The Stork is back in Sweden's southernmost province Skåne.

 THE STORK IS BACK

All photos are taken by me with my Cannon IXUS. You are welcome to use my pictures but please, when and if you do, do not pass them on as your own. Put my name Multicultural Gittie  on them with a reference to my blog. Thank you!

Once upon a time the white Stork was a common bird in Skåne, but with modern effective agriculture draining the wetlands making place for more farmland, the stork could no longer feed its young and became extinct.

When I was a child the stork was long time gone from Sweden, but on Swedish chocolate there was a picture of a Marabou Stork. I asked my father about the bird and he told me about the white stork that once was common in Skåne. My father told me that the last breeding pair was seen sometime in early 1950s and had since then disappeared from Sweden

 

 

 

This summer when I was out following a red Kite I accidently came across a stork peacefully looking for food in a meadow close to the town where my sons live. My heart started pounding as I slowly crept after it with my camera. I got some nice pictures

 

 

                                 If you look at his legs so you can see clearly that he is ringed

 

In 1989 a breeding program with imported stork started, called “The Stork project” The
goal is to regain a viable, migratory tribe of white stork in Skåne. You can read more about the Stork Project at  http://www.storkprojektet.se/

A couple of weeks later that same summer I came across another stork in the outskirtsa of a little town close to where I live.  I really had a “storky” summer. If you compare their black markings you'll see that there are small differences

 

 
I heard the other day on QI with Stephen Fry that it was thanks to a German stork that flew back from Africa with an African spear still attached into it, that made people realize that birds actually migrated all the way to Africa during winter. This was some time in the early 1800s Pre to this there were all kinds of theories about birds hibernated during winter by throwing themselves into the sea You can see a picture of the speared stork at

https://www.google.se/search?q=stork+with+African+spear&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=bsPEUo2tJILa4wTqy4GgBg 

I can not help but think of the stork That flew with his spear from Africa to Germany. Birds are amazing creatures. I just hope That non of "my" storks will be pierced by a spear when flying to their winter destination

The last day of 2013

I just want to say Happy New Year to everyone and take the opportunity to tell you about my dog Taffy who turns 10 years this last day of the year in 2013. He had  salmon and meatballs at the table with us.

Now we are closing all the blinds so he will not se the fiereworks. Take good care of all animals and you will have a good 2014

My winter bird garden

 

 

Taking photos of my birds

All photos are taken by me with my Cannon IXUS. You are welcome to use my pictures but please, when and if you do, do not pass them on as your own. Put my name Multicultural Gittie  on them with a reference to my blog. Thank you!

I started to feed the birds one winter because I felt sorry for my self. When I looked out I saw some poor hungry birds in the snow and I started to feel sorrier for them than for myself. Once I had gone down that road I was hocked. I do admit that I tend to spoil “my” birds so much that I think I'm now mentioned in Le guide rouge de Michelin for birds. Well, the award they give me makes me feel that way. I went from feeling sorry for the birds to feeding the birds to taking photos of birds. The more I learn about birds the more interested I get.

High above my garden a red kite hovers. She makes me happy every time I catch sight of her. Don't ask me why, I just feel happy and I just want to be up there with her. The older kites sometimes stay during winter but the younger ones migrat to the south of France. Wise decision in my opinion. You can go down to Falsterbo in the south of Sweden  late in autumn and if you are lucky you will see the large raptor migrations. A magnificent sight. Unfortunately they don't have a reliable time table you will need luck.

When the snow lies deep, it happens that a overwintering raptor attempts a loop around my elderberry tree, where I feed the small birds, in hope of catching a sparrow or two. Once one of my woodpeckers came close to being eaten .

I have a number of woodpeckers that come to my elderberry tree. If the food is low they come knocking on my window. Their favourite is also the butter balls. Something they don't love is each other. If they meet in or around the tree, they start fighting. It was in such a moment that it nearly went really bad. A sparrow hawk became aware of their fight and tried to take advantage of the situation. They did, however escape him this time.  I was kind of glad although I could feel bad for the sparrow hawk for missing his dinner.  I managed to get two of them in the same picture. One can tell them apart by their different markings The one who is eating is totally unaware of the other one at the moment.

