(MENAFN) At sunrise in southern Lebanon, locals looked to the skies in amazement as vast flocks of geese and pelicans glided overhead in perfect formation. The sight was breathtaking, but also puzzling—why were these migratory birds appearing weeks earlier than expected?

Near a drying pond outside the town of Ibl al-Saqi, 26-year-old Dalal Ghazi captured footage of the birds landing.

"I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me," she said. "It's not their usual time. Maybe climate change confused them. Maybe they're seeking warmth earlier than before. It feels like nature has shifted the rules."

Lebanon lies along the Eastern Mediterranean flyway, one of the most active migration paths on the planet. Environmental groups note that each spring and fall, the skies over the region see hundreds of thousands of soaring species such as white storks and lesser spotted eagles, along with more than a million other migratory birds of various kinds.

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