Observe the Time of Their Migration...

Until the end of April, impressive flocks of white and black storks, spoonbills, honey buzzards and even Pelicans can be seen soaring high in Israeli skies. Taking advantage of the updrafts produced when the wind blows over hills and mountain ridges, or making use of rising columns of warm air called ‘thermals’, they preserve precious energy by not having to flap their wings.

The longest of animal migrations are those of birds. Located at the junction of three continents, migrating birds use the little country of Israel on a scale unparalleled anywhere.

The sheer number of migrating birds that pass over Israel give the country a unique situation in the study of the phenomenon, which was, not surprisingly, noticed even in biblical times. The prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 7:8) tells the people that “Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration….”

Studies have shown that about 500 million (!) birds cross Israel’s narrow airspace twice every year on their way to their African winter and European summer nesting grounds.

The magnitude and timing of the spring and autumn migrations of 35 species of medium-and-large sized raptors is just awesome. For some species, like the Lesser Spotted Eagle and Levant Sparrow hawk and the White Pelican, the whole world (!) population passes over Israel during migration, allowing an estimate of the world populations of these species.
Mean arrival dates of most raptors are highly predictable, and usually vary between 1.5 and 5.5 days, depending on the weather.

In the northern Galilee, the Hulah Valley’s newly created Lake Agmon has become a favourite and vital way station to stop, feed and rest on the long and exhausting journey. Each visitor to the Hulah Valley is deeply affected by the birds concentrated here.

Of course not everyone sees these birds in a positive light. When 25,000 cranes out of a population of 75,000 choose to spend their winters in the Hulah Valley, they attacked the fields of the local farmers.
In order to help both the farmers and the cranes, the Jewish National Fund stepped in with their so-called “Crane Project”. The birds were encouraged to feed at specific locations, while being chased from neighbouring crop fields. The program turned out to be such a success, that it became a model for other countries dealing with similar problems, including the US. Experts at the Hulah Valley not only collaborate on research with the US Forestry Service, but 22 additional countries as well.

Not only feeding these millions of birds is a challenge, but their massive migration also creates a safety problem for both the Israeli Air Force and the birds itself. Assisted by a radar and satellite, the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel, in cooperation with the Israel Air Force has been able to reduce the number of accidents by 88%.

During the spring and autumn migrations, bird observation centres are filled to overflowing with bird enthusiasts coming from all over the world.
Because birds don’t know any borders, they connect people from different countries, even those who are perceived to be Israel’s enemies.

When the flocks of storks, spoonbills, honey buzzards and Pelicans know it’s their season, they set out to soar, high in Israeli skies. Awed by the miracle of God’s creation, we may watch as these millions of birds return, year after year after year!

Trees in Honour of Na'il

During Na'il's memorial service on Sunday March 15, 2009 in the Ilanot School, five trees were planted in his honour. Following is additional information about the specific trees.

Elah – Terebinth (Pistacia terebinthus). The tree is also called ‘turpentine tree’, native to the Mediterranean region.
There are two species of ‘terebinth’ in the Middle East: the “Atlantic pistacia” and the “Palestine pistacia”. The Atlantic specie is the larger one and therefore assumed to be the one referred to in the Scriptures. The trees reach a very large size, can live up to one thousand years, and is the largest tree in Israel in recent history. It can reach a height of 12 metres and yield up to 2 kilograms of resin (turpentine). The terebinth develops a very deep and extensive root system and therefore remains green even in years of drought. It often sprouts from the stump after being cut (like Isaiah notes in 6:13).

In Biblical times this tree served as a site for worship and respected dead were buried under these trees. Elah – comes from the Hebrew “El” – god. The Elah is usually associated with strength and sturdiness, and often is translated in the Bible with ‘oak’. Abraham camped near an Elah, a magnificent symbol of refuge and refreshment. The Terebinth stood as a solitary source of welcome shade under the burning desert sun.

Because of its large size and great age, Terebinths were well-known landmarks and used as memorials for the dead.
Gideon was called by God when he stood by a large Terebinth. (Judges 6:11)
David faced Goliath in the Elah Valley (1 Samuel 17:2). Absalom’s hair caught in the branches of a large Terebinth. (2 Samuel 18:9).

