City Birds

I could be worse places than sat in a rooftop windowsill overlooking the mountaintops of Zurich. I'm enjoying the lazy evening breeze in what turns out to be the first Swiss heatwave of the year. Legs dangling off the rooftiles, laptop on my knees as I write this blog. Wireless truly is a beaut!

It's my last evening here, so what better way to have spent it than on an evening meal at my favorite Mexican. When you're dining out on your own, you have 3 options:
(a) you take a book and read it as you eat
(b) you shove your meal in as quickly as possible&then get the hell out
(c) you lean back and observe

Due to the lack of airco, all tables had been carried outside, so this evening I went with the rather more amusing option c. And what I observed is this: City birds are truly something else. I'm not talking women. I'm talking the feathered type.



No sooner had I been served my plate of food, or 3 chaffinches landed right next to it. They seemed to be holding a "conférence" as the French would say. Merrily chitter-chattering away, not seeming to take notice of me nor my plate. After a few minutes of enthousiastic debate, all 3 turned towards me and started squawking at me quite loudly. This of course amused me greatly, so I put down my cutlery and watched them going at it for a while, wondering whether they were in fact demanding my food.

Then, out of nowhere, a fourth chaffinch dive-bombed my plate and flew off with my ONLY tortilla chip. By the time I'd recovered from the surprise the other 3 had flown off after it.

Now, I could be antropomorphising here (and I am sure my zoologist will tell me off if I do), but I am certain that was all cleverly planned. It is a common misconception that "to do what's best for one's self" is the best survival strategy in evolutionary terms. I think these city birds are yet another proof that the true survival strategy is indeed "to do what's best for one's self AND the group". Well impressed guys. Hope it tasted as good as I imagined it would when I ordered it!