Watching these birds on a wire in Calle Doctor Velasco reminded me of something my grandfather used to say to me: “If there are eight little birds sitting on a wire and along comes a hunter and shoots two of them, how many little birds will be left there?” I would work it out and proudly declare that there would be six. He would look at me and laugh and say: “The answer is none, because all the others would have flown away…!”