Tomorrow is February 29. You probably don’t know anyone who was born on this date because they are very rare. February 29 only comes once every four years. We call that year a leap year, and the people who are born on February 29 are called leapers. I read that there are only 5 million leapers in the world! You may think that leapers are unlucky because they only have a birthday once every four years, but that isn’t really true. In a regular non-leap year, they celebrate their birthday either on February 28 or March 1. In a leap year, however, leapers have a really big celebration for their true birthday!

When we use the word “beautiful” in English, we are usually talking about women, not men. Women usually wear brighter colors and makeup while men dress in less colorful clothes. However, it is different for many birds, especially ducks. Winter is the season when many different kinds of ducks come to Japan, and the male ducks are beautiful now. Some have green heads, and others have white necks and long tails. The females are usually just brown. The male mandarin duck (“oshidori”) is the most colorful of all the ducks. It has a red bill (mouth), an orange “beard,” and a white head with a purple and green crest on top. The sides are covered in purple, orange, and blue feathers with black and white stripes.