If you hear a shrill clamor, like an alarm that will not switch off, it is probably a guineafowl. This African bird is famous for noisily warning of any intruder, which is why many farms use it as a guard. It is easy to recognize: dark gray plumage speckled with little white dots, a bare head in blue and red, and a small casque on top. According to an ancient Greek legend, those spots are the tears of the sisters of the hero Meleager, who were turned into birds from weeping so much over his death. In the African savanna it lives in flocks, walks kilometers every day and eats ticks and insects, making it a great ally of the countryside. It prefers to run rather than fly… but when night falls, it climbs into the trees to sleep.