The summer of the south calls

 Photos and Story by Kurt Servé 

It's still a little cool. 

 The first rays of sun appear in the distance. It warms a bit. In the forest below bird voices can be heard. Soon small flocks are ranging up from down there. It's fascinating each time. This is Eternal River of time. Birds come and birds go - they fly!

I sit here on a late August day on top of Keld's Nord.  I have been here many times throughout the years. The first year I was very interested in recognizing the voices of the birds that flew overhead. Now it's more the wonder that happens here every year. It is just to be here. It is just watching and wondering.

So now it sounds a series of pink-pink-pink. A small flock of chaffinches is flying low and disappears into the sea to the south. I follow them with my eyes. No, they give up and come back. It's not quite dark yet. The sun has now completely left the horizon out there to the east.  Nice warmth reaches me. I dig into my backpack, and take out my thermos to have a nice hot drink of tea and a small bag of freshly buttered bread. Imagine sitting here in this great drama with a cup of hot tea and crunchy bread!

I look at the sea again. Away from the east by Keld Nor comes a flock of seabirds. They are fast approaching in a long row. Close to the sea. Its eiders, Black - white birds but they are not on their way south. They just move around among the good mussels.

Pink-pink-pink it sounds again. A flock of chaffinches are coming from the forest. There is a lot of" small birds down there. Many different voices mingle in the choir. Chaffinches are coming close over me and disappear into the slight haze over the sea. They do not come back. A trip to the south has begun. 

And then there's some viddevit, vittevit .. 

It's a flock of barn swallows. They know exactly which way to fly. I can easily see the long forked tails. Some of them have not got such long outer tail feathers. The Ban Swallow chicks from this year say "Goodbye and see you. And hello there. "I shall send a message that you have gone from here" - I say. I wonder where they come from? Have they been breeding on top of Norway or the North Sealand.  And where are they going now? That's how it has happened for millenniums back towards the end of the ice age. Well, we do not think that the barn swallow has immigrated until the Iron Age. Originally it has built its nest on cliffs, in caves and canyons. So not until man made” man-made cliffs” such as houses and Barns were constructed they became regular guests.

In South Africa it is also called the Barn Swallow.  For us, the barn swallow has many names - depending on the region they live in and the qualities we gave them. One of these names was funny enough barn swallow. But there were many others: entrance swallow, field swallow, peasant swallow and on the island Drejø they called it the blue swallow.

For some time I have been in contact with the Ornithological Society of South Africa, They have promised me to let me know when the first “announcers of spring” arrive there. Oops! Wasn’t that nonsense? They are announcers of spring here in Denmark! Yes, well that’s what they are! But when they reach South Africa, it is spring down there, and summer waits! It may give you something to think of. The barn swallow is not just our announcer of spring. So it is in South Africa!! Exactly!!

 However, the difference is that the Barn Swallow only breeds with us. In South Africa's the barn swallow is The 2011 bird of the year. They invite everyone to tell when they have seen the very first barn swallows arriving.

It's just the right day. 

 One flock of birds after the other comes from the north. Most prefer to migrate above the sea and disappear to the south. Far away lays Femern, Invisible to the birds for a while. But instinct and memory lead them. Yes, for some it must certainly be instinct. The young cuckoos are only starting to travel now. They find their way themselves. It is the same for the Barn Swallow; the first swallows appear in late October or November, while the young ones do not appear until a month later.

 I lay down and stare into the sky. My thoughts walk north. I think of a day in April this year. I arrived in Mykines by helicopter a few days earlier. Now I have fought my way up over the mountain and am on "the high mountains". It is blowing like hell. But I have made up my mind to get all the way to the north side. From there I shall have a nice view on the West Manna. I would like to make a few sketches there.  Then I can paint one of them in the evening. I have made a stop at a steep canyon. I stand at an appropriate distance from the edge. Deep down I can see the sea dashing against the rocks and send large sea sprays into the air. There comes a thundering rumble up through the gorge. In between comes a fulmar flying.  I am shaken by some strong gusts of wind. Puh ha. But Hey! What was that? It looked then like a swallow. ..! No it cannot be. I have not seen the Barn Swallows yet at home. "Vitttevit. Vittevit ,it sounds and a barn swallow sweeps close to me. I have flown across the North Atlantic and then by helicopter to Mykines. And what do I see? A barn swallow. What a trip. A new gust of wind forces me to my knees. Puh ha. I have managed to get some sketches and also a special experience.

 A couple of weeks later at home I saw the first barn swallow. It was alone here for some days. But then some more arrived. Soon they had built a nest by our neighbors - in the fruit house and garage. Two couples and the result of that were 14 chicks. They each got 5 kids. One set of chicks were ringed. They were: Numbers ... 9J82936 - 9J82940

I shall send the numbers to the Ornithological Society of South Africa and inform them that the Barn Swallows have left Denmark. In return they have promised to tell when the first swallows arrived in South Africa. Later I shall write about it in our local paper

The ring numbers are now symbolic. When you ringed about a thousand, just one might be found down there!  A Danish-ringing William Glick Aarestrup got 14 of his ringed swallows returned in the fall of the 1974, it was quite unusual. Winter came early that year. Snowstorms swept the Alps. Millions of swallows could not get over the mountains and were weakened everywhere. People managed to collect more than 200,000. They created an "air bridge “Using the airlines, they were transported to the Mediterranean where they were released and the journey could continue. But millions died then.

Some of Williams ringed Barn Swallows which in the summer were caught in Pandrup, this proved that Danish swallows in autumn can pull through the migration through the Alps on their journey to Africa's hot climate. It was not known previously.

Anyway, back to Langeland and present! 

There are still several Barn Swallows from the North Country. They've been further up on Langeland. They stay at lakes and ponds, where they sleep in the reeds. If you are lucky you can experience "mass display" when they settle down for the night. So black sun with swallows and not starlings.

In the old days, one also saw Barn Swallows come to the lakes and retire to the reed beds. Next morning they were gone. And they appeared first the next spring. What could the explanation be otherwise than that they winter or hibernate at the bottom of the lakes? "One autumn day the swallows sitting near the shore of a lake or marsh. Suddenly they lie on their backs, flapping their wings, glide along the reeds and sink to the bottom. "Or" They lie dormant in lakes, ponds, bogs, silt or under mounds at the lake, each with a leaf or straw in its beak. They lie on their backs with wings widen out and if you turn them, they die. (People and Fauna)

There is a long journey ahead. For some, about 10,000 km. They fly up to 300 km per day!

And what about food? It is so wisely arranged that flies by day. Instead of flying around and around in an area they have set the course towards the south. Along the way, they seek food and shelter.

I stare back into the air pressing the binoculars to your eyes and what? In the sky is a great, great turn of buzzards. They glide slowly to the south. Constantly hovering wings of buoyancy. It's an amazing sight. They now have only a short journey ahead. The sun warms now really good. It is approaching noon. There are not many birds anymore. The morning departure is over. Tomorrow starts a new one. If the weather permits!

The summer of the south was published in the Danish News Paper: Fyns Amts Avis. 12.9.2011