I don’t know the real names of any of the birds described in this post – I have asked a couple of people what they are called, but they just shrug – but each does appear to have a European equivalent.
The ones I am most taken with seem to be some sort of kite, like the ones that have thrived in much of southern England, (including over our garden. They don’t have such a pronounced V to their tail, and don’t make the same high-pitched mewing call, but their flight is much the same, soaring on outstretched wings with only the occasional flap, and they occupy the same range of sky, from way up high where they are almost dots, to dramatic swoops, sometimes almost brushing the apartment window. Yesterday, there was one perched outside on a beam above my balcony, but I was on the phone, and immediately I was able to finish the conversation, it flapped its wings and flew off.
There are lots of them here; sometimes fifteen or so at a time. The apartment overlooks a river valley, with steep sides and much greenery, so I imagine that is why, with lots of small mammals (aka dinner.) But I do have fears for the survival of the river. Shortly before I arrived, lots of sections of huge concrete pipe were dropped off, on both sides of the river. Since they are so large, I thought they were for taking the river underground (so that apartments could be built on top) but the diggers have been at work over the past few says, and the trenches they are digging are high up on the bank, so maybe they are for sewage after all.
The next bird looks like (and very probably is) a magpie. It does seem larger than ours, and utters a harsh crow-like caw… but maybe all magpies are members of the crow family. Just showing my ignorance.
Having a similar harsh cry is the bird which looks a bit like a curlew, with a long curved beak. I have come him across a couple of times, picking his way through the rubbish, bags of it thrown out by the side of the road. They don’t seem to have bins here, and even the inhabitants of the relatively upmarket apartments here just add their domestic rubbish to the pile. I had thought that this was where they would remain, but this morning it had all been cleared away, so clearly there is a little method in the madness.
