INGRID DE YOUNG
PAINTED ART
Art by Ingrid de Jong
Aalscholvers
Houtskool, 30x40 cm
Do you know honey? I think it's envy. Envy because we are much better fishermen than man. Just look at those Asians. They have known this for a long time and don't even try it themselves anymore, but use us to get their meal together. They tie a string around our crop so we can't swallow the fish and let us do the work for them. They don't question our skills. No, I think they are more the professional fishermen from the West. They think that when we've all been hunting together, there won't be much left for them. Now I know that when hundreds of us start having a food orgy at the same time, it seems like we're fishing everything empty, but of course that's not the case. Yes, we then together drive a large school of fish to the side to fill our bellies in no time, but we really don't eat more than we normally do. It just takes a little less time than when we go hunting on our own, which we do often enough. I also don't think it's the case that we only take the tasty snacks. Yes, we like eel, of course, but we eat ruffe and roach much more often. I don't quite understand this misunderstanding. Are you honey? Or will it have more to do with our appearance? Do we come across as threatening at times? Well, we are not the smallest and we always stand with our wings spread on a pole. Not to impress or show off our feathers, but simply to dry up. We don't have waterproof plumage and of course we can't return to the nest soaking wet. Maybe they should see us up close more often. Wouldn't that matter honey? We live in large colonies together, so it shouldn't be too hard to find us. Or would that be the problem? That one sees that there is not a twig left on a tree in the wide area. Is it the effects that are visible when we breed together in large numbers or fish together? Isn't that strange to man? I don't know honey. I think we are judged a lot by our looks. Admittedly, we don't exactly radiate anything friendly, but most people don't get much further than that. I bet the vast majority don't even know we're cormorants, let alone know us even a little. Who are we really hurting? We do nothing more or less than other waterfowl. It's just more visible with us, don't you think dear? Darling? Why don't you say something too?