While the King James Bible translates the Hebrew word nesher as eagle, modern experts believe that it in fact refers to the griffon vulture, a bird that can still be found in the Land of Israel. Reuters reports:
[F]or a network of Israeli conservationists, the bird still has pride of place in the land whose ancient prophets saw in its soaring flight a metaphor for religious exaltation.
Hit by accidental poisoning and urbanization, Israel’s griffon vulture population has fallen to around 180 in the wild, says Yigal Miller, manager of programs for endangered raptors at the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. So as part of [a] project run by his organization and the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, the next generation is being reared in captivity before being let loose in the desert with tracking tags.
According to Israel’s Biblical Museum of Natural History, “in the Middle East, it is the griffon vulture that is the king of birds.”
Pictures can be found at the link below.
Read more on Ynet: https://www.ynetnews.com/environment/article/rJoY3N0hI