 

 

 

People often get mixed up when it comes to sparrows.  Common sparrows in Sweden are the House Sparrow and the Tree Sparrow. The House Sparrow has a grey head and no cheek marks and this is why we call it a grey sparrow in Sweden. The Tree Sparrow has a brown head and a dark spot on its cheek. It's called the Willow Finch in Sweden. The  House Sparrow was the most common bird but it is decreasing rapidly. Here a Tree Sparrow and a House Sparrow in the same picture.



One day I spotted a Long-Tailed Tit in my elderberry tree.  I felt so happy and I ran in to get my camera, but when I came out it was nowhere to be seen. Standing there with my camera in my hand I spotted an odd bird in the tree. It looked a bit pale and well, a bit snotty nosed. I couldn’t quite fathom out what it was. The bird was shy and hid behind the branches but I managed to take some pictures of it and it turned out to be a female crossbill

Another sweet Tit in my garden is the Marsh Tit. In Sweden we call it a Juniper Tit. It's very like the Willow Tit but the Marsh Tit has a much smaller black bib under its chin. Marsh Tits love peanuts. Be were careful not to give them the salty peanuts because salt is very bad for them.

 

  



The Blue Tit is one of the most common bird in Sweden and yet it's my favourite among the small birds. After feeding them during the winter, they become almost tame. They fly in around my head and nags at me to hurry up. You can almost here them say: Hurry up we're so hungry. Favourite foods among Blue Tits are my home made butter balls with bird seeds and they don't say no to a little spaghetti with grated cheese either.

 

 

Not quite as tough as the Blue Tit is the Great Tit, but the Great Tit is a real clown.  They can sit on a branch and spin around and do tricks and they really seems to have fun. The Great Tits song has changed, probably to drown out the traffic noise. Great Tits seem to reduce in numbers. I don't really know what caused it.

 Another brave bird whom I love is the Nuthatch, he easily stays in the tree when I come and fill up their food supplies. When he has stuffed himself and filled his beak with seeds then he flies, almost always in the same direction, every time. Once when I stood and watched him he almost hit me when he flew off. I think he lives in the neighbour’s maple tree. I have seen two in the tree at the same time. I think they are a pair.  

 

A bird who appears in flocks during winter is the Yellowhammer... The mostly enjoy various seeds and prefer to eat on the ground or on a table where the seeds can be scattered. They are a bit larger than the Tree Sparrow. During winter the male and the female are similar in colours, but sometimes you can see a very yellow bird that almost looks like a parakeet in the flock. One would think that it could be a European Serin but it’s as large as the others so I think it's just variations within the flock. Not a very good picture but they are hard to photograph because the whole flock will fly away at the slightest movement.

 

 

Morning has broken, like the first morning. Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird / Lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon. The blackbird is a special bird. He looks so stunning with his black feathers and yellow beak. And he has a beautiful voice. The Blackbird is a nice guest at the bird table. A little apple or maybe some grapes and he will be grateful. The worst thing is that he likes to eat my grapes in the summer as well, but how can I get angry with him for that?

I don't discriminate when it comes to which birds may eat at my bird feeders. I love to see how the poor Magpie constantly feels compelled to steal. He probably often gets shooed away from bird tables and I think that's a shame. Magpies are friendly funny animals to deal with. So far, he is terrified every time he sees me. But he can not help but to have a look from behind the fence and see if I possibly forgot some food there. I don't think he really understands that the food I put out is for him. In the picture he has just been stuffing his beak with as much bread as he can get away with.

 When the Chaffinch starts showing up at the bird table I feel the winter depression loosing its grip. I can actually get really happy. It means that spring is coming. Some male Chaffinch do stay during winter but I never see them until very early spring. They usually find the dining table, but they always start with eating on the ground what other birds have dropped.

 

 

When the Starlings come you know spring is just around the corner.  Ok, you can still get some more snow and some starlings can also get the stupid idea to stay during winter, but when a flock of 15 Starlings turn up at the same time you know they have just flown in from some place warmer. Two such flocks came to me early in the spring and it was two very hungry birds. Problem was that the shops started to run out of bird seeds so I had to cook for them. Butter balls and spaghetti went like butter in the sun.

And there came a spring even after this dreadful winter. And now its summer and a wonderful summer it is. I'm starting to take pictures of all the summer gusting birds that make that amazing journey to the Nordic countries where the sun hardly sets and the food is great. I just stand here and say welcome to these amazing creatures

Spring begins when the Cranes dance

Hornborgasjön in Sweden April 13, 2013.

