| o |
| Introduction |
| Birdwatchers
have a funny – perhaps
hilarious for the rest of the world – way of showing off. It
is known as
‘gripping someone off’. The principle is simple.
There is the ordinary: “What a
pity the Great Knot took off, just minutes before you arrived. By the
way, did
you see that Bee-eater at the car park?” And for
those who are not so
much into rarities: “While I was doing a waterbird census the
other day, I
witnessed a Goshawk catching a Teal. Then, out of
nowhere, a
White-tailed Eagle showed up, stole the Goshawk’s prey and
started eating it
right in front of my camera. I particularly like the shot with the Red
Kite in
the background.” Obviously, I too have to play this game.
Bragging, however, has
not been the motive for writing this blog. It was more about reliving
the
experiences and recording them while I still remember. I apologise, if
you
nevertheless feel gripped off when reading on. Systematics The systematics of bird species in this blog follow van den Berg (2021). References The episodes in this blog are based on true stories and real people. Besides my memory and, more importantly, my notebooks, the main source of information has been Dutch Birding – the journal that has played such an important role in the way I look at birds. In this blog I often refer to articles from this journal. Acknowledgements I am grateful to Magnus Robb for offering generous suggestions for the improvement of this blog. |