"The Language of The Birds?" Understood by wizards since before men made a record of days.
Actually we humans have something in common with avians.
We both have a reptilian brain.
The human brain has grown from the vestigal reptilian brain which sits atop our spinal process.
Our most basic instincts, those of fight or flight are housed there, and can over-ride our larger supposedly more complex brain, which is why horror movies can scare you just like it was real.
The Avian also has this same structure though fitted to it's size.
Birds are capable of many higher functions.
I once had a male Lovebird named Pete.
Pete was an onery bastich. We had acquired him from some people who didn't want him because he was mean.
Mean was an understatement, Pete HATED humans.
I decided that I'd try to put a little love in his heart, and spoke softly to him in his cage, and gave him all sorts of delacacies.
Pete couldn't be bought.
He would still viciously bite any hand that got close to him.
I decided he needed to be more aware of hands and humans.
I noticed before removing him from his cage that his wings were in full feather, so to protect him from flying into the ceiling fan, or one of our large plate glass windows, I donned a pair of kid gloves and reached in to get him to trim his wings.
Taking hold of Pete was no problem at all as Pete had taken quite a firm grip on my glove.
With my wife's assistance I trimmed his wings so that he was unable to fly.
Pete continued to fight at my hand until I finished the trimming, so I decided to allow him to walk around the house a while.
Then Pete did something which amazed me.
He began using his beak to cut pieces of my newspaper which I'd put on the floor beside my recliner.
He cut feather shaped pieces.
When he decided he'd cut enough pieces he began shaping one end by twisting it till it formed a quill shape.
Then as god and our video camera as my witnesses, he began placing them into his wings, trying to replace the feathers I'd trimmed.
It was amazing, and funny, and a little sad.
It was obvious that Pete understood the dynamics of flight, and was trying to repair himself.
I gained a whole new respect for Pete that day.
Pete was an aereodynamics engineer!
If he'd had the proper materials he might (but probably wouldn't) have repaired his wings.
It was obvious, Pete was the captain of his own spirit, I could not bear to see him in close confinement.
Pete was a Peach Faced Lovebird, and since I hadn't the means to return him to his native Angola, I got in touch with a friend who worked at the Dallas Zoo and arranged to have him admitted to the aviary at the Dallas Zoo.
I waited till he was once more in full feather, then brought him in to the zoo for a short quarantine (which was silly since wild birds were constantly getting past the double doorways and enjoying the paradise like aviary, and exhibited birds would often make a bid for freedom, but staff usually caught them between the doorways).
Finally Pete was released into the aviary where he met some others of his own kind (possibly for the first time in his life) and when I visited I couldn't tell
Pete from the other Peach Faced Lovebirds.
Since I wasn't attacked (or crapped upon) I presume he couldn't tell me from the other bearded humans.
At it's most basic, the survival instinct in avians and man are the same, both having their root in that little reptile which lives in us all.
Avians have awareness of self, and if raised in close quarters with humans learn to interact with we huge monstrosities.
Even the common chicken is capable of learning the meaning of a few human words, but it is the rare human indeed that understands even one thing a chicken has to say.
A farmer who has been around them long enough knows the chicken words for danger be it hawk. or fox, or snake, and he will have noted that certain hens have a liking for certain roosters and a disdain for others. He knows a mother hen's call to it's young, and the cry of a chick seperated from it's mother...he also knows the trill of contentment when the chick is back beneath it's mothers wing.
Should the farmer place a hen in with a rooster she does not like, when they go to roost if the hen faces opposit of the way the rooster sits on the perch it is a sure sign no chicks will come of the pairing. If a hen is taken from a rooster she has bonded with both will grieve, if they can still hear one another's call they pine for each other.
Language, individuality, social status, preference in mating, ...all in creatures we routinely eat without the slightest twinge of guilt.
I'll bet if we had to do our own murders there would be more vegetarians...who by the way taste just like chicken....which may or may not be true...I heard it from an alligator, but cannibals refer to human flesh as "Long Pig", so you might want to avoid it if you are keeping kosher.
Who wants chilled monkey brains!!!?? YUM!
