Birds
When I lived “down South” I had a small but “bird friendly “ backyard. They’d hang out and I’d try to talk with them. After a while, they started talking back to me. That was pretty cool. Where I live now, I’ve created the same sort of “bird friendly” backyard”- Read: I chase cats off and leave treats out for wild birds.The perplexing thing is: The birds here don’t talk to me. They act as if -“OMG! He’s focusing on me! He’s LOOKING at ME!! I better leave!!” I saw a HAWK standing in the middle of the street today. There wasn’t any carrion, he / she was just sitting there in the middle of the street as if surveying the area from a new vantage point. I was driving, pulling into my driveway. But, as soon as I saw him/her I said: “OH my god!” He/she immediately lifted off -and was soon a speck in the sky. Too bad, and a bit sad. The birds here are so untrusting. It’s so unlike “L.A. adjacent” living. Or, maybe in L.A. it was just a case of “familiarity breeds contempt”?
One of littler ones told me the other day- not being hyper critical, you understand just mentioning it – “But. You know, all you land things scare us. You make too much noise except for thefurry little ones with claws they make no noise at all…anyway you stink (no offense) and when you talk to us you’re always saying the same gibberish…You can be really annoying, you know. We’re minding our own business looking for treats in this yard, just trying to stay fed and then you come out and start making all sorts of noises that I’m sure sound just like us to your ear but are in actuality is as poor an approximation of any sound as I’ve ever heard, and lived next-door mockingbirds last season, so I know what I’m talking about. So… how about this? I’ll mind my own business and stay out your way; you’ll try to do the same thing and we’ll…just…go on with our lives? Alright?”…Or something to that affect.
