Animals are like people in many ways. So there are clever and cunning, stupid and wise, wily and deceitful animals. And just like people, there’s no telling whether being old means you’re wise. In this new tale a girl thinks that the old and large animals of her country are the wisdom-keepers....
Great tits and blue tits have adapted to human beings. They are happy to visit our gardens in wintertime and enjoy the strings of peanuts and fat balls. Just take a look some time at the black stripe across the breast of the great tits. They vary in width from one bird to another. Did […]
Lying with my back against the dunes I often enjoy watching the white seagulls with their black wing tips standing out against the blue sky while they quietly let themselves be carried on the thermals. Then I fantasize about the origins of their behaviour. This resulted in the story below. At...
What a powerful presence an eagle emanates. No wonder the Greeks saw the bird as being the right hand of the supreme god Zeus. And that kings, emperors and other rulers have been keen to use this king of the birds as a symbol to enhance their own importance: its image decorates many flags,...
Literally translated, the common Dutch name for the Green Sandpiper is “Little White Butt”. Seriously! It is a nervous wader which often goes undetected because of its colouring which acts as camouflage. Why did it become so nervous? How did it get its small white butt? To find out...
Blue herons are a familiar sight on the banks of ditches and ponds. Maybe you have noticed that they have something distinctly contradictory about them: on the one hand their manners can be highly refined and gracious; on the other they are common and uncouth in how they go begging fishermen...
A cock is the boss over a hareem of hens. This proud stately creature was once a tough independent bird. How he came to be a domestic pet is a special story. Draw closer and listen to my tale: Like every other year all the people and animals from far and wide came for the […]
Every gardener welcomes a song thrush into his garden, because it readily devours so many snails. If you watch carefully you will see how this bird cracks open the shells on any steady stone it can find closeby. That stone is his ‘anvil’. The song of the thrush has rich warm tones. He often...
A jay has not always been a beautiful, striking and noisy bird. Originally, it was a gentle, shy and unobtrusive bird which longed to be striking, clever and strong. However, through undertaking difficult adventures it earned its bright blue wing feathers, the white tail, black beak and tough...
You might think that the ring dove is saying ‘rooo cooo’. But if you listen carefully, then you will hear that he is saying something quite different. What exactly he is saying and why are told in this old story about Noah’s Ark. You will also find the answer to why the ring dove has […]
