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Bird's Eye View

Discussion in 'Snippets of Life (Non-Fiction)' started by satchitananda, Nov 30, 2019.

  1. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    A Saturday morning in my favourite classroom. Outside the west-facing window is a huge tree. It gives one the feeling of being perched high up in the branches!

    Teaching the higher level classes is a different kind of treat. While it enriches one's own language skills, one doesn't necessarily have to 'teach' them. "Facilitate" would be more apt. So while they work on some assignment, I look out of the window for my version of eye candy - the green foliage - and look for birds. All I see is a couple of doves. One continues to sit outside and peers into the classroom for quite a while. Soon enough it notices me looking at it. It looks at me and I look back and we both enjoy the companionship. [​IMG]:-D

    It suddenly occurs to me that it must be watching us the way we watch birds or animals and their interactions and must be trying to figure out what a bunch of humans is doing all huddled around tables, looking down intently at something. Nobody talks to anyone else. And then it dawns! We must look like animals in a zoo and the dove is visiting its version of the zoo and learning a little bit of German in the bargain???
     
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  2. joylokhi

    joylokhi Platinum IL'ite

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    That was a very vivid picture which I could actually visualize from the bird's point of view!
     
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  3. Amulet

    Amulet IL Hall of Fame

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    If dolphins can speak Spanish, why not German speaking doves?

    [​IMG]
     
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  4. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Would so love to get out of that window and perch myself on one of the branches watching the proceedings in the class! Change of perspective!

    Thanks so much Joylokhi for the response! :kissingheart:
     
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  5. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Very true! Why ever not? That's such a cute one! Always wonder what goes on in their minds!
     
  6. Amulet

    Amulet IL Hall of Fame

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    Humans call themselves "humans", and those beings as "dolphins". What do dolphins call themselves and call us ? All those marine biologists listening to the ticks, chirps, and whistles should figure out what their name is in their language. Just like Eskimos have hundred names for snow, dolphins probably have hundred names for tuna, and krill.

    I learned years ago that native hawaiians call us (the mainlanders) howlies. I thought it was because we make too much noise as tourists...i.e., always "howling". It turns out that it is not howlie, but haole.... just the name for any foreigner. I did wonder if any of that hao' is common to words like sound or noise in Hawaiian language. Noise is simply "hu", but noisy is "kulikuli". Another deadend!
     
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  7. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    "Howlies" would probably not be too far off from the truth! Hmm...interesting thought about the origins of the word. Kulikuli is very onomatopoeic. BTW, 'khulkhula' in Marathi is one of those noisy rattles for babies.
     
  8. Viswamitra

    Viswamitra IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Satchi,

    It is so refreshing to read your snippet after a long time. The birds and animals don't have smart gadgets to supplement with their own smartness. Perhaps, that is the reason for them to blend so well with the nature and focus their attention to comply with the unwritten code of conduct for the universe to function. Perhaps, they have special powers to visualize what was coming through their intuition. I heard that most animals moved to the higher ground when Tsunami hit the land in Japan, Sri Lanka and India.

    When one watched the bird regularly, their behavior becomes intensely visible to the human mind. Studying their activities become easier and helps one to draw a pattern of their activities. Having watched the humans for a fairly long period of time, the birds and animals probably already know who is friendly and who is not. Their communication skills are much stronger when they see a danger to one of their friends or family members. When the humans hunt for animals and target one of them, they scream when hit by a bullet or arrow not only because of pain but also to alert all nearby friends and family members. Their life can be compared with tribal human beings before they educated themselves and eliminated all life-risks except the diseases.
     
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  9. satchitananda

    satchitananda IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Viswa,

    so good to read your response. Yes, though we humans claim superiority over other species, I always wonder at our delusions of grandeur. Sure, we have come a long way in our evolution technologically speaking, but unfortunately we do not seem any idea of where to draw the line.

    Talking of the social behaviour of birds and animals, the topic of the day in class was 'Lies'. One of the listening comprehensions stated that though animals do not lie outright, they have certainly developed behaviour to deceive other animals. So it is that a hungry carnivore which spots a prey emits a warning cry which sends others of its ilk fleeing for safety, and said hungry carnivore has the spoils all to itself!!! :-D
     
  10. Agatha83

    Agatha83 IL Hall of Fame

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    Dear Satchi,

    Was missing you here for a long time, and happy to see you back. But still I fail to understand why you have chosen doves as your companions, when the entire IL community is there to just hear a friendly hello from you.
    When you see the exotic birds of the Planet world serial, dance, sing, preen just to attract a female mate, I feel, we humans pale in front of their creative actions.
    Would like to see more of you here in future.

    Agatha83
     
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