I like to start the day slowly. At home this involves several cups of coffee and time spent gazing out into the back garden. There's plenty of life out there to see - a whole colony of sparrows in the hedge, poking their heads out to see what the neighbours are doing, and gathering on the grass below to peck up insects. At the moment there are young blackbirds too - speckled and hesitant and still going round together - a pair of robins, and a quiet family of dunnocks almost unnoticed under the hedge. The only noisy ones are the starlings, currently busy with the pears which are just beginning to ripen.
This morning I woke at 7 o'clock and went to sit on the balcony. No one else was stirring in the flat, as most of us are still acclimatising to Indian time. It was an altogether different view from my usual one. Apart from crows and kites I don't recognise the birds here. The crows are like hoodies rather than carrion crows. They're so bold they sit on the railings of the balcony. And the kites circle everywhere. I'm not used to seeing them in the city - I associate them with motorways and countryside. J was videoing one sitting on the roof yesterday, and we saw them splendidly silhouetted against the sunset from the bar at the top of Barton Tower last night. (And after the sun went down giant fruit bats took their place) .
I haven't actually seen many other birds from the balcony, but you can hear some. There's something that sounds like a rusty saw, and another strange whooping cry. We heard them really clearly the morning we arrived at around 5 a.m. This morning they were almost drowned out by the gradually growing sounds of car and motor bike horns, barking dogs and someone playing music in the next building along.
This morning I woke at 7 o'clock and went to sit on the balcony. No one else was stirring in the flat, as most of us are still acclimatising to Indian time. It was an altogether different view from my usual one. Apart from crows and kites I don't recognise the birds here. The crows are like hoodies rather than carrion crows. They're so bold they sit on the railings of the balcony. And the kites circle everywhere. I'm not used to seeing them in the city - I associate them with motorways and countryside. J was videoing one sitting on the roof yesterday, and we saw them splendidly silhouetted against the sunset from the bar at the top of Barton Tower last night. (And after the sun went down giant fruit bats took their place) .
I haven't actually seen many other birds from the balcony, but you can hear some. There's something that sounds like a rusty saw, and another strange whooping cry. We heard them really clearly the morning we arrived at around 5 a.m. This morning they were almost drowned out by the gradually growing sounds of car and motor bike horns, barking dogs and someone playing music in the next building along.
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