O.K., So I Talk To Birds....

Our friend Colleen came over recently to see the vegetable garden, and as we were showing her around, I noticed a Wrentit land on the bird feeder.  Since these small songbirds have a very distinctive call but are shrubbery dwellers who are difficult to see, I started talking to it, welcoming it to our feeder.

Colleen asked Cindy, "Who's Kay talking to?" since she didn't see anybody else around.  "Oh, Kay talks to birds," was Cindy's reply.

Well, yes I do that.  A few days before I had been talking to this very handsome Toucan at the Living Coast Discovery Center.

And a couple of weeks before that we spent about twenty minutes apologizing to a Moray Eel at the Birch Aquarium.  We had just commented that the Moray Eel was one of the ugliest critters we had ever seen, when the fish, which already looked pretty depressed, began to look even more dejected.  Its head drooped down and it looked so sad we felt we had to apologize to it for insensitivity.

Many years ago I talked a peacock on Peacock Island in Berlin into opening his fan of tail feathers for us to admire.  That one took some doing; I had to tell him that I thought he was one of the handsomest peacocks on the island, but that another peacock close by was also very handsome, and eventually he opened up and strutted around to show off his fan of gorgeous tail feathers.  I guess peacocks are susceptible to flattery, too.

So, yes, I do talk to birds, and other critters, too.  I'm only going to worry if they start answering me back.