Jerusalem swifts return to nest again at the Western Wall

The Western Wall once again hosted its spring swifts, the scythe-winged birds that have nested in its cracks and other holy sites in Jerusalem for thousands of years. Reuters described the wall as a haven for migrant swifts, and the Kotel says the birds stay there for about three months each spring before returning to Africa. They also return to the same nesting spot to build nests, lay eggs and raise their young.

Wildlife Israel says common swifts arrive in Israel in mid-February and spend most of their lives on the wing, feeding, drinking, sleeping and even mating while flying. That flight-heavy life explains why the species can move so far and still come back to a fixed seam in the stone year after year.

The wall’s bird life has long drawn conservation attention. A 2012 report said nature-lovers were planning a welcoming ceremony and that the Friends of the Swifts Association, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel and Tel Aviv University were working together to save existing nesting sites. In 2018, i24NEWS English said the common swifts migrate every year to Jerusalem and nest in the Western Wall, calling them residents of honor in Judaism’s most sacred place. It also said the population had declined in recent years because of hunting in Arab countries.

The setting carries a deeper historical weight than the birds alone. The Western Wall stands in Jerusalem’s Old City, whose walls were built in the 16th century by Suleiman the Magnificent. UNESCO has a decision titled Old City of Jerusalem and its Walls, placing the site within an international heritage framework even as the birds keep using the same narrow gaps in the masonry. The Sheffield Swift Network says swifts have existed for at least 49 million years, a scale of time that makes the annual return to Jerusalem look less like a novelty than a survival strategy written into the species itself.