Migration Time: Apps for getting to know your new environment

“Were you trying to sleep?” The Stone Curlew (drawing by author)

When I moved to England, one of the things I didn’t expect to disorient me was the sounds of birds. I’m not an avid birdwatcher by any means, but growing up in California, I got used to hearing certain bird songs. It was mostly background sounds, but familiar. But that changed dramatically when I came to England.

I hadn’t realised that in the back of my mind, I was unconsciously ticking off the songs (that’s a bluejay, that’s a cardinal) as I heard them. Now, all of a sudden, my brain was unable to identify the songs. It was like something went a little haywire. Everybody else knew what these birds were and what they sounded like, while I found solace in some familiar birds. There were house sparrows and coal tits, which are nearly identical to chickadees.

Now that I’ve migrated to Cyprus, it’s a whole new ballpark as far as birds go. There are European robins and great tits here, but the familiar black crows have been replaced by grey and black hooded crows and mourning doves replaced by laughing doves. But this is also a stopover for birds migrating from Africa to Central Europe and Asia, so there is a constant coming and going of birds here. Cyprus is famous for its flamingo migration, but there are so many seasonal visitors. A friend told me that he marks the beginning of spring and autumn when the bee-eaters…