Alon – Oak. Often translated in the Bible as ‘big tree’. Six species are found in Israel, which Hebrew authors have described. The Alon, like the Tabor oak, is a large deciduous tree that dominates its surroundings. This tree was also often associated with ritual and religious customs. Tabor oak forests once covered lager areas of Israel’s northern Coastal Plain, the Lower Galilee, the Hulah Valley and the slopes of the Golan. Most were cut down, to be used for buildings, furniture and boats. The Jewish National Fund is replanting the hills with these trees again, restoring the area to its former glory.

Klil ha Choresh - Judas Tree (Cercis sliquastrum)
The tree got its name because of the myth that Judas Iscariot hanged himself after he betrayed Jesus, and the tree blushed with shame.
Possibly, the name is a corrupted derivation from the French common name Arbre de Judée, tree of Judea, referring to the region where the tree occurred.

This small tree can reach a height of 12 meters and has deep pink flowers, produced when the tree is older than one year. In late spring, the extravagant flowers simply drip from every conceivable point along the branches and trunk. The flowers are hermaphrodite and are pollinated by bees. In Autumn the tree produces a mass of purple pods.

You can read more about it on the “Celebrating a Life” blog. (see blog lists)

Bumblebee Activities

Bumblebee colonies have a yearly cycle, except for tropical species, where year-round colonies are known to survive for more than one year, due to the fact that there are year-round flowers available.

Mated queens hibernate, usually in the soil, in a place that can’t be warmed up too early in the year by the sun. This prevents premature emerging, with disastrous results when there are no flowers around yet. If the temperature falls below a certain point, the queen’s body automatically produces glycerol (anti-freeze).

In Spring she emerges, in dire need to replenish her stomach’s honey store, which she used up during the hibernation. After she has found a suitable nest, e.g. a deserted small rodent’s nest, she builds a wax honey pot and fills it with regurgitated nectar (honey). Not only she eats from her pollen store but turns it into ‘bee-bread’ ~ balls moistened with nectar. This way, even with bad weather the queen can survive a day or two.

Stimulated by the pollen the ovaries produce eggs, which she lays in batches of 4-16 on the ‘pollen-ball’ she then covers with wax. At this stage all the eggs are fertilized, for the queen needs female workers; queens are usually only produced at a later stage in the life of the colony. While the bumblebee queen broods the eggs like a bird, she replenishes her energy by drinking from the nearby honey pot. Through the bare patch on her abdomen she passes her body heat to the clump of wax-covered eggs. The larvae (who look like maggots) are eating machines.

Another batch of eggs is usually laid when the first batch is in the larval stage, and it takes 4-5 weeks to produce adult bumblebees. Depending on the species, of which there are about 250, worldwide, a colony can contain between 30 – 400 bumblebees.

When a female worker bumblebee emerges into the light for the first time, she memorizes the landmarks by making a zigzag flight, which enables her to recognize the nest entrance. She navigates by the sun and has an inbuilt clock to compensate for the rotation of the earth.
Most workers have foraging preference ~ particular species, shape or color of flowers.

It takes time before she learns how to get into the flowers to get her reward ~ the pollen. Monkshood e.g. is a ‘difficult’ flower, which can only be pollinated by bumblebees. Only they have the weight, strength and know-how to get inside.
Because it takes time to learn, each bumblebee usually specializes on one or two types of flower at the time, also depending on the availability. The first time a bee enters a flower, she has to take a leap of faith and the moment the top petal falls down behind her, she is locked in into the flower. In reaching for the nectary down at the bottom, she receives her reward, and with the pollen, rubbed on her body, she pollinates the next flowers she’s visiting. An experienced forager doesn’t hesitate to enter a flower: by using her weight she squeezes her way down, drinks the nectar and comes out rear first. Novice bumblebees turn around inside the flower and emerge head-first.

After each foraging trip, the worker performs a figure-of-eight dance on the combs in the nest to tell her workmates where to find good food.
After visiting a flower, the bumblebee leaves a scent mark, telling the other workers not to bother with that flower, thereby reducing their time probing unprofitable flowers.
With an average of 10 foraging trips bumblebees can provide the nest with 3 ml. honey a day. The collected pollen are stored in the pollen basket, used to feed the larvae. For a bumblebee, time is honey!

At night most workers return to the nest, unless they are surprised by a change in weather. Then they hide under or in a flower.
Only queens and female workers have stings, which is not barbed like a honeybee (which dies afterwards). She will only use it to defend the nest against intruders.

