标签荷兰下的文章

Lauwersmeer国家公园上空的椋鸟群，荷兰 Starlings flock over Lauwersmeer National Park, Netherlands (© Frans Lemmens/Alamy)

Moving as one

After the nesting and breeding seasons of spring and summer have passed, starlings become highly social birds, often gathering in flocks that number in the thousands. These flocks sometimes take the form of a murmuration—when the birds form a group large and dense enough that they appear to move together as a single organism, even if the movements seem arbitrary. Though scientists still don't quite understand how the individual starlings in a murmuration coordinate their tight, fluid formations, the behavior is thought to be a way to confuse predators.

Imagine if you're a falcon on the hunt and you see a small group of starlings—an easy meal if you catch one. But if the starlings spot the predator first, they may form a murmuration, swooping and diving as one, making it difficult for the falcon to isolate and hunt an individual starling.

Keukenhof in Lisse, Netherlands (© Jim Zuckerman/Getty Images)

In the 'Garden of Europe'

Welcome to the ‘Garden of Europe’—a nickname given to this public flower garden in Lisse, Netherlands. The literal translation of 'keukenhof'—from Dutch to English—is 'kitchen court,' as the original grounds for the park and flower garden began as a vegetable garden for the royal residents of Keuken Castle during the 15th century. This prompted another nickname for the pastoral spot: 'kitchen garden.'

Most years, the flower garden opens for just eight weeks each spring to take advantage of the blooming tulips, daffodils, and other flowers. But on March 23, 2020, the Dutch government canceled all public events in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus. However, because so much effort goes into the careful planning and planting of the garden, the staff of Keukenhof has vowed: 'If people cannot come to Keukenhof, we will bring Keukenhof to the people.' They'll be sharing video and images of this year's garden via various 'online channels.'

Skating on a frozen canal near the windmills at Kinderdijk in the Netherlands (© Lourens Smak/Alamy)

'Winterpret' on ice

These skaters in the village of Kinderdijk are embracing 'winterpret,' a Dutch word that means 'winter joy' or 'winter fun.' Whenever temps drop low enough, many locals take to the ice and skate away on a complex network of canals. These waterways were built centuries ago—along with pumps, dykes, and the windmills pictured here—to protect the village of Kinderdijk by diverting water from the land. It's an important job, since Kinderdijk, like much of the Netherlands, lies below sea level and flooding is a major problem. Nowadays a modern water management system with multiple pumping stations does the work, and the windmills are left with a new job–to maintain an iconic Dutch scene. In 1997, the Kinderdijk windmills were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Bringing together history and technology

On the second Saturday in May, the Dutch celebrate an iconic national structure—the windmill—like these historic ones at Zaanse Schans. With hundreds of windmills across the country, many sites use the day to demonstrate how windmills work and host art exhibits. But the concept of using wind power isn’t just a historical anecdote—this renewable energy is experiencing a boom, and by 2050 is predicted to provide one-third of the world's electricity.

星空迷