I went on two walks today and couldn't help but noticing that birds seem to be taking over the world. Or, to rephrase this, that nature is reclaiming the earth. The birds seem to be extra happy and louder than ever, probably because there's way less humans around and those that are still going outside, are more quiet than usual. Almost as if they think that speaking or just greeting others on the street, will spread the virus.
Anyhow, I'm happy to see this revival of birds - I also saw a couple of colorful butterflies today - and it inspired me to write the following short story that will probably be included in my Hypersensitivosaurus book.
For your information:
I wrote the story in Dutch. I pasted the story into DeepL Translator and came up with an English and a Spanish translation, the latter as I have a reader from Venezuela. Also I'm too lazy ( not really true ) to translate it into English myself ( already ) and translating to Spanish would take me an entire day.
DeepL 's translation come pretty close to the original version. I'm pleasantly surprised. Google Translate can learn from this.
Before I share the story with you ( English translation first ), here's a fun fact that I wanted to share with you:
I found out on Twitter ( insert your bird joke here ) that Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds ( one of my many favorite movies ) was released on this day, March the 28th, 57 years ago, back in 1963.
Coincidence? I don't think so.
Little Hyper and the Magpie
Hypersensitivosaurus walked through the forest before his morning walk.
There was a cold wind, but fortunately the sun was shining too.
He felt the lightly frozen ground beneath his feet. On days like this he wished he could wear socks but (veloci)raptors didn't.
Magpie was twittering again, on a high branch, in an old beech.
Personally he thought this was one of the most annoying animal sounds he knew.
Not that it wasn't a beautiful bird
but that sound that came out...
If he'd just keep his beak,
it would have been a completely different story.
Sometimes he would want to eat poultry just to get rid of that annoying sound.
Not that he could catch magpie, he couldn't fly.
Although, maybe he could outsmart him? Didn't magpies go for shiny things?
He stared up at the magpie, into the tree.
On closer inspection it turned out that there were no less than three magpies together.
Perhaps startled by his intense gaze - where something of the predator in him was still visible - they flew away one by one.
Relieved, hypersensitivosaurus breathed, deliberately sighing extra loudly. How good that felt! He continued his walk and soon forgot the magpies.
Kleine Hyper en de Ekster
Hypersensitivosaurus liep door het bos, voor z'n ochtendwandeling.
Er waaide een koude wind, maar het zonnetje scheen gelukkig ook.
Hij voelde de lichtbevroren grond onder zijn voeten. Op dit soort dagen wenste hij dat hij sokken kon dragen maar (veloci)raptors deden dit nou eenmaal niet.
Ekster zat weer eens te kwetteren, op een hoge tak, in een oude beuk.
Persoonlijk vond hij dit één van de vervelendste dierengeluiden die hij kende.
Niet dat het geen mooie vogel was
maar dat geluid dat eruit kwam...
Als hij zijn snavel nou zou houden,
dan was het een heel ander verhaal geweest.
Soms zou hij willen dat hij gevogelte at, alleen maar om van dat irritante geluid af te zijn.
Niet dat hij ekster zou kunnen vangen, hij kon immers niet vliegen.
Alhoewel, misschien kon hij hem te slim af zijn? Kwamen eksters niet af op glimmende dingen?
Hij staarde omhoog naar de ekster, in de boom.
Bij nadere inspectie bleken er maar liefst drie eksters bij elkaar te zitten.
Wellicht geschrokken van zijn intense blik - waar toch nog iets van het roofdier in hem zichtbaar was - vlogen ze één voor één weg.
Opgelucht haalde hypersensitivosaurus adem, bewust extra hard zuchtend. Wat voelde dat goed! Hij vervolgde zijn wandeling en was de eksters al gauw vergeten.
El pequeño Hyper y la urraca
El Hipersensitivosaurio caminó por el bosque antes de su paseo matutino.
Había un viento frío, pero afortunadamente el sol también brillaba.
Sintió el suelo ligeramente congelado bajo sus pies. En días como este, deseaba poder usar calcetines, pero los rapaces no lo hacían.
La urraca estaba twitteando de nuevo, en una rama alta, en una vieja haya.
Personalmente pensó que era uno de los sonidos animales más molestos que conocía.
No es que no fuera un hermoso pájaro
pero ese sonido que salió...
Si tan sólo mantuviera su pico,
habría sido una historia completamente diferente.
A veces quería comer aves de corral sólo para deshacerse de ese molesto sonido.
No es que pudiera atrapar una urraca, no podía volar.
Aunque, ¿tal vez podría ser más listo que él? ¿No le gustaban las urracas las cosas brillantes?
Miró a la urraca, al árbol.
En una inspección más cercana resultó que había no menos de tres urracas juntas.
Tal vez sorprendidos por su intensa mirada - donde algo del depredador en él todavía era visible - se alejaron volando uno por uno.
Aliviado, el hipersensitivosaurio respiró, deliberadamente suspirando extra fuerte. ¡Qué bien se sintió eso! Continuó su camino y pronto olvidó a las urracas.
Traducción realizada con la versión gratuita del traductor www.DeepL.com/Translator
Magpie picture from Pixabay
Magpies look like that in your area? :O That's such a pretty blue! Ours are black and white, and sing beautifully XD
They are also vicious around here and will swoop you in nesting season (is this a normal thing or an Australian magpie thing?), though only the young stupid ones swoop me (and usually only once), the older ones know better XD
Was gonna say Hyper might prefer Australian magpies for the song but maybe not so much if they swoop? :D
I wanted to answer you that they're black and white here but that I preferred the one on this picture but then I discovered, on my morning walk, that they actually have some pretty blue/ greenish feathers, if you look more closely. That doesn't mean that they are nice birds though. I know they can be aggressive and territorial.
Little hyper prefers them to be pretty, calm and with a nice singing voice ;>)
Nice to hear about the birds and reading your short story. I'm looking forward to getting more familiar with Hypersensitivosaurus 🙂I have noticed the same with the birds here and yesterday I also saw a butterfly. It's usually quite busy where I live but now there's hardly any traffic and I can hear the birds outside.
Hypersensitivosaurus will reveal himself step by little raptor step.
Birds and butterflies it is. The world, or should I say 'system', might be 'sick' but nature is clearly recovering from the stranglehold that humans had on it and that makes me pretty happy.
Yes, I try to think everything happens for a reason.
Hola @vincentnijman.
Te felicito, excelente la traducción al idioma español.
I congratulate you, excellent translation into the Spanish language.
Saludos desde Venezuela.
The translation was done by an online program called DeepL translator :>)
Saludos desde Holanda!
Multilingualsauras!
Glad you are in the zone :-)
Yes, this dangerous lizard sure knows his tongues!