A bumblebee cannot fly if its wing-muscle temperature falls below 30◦C. Powered by the sugars from the flower’s nectar, in flight the muscle temperature stays between 30-44◦C.

Male bumblebee production means the beginning of the end of the nest. Males drink from the honey pot, but don’t do anything to replace it. Some males help inside the nest by incubating the young, but for the rest their sole purpose in life is to mate with a queen.

Once they leave the nest, male bumblebees spend the rest of their lives outside in the open, at night sheltered under flowers or inside of them.

A grounded bumblebee can be a lethargic male who needs his first nectar shot to wake and warm up. At the start of the summer, it may be a queen caught out in a sudden shower or a cold spell. She will revive as soon as she gets her nectar. However, when the bumblebee is found at the end of summer, it might be an old queen or worker, reaching the end of her short but very productive life ~ a worker lives only 4 weeks.

This is the way our Creator God made them:
A bumblebee queen emerges from hibernation, starts a colony, later helped by her female workers. In the course of summer unfertilized eggs (males) are laid and under the influence of hormones, the female worker larvae develop into new queens.

During the next phase, males and new queens mate, the colony disintegrates, all the old bumblebees die, while the new queen hibernates. And with the next spring, the whole cycle begins anew ~ creating a new generation of bumblebees, needed to pollinate flowers and crops.
What an awesome God we serve!

“Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind.”
~ James Russell Lowell

Helpful website: www.bumblebee.org/

The Amazing Bumblebee

“Two-legged creatures we are supposed to love as we love ourselves. The four-legged, also, can come to seem pretty important. But six legs (like the Bumblebee) are too many from the human standpoint.” ~ Joseph W. Krutch

The bumblebee got its name from an old English word ~ “bomblen” ~ to boom; the dictionary describes it as a clumsy, unsteady or incompetent way; or to make a low humming or droning sound.

The bumblebee is a large, hairy insect, who trundles around the garden with a lazy buzz in a clumsy, bumbling flight. This black with yellow, sometimes orange striped insect is so important for glasshouse pollinating, that they are even sold for this purpose. Scientific trials have shown that with a Bumblebee hive of 400 workers, and a honeybee hive with 10,000 – 20,000 bees, it was the bumblebees who worked more hours per day, visited more flowers per minute and therefore pollinated more flowers.

Some interesting facts:

* The antenna (feelers) are like a nose and used for touching. Both front legs have a kind of notch, in which the antenna can be inserted, then pulled through – voila: inbuilt antenna cleaner! * Two pair of wings, operating together, work like a helicopter rotor: “reverse-pitch semi-rotary blades”. Enabled by a nerve impulse that twangs the muscle (like plucking a guitar string), bumblebees move their wings about 200 beats per second.
* Wings are connected to the thorax, which is like a box of muscles; the biggest, the flight muscles, take up almost the whole thorax volume.
* Three pair of legs ~ hairy with claws; only queen and worker’s legs have special baskets to collect pollen.
* 2 compound eyes and 3 ‘primitive’ eyes.
* The abdomen contains a honey stomach for storing nectar, which fuels them during the foraging flights. Some bumblebees fly back carrying as much as 75% or more of their bodyweight. Wax is secreted from between plates covering the abdomen. The fat body also functions as the nutritional store during the queen’s hibernation.
* Breathing: through spiracles (paired holes) at the down side of the body, that also has air sacs.
* The tongue, specialized to suck up nectar, is kept inside a sheath and folded under the head and thorax when flying or resting.
* The bumblebee is probably deaf but can feel vibrations of sounds.
* he heart runs down the entire body, where the blood sloshes freely, without veins or arteries.
* After mating, the queen stores the sperm inside her body; before she lays an egg she’ll decide either to fertilize it with sperm or not. Non-fertilized eggs became males; fertilized ones either queens or female workers. The females have suppressed hormonal activity for as long as the queen remains dominant. Only when the queen dies, the worker’s ovaries are stimulated, and new queens appear.
* Salivary glands produce saliva, which is mixed with nectar and pollen. It’s also used to soften the nest material.


”The pedigree of honey does not concern the bee, a clover, anytime, to him, is aristocracy.” ~ Emily Dickinson