Another trip to Agamon Hula

Today was a beautiful, sunny day here in Israel even though the temperatures are a little low. So we decided to take another trip to Agamon Hula, one of the nature preserves for migrating birds in the Hula Valley. We did the usual and rented a golf cart to make the tour around the lake. Here are a few of the pictures I took.

First, a picture of David on a little bridge. Just to the right of him, you can see the golf cart that we rented. A little further to the right, by the tops of the trees, you can see the snow-capped Har Khermon (Mt. Hermon, the highest point in Israel):

Of course, the main attraction of Agamon Hula is the birds. Here's a nice flock of them:

Here's a group of them in flight. It's hard to get these pictures of moving objects on my camera. Basically, I have to point in the general direction, shoot, and see what I get. Of course, ALL of the pictures I'm posting (except the one of David, above) are cropped somewhat. This one and the next are SERIOUSLY cropped:

Here's a lucky shot of a single large bird in flight:

The birds, however, are not the only animals there. This large rodent (about the size of a cat), sometimes called a coypu and sometimes called a nutria, is native to South America. It was introduced to Israel by farmers hoping to create a fur business, but, alas, in the warm climate it didn't produce the nice fur that it had in its native lands. So, the farmers released them into the wild, and they have become an invasive species. There are LOTS of them at Agamon Hula, and they are rather cute, I think: