The Common Bog

Greenshank - The Hall of Einar - photograph (c) David Bailey (not the)

This Greenshank is flying around the Vasche di Maccarese in Italy. It’s a WWF reserve which is a series of artificial ponds or ‘tanks’. A vasca is a basin or tank. They were originally made for wildfowl hunting. Then they were turned over to fishing. Now they are here for nature, as are the Puffin Whisperer and I.

The scientific name of the Greenshank is Tringa nebularia. Tringa is a word from Aristotle’s writing, in Ancient Greece, where he described a thrush-sized bird with a white rump and a bobbing tail. Nebularia means of fog or clouds.

The Greenshank’s name in Italian is La pantana comune. Pantana means bog or quagmire. It’s why the world’s largest wetland is named the Pantanal. Comune means common. The Greenshank is The Common Bog in Italian.

This one is looking quite clean and tidy, considering.

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