Up Where the Eagle flies

What better song than this to have in your head as you gaze up at the sky and see what looks like an eagle, at least  to my untrained eye.

Living in a Bi lingual world I am not always able to have an immediate answer when someone asks me what something is, how to say a word in the other language.

'Oh look there's a Lesser Black-Backed Gull!' someone might say adding, 'How do you say that in Italian'',

Silence then something like, 'Famiglia delle gabbiane, Gull family.

Family photographs of us as children often show my brother engrossed in his Eye Spy books, copiously taking notes and ticking off the things he's seen, butterflies, trains, birds.

Yesterday looking up at a mountain sky a friend asked me the name in English of a bird of prey just visible above the clouds.
 It was a long way up and it took me a long time to focus on it.
 Judging by its wide wing span and the way it was gliding and swooping and then hovering pointed to it being a bird of prey.

Birds of Prey, uccelli rapace, I run through the ones I am familiar with,
eagles, aquile
falcons, falchi
pioane, kites
buzzards,

Then of course kestrels, merlins, Sparrow hawks, take your pick.

Someone came to the rescue, 'It looks like a buzzard,'

I nodded in agreement.

Once in Sardinia we saw a rare Eleanora falcon nesting on the side of a cliff. we knew what it was because it said so in the guide book and it was quite a thrill.

Whatever it was yesterday it looked majestic flying all the way up there in the clouds above the mountains.

It's the same with the names of wild flowers.

'Look at the wild orchids' someone says-

'No they're not wild orchids.' says someone else.

'Look at the wild garlic, spinach,'

You have to be careful picking wild plants to make risotto or salad, they all nod sagely.

I wish I'd paid more attention to my Eye Spy books.

In the meantime listen to the words of Joe Cocker's song and imagine an eagle flying up where he belongs.

In wide open spaces you will often catch a glimpse of a bird of prey