Arrival of the Common Swift in Israel 2006

On the morning of Mon. Feb. 20, 2006, at about a half hour before sunrise I spotted the first time this year a Swift flying out of it’s nesting hole in the holy Western Wall in Jerusalem. Soon two or three other Swifts emerged from other holes. A little after sunrise I spotted a group of about ten Swifts flying around high over the Old City, in the area of the Moslem Quarter. The following day there were more, and they started circling high over the Western Wall courtyard area.

It’s possible that they arrived a few days earlier, as I wasn’t at the Wall the previous two days, and last Friday was rainy so I prayed inside and didn’t have much of a chance to see them.

Feb. 20 is consistent with the arrival date from previous years.

Rabbi Yosef Cornfeld



I spotted four Swifts flying in circles and screaming above my neighbourhood houses in north of Tel Aviv today, 21 February 2006 at 6:20 a.m. On 4 and 5 March there were big groups in the sky.

A. Geron



I saw the first Common Swifts last Friday, 17 February in the Hula valley and today, 23 February, I saw them in Tel Aviv.

Menachem Adar

© APUSlife 2006, No. 3164

ISSN 1438-2261