The highway above us: Why millions of migratory birds pass through Lebanon

On the right autumn day, the sky above Lebanon’s mountains can seem to come alive.

Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of birds circle high above roads, villages and forests. They rise with barely a movement of their wings before breaking away and gliding across the landscape.

To most people, they may simply look like birds heading south.

To Chady Saad, director of the Birdwatching Observatory at the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon’s Hima Hammana, they are part of a migration route stretching across continents.

“The birds use warm air currents,” Saad told The Beiruter.

Large species such as storks, pelicans and birds of prey rely on columns of rising warm air to gain altitude. Once high enough, they glide forward until they begin to lose height, then search for another current.

Saad compares the process to taking an elevator.

It allows birds travelling thousands of kilometres to save energy. It also helps explain why Lebanon matters so much.

A highway in the sky

Lebanon lies along the Rift Valley/Red Sea flyway, one of the world’s major routes for migratory soaring birds travelling between Europe, Asia and Africa.

Because warm rising air forms mainly over land, large soaring birds generally avoid long journeys over open sea. Instead, they follow mountain ranges and land corridors where they can repeatedly gain height and glide forward.

Birds arriving from Russia and Central Europe move through areas including Georgia and Turkey before reaching the Levant. Lebanon’s north-south mountain chains then help guide them onward.

This geography creates a bottleneck, concentrating birds that were previously spread across enormous areas.

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon estimates that more than one million migratory soaring birds pass through the country during spring and autumn.

Saad believes the overall figure is far higher when smaller species are included.

More than ten million birds pass through Lebanon, at least ten million.

A country of 409 species

In June 2026, the United Nations Development Programme published the second edition of Birds of Lebanon: A Photographic Guide to 409 Species, developed with the Ministry of Environment and the Association for Bird Conservation in Lebanon.

The guide records 409 bird species found in Lebanon through December 2025.

Some live in the country throughout the year. Others pass through for only a few hours or days. Some arrive to breed, while others spend part of the winter or summer here.

What they need depends on the species.

Waterbirds look for wetlands and lakes. Forest birds rely on wooded areas. Others need farmland, rivers, mountains or coastal habitats.

“When they want to rest, they need a habitat where they can find food,” Saad explained.

Lebanon has 16 recognised Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, including Aammiq Wetland, Lake Qaraoun, the Shouf Cedar Nature Reserve, Jabal Moussa, Beirut River Valley and Rim-Sannine.

These habitats cannot simply replace one another. A forest cannot make up for the loss of a wetland, because different species depend on different environments.

Migration is not only about having a route through the sky. Birds also need somewhere to land.

Who is flying over Lebanon?

Among the most visible migrants are White and Black Storks, pelicans and Common Cranes. Birds of prey include Lesser and Greater Spotted Eagles, Steppe Eagles, Booted Eagles and Honey Buzzards.

Wetlands attract ducks, grebes, cormorants, herons, egrets, ibises and waders.

Smaller migrants include swallows, swifts, wagtails, larks, thrushes, finches and warblers, as well as Common Quail, European Turtle Doves, Blackcaps, Willow Warblers and Chaffinches.

Many of these birds spend much of the year scattered across huge territories. During migration, they gather.

“They come together from Russia and Central Europe and fly together,” Saad said. “Here, we see them in huge numbers. We see thousands.”

Some are already under serious pressure worldwide. The Egyptian Vulture and Steppe Eagle are classified as endangered, while species including the Greater Spotted Eagle, European Turtle Dove and Marbled Teal are considered vulnerable.

One smaller bird is particularly important to the region.

The Syrian Serin has a very limited range in the Levant. BirdLife estimates that only around 7,000 to 9,999 mature individuals remain globally, and the species is classified as vulnerable.

Saad believes it deserves far more attention.

“It needs a story of its own,” he added.

For him, its situation reflects a simple idea: a bird does not have to be large or spectacular to matter.

Every bird counts.

They are not simply escaping the cold

One idea Saad often corrects is that birds migrate because they cannot tolerate winter temperatures.

“The birds don’t migrate because of the cold,” he said. “They migrate because there is no longer enough food for all of them.”

During winter, lakes freeze, insects become less available and food becomes harder to find. After breeding season, bird populations are also larger, increasing competition.

Migration allows part of that population to move towards areas where food remains available.

Climate change may now be altering that balance.

If warmer temperatures keep food available farther north for longer, some birds may leave later, travel shorter distances or spend winter in new areas.

Travel is also difficult for birds. It costs them time and energy.

Climate change is only one pressure. Pollution, forest fires, habitat destruction, quarrying, contaminated water and war can all affect where birds rest, feed and survive.

For a bird travelling thousands of kilometres, losing one stopover can make the next stage of the journey much harder.

A dangerous passage

Lebanon’s Hunting Law No. 580 protects wild resident and migratory birds unless they are specifically listed as legal game. It also bans practices including nets, traps, glue and electronic calls.

The challenge, Saad argues, is what happens outside the law.

The hunting law in Lebanon is good. But enforcement of the law is very weak.

He is particularly concerned about indiscriminate shooting by people who cannot distinguish between protected species and legal quarry. They see hundreds of birds in one place and assume losing a few does not matter. But those birds may have gathered from across several countries.

“What you are seeing here came together from huge areas,” Saad added. “Every bird that is shot counts.”

The case for protecting them is not only about preserving wildlife. Birds perform important ecological roles.

Many feed on insects that damage crops. Raptors and owls control rodents. Other species spread seeds and help maintain the balance of plant and animal life.

Saad points to birds that may eat fruit during one season but consume large numbers of insects during breeding season.

A farmer may notice a bird eating a fig and consider it harmful, while overlooking the insects that same bird removed earlier in the year.

“There is no bird that is simply harmful,” he explained.

When natural pest control disappears, farmers may become more dependent on pesticides, bringing other environmental and health costs.

The same connection applies to habitat loss. Polluted rivers mean fewer feeding grounds for waterbirds. Forest destruction removes nesting areas. Quarrying alters mountain habitats. Drained wetlands leave exhausted migrants with nowhere to stop.

“I used to be a hunter”

Saad’s criticism of hunting comes from personal experience. “I used to be a hunter,” he told The Beiruter.

He once accepted the idea that hunting was part of tradition and that hunters understood nature. That changed as he began observing birds more closely.

The more he learned to identify species and understand their journeys, the harder it became for him to see shooting them as harmless recreation.

I believed I understood the world of hunting. Then I learned, observed and listened.

Today, he rejects the idea that recreational hunters are automatically protectors of the environment. Watching a flock creates a different relationship with birds than aiming at one.

For Saad, the simplest way to understand migratory birds is to think of them as guests.

They were born elsewhere. Some have travelled thousands of kilometres before reaching Lebanon. They arrive tired and hungry, stay for a few hours or days, then continue their journey.

Many will make the same trip again in the opposite direction.

“When they pass through our country, they are guests,” Saad said. “And in the concept of hospitality, a guest should not be subjected to this pressure and killing.”