June 19, 2019

Residents of Lelystad chase down swan thieves

Filed under: Animals by Orangemaster @ 9:12 pm

Some 20 residents of Lelystad have started a group to hunt down thieves that have been stealing swans for reasons unknown. The Netherlands has quite a bit of swans, and it is the nests that are mainly being robbed as of late.

Group leader is Wido Nuijens, and he has said that they are going to clamp down on thieves and call the police”. The swan patrol drives around and takes note of any suspicious activity, then reports it, if need be. Apparently, Bulgarian cars are often spotted near gaggles of swans. One person from the group explains that swan meat is a delicacy in Bulgaria. I have no clue if this is true or not, and will ask when I have a chance.

Although there are swans all over the country, for reasons unknown Lelystad is a hot spot for swan robbers.

(Link: waarmaarraar.nl, Photo of swan: public domain)

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March 17, 2014

Fuzzy Egyptian goose chicks during winter

Filed under: Animals by Branko Collin @ 8:35 am

egyptian-goose-branko-collin

I saw this Egyptian goose with its chicks yesterday near my home in Amsterdam.

As a Dutch proverb has it, in mei legt elke vogel een ei (‘every bird will lay an egg in May’), but apparently the proverb is getting further and further from the truth these days. An ever warming climate seems to have caused many birds to lay eggs earlier in the year—Vroege Vogels says the average day a songbird lays an egg has moved 14 days forward between 1986 and 2011. The site also points out that songbirds need insects to feed their young and insects have started to become active earlier in the year.

Like the parakeets I mentioned a couple of months ago, Egyptian geese are intruders from much warmer climes, but a quick web search didn’t reveal any info on wintry egg-laying habits. Do any of our readers know if these birds always hatch their young in late February or early March?

egyptian-goose-2-branko-collin

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