Things that Live With Us

Returning in Brasilia means returning to sharing our house (read my previous post). Since we moved in, we also have enjoyed the beautiful view of numerous birds, who come around all day. Sparrows, hummingbirds and green parrots are the three types I can recognized, but there a number of other (unidentified by me) species who come around our garden. The green parrots are the loudest and the funniest, keeping on flying around arguing in pairs at any hour of the day. They are so numerous, and come around so often that the kids have dubbed our house "la maison des perroquets".
Upon our return, we discovered a family of birds nested in the branches of a plant in our deck. Mommy bird probably suddenly worried to see little blond heads peering every now and then on their fragile abode. The little chirps opened their beaks hungrily every time the branches holding their nest were rattled. In less than two weeks, they were gone, the nest was left empty. This is the third nest we find around the house, the first one was hidden in the foliage of the vine with colorful eggs. The other one was hidden in the roof structure of the terrace, from which a little birdie ended up dramatically falling.

Another day,  as I opened the dining room window, I noticed the fattest toad nesting in a flower pot. I am talking about a 2 or 3 pounds heavy guy, completely immobile, not blinking even an eye, comfortably tucked in the little dip created by the shoving of his body in the sand of the pot. The kids worriedly asked me to close the window, expecting the beast to jump in any second. For a couple days we saw him there, sometimes his body to the right, sometimes to the left. And then after another heavy rain, he was gone. I kind of liked him, thinking of him as a good mosquito repellant.
And recently, some kind of strange loud and deep cry was heard, and repeated at regular interval, in the growing darkness of the early evening. At first my mind imagined some kind of large bird - a toucan maybe. It would make sense that something big makes such a loud noise. Looking out and around the house, force to realize that it was not that. The sound was emitted around the pool, and rather from something low. After a few minutes of unsuccessful search, I went to consult my local expert. My gardener confirmed it was probably a little frog, sitting in the pool pipes, signing its head of. She did, all night, for two nights. Her call had more to do with the barking of a seal than anything frog-like. Who would have thought? Or maybe Canadians cannot imagine the wildness of Brazilian wildlife!
I still prefer my fat toad.
Maybe he is a prince?!