Rus in urbe
A Turmfalke just sailed past my window! Right here in the middle of the busy, dense, noisy, dirty city. It sat on the eavestrough opposite for a minute, long enough that I could get my binoculars out to identify it, then sailed on down the street and out of sight.
Actually, seeing one in the city is not that unlikely: as the name suggests, they have long been urbanized, nesting in church spires and chimneystacks, and eating the mice and rats that live on our garbage. But it is still quite a surprise when one drifts past your own livingroom window.
posted by Udge @ 10:39
7 Comments:
Whoa.
We lived on a housing estate (a nice one, mind you) for years, where at dusk you could see bats lying around. One summer morning we found an unconscious bat in the bathtub.
I'm not a big bird fan, but admire people that can identify birds, a talent I could never acquire!
Noorster: I'm not sure how I would react to finding a bat in my bathtub, probably not gracefully :-) They're actually pretty common around where I live, there can be several in sight at once on warm summer evenings. I'm always amazed that they don't bump into trees, buildings or each other.
Hazel: I can't identify birds either :-) I noted as much as I could of its appearance, then spent twenty minutes with Google. Amazing what one can find on the internet...
We have falcons here, too. Peregrines. Not as big a city as Stuttgart by any means, but it never ceases to surprise me nonetheless. A city is a city, with noise, movement, strange lights, pollution, etc. But they do well, apparently, as cliffdwellers in our modern, windowed versions of cliffs. I think they help keep the pigeon and starling populations down.
That is pretty cool. I'm impressed that you were able to identify it by looking it up. Cool.
One time, we went outside at work to find an owl sitting by our cars. We were in downtown and we were just fascinated by it. It is fun to find nature still finding a way into the areas we've changed the landscapes.
Ein Falke ins Stadt ist sehr gluecklich!
Saw a hawk, or some kind of raptor, smallish, in Boston Common last year. Very impressive.
Love bats. Was on a canoe, fog lifting, near dusk, and the bats were skimming along just over the surface of the glass still lake. Just at the edge of reality.
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