Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO) 2024-2025

Very few world capitals display such a diversity of avian life right in the centre of the city the way Jerusalem does. The Jerusalem Bird Observatory (JBO) covers 5,000 sq m of land between Knesset, the Israeli parliament building, and the Supreme Court. The observatory offers conservation and environmental activities, birdwatching tours, and even hosts a birdwatching club for kids and adults.

Israel lies on one of the main bird migration routes. This provides ornitрologists with an ideal tool for conservation studies and monitoring bird populations. Frequent visitors to the bird observatory include wrynecks, Palestine sunbirds, collared flycatchers, thrush nightingales, masked and red-backed shrikes, hawfinches, European robins, and bulbuls. You can also see the national bird of Israel here —the hoopoe.

Due to urbanization, Jerusalem has lost many of its bird-watching spots, but after the JBO was created, birds started to arrive in greater numbers every year. The endangered lesser kestrels can be seen nesting nearby in springtime and many short-toed eagles and little owls also live in the hills

The Jerusalem Bird Observatory can be visited year round, but winter is the best time to spot migrating European species.