As the nesting season draws to a close, and the migratory birds have returned to their summer homes, we see fewer and fewer of our ‘regulars’ like the Great Blue Herons and Wood Storks here in the preserves. Some of the juveniles and a few baby birds, like the Night Herons, Cattle Egrets, and Common Moorhens (Gallinules) still remain, […]
Category Archives: Judaism-Birds-Nature Connections
Did you ever play Animal Lotto as a kid, the Memory game of matching picture pairs? That’s where I first learned about the Ostrich, the Platypus, and many other unique curiosities of the animal world. Many years later, I saw Ostriches for the first time in the wild at the Hai Bar, a large preserve established in the 1970’s […]
We started in Jerusalem, and travelled south through the Judean Desert, the Negev, and on to the Arava. More to come soon about the southern views. While in Jerusalem I made a quick stop at the Jerusalem Bird Observatory, with its new Visitor Center. Its wonderful schedule of events, exhibits, bird banding, and tours included […]
Jews around the world recently concluded the yearly celebration of Pesach (Passover), the commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt. I’ve previously posted about stories of birds in the Torah, and even how birds accompanied the Jewish people as they crossed the Red Sea in the Exodus from bondage in Egypt. But it was such a busy […]
This post is a tribute to some of the small creatures of nature that I pass by nearly every day when I’m out walking, but which are too often overlooked, and very often neglected in my blog. I’ve written in the past about Perek Shira (literally, Chapter of Song) the mysterious and beautiful ancient text also […]
This Great Egret in breeding colors looks like he is wearing a neon green mask to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim, which begins this evening~!! On Purim, Jews around the world commemorate their victory over the oppressive King Achashverosh and his evil minister Haman, who sought to annihilate the Jewish people in the city […]
You’ve probably heard some variation on the expression, “If it walks like a duck, swims like a duck, and sounds like a duck, it must be a duck.” Well, the truth is, it’s not so simple! There are many kinds of water fowl that look sort of like ducks, and are commonly mistaken for ducks, […]
“Shabbat Shalom,” said the sleepy Eurasian Collared Dove~! This peaceful dove was roosting in the middle of a sunny day today in the Wetlands of South Florida. The last time I saw – and blogged about – this bird was in the Ashkelon National Park in Israel.
In this week’s Torah portion, we read the story of the Jewish people crossing the Red Sea, following the Exodus from Egypt. After the splitting of the Sea and their miraculous rescue across on dry land, the people sang a beautiful song of thanks and praise to G-d, the Song of the Sea, when they reached the opposite […]
In a recent blog post, I mentioned that the name of Zipporah, the wife of Moshe (Moses) is ‘Bird’, in Hebrew. There are often variations in the spelling of Hebrew words transliterated into English, and most often Tzippor (or Zippor) is translated as Bird.Rabbi Natan Slifkin is the author of Nature’s Song (2001), a remarkable book about the beautiful […]
Birder's Journey 