With an extraordinary sense of hearing, silent flight ability and a heart-shaped face, the panting mouse has gone from a mysterious nighttime survivor to a vital partner for farmers in the fight against rodents – and symbolizes hope for regional environmental cooperation.
Evelyn Anke, Zavit – Science and Environmental News Agency
In the middle of the night, when the fields are covered in darkness and the world is quiet, there it is: mysterious, silent and precise. The hawk is not only a spectacular nocturnal bird of prey, but also a hidden and effective partner of farmers in guarding their fields. We spoke with Prof. Yossi Leshem, from the School of Zoology at Tel Aviv University, director of the International Center for Bird Migration Research and former CEO of the Society for the Protection of Nature, about the wonderful bird and its unique contribution to nature and agriculture.
What makes the sphynx unique compared to other animals?
"The puffin is a cosmopolitan bird: it breeds everywhere in the world except Antarctica, and it is adapted to almost every habitat except high altitudes. It is widespread on all five continents and also In Israel it is everywhere."The hawk is the ultimate night predator. It has hearing 20 times better than ours. In an experiment that tested the quality of its hearing, it was found that it can hear a mouse walking in a field 30 meters away and is able to locate it. The hawk's ears are not on the same plane; one ear is up in front and the other is down in back, which contributes to its hearing ability. The hawk's face looks like a heart with a wreath of feathers around it. Their shape resembles a satellite dish, which allows the sound waves to be focused on its ears."
"In addition, it has very soft down all over its body that absorbs noise, and at the tips of its wings it has a kind of comb that also absorbs noise when it flies. For comparison, when a falcon dives towards its prey, you can hear the friction of its wings in the air. In contrast, the dive of a barn owl is not heard at all in the silence of the night. The barn owl is called the Barn Owl in English, meaning 'barn owl' because it is associated with human dwellings. In the past, it nested in abandoned houses, attics, cisterns and barns. Today, with modern construction, this is less possible."
What is the role of respiration in the ecosystem?
"The woodpecker is a superpredator and is at the top of the food pyramid. About 95 percent of its food is rodents. It turns out that a pair of woodpecker birds together with their chicks eat about 2,000–6,000 rodents a year – this is the agricultural importance of the woodpecker. In other words, when there are several nesting boxes in an agricultural field that are populated by woodpecker birds, there is no need to use pesticides. Pesticides in agricultural fields may harm "In wild animals, farm animals, migratory birds and humans."
"In today's modern agriculture, there are monocultures where one crop is grown over a large area. In such an agricultural area, of 3,000 dunams for example, rodents can reproduce in an extreme and unnatural way. In these ecosystems, the presence of the skunk helps to balance the system, and its role becomes more significant. We place online cameras in the nest boxes, so that we can see the number of chicks and the skunks that come to the nest with rodents. In one night, they can bring up to 15 rodents. This documentation makes it possible to understand the role of skunks as exterminators in agricultural areas."
How can you keep your breath?
"This is a relatively common bird that is not in danger of extinction. Human behavior, in the case of the shrike, helps it reproduce. In Israel and abroad, we have placed nesting boxes for them in agricultural fields, and thus the shrike has become a dominant bird that feeds on rodents, which also helps it continue to reproduce. The threat that endangers the shrike is poisoning by pesticides against pests that are scattered in the fields. Unfortunately, not all farmers believe in biological pest control using shrike and instead use a harmful poison. In addition, a relatively large percentage of the chicks that leave the nesting boxes Run over by cars "That drive on the roads at a speed of 80–100 km/h."
Breathlessness is mentioned in quite a few myths. What, for example?
"In Africa, in Arab countries, in Europe, and according to many ancient Muslim traditions, the hawk is a symbol of bad luck. For example, there is a Bedouin proverb that says, 'Follow the hawk and you will reach doom.' Perhaps because it flies at night, silently, and makes frightening whistling sounds, it became, along with other night owls, a symbol of bad luck. In contrast, among the ancient Greeks, night owls were a symbol of wisdom. They thought they were smarter than other birds because their eyes are in the front of their heads. This allows them to see in three dimensions to hunt effectively, but in reality they are not smarter than other birds. In Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, not all farmers understand the importance of hawks, and many shoot them because of the belief that they bring bad luck."
How is the climate crisis affecting breathing in our region?
"The climate crisis is causing extreme weather events, such as droughts, to occur more frequently. When there is a harsh winter or when there is a drought year, there is not much vegetation and as a result there are not enough rodents – which, as mentioned, are the main food of the woodpecker. The woodpecker knows how to predict in advance, before the season begins, whether it will be good or not. If it predicts a good season, it will lay about 10 eggs, and if it predicts a bad season, it will lay only two eggs or it will not nest at all. It knows how to plan it so that in years of drought and drought, it will raise few chicks."
What questions remain open regarding respiration?
"One of the studies currently underway is by doctoral student Shlomo Cain from the School of Zoology at Tel Aviv University, under the supervision of Prof. Or Spiegel and myself. Research "Tracks the movement of panting birds and uses a data analysis system called ATLAS. This method collects data on their movement using transmitters on the backs of about 200 panting birds in the Harod Valley and the Beit Shean Valley. Of these, 36 panting birds were identified as passing through and returning from Jordan or the Palestinian Authority to Israel. Our slogan in this project is that birds know no borders."
"Another interesting topic to explore is how one can predict before the season where the fields will be with more rodents and where it is worth concentrating more respiration. It is also interesting to understand how one can reach a global level in recognizing the contribution of respiration to humans and nature in a variety of countries. Here, a great deal of effort is being invested in regional collaborations."
What attracted you to the falcon and birds of prey?
"I personally love birds of prey and the subject of aviation speaks to me a lot. In my doctoral research at Tel Aviv University, and while I was working at the Society for the Protection of Nature, we did a major study with the Air Force on bird migration. When we learned that thousands of birds were poisoned in the Hula Valley, we wanted to find a solution to this."
Sem has been researching the ecology of birds of prey and bird migration for over 5 decades and he won last year With the President's Award For his book "50 Years of Birding". He continues to promote with passion and vigor the The National Breathing Project which began in 1982, and deals with building nesting boxes for doves in agricultural fields. The project connects academia, the Society for the Protection of Nature, farmers and government agencies. "We went from 14 boxes in Sde Eliyahu to 5,000 boxes across the country. We convinced the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Environmental Protection to join in the ambition to gradually reach all agricultural fields in the country. Later, the Ministry of Regional Cooperation also joined, and the issue gained great momentum. The Israeli initiative was joined by the Jordanians and Palestinians in 2002, the Swiss in 2010, the Greeks and Cypriots in 2015, the Moroccans in 2021, and the United States, Ukraine, Georgia, Italy and Zimbabwe in 2024. Our slogan is that 'doves have replaced the dove of peace.'"
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