Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Does anyone know anything about whether birds recognize their own voices?

I had thought that they did, and I remember learning that in Animal Behavior, that to most birds, each nuance of their call was as specific as our consonants and vowels are to us.

But I've been coming more into contact with birds lately because I ride to work before 6 in the morning, and for some reason that's bird-time. Birds have control of the deserted parking lots of the malls, the fallen foliage on my street, the sidewalks up until the very second my bicycle wheels power through, the sky above the mountains, everything.

There was a bird in the Target parking lot who had a call that sounded like a toddler crying, 'Wait! Wait! Wait!' It was sitting on a lightpole facing across Pearl Street towards the other strip mall, and its voice was echoing back almost two seconds after the original call had finished. And the bird would call, listen, cock its head as its voice came back, then respond. Call, listen, cock, respond. It sounded, and looked, for all the world like it thought it was having a conversation with some phantom buddy perched on top of Barnes and Noble.

I thought: stupid bird. I thought: I hope he isn't falling in love. I thought: I hope he doesn't go over there and try to have a rendezvous.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

my name is troy.

i'm rich and i can destroy.

call me unless your a boy.

720-382-9042, if you don't your just a toy.

love,

troy the Poetsteez

mushoo said...

well that was a weird phone number comment.

I bet that bird already went and tried to visit his echo, and is now like 'Where'd you go? I miss you. :('

Anonymous said...

I hope you went with just being a toy and didn't call troy.

As far as the bird, maybe it's the birdy way of blogging??

Nor said...

please, hannah, call that number and then write another blog entry making the whole event sound beautiful.