700 pelicans are still snoring away. The sound of explosions bursts from the direction of the fish ponds of Kibbutz Hulata and Kibbutz Ayelet Hashachar. Another battle in the war of the fisheries against the cormorant and pelican. A group of pelicans float toward the water channels herding a school of fish towards the banks. All they need to do is scoop 'em up and swallow.
Pelicans consume about a kilogram of fish each day.
Some of them will take off around nine o'clock and resume their migration to Africa, others will stick around for a day or two. We spy a huge flock of 2,000 pelicans and an equal number of mallards in the water. The mallards prefer this newly reflooded section, perhaps because it is closer to the fields, where they dine on peanut sprouts that they pull out of the ground. This year I think they'll stay longer. We are looking out over the fields of the Hula Valley.