The Bird

The kids took me to Adirondack Animal Land yesterday as official photographer and designated grandma for Peggy. The boss and Becky followed as soon as she got off work.

It's a nice place, remarkably clean, animals seemed comfortable, healthy, and contented, and the layout was wonderful. Between the animal enclosures were all sorts of fun slides, wooden play structures and model animals, such as a big white bison that kids could climb on for fun or photos. It made for a kid-friendly experience that was truly enjoyable for someone following a speeding kid up and down the paved paths.

While we walked I listed a few local birds, as the park is situated in a beautiful woodland, bisected by a pleasant little stream.

Nice. And the weather was perfect.

I got so involved in feeding pellets to a pair of Nilgai that I didn't really notice the parrot enclosures.

However, on the way back up the paths to the safari ride I stopped at a big kiosk where a Scarlet Macaw and a Blue-and-Yellow Macaw were sitting on a climbing toy kind of thing watching people go by. I approached the structure and felt an odd compulsion to say "hi".

The birds perked right up and spoke back at me. Not in English, but maybe in parrotish.

The more I chatted with them the more interested they became and both beak-and-claw walked right over to visit with me. I was smitten.

Alas, the rest of the crew was getting away from me so I had to leave my new friends.

Not far away was another such enclosure containing another Blue-and-Yellow Macaw and a big green bird, which I think was a Green Macaw. The latter found me utterly uninteresting.

However, a cheerful "Hi" to the big blue guy elicited an immediate verbal response. We spoke in parrot parseltongue for a bit before the bird began to very slowly beak-and-claw across the wire to me.

It was a slow process and everyone was leaving me behind so I suggested, "Could you get down and walk across the log to come over?"

See, there was a nice long log perch running diagonally across the cage right to where I was standing.

He immediately climbed down to the log and carefully walked right over to me. I was gobsmacked. You know I love birds... I talk to the ones in the shrubbery all the time, with chirps and hisses and other birdy sounds trying to get them to come out where I can see them. However, that is just smoke and mirrors, not real communication.

I have never been around parrots, other than the African Grey that spooked us so at a 4-H meeting years ago. Are they really that intelligent? Did that bird understand what I was saying, or was the log just a logical way to get to someone who was providing some interest on a sleepy afternoon?

No idea, but it was the high point of the visit for me, other than Peggy-watching and getting photos of her and Liz feeding a giraffe that echo ones we took of Liz when she was a little 'un feeding one at the Catskill Game Farm.

I've got to dig that one out so you can see....