"Seasons" is obviously not an "obvious" meaning of the
passage, except maybe to you. Furthermore, "the swift
and the thrush" probably refers to a term that denoted one
bird. Unlike the "swift" and "stork", there are species of
doves that are found year round in Israel and so the dove
seems to be an odd choice for a verse that speaks of how
the birds properly observe their migration. In any case,
translating the word as "seasons" is not necessary in the
context of the verse. The other instances that speak of
"moed" as a counterpart to "new moons" would seem to
work against such a translation. This is why "appointed
times" is a better translation and that in this particular case
it may be a "seasonal appointed time" is irrelevant to the
meaning of the word.
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