extinct.
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The
project to save the Griffon Vulture –cooperation project of the
SPNI and the Israel Electric Company.
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The
project to solve the conflict between the Eurasian Crane damaging
the fields in the Hula valley and the local farmers.
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The
joint Israeli-German research project with the White Stork, which
is “marker” of the migration.
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Cooperation
between nations in the region in purpose to utilize the bird’s
migration as a perfect vehicle toward peace!
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The
project use new technologies and innovations such as:
6.1
Telemetry –
following the migration by satellite transmitters attached to the
back of
storks, vultures and cranes. The data can also be downloaded
and imported into a
spreadsheet to calculate different statistics such as
migration distances and speed.
6.2
Video camera placed
in one of the Lesser Kestrel nests in Jerusalem, enable
students to study on line its behavior.
6.3
The radar at Ben-Gurion
Airport and the one in Latrun, enable tracking the flocks of
birds during the migration seasons.
6.4
New methods and equipments are used nowadays in a new research to
track
flock of birds migrating
during nighttime.
6.5
Eco-tourism, bird watching and bird ringing in the heart of
the metropolis of
Jerusalem is the JBO –
the Jerusalem Birds Observatory, a first of its kind project in
the garden of the Knesset,
the Israeli parliament. Another “paradise” for birds and
birds watching is the
International Bird watching Center in Kfar Ruppin located in the
Jordan valley there you can visit the ringing station and get
detailed explanations
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