Dutch wildlife videos Internet game

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This video from Norway is called Singing Icterine Warbler and European Siskin.

Today, a new Internet game started in the Netherlands.

Its name is “Spotvogel”. If you translate that literally into American English, then you get “mockingbird“. Spotvogel (literally: mocking bird) is the Dutch name of the European songbird species, the icterine warbler. This species imitates all kinds of songs by other birds, sounding like it mocks them.

The new Internet game’s name Spotvogel also alludes to the Dutch expression: “Spot de vogel”, spot the bird.

During the game, you watch videos about wildlife and lifeless objects in nature. You should try to name them (in Dutch). If you see a bat in a video, name it, and that is correct, then you get a few points. If your description is more precise than just “bat”, eg, “long-eared bat“, then you get some more points. If your description is still more detailed, eg, “brown long-eared bat“, then you get most points.

If people play this game, they also help the video archive to catalogue better what their videos are about.

The rules of the Spotvogel game are (translated from the game’s site):

1. Select above here a video clip to play the game and watch the video.
2. Enter as many [Dutch] words as you can describing what you see or hear then.
3. If your words match the words of other players, then you score matches which mean points for you.
4. Register to save your points.

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