Well, well, well - NOT the best photo ever taken...one can't even see their long red beaks - but I had (as often) only my cell-phone with me. The storks are back - the little Bavarian town has many of them, building their heavy nests - if possible - on the same place every year.
People tell that they are very faithful not only to their home but to their partners too - though sadly :-) I discovered a scientific article which hummed "Needles and Pins" and diminished this soothing myth - ah, the world is such a tough place!
And the storks become a bit lazy (shall I draw a parallel there to us Europeans - no, "Cobbler, stick to your trade!"), - many of them stayed here all winter long, deciding that the grass is not always greener on the other side - a very rare insight.
Sometimes a herons visits, or, seldom, the oh so beautiful Chinese egret.
Now follows an early morning photo through my window, just before the sun rises - lots of mists, and when they rise it reveals a beautiful white hoar frosted valley.
When I tried to find a better photo of storks I found a screenshot from myself, 2016 - staring into the mists of the future after my personal tsunami.
9 years are long time to test the limits of my resilience -
well, till now I put up a good fight I believe.
Storks maintain faithfulness for their first partner, I am assuming for the rest of their lives. This is not only great for both stork partners and babies.. it is likely to bring peace into the whole stork community. No jealous battles.
ReplyDeleteHumans should do as well !
Dear Helen, that is what we believe here too.
ReplyDeleteBut ornithological articles speak of "saisonal fidelity" (at least...), so they are both raising their bird hatching time together.
There are pairs who remain together a longer time - the reason is interesting: they both want to share their old nest! (How the explorers found out that I cannot imagine :-)
How great the storks are with you. Simply wonderful.
ReplyDeleteI haven't spotted one yet - we also have nests in the area.
The male comes first and prepares the nest and the female arrives some time later...
Kind regards to you from Viola
Dear Viola, thank you for your comment - I browsed the Web to see the difference between the storks - ah, as so often: the male is a bit bigger and his beak is a bit longer. (But in Bavaria I heard for the very first time in my life the clatter/rattle (? which word to choose?) of storks - honestly: I would not be so glad if they do that upon my roof...
DeleteI loved your very special craft! Britta
How nice to have the storks return every year. We look forward to turkey vultures every spring. Somehow storks seem a lot more romantic than turkey vultures.
ReplyDeleteDear Mimmylynn, I looked turkey vulture up and found something astonishing: because they are very, very able to smell tiniest smells, a turkey vulture in Walsrode/Germany is educated to help the police!
DeleteIf one isn't too near to the very long red beak of a stork it looks romantic, and you see them very often stalk in pairs.
I believe you have shown great resilience. We don't have returning storks, but we do have herons. Wonderful birds.
ReplyDeleteThank you, dear Joanne! Your kind remark brought tears to my eyes, and there might lie the problem: as you, I detest whining and moaning, thus I keep my big mouth shut. Though sometimes it would be nice to be pampered a bit - on the other side: I am fit and strong and have a good life, so really almost no reason to complain.
DeleteI love herons too - and that white silken little egret is the most beautiful and rare around here. But since 1910 their population grows again (before they were victims of the fashion industry...)
My dear friend,
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that you also like to observe the birds and the bees in your neighbourhood. As for me, the oystercatchers by the sea are my harbingers of spring.
I do love the picture of misty picture from your window...it's very Caspar David Fredrich...evoking all the symbolisms of contemplating something that is beyond our reach. Thank you so much for sharing your marvellous photo from 2016. It is incredibly striking...just as memorable as the photos of the young Colette.
I'm inspired to learn about the years of your resilience. The older I get, the more I realise that life curriculum that we take at the earth school is not for the faint-hearted. It comes with difficulties and unexpected curveballs that come to us with punitive measures. There are peaks and valleys along the journey too. There are also unexpected blessings when we are least expecting. Love and friendship are the two things that often sustain us and give us enough to go on.
Although the bare branches may not have any sign of life yet, the new leaves are expanding daily underneath, growing stronger and waiting to unfold with courage and resilience. Strength often comes not necessarily from the external but we surprise ourselves when we realise that it comes from the internal within one's self.
After the harsh winter, we can emerge like new leaves again from the bare bough.
With warmest wishes, ASD
My dear friend,
ReplyDeletethank you so much for your beautiful letter!
I read it again, sitting on my balcony on a sunny Sunday morning, and am happy!
The oystercatcher - that's funny: he is the very impressive bird which nests on the roof of my Dutch friend in the Netherlands (at Sea) in spring.
Here the birds start to become very busy now - though interesting: I hear more bird song in Berlin, which is a very big city, but with many trees - here in the part of Bavaria where I look out maybe are too many cats - and, since last year, a pair of tree falcons (if they are that - I am no expert in birds names). Birds of prey, that for sure. From the back of my flat I hear and see more birds, because there is only an unkempt (though attractive) garden from neighbours, and then the forest.
Yes - the curriculum of life... People one meets as teachers, unexpected events or situations.
I am proud to be the daughter of my resilient father who was sent as a very, very young man as a naval seaman into the last part of the war - their boat was sunk in the Indian Ocean, and in a life boat he and his comrades were 22 days on the sea, with very little to eat, water collected over night from the sky in a plane - and two men were so thirsty that they drank sea water and died. And then they were washed up at the coast of Madagaskar - nursed back to life by natives, than 'received' by French, and then their good luck: they were brought as POWs to England, where they were treated good, because "marine" was a respected opponent enemy but not a criminal as some other parts of German soldiers. He very seldom talked about this time, though very respectful about the British.
He was a very optimistic man and treasured life. I learned a lot from him.
So I know that when I see only half of the moon, that in reality there is a full moon, one only has to wait. As our poet Matthias Claudius said in "Abendlied":
"Seht ihr den Mond dort stehen?
Er ist nur halb zu sehen,
Und ist doch rund und schön.
So sind wohl manche Sachen,
Die wir getrost belachen,
Weil unsre Augen sie nicht sehn. "
(I think I translated it in my blog "Britta's Happiness of the Day" (http://burstingwithhappiness.blogspot.com)
Now I will take a stroll through the meadows and wood and wish you a happy Sunday! Britta
http://burstingwithhappiness.blogspot.com
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