There is a pair of these that stay in the trees about my house for many hours every day. From these steep hillside treetops, they have a nice view overlooking a rural valley of hand-farmed fields. Whatever they are, they’re a very talkative species with piercing cries as they circle and land, circle-dodge ravens– and land, soar – circle and land, etc, etc.
Someone saw one of them in the tree with a serpent in its mouth. In the high hills, we do not see many snakes and most are not poisonous. (Snakes/poisonous ones are more common in the hot Southern flatlands, but here we see maybe 2 slow moving rat snakes a year.) Nevertheless, the mongoose and hawk-eagle yard patrol is much appreciated as well as entertaining.
The monsoon rains have not officially begun – but the insect eggs from last year are awakening with the pre-monsoon occasional showers. The cicadas, locally called the “boring bug”, have started their monotonous monotones. They won’t begin to die out until the end of July or August. Sometimes they are so loud in the evening, that even with the windows closed, it is difficult to hear someone trying to speak on the other side of the room! I typically do not see many roaches – but the other day sighted one that probably could take on a mouse. The giant slugs (~5-6” length, 1” diameter) and their arch enemy, the slug-tigers with green glow-in-the-dark spots on their rears, will appear within the next month or so. But, thankfully, the summer leeches have not yet become a common sight. J
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