jerusalem (jps) | Israeli security forces were on high alert Wednesday, April 7, as hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of the pleasant spring weather and converged on national parks and nature reserves throughout the country.

The Israel Nature Parks Authority estimated that a million people had visited the parks and nature reserves since the beginning of the Passover holiday.

Schools and many businesses are closed over the week-long holiday and traffic jams were felt mainly in the north of the country, with police directing the traffic at some of the crowded intersections.

Security forces counted some 60 warnings of impending terror attacks and police asked Israelis with gun licenses to carry their guns at all times throughout the holiday.

The Agmon Hula nature reserve in the north was crowded on Wednesday with tens of thousands of visitors arriving to watch bird migration. Orly Doron, spokeswoman for the Jewish National Fund, said birds from Saudi Arabia and Jordan were spotted during the free activity.

Other popular spots were: the Ben Shemen forest, where 150,000 people visited on Wednesday, the Lahav Forest in the south and Park Britannia.