The summer season in the Upper Galilee received an unexpected addition this year: Flocks of pink flamingos chose to stay in the Hula Lagoon even on hot days - instead of flying north as they usually do.
For many visitors and managers of the KKL-JNF Agmon Hula, this is a spectacular and unusual spectacle, which has never been documented here this season.
In the last decade, the flamingo has gone from being a rare visitor to Israel to a regular migratory bird, seen in the Hula Lagoon mainly during the migration seasons - spring and fall.
In recent years, some of them have even begun to stay during the winter months, but now an unusual phenomenon has been recorded: dozens of flamingos, some young, have stayed at Agmon even in the summer - for the first time in the history of the place.
Flamingos come to Israel from areas such as Turkey and Iran, and generally prefer salty lakes and ponds rich in algae. Their long stay in Agmon, whose waters are freshwater, is therefore considered unexpected.
Photos: Inbar Shlomit Rubin, KKL-JNF
Inbar Shlomit Rubin, field manager at Agmon Hula-KKL-JNF, says: "This is a unique phenomenon in Israel that emphasizes once again how much Agmon Hula continues to surprise and be home to a spectacular variety of wild birds. The presence of flamingos at Agmon Hula is surprising in itself, but their staying in the summer is completely unexpected. Every morning we meet them in the field, our hearts expand. Maybe we are truly witnessing a new era: in winter the cranes come, and in summer - the flamingos."
Yaron Charka, KKL-JNF's chief ornithologist, also refers to the phenomenon: "The Hula Lagoon is a dynamic habitat that changes its appearance with the changing seasons and the passing of the years. The upward trend in the presence of flamingos here, which is currently reaching a peak of more than 100 individuals, is part of these changes. We hope that this trend will continue to grow, as part of the rosy future that awaits the lagoon."
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