She pulled open the curtains and let the morning light in. The city sprawled ahead below her. Hundreds and thousands of houses, with solar panels installed on their rooftops, and trees lining the streets between them. The houses gave way to the Margalla Hills in the distance, the early morning rays making the backdrop hazy.

A large black bird swooped by her. Her eyes jerked up, taking in the beautiful black bird sailing barely a meter below her.

“Is that a raven? Does Islamabad have ravens?” she thought. “It’s definitely not a crow, since there’s no grey.” The bird was completely, gorgeously black.

And then she noticed the other large birds circling in the air. “Ohh! They’re all eagles!”

But I always thought our local eagles were brown…

Well, this is the first time I’m seeing them flying below me rather than above. Maybe their belly-side feathers are brown, and their backside feathers are black…

She realized this was the first time she was so high up in Pakistan that she could see eagles fly at her eye level.

Half a dozen large birds circled in a dance in front of her window. Their wingspan was nearly three feet, the gorgeous black wings ending in jagged edges. She gazed at them, rapt at the sight of them flying so close to her. The eagles glided gracefully up and down, in almost a spiral movement, tracing a circular column with their flight.

Something white fell down, floating through the air below.

“Wait a second. Did an eagle just do poo-poo in front of me?” she thought with disgust.

Her curiosity perked up. “Do eagles poop in the air?”

And then she saw another eagle glide down gracefully and grab the white thing in its mouth.

“Ewwwww,” she said out loud. And then she saw that it was a long trailing piece of white paper. Probably tissue or toilet paper.

She looked up and saw another eagle also had a white tissue paper in its beak. It also let it fall, and another eagle swooped down gracefully and caught it with its beak.

They’re playing with each other!

Joyful awe burst through her, as she realized she had just stumbled onto one of the special secrets of the universe. She continued looking in rapt attention, as the eagles continued their game.

And then sighed in disappointment when they dispersed a couple of minutes later and flew away in different directions.