With the youngest prepping for her exams, Bryant navigating a heavy load at work and the challenges I currently have with Eosinophilic Fasciitis, our Spring activities have been less than usual. Still, we’ve had some nice outings like this presentation at the Falsterbo Bird Station where we spent a beautiful morning with friends Melissa and Shane, followed by a hike along the strand and lunch at the marina.
Demonstration of how they use the nets on designated dates and time windows to get bird counts, assess, measure, tag and release the birds.
It was really fun to see the process and observe the birds up close. There was so much curiosity and enthusiasm for our feathered friends! The Sunday 60 minutes segment w Anderson Cooper (Birds of War on Youtube) about birding, interviewed some of the participants, and I thought they were on to something when they said birding is an active form of collecting. One of the guides expressed that when you see/ hear a rare bird or make observations that few people ever will it makes you a member of an elite club. At the same time, documentation by regular people can contribute significantly to our knowledge of climate change, and the health of birds and of the planet. Most of the bands that are returned to be analyzed are from hikers and birders who are just out exploring and find these scientific treasures. Luckily many take the essential step of getting the data back to the observation stations!
A couple versions of the party invitation…
This year Hil and I celebrated Valborg /Walpurgis night with a group of internationals hosted by Andrea. We started the grill season at her place and then walked over to Stadsparken where an estimated 25,000 people visited throughout the day. Certainly the bonfire crowd was not that big so they must be counting the whole days festivities. Stephanie’s choir sang the very important traditional songs to welcome Spring, Lund’s president of the Board of Culture gave a speech (of which we understood a small amount, about talking and listening to one another and finding common ground in the arts and culture, especially in a time of war and divisiveness) and then the choir sang again for the burning of the bonfire.
The following day, May Day, continues a long tradition of celebrating workers and unions, so many people have the day off and there are labor related gatherings, speeches, marches and political events. And people just treat it as a holiday. Lil’ had to study for exams but Hil went with us for a drive up the shore and a short hike near Glumslöv.
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