INTERNATIONAL: Thousands of pelicans on their exhausting journey south this autumn are on the hunt for food, and authorities in Israel have set up pelican-friendly reservoirs to protect commercial fisheries. It's estimated that about 50,000 hungry great white pelicans, among the largest of migrating birds, stop off in Israel during their migration season – in spring on their way north to Europe and Asia and later in the year back to Africa.

These huge birds usually rest and feed in Israel for weeks, causing chaos for local fish farmers, whose outdoor commercial fish pools and reservoirs provide rich food for the birds. This is costly for the farmers and can be dangerous for the pelicans. One solution is to offer them alternative cuisine in a key location, and about 2.5 tonnes of second-rate fish have been put into a designated pond in Mishmar Hasharon, a communal kibbutz, an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture, near Israel's Mediterranean coast where the pelicans are welcome to feast.

The program aims at minimizing the friction between man and pelicans. From this safe haven they can continue their often-perilous migration. The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel estimates that around half a billion birds die during the seasonal journey that covers thousands of kilometers. Culprits include natural predators as well as human activity, like the destruction of habitats and electrocution by power cables.

^{PHOTO: PELICANS BEING FED, PELICANS IN RESERVOIR, INTERVIEW WITH RANGER}