(The pelican of Skala Loutron)
The refugees are not the only
illegals on Lesvos. Many birds, unseen and without passports, cross the Aegean
to land in Sappho's birthplace. On the other side of the sea, there are
plenty of Turkish nature parks from which also birds take a short flight to
nose about this beautiful and quiet island.
In spring a large, international
army of birdwatchers, armed with cannon-sized cameras, wait for the migratory
birds along the island's coastlines. While even in autumn there are plenty of
illegal arrivals, November becomes less popular with both birds and their
admirers.
The continuing warm and sunny
weather might be to blame for still encountering those large brown and yellow
European hornets (Vespa cabro), which slowly move through the air like old drunkards. I also met a
fat, dark brown caterpillar, armed with a horn on his head, who was looking for
an escape from of a gang of snails that were boozing away on the rich dew of
these autumnal days.
These days the best wildlife can be
seen around the Gulf of Kalloni, where the saltpans at Skala Kallonis and Skala
Polichnitou attract many birds like black storks and lots of flamingos. I
wonder if this year the flamingos received a travel warning for Lesvos: in the
midst of September there were none to be seen and now there are just a few
daredevils swinging on one leg. There is no reason why they should be afraid of
refugees: these people do not land in the saltpans nor do they shoot birds out
of the sky.
Because they are big and fat,
pelicans appear far more sturdy than those fragile white and pink acrobats.
They seem to have ignored whatever brought about the absence of so many
flamingos and probably just think: “What luck not to have any competition for
all those shrimps!” Last week there were as many as 44 Dalmatian pelicans and 4
White pelicans lounging on the Gulf of Kalloni.
There are plenty of Greek villages
that cherish a pelican as an inhabitant. This was the case on Lesvos. In Skala
Kallonis there used to live a couple of pelicans, spoiled by tourists and
islanders, but one of them died in a car crash and a few years later the
partner also disappeared. In Skala Loutron there used to live another one, I've
no idea what happened to him. I say: grant all those pelicans a residence
permit, give them a house and plenty of fish, because the island could use a
new tourist attraction. It will be a pity to send them back to Turkey.
The presence of a Monarch butterfly
(Danaus plexippus)
on Lesvos will – I am afraid - only attract some entomologists. In America
these Jugenstil-like winged insects are a common butterfly, but on Lesvos they
are as rare as a refugee on the North Pole. Now that most of the migrants
coming to the island are from The Middle East, this butterfly may even have
come all the way from Africa. Two of them have been detected in the Mesa
swamps.
I was highly surprised to hear that
these fragile insects also could be illegal immigrants. Monarch butterflies are
the champions of long-distance-butterfly-flying: they can go for thousands of
kilometers. They undertake these travels in enormous flocks, for purely
economic reasons: to be able to eat Milkweed
(Asclepias). These lengthy flights often prove lethal: the elderly can tire and
just drop down and it may occur that only a new generation reaches the final
destination.
Friends who last week observed all
those winged immigrants on the island came up with another strange bird: The
Black Throated Diver (Gavia arctica). The second word in the Latin name gives away
their natural home: in the northern cold areas. What is this exotic striped
bird doing on Lesvos in such a warm month?
I am not one to gossip and I'm not
suggesting that this duck is distributing flyers discouraging the refugees from
coming to Sweden or Denmark; I have no respect for these flying activists. It
is more likely that these swimming birds are also economic immigrants or,
taking advantage of the low presence of flamingos, they all booked cheap
holidays to Skala Kallonis.
It is fascinating to learn that more
birds than tourists travel around the world. Just like all other animals they
have the right to cross borders without restriction, unlike human beings who
need a passport to cross any border. And even then, there is no guarantee they
will be able to continue to their final destination. Sometimes it just might be
better to be a bird.
(With thanks to Eva and Wulf
Kappes and Mary Staples)
© Smitaki 2015
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