No wonder I couldn't see them

The identity of the exotic birds referenced in yesterday’s post have been revealed: my noisy neighbors are likely a pair of Southern Boubou Shrikes. Apparently this species is famous for their duets. I described the sound as a “whoop-whoop-whoop-whoop-hop,” which I believed to be the sound of one bird. As it turns out, the “whoop-whoop” sounds (or “bou-bou” sounds) are the male in the pair, with the female perfectly completing the call with a “squaw” (which I first thought sounded like a “hop”). So what I thought was one bird calling and another returning the call was most likely one pair in one tree (who complete each other’s calls with such perfect rhythm that it’s hard to imagine it’s two birds rather than one), and another pair of birds in the adjacent tree.

And despite their loud and boisterous call, they are actually quite plain looking, and small (an inverse relationship I should have remembered from my encounters in college). One website stated that their raucous call is the result of their size and the fact that visibility is so low in the climate they inhabit; it's the only way they can find each other.

This afternoon the winds began to blow through the office where I am working and tumbled the papers and slammed the door shut, despite the large rock used to prop it open. I looked at my watch and it was two o’clock on the dot. The mid-afternoon winds were right on schedule.