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I was amazed at how many people liked my post the other day about the injured crow and how she showed me trust. Many people replied to the post and it was a conversation I very much enjoyed. The crow, by the way, was gone in the morning. I found no body and the rest of the crows were off making their rounds. I have great hope that maybe she got shocked by the power wires and needed some time to get herself going again. When I last saw her she was able to flap her wings which she hadn't been doing at first. I do know that there was an outpouring of good energy from DU towards that little bird and if that sort of thing helps she must have left in pretty good shape.
During the conversation about the crow I promised someone I would tell the story of the myna birds and how they showed me a trust that I did not think a wild animal was capable of.
a dozen or so years ago my ex and I would go to Thailand for two months every year. My partner HATED winter weather and it threw him into such a horrible cranky funk that we finally came to this agreement. We'd work our butts off working extra jobs and head to Southeast asia for the deepest darkest winter months. My ex had been going to the same island in the middle of nowhere for 15 years and it was his idea of heaven. Sit in a hammock or on the porch for several months and do nothing.
Oh my God. I love a beautiful tropical island as much as anyone but, I am NOT a sit there and do nothing sort of guy. I almost lost my mind. I hiked every inch of that island and spent day after day hunting for shells so I practically knew every sand grain. And there was a wild pair of mynah birds who caught my eye. I was spending quite a lot of time on the small porch reading, writing postcards, painting some really awful watercolors and so I began to really observe the mynah birds and how they sort of talked to each other.
They are beautiful birds and when they started poking around under the bungalow I threw them some food. They were skittish but eventually ate up the coconut cookie I was sharing with them. I'd talk to them and they'd hop around looking at me with a cocked head. I bought some nuts and healthier bird snacks and after that they began showing up several times a day. I'd cluck and chirp like they did and throw them some snacks.
Then one day one of them landed on the railing. I had a nut in my hand so I set it down and sat there motionless. The myna bird looked at me, cocked its head, sized me up and then flew away. But he came back. And this time, after a minute or so of him checking me out, he made a mad jump for the nut and flew off.
But a few snacks later and the birds were flying right up to the railing. If anyone else walked by they flew away. And then one day, a week into our stay there, I didn't set the nut down. I held it. And they hopped and they fussed and the ruffled and clucked and squawked. And then he took the nut out of my fingers.
From then on, for the next several weeks, they would eat out of my hand anytime they came to visit. The family who owns the little beach were in awe. They had never seen this happen before. It was so much fun having these birds to keep me company!
Thailand only allows (at least then) for tourists to stay for a month-to stay longer you had to leave for several weeks and then come back-so we would take side trips a month in. Bali, Sumatra, Lombok, Malaysia...and then we'd head back to the same little bungalow on the same little pristine beautiful beach in Thailand. So this return trip, as we hiked in from the road with our backpacks and sun hats on, I hear "Cluck cluck cluck, chatter chatter squawk squawk" and the myna birds swoop down and welcome me back. They avoided my partner but when I sat alone on the porch they hopped all over and chattered away at me.
If you are an animal lover then you know how fun and special it is to connect with an animal that usually stays away from people. It does make you feel special. Those birds made my trip a wonderful experience. And a few weeks later it was back home and back to working two jobs to get caught up.
10 months later we returned to the bungalow. I showered and rinsed some clothes out in the sink (it was SO amazingly hot) and took them out to hang on the balcony. As I stood there looking out at the ocean I hear "flap flap flap" and I turn to see the myna bird on the roof of the bungalow across the way. It was the myna bird! It squawked very loudly and jump into the air, flew down and landed on the railing only a few feet from me. I was so excited to see my bird friend! He kept squawking loudly and "flap flap flap" there was mrs myna. I was grinning and felt so amazing! The birds were bobbing and chirping--more of a song than their usual clucking and calling. I shared some banana with them and they hung around until dusk then flitted off. The family, again, was amazed but thought it was because of my red hair. They don't see much reddish-blonde hair on some of those tiny Asian islands so maybe that is why the birds remembered me.
And so, for the next month I had bird buddies. They would fly along when I headed down the beach but never followed me on my hikes. When I was beach combing on that beach I would often see the mynas hopping around the sand somewhere nearby. Mostly though they would hang out on the porch with me. Even when I didn't feed them they'd sit together on the rail or take turns keeping me company while the other one went to look for bugs.
We left after 30 days and spent a month island hopping from Bali south through some of the smaller islands. A jihad against the U.S. lead to several murders on the island next to us (where we were heading) so we had to beat a hasty retreat back to Bali. It was a nerve-wracking experience. We were very glad to get back to our bungalow in Thailand. The birds found me within a few hours.
The next year I was excited to see the birds long before we got there. We hiked in from the road, set up our room, I hung around outside all day. No birds. Just before dark my friend arrived. Clucking, chortling, ruffling but he flew away almost immediately. I was happy to see him but he nor she came back. I was a little worried.
The next morning my ex had got up early and left for breakfast. He left the door open so I could hear the ocean better. Ah, it was glorious to be back in tropical paradise! I stretched, rolled over to sleep some more and "CRASH! CRASH CRASH CRASH!!!!"
"Chirp"
The birds were back! And I hear, "Chirp, chirp, chirp" and a lot of bird claws hopping into the bungalow. Rounding the bottom of my bed was Mr myna. Squawk! Chirp! And lots more scratching and Mrs Myna hops into view! They had NEVER come into the bungalow before!! I was so excited to see them! But there was still lots more scratching and then this downy baby myna bird hops up to his parents. He is squawking and cheaping and I hear more coming. All three baby myna birds started hopping around to explore, they showed no fear of me and hopped all the way up the side of the bed so they were right under me. And Mr. and Mrs. Myna hightail it out the door. They flew off leaving hopping squawking flightless baby myna birds all over my room!
My ex showed up in the doorway at just that minute with a cup of coffee for me and the look on his face when he saw our new friends was priceless. "The myna birds just dropped them off and flew away." It was interesting to watch the emotions flick across his face. Annoyance, freaked out by the idea of lice, and then at me with this look of...confusion almost, as he tried to figure out what I was. What it was about me that led to him having to help babysit a whole pack of hungry hopping birds. What kind of freak of nature had he hooked up with? THe parents were gone for an hour or so then returned. The babies stayed all day long while the parents brought them bugs.
It was an amazing month. Mom and Pop would drop the babies off every morning. It became my alarm....sun comes up, crashing baby birds on porch. I'd go out and get coffee, sit with them on the porch. They'd line up and cluck and squawk and go NUTS of a bug flew onto the porch. Hop hop hop, cluck cluck cluck (poop poop poop--but they kinda did that in one area so it was ok).
Mom and pop would arrive with a tasty bug and sit on the low palm trees planted around and call the babies. They couldn't fly yet but they could flap and kind of hop and get going a little bit. The whole next week was the same....sun, crash, "chirp" and the parents giving flying lessons every day. By the time we left at the end of the month they were all flying on their own and we didn't see them nearly as much. When we returned a month later we saw mom and dad quite a bit but the youngsters only came around on occasion.
My ex and I split up soon after and I never did return to the island. Many of my friends holiday there every year and the family always asks about me. They remember me as the guy who was adopted by the myna birds. It has been a decade since I saw the birds but the mynas still live there I'm told. It might be the babies all grown up now, but I like thinking my myna bird friends are still there...and I grin thinking of those fluffy little puffball chicks hopping around my room and following me around the porch and tripping and falling all over the place. It is one of the favorite memories I have of my life. Getting to be a part of such fun and wild energy. Twas magic. :0)
Have a great day everybody!
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