Barbets call all day, and now I realize I've known these sounds for a while without knowing their source, the birds. when I run in the morning in my block these days, almost every lane has a barbet calling. and now I'm even seeing their perfect tree holes - apparently barbets have woodpecker-strong beaks and burrow into the wood of trunks. there are two species around here. the smaller mouse-like coppersmiths (their call is like a coppersmith repeatedly beating a sheet of metal) are more visible because they like to sun themselves while calling on the top leafless branches of the mother tree; and their red heads and chests can catch your attention. the larger, the brown-headed barbet blends with the green leaves of summer, unless u see one flying from one branch to another like a leaf falling and then on focusing you notice it leading you to another perfect tree hole, it's grotesque large head and beak kinda cartoonish. it's call is also more nuanced, like a trrrr kutrro kutrroo.

and y'day outside the vaccination center - a public school in the maze of narrow pothole ridden lanes that can barely support the two-way traffic that flows through them and that seem like they are made of cowdung and irregular stones and rain water rather than tar - I saw a clan of sparrows. when we were kids there were sparrows everywhere and I didn't know what a barbet was.