All photos are taken by me with my Cannon IXUS. You are welcome to use my pictures but please, when and if you do, do not pass them on as your own. Put my name Multicultural Gittie  on them with a reference to my blog.

 A colleague from work asked me if I was interested in a visit to Hornborgasjön together with her and her wife, who also is a colleague of mine. Hornborgasjön is a famous Swedish lake where the cranes come on a yearly basis in the early spring. They fly nonstop from Germany and half way up through Sweden to participate in the yearly dance. It's a four-hour drive up through Sweden from where I live. I have often wanted to go there but never been able to do so. This would be the first time in my life that I had the opportunity to visit this famous lake at springtime, just at the right time, when the young cranes gather to dance. 

 

 

 We had a nice drive up to this very beautiful place but where were the cranes? Of course a lake is a big place and when we first came up we followed the signs and came to a nature centre. This was actually a good thing there was a lot to read and learn about the lake and a nice place to sit down and eat our delicious lunch while looking at black-headed gulls, geese, swans and other waterfowl.

 

 

 At the centre we were shown the way to the correct location where the cranes come for their yearly dance. It was just a short drive away from the centre. At first we saw the older cranes who keep their distance from the actual dance. It’s like when teens come to a music festival and the adults linger close by.

 



 

At this very day there were over 10 000 cranes at the lake and more than 2 000 whooper swans of different varieties.

At the center they told us that there have been cranes at Hornborgasjön since time immemorial. To stand there and see these huge numbers of birds was an incredible experience. The experience struck onto strings deep inside my body. It is said that birds descended from dinosaurs, and when you stood there and watched the birds and felt them and heard the sound of them, well it felt as if you were taken beyond time and space to a time that has long since disappeared.

 

 

The cranes just continued to arrive like at a Heathrow Airport for birds though much more environmentally friendly.

 

 

 

The singing has already begun and the sound is as intense as a hard rock band. Here's a trio that has begun warming up for tonight's exercises.

 

 

And even a whooper swan gets heated up. Even though he will not take part in the dance of the cranes he feels the excitement in the air.

 

 

Most of the dance take place in the evenings. Unfortunately we could not stay as long as we wanted to because we had a long drive back home. We did manage to see a little crane dance before we had to leave

 

 

It gets a little more intense and one wonders if one of them will fall into the lake

 

They can do high leg kicks and somersaults when the heat is really on, but it was a bit to early for that. However they had the courtesy to offer me a small kick

 

 

It was an absolutely wonderful day. On the way home we visited my colleague's brother and we were treated to a lovely dinner. It was really a nice day.

 

 



My beautiful darlings, my red kites

I would like to share some red kite pictures with you. You are welcome to use my pictures but please, when you do, do not pass them on as your own. Put my name on them with a reference to my blog.
 

I have mentioned earlier that I’m passionate about birds of pray and especially the red kite. I can just stand and look and look at them. Their flight is so wonderfully effortless. They seem to enjoy flying and gliding on the warm up winds. Getting good picture of a red kite is one of my aims in life.

When I spot a red kite I have the habit of throwing my car in anywhere so I can get out and look at them and take picture. I’ll have to stop doing that. I’m so mad that the idea has crossed my mind to have raw meat on the roof top of my car so that I could attract them. I could then  take some good pictures.  Sadly there is something stopping me from doing that. Hmm, I wonder what it is.

I’m always in search of that great wildlife picture, it’s like a drug. When you get that great picture in your aim and something goes wrong, it bugs you for days, but when you get that perfect picture it is better than sex.

 

My passion for photographing started out with my first mobile phone camera. And from there on I went to a better mobile phone camera to an even better one. After that I wanted a camera. I didn’t want to jump on the system camera train at once. I want to take it step by step so I started reading up on camera reviews.

I wanted a camera with good zoom, good lens, fairly long battery time, no geotaging or face booking. That will only takes battery. I didn’t want it all automatic but I wanted to be able to take pictures in a sequence like 7 frames per second. And my last wish was to be able to do some editing in the camera. I found the Canon IXUS and I love it. I feel I’m learning more and more every day so I’ll hang on to this for a while. You know it is not only the camera that takes good pictures. The one behind the camera has something to do with it as well.

These are the best red kite pictures  I have up until now, but I’m still working on it  

  

My beautiful way to work.

I have about 5 Swedish miles to drive to work. That is roughly 31 English miles.

A Lot of my colleagues think that is too far. They can’t understand that I love driving my beautiful road to and from work. Don’t get me wrong I do not like the actual driving, but I do love the rout I drive. Very often I stop at the lake and take some photos. I get to se some beautiful animals. Once I met a fox. He crossed the road and then stood at the side of the road looking at me. I had my camera ready on the dashboard I lifted the camera aimed an shot, well that’s what I thought I did, but no I pressed the button that switches off the camera. I have never forgotten him.

 

 

I love this willow tree.

The tree is so beautiful and from here I can take photos of the various birds without disturbing them. I have found that taking photos is the most mindful thing I can do. I get so absorbed with taking photos that I probably could get run over by something with out noticing. I love flowers and I love the sky with clouds and beautiful scenery, but the thing I love the most is wild animals in there natural habitat. I’ve never had the urge to go to Africa, although I must admit I wouldn’t say no given the opportunity. It’s not the exotic I’m after it’s the ordinary; those animals we take for granted and hardly bother to learn about.

 

One may think that a common bird is easy to photograph but they are not.

Take a magpie for instance, you see them everywhere and think that taking a good picture would be a piece of cake. You couldn’t be more wrong.  A magpie is a very wary bird and is not afraid of a moving car. Oh, but should you stop and roll down the window or open the car door it’s gone. I have yet to take the perfect picture of a magpie and I have understood that doing that takes a lot of planning, like animal pictures often does.  Once or twice you do get lucky. Like this geese chaos that was purely a mistake but turned out quite fun. I was trying to sneak up on them while they were having lunch on a meadow opposite the lake but tripped on something and made a noise and that was it. Remember, I am strictly an amateur

 

My true love amung birds is the Red Kite

 I can not help it, they fascinate me tremendously. They are intelligent, opportunistic and ruthless scavengers that have come very close to becoming extinct just for those reasons. The kite is also very vulnerable to environmental toxins. Sweden has taken the led to help them recover by feeding them in different places through the hard winter months. Archaeology believes that Kites have been living in Sweden for thousands of years. We now estimate that we have around 2000 couples. In days gone by the kite was a migratory bird and the old people say it came with spring to the south of Sweden around the 20^th of March  Now it seems to have changed its habits and only the young birds migrate and the nesting couples stay. 

Below is a link to a very interesting article about the kite project in Sweden. It’s in Swedish but I’m sure you can Google translate it and make something out of it.  


                                        One of my darlings who made me fall deeply in love

 

 
http://www.kristianstadsbladet.se/kristianstad/article1333383/Gladan---en-elegant-skaringnsk-flyttfaringgel.html

Is there such a thing as Secular or atheist Muslims just like the Jews? Could Islam transcend practice and become an identity of a people, a tradition, and an experience?

One could answer a strict no on this question.

Yes one could argue that religion is religion and if you do not believe you are neither this nor the other, but I don’t think it is that easy to escape your ethnic and religious context even if you stop believing.

A person is born into the Jewish faith.

Judaism is inherited from the mother's side. Their belief is that God chose the Jewish people to be his people and therefore they can not escape being Jews even if some have become secularized and others have become atheists. If God exists he has treated the Jewish people very badly over the centuries and this can be the reason why some of them have lost their faith. Others have lost faith because they need evidence and as there is no evidence that will hold up scientifically they can not believe. This is the same for all religions remember religion is a belief.

Faithful Jews can not stop believing in God even if they feel badly treated because they don’t know why God does what he does. He just might be educating them or testing them in some way. God is their destiny no matter what.

Jesus (Isa) was also a Jew

It was only after his death, or after he vanished if we take the Muslim point of view, that they began to organize the religion called Christianity. They had a meeting and decided that this was something new and all who wanted to join should be welcome, not only Jews. Jesus talked equally to both men and women and some researchers argue that Mary Magdalene had a prominent role as one of Jesus disciples. Unfortunately this provoked the men who over time greatly dimmed her actuell role.

Around 600 years later Mohammed had his first revelations

. He reformed very much that was wrong at that time and in the society in which he lived. He tried to get people to think about the poor. He himself had experiences of being poor and of loosing his parents at an early age. He wanted to create harmony between the tribes. Harmony makes it easier to trade. He used a lot of Jewish texts and rituals to accomplish this. He wanted to raise the morale standards and unite the community in Mecca, which in addition to Judaism and Christianity also was greatly influenced by polytheism. The evil of polytheism has often been greatly exaggerated in Islam. Yes there were some promiscuity but there were also elements of asceticism and celibacy.

Jesus as God

If you believe that God came down to earth in the shape and form of Jesus and you believe the love that Jesus preached and that Jesus conquered death through the resurrection then that makes you a Christian and you can join the faith by being baptised. If you are born into the faith you are usually baptized as an infant and as a teenager you can strengthen your faith by becoming confirmed. There are many different forms of Christianity, there are Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Coptic and many others just like there are different forms of Islam in different parts of the world.

Islam

If you believe the love that Jesus preached and that he was a very important prophet born by the virgin Mary, and you don’t believe in the holy trinity because only God is God. And if you believe that Mohammed was Gods last prophet and that the Koran is Gods final words then you need to speak it out loud preforming a shahada and become a Muslim. If you are born into a Muslim family you learn from your family and as a teenager you can strengthen your faith by performing a shahada.

Sweden

In Sweden we have been Christian Protestants since the 16th century. The king wanted to become the head over the church so he could have access over the church wealth and use it to pay his debts. The church and the stat have been walking hand in hand until their divorce on 1st of January 2000. The church has had a strong influence on the Swedes in all aspects of life over the centuries. Reading was important for Protestantism. Their idea was that everyone should be able to read God's words and by doing so every one should be able to believe and se the logic in the Christian faith. This is why illiteracy is nearly obliterated in Sweden. The thought seems to have back fired. According to a Gallup poll from 2009, Estonia is the least religious country in the world closely followed by Sweden where there are only 17 percent who said that religion is an important part of daily life. Attributed to this, you will find churches everywhere and worship services are celebrated with only a handful of participants. Despite the failure of religious practice, people in Sweden are very conscientious and honest and they will turn to the church in times of great sorrow and major disasters. Swedes celebrate Christmas because it's a family occasion and sometimes the only opportunity to meet the family and experience childhood memories. Some atheists even confirm themselves for traditional reasons. Easter is celebrated less frequently but is still considered a major holiday which employers have to pay extra for. In Sweden you start to study religion, and this means all the five major religions Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam and some natural religions when you are around 10 years old and up throughout high school. This education is compulsory and you can not deselect it.

Religion in a context

The various religions have different regions where they are prevalent. The communities have ages of very old traditions. This has shaped the various societies and their laws. The divine was obvious in both the Bible and the Koran and was seen as an absolute truths which could not be contradicted. As a Muslim, your faith in God is just as important as it is in Christianity, but society is also formed around you. Spending time within a religious culture helps to keep you on track. Reading has been important in Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but if you can read one text it means that you can read other texts and with knowledge comes questions about old truths. Societies evolve and change. Being an atheist or an agnostic does not mean that you are evil or feel the need and want to live a promiscuous life. It is more about that you feel in your heart and what is the right believe for you. Sadly there are as much prejudices about atheists than there is about any other believes. People who believein in God feel that they have the right to tell you what will happen to you after you die, as if they know.

A belief is a belief

Can we be Christians or Muslims, and at the same time, secular, agnostic or even atheists? Faith-wise, we can not but on the other hand your faith is personal and something that is a matter between you and your God. Have you lost your faith well then you have. This does not mean you need to refrain from staying with your loved ones or that you may not participate in traditional ceremonies and it does not mean you should not dress in hijab if you have a cense of belonging and want to wear it. Often women want to wear the hijab just because it has become stigmatized. The interesting thing is that you often see young women in very tight clothes wearing hijab. Loose-fitting clothes have never been the topic off discussion and therefore they do not feel the need to wear them. The question is how much society around you forces you into the ranks. This is the hardest part and that is why many keep a good face, even if in their hearts they do not believe. The collective is more important than the individual in most Muslim and Christian societies. Religion is about being together and feeling a bond with family, friends and the surrounding society. Not all people are prepared to loos this and why should they. But we can not live in the past, we use medical developments that did not exist in Jesus and Muhamed time. We use technologi that did not exist in Jesus and Muhamed time. Why is it wrong to use results from gender research? There will probably come a time when Muslim and Christian society will have to face up to Muslim and Christian feminists and what they demand, because if they do not I think Islam and Christianaty will be in for a rocky future.