Nahal Tavor lit. Tabor Stream, is an intermittent stream in the lower Galilee, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

.

Geography

The stream starts in the hills of Nazareth

Nazareth

Nazareth is the largest city in the North District of Israel. Known as "the Arab capital of Israel," the population is made up predominantly of Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel...

, east of the city, and runs east and south of Mount Tabor

Mount Tabor

-Places:*Mount Tabor, a hill in Israel near Nazareth believed by many to be the site of the Transfiguration of ChristIn the United States:*Mount Tabor, Indiana, an unincorporated community...

, where it turns east and then empties into the Jordan River between Gesher

Gesher

Gesher , officially Gesher - National Social Movement was a political party in Israel between 1996 and 2003.-Foundation:Gesher was set up by David Levy on 11 March 1996 as a breakaway from the Likud party during the thirteenth Knesset, after he lost the Likud leadership elections to Binyamin...

 and Belvoir Fortress

Belvoir Fortress (Israel)

Belvoir Fortress is a Crusader fortress in northern Israel, on a hill south of the Sea of Galilee. Gilbert of Assailly, Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, began construction of the castle in 1168. The restored fortress is located in Belvoir National Park...

.

Three springs feed the stream within the boundaries of the Nahal Tavor Nature Reserve; Ein Rechesh, Ein Ze'ev, and Ein Shachal. Ein Rechesh is near Tel Rechesh, an archeological tel

TEL

- Acronyms :TEL is a three-letter acronym for:* Tetra-ethyl lead, a gasoline additive to make leaded gasoline* Tokyo Electron, a semiconductor equipment manufacturer* Transporter erector launcher, a mobile missile launch platform...

 thought to be Anaharath, a town mentioned in the description of one of Thutmose III

Thutmose III

Thutmose III was the sixth Pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. During the first twenty-two years of Thutmose's reign he was co-regent with his stepmother, Hatshepsut, who was named the pharaoh...

's campaigns, and also in , describing the allotment of the Tribe of Issachar

Tribe of Issachar

According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Issachar was one of the Tribes of Israel.Following the completion of the conquest of Canaan by the Israelite tribes after about 1200 BCE, Joshua allocated the land among the twelve tribes...

.

Near kibbutz

Kibbutz

A kibbutz is a collective community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economic branches, including industrial plants and high-tech enterprises. Kibbutzim began as utopian communities, a combination of socialism and Zionism...

 Gazit

Gazit

Gazit is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located in the Galilee, it falls under the jurisdiction of Jezreel Valley Regional Council. In 2006 it had a population of 562....

, the stream runs through a Basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

 canyon

Canyon

A canyon or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon. Most canyons were formed by a process of...

.

Nature reserve

The Tabor Stream received nature reserve status in 1974.

The Nature reserve encompasses the stream from the area near Kfar Kish up to Highway 90.

Flora includes Tamarix

Tamarix

The genus Tamarix is composed of about 50-60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa...

, Willow

Willow

Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...

, Ziziphus

Ziziphus

Ziziphus is a genus of about 40 species of spiny shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae, distributed in the warm-temperate and subtropical regions throughout the world. The leaves are alternate, entire, with three prominent basal veins, and long; some species are deciduous,...

 spina-christi, Pistacia atlantica

Pistacia atlantica

Pistacia atlantica is a species of pistachio tree known by the English common name Mt. Atlas mastic tree and as the Persian turpentine tree. In Iran it is called baneh. In the Canary Islands is known as Almacigo. Betoum is called in Arabic.- Overview :It is a tree of the genus Pistacia. It is a...

, Faidherbia albida

Faidherbia albida

Faidherbia albida is a species of Faidherbia native to Africa and the Middle East, formerly widely included in the genus Acacia. It has also been introduced to India and Pakistan. Common names for it include Apple-ring Acacia, Ana Tree and Winter Thorn.It is a thorny tree growing up to 6–30 m tall...

, and Prunus korshinskyi

Prunus korshinskyi

Prunus korshinskyi is a species of Prunus in the family Rosaceae. It was first discovered in Syria, and is also locally native in Turkey and southeastern Europe. It is threatened by habitat loss...

trees. Many wildflowers grow during the winter months, such as Lupin

Lupin

Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins or lupines , is a genus in the legume family . The genus comprises about 280 species , with major centers of diversity in South and western North America , and the Andes and secondary centers in the Mediterranean region and Africa Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins...

s (Lupinus pilosus), Cyclamen persicum

Cyclamen persicum

Cyclamen persicum, the Persian cyclamen, is a perennial growing from a tuber, native to rocky hillsides, shrubland, and woodland up to above sea level from south-central Turkey to Israel and Jordan. It also grows in Algeria and Tunisia and on the Greek islands of Rhodes, Karpathos, and Crete,...

, Anemone

Anemone

Anemone , is a genus of about 120 species of flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae in the north and south temperate zones...

s, Chives

Chives

Chives are the smallest species of the edible onions. A perennial plant, they are native to Europe, Asia and North America.. Allium schoenoprasum is the only species of Allium native to both the New and the Old World....

, and Asafoetida

Asafoetida

Asafoetida , alternative spelling asafetida, is the dried latex exuded from the living underground rhizome or tap root of several species of Ferula, which is a perennial herb...

.

Fauna in the reserve includes Gazelle

Gazelle

A gazelle is any of many antelope species in the genus Gazella, or formerly considered to belong to it. Six species are included in two genera, Eudorcas and Nanger, which were formerly considered subgenera...

s (Gazella gazella gazella), Spanish Sparrow

Spanish Sparrow

The Spanish Sparrow or Willow Sparrow is a passerine bird of the sparrow family Passeridae. It is found in the Mediterranean region and southwest and central Asia...

s and Alectoris

Alectoris

Alectoris, is a genus of partridges with representatives in southern Europe, north Africa and Arabia, and across Asia in Pakistan to Tibet and western China. Members of the genus, notably the Chukar and Red-legged Partridge, have been introduced to the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Hawaii...

partridges.