A wing and a prayer

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COULD owls help promote Middle East peace? Bird expert Yossi Leshem hopes so.

The Tel Aviv University ornithologist is touring Australia next month, thanks to the Jewish National Fund (JNF), and raising awareness for his projects, which combine conservation with aviation safety and agriculture.

He will also outline activities at a bird observatory on the Yarkon River, site of the 1997 Maccabiah Games bridge collapse.

Israel may be troubled politically, but according to Leshem it’s one of the best places in the world to watch birds. “We are located at the junction of three continents, and twice a year we have 500 million birds flying over. It’s the best place to see heavy bird migration,” he said.

This concentration of birdlife is not alone in the air — both military and civilian aircraft negotiate the same skies, sometimes with disastrous results. “Thousands of collisions with birds in the last 30 years have resulted in the loss of nine aircraft, 70 crashes and three pilots killed,” he said.

Leshem’s doctoral research into bird migration saw him take to the skies in a glider. Along with birdwatchers on the ground and unmanned “drone” aircraft, he compiled statistics of the precise migratory patterns of more than 280 species, enabling aviators to avoid bird-heavy zones. Collisions in the air force were reduced by 76 per cent, saving hundreds of millions of dollars and, more importantly, pilots’ lives.

Another of Leshem’s initiatives uses birds of prey to control rats in agriculture. As an alternative to pesticides — which poison soils, water and wildlife — nesting boxes for barn owls and kestrels have been installed in 2200 locations. “Each pair of owls, with their chicks, eats about 5000 rodents in a year,” he said.

He has gained regional cooperation for the project, with Jordanian and Palestinian farmers embracing the system.

“This is not only a good way of reducing pesticides. The barn owl and kestrel are the symbol of peace — they’re getting people together.”

Leshem has helped establish 15 birdwatching observatories around Israel, including Rosh Tzipor on the Yarkon, where bird banding and other research takes place. He hopes to interest Australians in partnering the project. Another unusual banding site in Jerusalem has received 60,000 visitors. Atop the Knesset, it’s the only known bird station on a parliament.

Yossi Leshem will speak at 5.30pm, August 6 at Blake Street shul; at 5.30pm, August 7 at Mizrachi Synagogue; and at 7:30pm, August 8 at Beth Weizmann.

DEBBIE LUSTIG