The Hula Reserve is know for the massive number of birds that migrate twice a year and make a stop in this reserve to rest and feed themselves. Up until the 1950’s it was a swamp with mosquitos carrying malaria and so it was drained. A small section was later re-flooded in an attempt to revive a nearly extinct ecosystem. An estimated 500 million migrating birds now pass through the Hula Valley every year.
My third visit came in Febreuary 2026 and each time the light is different and you get different images. I tried to concentrate on the early hours before sunrise and finished during the course of the morning. All the unmarked images are of cranes
Spur-winged Lapwing
Little Egret
Glossy Egret
Gray Heron
Greater Spotted Eagle
Crested Lark
This was my second visit end of January 2025. The light was not as good as the first time but we were taken much closer to the field where the cranes are fed and therefore I had much more chance of taking close(r) up shots of the cranes.
Cranes at the break of dawn
A little later
Mirror image
Black and white
A little bit like an impressionist painting (Ibisses)
Pied Avocets
Cranes
Crane
Cranes
Cranes
Cranes
Cranes
Cranes singing together
Cranes running after the feeder
Cranes
This is a wagon like we sat in pulled by a tractor
Taken against the sun
Cranes
Cranes
Cranes
Cranes
Cranes
Cranes
Cranes
Cranes
Cranes
Cranes
Crane
White Wagtail
Spur-winged Lapwing
Eurasian Kestrel
Eurasian Kestrel
Green Parakeet
Snowy Egret
Common Shelduck
River Nutria
Glossy Ibis
Glossy Ibis
Glossy Ibis
This was my first visit in November 2020