And only now....

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do I realize that a lapwing is actually a bird, and a very special one at that. One that we hold very dear here in Friesland: the 'kievit'! Every spring, when the birds are laying their eggs, there are thousands of people who go egg hunting, or 'aai sykjen' as we call it in Frisian. Only a few thousand eggs can be taking out of their nests, and only by people who have a permit to do so, to keep the population numbers up, and every egg collected has to be registered.
When we were on the allotment this weekend, we heard them singing up in the sky, dancing about against the clouds, and giving away a great show for us mere earthbound mortals... It's nearly time for a next generation of lapwings to be born!

Pas nu realiseer ik me dat 'lapwing' eigenlijk gewoon kievit betekent! En de kievit, tja, die kennen we hier natuurlijk enorm goed. Dit weekend hebben we op de volkstuin weer kunnen genieten van een prachtige luchtshow van de kieviten die hun nestje in de weilanden aan de andere kant van de sloot hebben. Nu is het wachten op de volgende generatie prachtige kieviten!

Video (in Dutch) on these great birds!

Comments

José said…
Als je meteen jonge kievietjes wilt zien:
http://www.vogeldagboek.nl/node/481

Ik krijg bijna elke dag zo'n vogelmail in mijn mailbox, dat is net zo genieten als in het echt, maar dan anders.

En je roze kievietje is trouwens ook prachtig!
April 27, 2010 at 7:42 PM
MoniqueB. said…
Prachtige vogels; fijn dat je me er aan herinnert.
April 28, 2010 at 9:03 PM
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