Wild Lotus and Nightjar: Get to Know These Two Wild Plants and Animals

On the evening of the autumn equinox, I suddenly realized that I had not heard the call of the nightjar for a very long time.

As far back as I can remember, the nightjar has been coming and going in Meinong for more than a decade. Living in Longshan Village in Meinong, with farmland all around our traditional Hakka compound, plenty of flat ground and plenty of food, if the nightjar did not come, it would be doing this place a great disservice. In recent years, perhaps tired of Meinong Hakka cuisine, it has even flown off to the city for a taste of something new.

I remember earlier news reports saying that the nightjar had gone to the city, taken over the rooftops of many high-rise buildings, and sung at night to court a mate. Birdwatchers say the nightjar likes the flat surfaces of rooftops where people rarely tread. If you want to keep the nightjar from coming to your rooftop to sing, court and breed, the most natural way is to use the rooftop for exercise, hanging laundry, growing vegetables, keeping potted plants, or even creating a rooftop garden.

If the rooftop becomes a garden and the nightjar still moves in, a literary sort might well put the nightjar into a poem, just like the osprey. The Book of Songs, in "Guan Ju," records that a woman gathered water shield by the river, her bearing lovely, and a man longed for her; while in the river the ospreys, male and female in love, inseparable, called "guan, guan" in chorus, stirring even more affection in the man. And this "water shield" is Meinong's famous local product, wild lotus.

Wild lotus can grow to a height of 2~3 m. We eat its leaf stalks; as it grows with the deepening water, its heart-shaped leaves float up to the water's surface; when mature, it puts out small white flowers.

If someday the nightjar comes back and sings at night again, disturbing people's dreams, all living things between heaven and earth have the right to live among us, and I can only use my own voice to declare my dissatisfaction. I will set a place in the parking lot and hope the head chef at Hao Ke Zhuang will stir-fry a plate of wild lotus for me. The wild lotus used at Hao Ke Zhuang is fresh and crisp, and chewing it makes a clear, refreshing sound that rings in the ears. I will return the nightjar's call with the sound of me devouring wild lotus.

Guan, guan.