Saturday night, Jon wasn’t feeling well and I had a hard time sleeping. I spent a good part of the night reading Mozart’s Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt.
I haven’t finished the book yet, but it’s about the starling that Haupt raises from a baby bird and the pet starling that Mozart had.
A couple of things that Haupt writes about her starling, Carmen, made me think of White Hen.
Haupt built an aviary in her house for Carmen with a dutch door. Her bird spends a lot of time sitting on the closed bottom door while the top is open. Like White Hen sitting on the make-shift gate to the stall, Carmen sits as if looking out from her space, protecting it, and having it as a place to take refuge behind her.
When I first put White Hen in the stall I imagined her roosting in the back of it on the wooden feeder. But as far as I know she’s never been back that far in the stall.
Like a gangster eating in a restaurant, who is always facing the door, White Hen roosts with her back to the wall.
Haupt also writes about how Carmen has learned to mimic certain phrases and sounds that she hears around her.
Because Haupt always greets her starling with the words Hi Carmen, Carmen has learned the words and when she sees Haupt she says, Hi Carmen.
Carmen also learned to mimic the sound of the coffee grinder so when Haupt opens the jar of coffee beans, Carmen makes the sound of the grinder.
Haupt says that Carmen is using the sounds to understand her surroundings and feel safe in them. “...a kind of social sonar or echolocation: starlings toss out sounds to see what comes back to them.”
This made me think of when I “talk” to White Hen by repeating the sounds she makes. Although it’s backwards, maybe it’s the same kind of idea.
When I repeat the sounds that White Hen makes, maybe she feels a sense of comfort or belonging.
So it isn’t that we’re having a conversation. We can’t because I don’t understand her language and I don’t know for sure, but I’d guess she doesn’t understand mine.
But it’s still a way of connecting and communicating. Which is what I’ve been feeling since White Hen came back and has been living in the barn.
But now I feel like I may understand it a little better.
Just finished the book and loved it! lots of ways to communicate with the non human world!
I really like the way she writes about the bird Veronica. She is clearly attached to it and maybe even loves it, but she still sees it as a bird. And appreciates all of it’s birdness, even the things that are not so desirable. Now I’m interested in reading more of her books.