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Remember all those observant birds forming their pair bonds on January 22<\/a>? One species, the common loon, performs an even more impressive calendrical feat<\/a>:<\/p>\n While our birds [in central Europe] have had to adjust to the new calendar only once, and have moved their wedding date each year ahead to a single, immoveable day, the immer birds [common loons] of Norway can distinguish the fourth Sunday of Advent from any other day, and this is the only day when they can be found on land.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n As a result, the Norwegians call that Sunday “Immer Sunday” or “Ommer Sunday<\/a>.” And the German natural historian Philipp Ludwig Statius M\u00fcller was so impressed with the story that he named the loon Colymbus immer<\/em><\/a>, the Advent bird.<\/p>\n Merry Christmas<\/strong>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Remember all those observant birds forming their pair bonds on January 22? One species, the common loon, performs an even more impressive calendrical feat: While our birds [in central Europe] have had to adjust to the new calendar only once, and have moved their wedding date each year ahead to a single, immoveable day, the … <\/p>\n