Kategorian FINNISH NATURE ET AL. Arkisto

  1. A Trivia Quiz on Finland #2

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    This a short trivia quiz with not so serious questions on Finland. By taking the test you may, or may not, learn interesting facts about this small Nordic country.

    Before going on to the quiz, please watch and listen to the video below.

     

     

     

    The song you just heard was an example of Joiku (pronounced yoi-ku), a special form of singing found basically in Lapland only. Do you know or can you guess where its roots lie?






    The Song Swan is the national bird of Finland. But how Finnish is it actually? How many per cent of the E.U. population of this beautiful bird nest in Finland?






    The Finnish language is not alone in the Universe. Do you know which one of the following European languages is related to Finnish?







    In 2002, German scientists came up with very interesting information about Finnish people with blonde hair. Can you guess what they had found out?






    Raahe is a small town on the west coast of Finland. Its town museum is famous for its very rare treasure. Can you guess what it is?






    It has been said that Finnish, thanks to the fact that virtually all the words take different forms according to the context in which they appear, is one of the most difficult languages in the world, which may or may not be true.

    What makes the learning task of everyone interested in Finnish a bit easier is the fact that, compared with English where there are a countless number of exceptions to almost all grammatical rules, the grammar of the Finnish language has basically no exceptions.

    Another thing that facilitates the learning task of any foreigner interested in speaking is the fact that every written letter always has very much the same phonetic value regardless the context where it appears.

    Let’s take the word ‘hääyö’ (wedding night), what would a Frenchman say if his beautiful Finnish bride wrote it on a piece of paper?






    The northern lights, i.e. the aurora borealis, is a natural phenomenon known by every Finn. Can YOU tell which of the following statements is true?






    Nordic walking is something that has become extremely popular in Finland in recent years. Not to mention that it has gained more and more friends all over the world. Do you know what it actually is?






    Sofi Oksanen is definitely the best known contemporary Finnish writer. To date, she has won all the most important literary awards in Scandinavia. In addition, she was awarded the Prix du Roman Fnac in France in 2011. What is most remarkable about it is that she is the first foreign writer to get this prize.

    Sofi Oksanen’s best known novel ‘The Purge’ was published in Finnish in 2008 and has now been translated into several languages. Can you guess how many?








     

  2. Murder by the Doghouse That Jack Built – The Tragic Death of a Hedgehog.

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    Hedgehog

    This is the doghouse that Jack built.

    This the meat,
    That lay in the doghouse that Jack built.

    This is the hedgehog,
    That ate the meat,
    That lay in the doghouse that Jack built.

    This is the man,
    That threw the hedgehog,
    That ate the meat,
    That lay in the doghouse that Jack built.

    This is the dog,
    That woke the man,
    That threw the hedgehog,
    That ate the meat,
    That lay in the doghouse that Jack built.

    (Adapted from the popular British nursery rhyme ‘‘This Is the House That Jack Built’’)

    Do you want to hear what really happened? Read further. (more…)

  3. Ever seen a Crane that took itself for a cow?

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    Well, actually it didn’t, but that’s how we people tend to interpret things. We often base our conceptions of animal behaviour on what little we know about human behaviour.

    This is all we know about this young crane: For unknown reason it had been separated very young from its family in early July when it appeared among the grazing cattle for the first time. From that time on the bird spent most of its days with the cows. Very often even sleeping next to a cow which was to deliver a calf in autumn. Not to mention that it occasionally joined the herd when they went to eat bailed hay brought by the farmer.

    After I was informed about the fate of the poor little thing, I contacted two Finnish birders specialized in cranes. Some weeks later the crane was finally caught and it spent the following winter together with an adult crippled female crane on a farm in southern Finland. The next spring it was then freed, and it joined a flock of healthy young cranes just returned from migration. (more…)

  4. Ever seen a predator chick falling prey to its sibling?

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    Three summers ago I documented the first nesting of Rough-legged Buzzards in the part of Finland where I live. All the following photos were taken in cooperation with a local authorized bird ringer.

    One day I witnessed how the smallest of the three chicks was violently attacked by one of the bigger chicks.

     

    piekana-2006-6429-raatelu1.jpg

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  5. A Common Tern chick almost choking on too big a fish?

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    Ever seen a Common Tern chick almost choke on too big a fish?

    The following happened in the summer of 2007 when I was documenting bird life at a local waste water treatment plant: A Common Tern parent accidentally gave its chick a perch too big for it to swallow. As a result, the chick fell down on its back, not being able to move and breathing heavily.

     

    common tern chick, fish

    A Common Tern chick trying to swallow too big a fish.

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  6. Diving common sandpiper, 2007

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    In 2007, on August 3, to be precise, I witnessed a very curious incident – a sandpiper making a dive several feet long. In the past few years I have often reminisced about what I saw then as it really was something very extraordinary.

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