For the volunteer watchers scanning southern Israel's wheatfields, protecting migratory falcons from poachers is a highly coordinated security operation. Many protected species of migratory birds spend their winters in this agricultural area close to the Gaza Strip. And some species are big business. "A bird like this can fetch tens of thousands of shekels on the black market. We're talking about between 50,000 or 70,000 shekels ($14,000 to $19,000)," says a ranger with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES