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Pirates in the Portuguese polder

A whole group of pirates has landed. They have crooked noses and they all look alike. There are quite a few, and it seems they don’t care what you think of them.

Nobody wants to be around those pirates

They chased everyone away. They’re living on scraps a bit further away. These are the only fields that are still under water, so there is a lot of interest in them at the moment. The pirates stay in the corner under my bedroom window all night. That’s where the mineral water comes from the bathhouse, and it’s probably still nice and warm there. (The water has a temperature of 30º C. when it’s comes out the well.)

This is them, those pirates

They come more often, but then in the winter. They’ve never been this close. Whether you like it or not, you can easily follow their habits. They seem to go on eating and making noise night and day. I know because I’ve been hearing them all night.

Now that’s not an issue, because I’m used to the noise of the frogs. A few fields full of rutted frogs actually makes a huge noise, but the funny thing is that the noise is very relaxing. You can easily fall asleep with it.

The flamingos do exactly the same: they do not shut up for a moment

Apparently everything they encounter has to be communicated to the others. It sounds very grumpy; I call them water-pigs-on-stilts.
“Look what I find here” “Watch out, you’re stepping on my toes” “Hey, keep your beak to yourself, you almost poke my eye out” “Oh, sorry, I can’t see in this muddy water” “It’s not much here, the previous field was a lot better” “I’m hungry, mom” “Then put your head under the water you silly” “It seems like the water is wetter here” – and then suddenly a higher cry from their midst: “Oh, I found a nice snack!”
“Well, good for you” “Yeah, brag about it” “We all walk here with a rumbling stomach” “Yeah, you won’t find that much special here” “I wish I had a nice fat one too …”


Well, what kind of fat one really? I don’t know what flamingos are looking for here if they don’t eat frogs’ legs. And it sounds like that is not the case, because all the frogs are singing as if there is no tomorrow. They must be after the crayfish.

Could be, because there is no more stork to be seen