“Good morning, Squeaks,” said Momanita. “Wake up! You slept in today. It’s almost 8 am!”
Momanita tugged off the blue cover of my rolly nest.
“I am not a rooster. 8 am is not ‘sleeping in.’ 8 am is two hours earlier than I’d like to wake up.”
To other hootmans this sounded like squeals and whistles, but not to Momanita. She MOSTLY understood cockatiel speak. I MOSTLY understood hootman talk.
Momanita opened the rolly nest door and held out a cornflake. She lured me through the door, up the side, and to the rolly nest top. Momanita knew how to motivate me. She offered the tasty treat. I grasped it with my claws and chomped it gone.
Then I rested while my stomachs (cockatiels have two) finished the job.
“You have your feet to thank,” said Momanita.
“Feet?”
“Your feet have four toes, two pointing forward and two pointing back. That helps you climb, hold cornflakes, and perch.”
“Thank you, feet!”
I pretended to listen to my feet.
“Feet said they’d like to hold another cornflake.”
“I wonder how your feet are different than other birds,” said Momanita.
When Momanita wondered, she thought of questions.
When she thought of questions, she looked for answers.
When she looked for answers, she needed my help.
“Maybe we should research avian feet,” said Momanita.
“Maybe we should make my feet happy and give them another cornflake to hold.”
“Are your feet the same as Cardinal’s?” asked Momanita.
Now Momanita had me wondering. My friend Cardinal swooped to the birdfeeder for sunflower seeds, but I never saw him hold one. He cracked it open with his thick beak.
“Let’s go,” said Momanita and placed my writing nest next to me.
I climbed off my rolly cage into my writing nest. Momanita climbed the stairs to HER writing nest. She scooted her chair to the computer and tapped the keyboard. I perched on top the writing nest and thought about feet. I really wanted to think about cornflakes.
Best Foot Forward
“Not all birds have four toes like you,” said Momanita. “The ostrich has two and the emu has three. That’s the best type of foot for birds that can’t fly. They run from their enemies.”
“I can’t fly and I run from scary ping pong balls when they ka-thump, ka-thump after me. If I had less toes, I could run faster, but then I couldn’t hold cornflakes.”
“Perching birds, like Cardinal, have four toes. Three toes point forward and one toe points backwards. The slender toes curl around branches. The muscles in their legs and feet lock into place when they sleep so they don’t fall off.”
“I don’t fall off my perch when I sleep. My muscles lock, too.”
“Owls have four toes. One of the back toes can turn towards the front to help with perching.”
“Owls also have sharp talons! They’re scarier than ping pong balls!”
I don’t like thinking about terror birds. I’d rather think about cornflakes.
Won’t Get Cold Feet
“You’ll never need socks, Squeaks,” said Momanita, “because your feet don’t get cold like mine.”
“Sometimes you wear TWO pairs of socks!”
“That’s because my feet have lots of nerves in them and yours don’t. Birds can hop in the snow barefooted because they don’t feel the cold. Also, birds have fast moving blood. There’s no time for the blood to cool.”
“So THAT’S how junco does it!”
Putting Your Feet Down
“Perching is important for our backyard birds,” said Momanita. “It’s their time to rest, preen, and keep a sharp eye out for danger.”
“At night I like to perch high. I feel safer.”
“When you perch atop your writing nest, you preen to keep your feathers clean.”
“I do my best thinking when I’m preening.”
“In a way, I perch, too,” said Momanita. “My favorite place to perch is in my writing chair. Should we write about how birds and people perch, Squeaks?” asked Momanita.
“I think we should write about it’s not so much where you perch, but who you perch with. I climbed up Momanita’s arm, perched on her shoulder, and dictated.
To other hootmans this sounded like squeals and whistles, but not to Momanita. She MOSTLY understood cockatiel speak. I MOSTLY understood hootman talk.
Check out Momanita’s book, Operation Hopper.
Read more about Avian Feet.
Anita Borgo 