Birds

A huge flock of ravens has moved onto our FOB. I guess they're migrating, because I haven't seen them until a couple of weeks ago. These ravens are a bit smaller than ones I'd see around home, but they are a bit larger than crows. The base of their bill is white or light gray, and the bill is heavier than a crow's.

The flock numbers in the thousands, I'd guess. You can see them flying in huge groups at dusk, kind of like geese flying from fields to water. The landed in a field on the FOB, and turned it black, 5 or 6 birds per square yard.

I've seen sparrows that look like ones back home, and I've seen any number of birds here that I haven't seen before. However, a bird that I never expected to see is pretty common around here. The first time I saw one, I thought it must have been in a zoo and gotten away, or something. The Iraqi magpie, good ole pica pica, looks pretty much like the ones in North America. The only difference I can see is that their feathers are just black, not iridescent, and the make a slightly different squawk.