Sun. Feb 9th, 2025

Innovative Israeli laser technology protects crops from migratory cranes

Migration of cranes, at Lake Hula, Israel. Photo: Elad Saporta Pikiwiki Israel, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.Migration of cranes, at Lake Hula, Israel. Photo: Elad Saporta Pikiwiki Israel, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons.

A team led by Yaron Charka, chief ornithologist at the Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF), developed a world-first system that uses cameras, lasers and artificial intelligence to keep birds away from crops without harming them. 

This is an innovative technology that promises to solve a recurring problem for local farmers, the sandhill cranes that migrate every winter and feed in their fields. The system will be used for the first time in Hula Lake Park in 2025.

The laser does not touch or harm the birds and can cover an area of ​​three square kilometres in rotation. In addition to cranes, this technology could be applied in the future to scare away other wild animals, such as wild boars.

Charka said that “even after the end of the war, the return of the birds will be gradual, as they need time to readjust to visitors after more than a year without human contact.”

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