Wings of the Spirit

The Israeli Ornithological Center and the International Center for the Study of Bird Migration of The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, has developed a new educational program to encourage pupils\\\' awareness of the protection of nature and birds in Israel.In the framework of the educational program the children learn, through active experience, about subjects connected to Judaism, music and birds, which is called Wings of the Spirit (Zipor HaNEfesh). (See attached information on the background of the program.)In order to raise the pupils\\\' awareness about the protection of nature and heritage, during the last 2 weeks, five conferences were held all over the country: in the Bet Shean Valley, the Hula Valley, Ramot Menashe, Alona and Latrun (according to geographical distribution of schools) and, during the day, 4000 pupils from all over the country took part in tours which dealt with birds, music, Judaism and nature protection. Unlike other conferences, these conferences took place in the natural habitat of the wildlife. During the tours in the different environments, the pupils learned about a variety of subjects, including: birds in the surrounding area The Urban nature Trail (an educational kit developed in cooperation with the Tel Aviv Municipality and the Ministry of the Environment), biblical animals and biological pest controlers. They watched birds being ringed, listened to music in nature, developed their bird identification skills, took part in discussions about their research and actively contributed to the protection of nature in Israel by releasing raptors (Kestrel, Common Buzzard and Long-legged Buzzard) back into the wild.