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Ringo
a Rescue Starling
Ringo was a Starling who came to live with us
because he had fried the
ends of his wings when he landed on hot fresh asphalt as a baby and as
a result
he could only fly in a cartwheel type small circle.
Consequently the other starlings in the rehab
flight aviary
picked on him.
When
he arrived at our house, knowing how social starling are they sent him
with a
friend. Or so they
thought. It was
only after we removed the second bird
and sent him back to the flight aviary that Ringo started to sing. He never stopped singing
and learning to
mimic any noise he hear, after that.
Our
local Federal Express guy normally visited every day around 10:00 am
except on
weekends and holidays. One
morning,
forgetting it was a holiday, I rose from my desk when I hear the beep,
beep,
beep of the truck and headed for the door.
With no truck in site, you can imagine my
confusion. Returning
to my work, I figured he must be
on the lower street.
Just
a few minutes passed before the sound got me to my feet again, only to
be
disappointed again. This
time, before
heading back to my desk, my daughter came in to the room and asked me
why I
kept going to the door. She
had a good
laugh knowing it was a national holiday.
But as we laughed, the beep, beep, beep sound
started up again.
Even
though it sounded like it was coming from the street, this time it was
louder…
and it was coming from behind me.
Both
my daughter and I yelled simultaneously, “Ringo!” as we turned in time
to see
him close his beak.
After that, when the dog across the street
came to visit, Ringo
announced him by baking at him. And
on
those nights when my work would not let me go to bed, Ringo kept the
room alive
with the sounds of the frogs in our terrarium.
TNC 7/3/09 |