Kievits and spoonbills
Earthsea started it for me in 2019. I inhaled the first four books and came to the conclusion that I need to learn more names. I ought to know what I’m seeing and who is living around me.
Now I know more names, some in multiple languages, but there’s always more to learn. It feels like I’ve been living in my own bubble, unaware of others around me. But now I see (some of) them. “Who are you?” I ask. How is your day going? Was the winter hard?
I write in circles.
Today I saw birds I’ve never seen before and I want to share.
I first heard about kievits1 in a Taiwanese podcast about how kievits are good ambassador birds for non-toxic farming (無毒農業). I looked them up and was surprised to find that they are common here in the Netherlands. Thus were they added to my apparent “birds I want to see” list. Now I am someone who has such a list.
I looked them up on waarneming.nl recently, and there are sightings super close to me?! So today I sought them out. It was easier than expected. There they were! Interesting wing shape in flight. Funny little hair thing. Not a fan of crows.
On the way back, we came across a couple pairs of spoonbills!2 A placard stated they breed here every year. Practically my neighbours yet I’ve never seen them before. But now I have, and I’m happier for it.