This story is for the birds

Every evening we are serenaded by very musical birds, who sing sweetly at dusk in our courtyard. It is especially beautiful because the notes tend to echo off the buildings, and I love to sit with the windows open to hear the concert.

Looking out the windows, I see mostly pigeons. I was positive that it was not the pigeons that were singing, so I went on a quest to find out what it might be.

Through reading murder mysteries based in England, I know that there are birds called magpies and jackdaws in Europe, and I have seen magpies in the courtyard. I looked them up, and their song is not very melodious, although they are a pretty black and white bird with a very long tail.

One evening I saw the songster sitting on our terrace rail, and to my surprise it was a black bird with an orange beak. Just a blackbird, then, but the song that they sing makes up for their lack of interesting plummage.

Since I had found the source of the music, I forgot about the jackdaw until yesterday. I decided to look them up to see what they looked like and whether or not they lived in this area. I read that jackdaws are mainly black with a grey neck. They are related to crows, and are very social birds, traveling in large flocks. Their call is described as a metallic and squeaky "kak-kak". I recalled that I had seen a few jackdaws strutting about in the park, and went on to other things.

Then later that evening, we heard a weird rushing noise outside-it was something we had never heard before. Rushing to the window, we saw a huge flock of birds settling on the rooftops across the courtyard. The noise we had heard was the beating of their wings as they flew in. Watching them, I realised that they were exhibiting all the behaviors described in the article that I had read earlier - they were jackdaws!

Now I am wondering what other birds are out there - time to get a bird book and some binoculars and wander through the woods!!