Seen outside my window, long after sunset: a dark shape that can’t be anything but a bat, based on its erratic flight. We’ve seen them fluttering down a specific street a few blocks away, and over the gardens at sunset, but I’ve never noticed them at night like this, not so close to the house.

But of course maybe it’s some nocturnal manifestation of the daytime swifts (or are they swallows, can somebody tell me this?). Strap on a dark suit and a drunken air and suddenly there you are with a secret identity, BatBird, striking terror into malefactors everywhere in the general 6 meter to 300 meter range.

Also learned today that the things what look like crows wearing vests are rooks. Probably shoulda figured this out long ago, but I keep forgetting to consult the local bird books.