We just returned from an amazing 3 weeks in Israel, where we attended the Eilat Migratory Birds Festival . On the first morning, we were lucky enough to see huge flocks of migrating Storks soaring overhead.
They seemed to sail along effortlessly, heading northward, taking advantage of the high, warm thermals between the mountains of Judean Desert and the Dead Sea. Incredibly, tens of thousands of White Storks pass over Israel every fall and spring!
An occasional Black Stork jumped in to join the White Storks, but they more often flew by singly, making their own way north. What a spectacle to witness these immense, graceful birds gliding high above us!
The Stork is mentioned many times in the Tanakh (Bible), including in this week’s Torah reading, Shemini, where it is included in the list of non-kosher birds. Much has been written about the Stork’s name, which in Hebrew is Chassidah חֲסִידָה. The Talmud tells us that the Stork’s name is derived from the word for kindness (Chesed) because it acts with such kindness to its companions, mate and offspring. 
However, other sources question how such a caring creature can be non-kosher, and say that it is so because it does not behave with Chesed toward those that are not of its kind. (The question of which birds are kosher or non-kosher is a much more complicated story for a future post!)
Among other places, the Stork also appears in the Book of Jeremiah (8:7): “The Stork in the skies knows her appointed time . . .”, referring to her consistently prompt annual arrival as a herald of spring, and signaling the approach of Pesach / Passover.
Birder's Journey 
Great post!
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Thank you, Victor!
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Great job! A most majestic and informative post.
Your colorful description puts me right in that time and place.
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It was great way to start the first morning of the Festival. Thanks, Berny!
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Quite something to witness. Interesting post.
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Thank you, Belinda. It was very cool!
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So interesting!
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Thanks, Pam! So sorry to be very delayed in replying – I’ve been away from WordPress for awhile 🙂
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I heard that’s the storks come on their appointed time during the month of Passover and leaving exactly six months later during Tabernacles.. Sometimes they come in March and Sometimes in April always corresponding with the Passover month, when The Barley is in Abib.
It is a second witness to the correct timing of God’s festivals.
I know some among some of my friends they believe the barley wasn’t ready until April and are keeping Tabernacles right now. But the videos that I saw a show there was enough barley ready in March to call that the correct new moon for the first month of the year. We kept also Tabernacles in September this year. That is the month that the storks left. Do you have any scientific proof of this? I would really love it
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I don’t personally have scientific studies to share. But I suggest you contact the BirdLife Israel folks or Society for the Preservation of Nature (https://natureisrael.org) as they have many experts!
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