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Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11877873
Bird Watchers Find Heaven in "Superhighway" Israel
(BBC News) Jon Donnison - Bird migration is big in Israel. Per square kilometer, the country has one of the highest levels of bird traffic in the world. Every autumn, over 500 million birds cross Israel's airspace, heading south to warming weather in Africa. "Israel sits on the junction of three continents," says Dr. Yossi Leshem, director of Israel's International Center for the Study of Bird Migration. "Politically, it's a disaster, but for bird migration, it's heaven. We have a huge bird bottleneck, a superhighway." Many birds flying south from Northern Europe and Asia to Africa want to avoid the Mediterranean and Caspian seas and are therefore funneled down over Israel. Hundreds of different species cross the region every autumn. In the spring, they head back the other way.