Lagniappe Literature

Im a big fan of birds. I just love my tiny feathered friends! I also love watching birds. I keep a bird journal of unusual sightings in our yard. Our yard is a bird oasis and we provide seed, houses, and bird baths in hopes to attract migrating wonders. My favorites are owls, hummingbirds and painted buntings. Indigo buntings are beautiful, too. I've also owned a couple of exotic birds from a Macaw with an attitude to my sweet Lemmi, a Ringneck parrot. I've never thought of birds as unintelligent. I've always thought there were some birds wiser than others but, no! I would never refer to a bird as "bird-brained". Jennifer Ackerman's bird travels and research, which she translated into a brilliant book, proves what I've suspected all along. Birds are quite clever little creatures. I have trouble remembering where I placed my sunglasses but the Clark's nutcracker can bury a large cache of seeds and berries, (up to 30,000 nuts or seeds!!) in a large area over several months and remembers where every single cache is. Astonishing, isn't it? Birds survival skills are phenomenal as well. We need a GPS app to get from town to town. Birds? Masters of travel. How do they know this stuff? Again, Ackerman sheds light on the many wonders of birds. And there are many! Ackerman provides examples of some of the most intelligent birds in the world. My favorite is always Alex the African grey parrot, who was the subject of a 30-year experiment. Alex was a bird wonder. Alex proved that birds were capable of reason and using words creatively. He could count. He distinguished colors. Alex proved that birds could do more than mimic sounds in repetition. Alex was clever and Oh! So sweet! Jennifer Ackerman's book has opened my eyes to the world of birds. Now, as I enjoy watching the birds in my yard, I won't be able to help wondering what's going on in their brilliant minds. And, if someone should call me a birdbrain in the future, well, I might just consider it a compliment.

**Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a DRC for review.

 A

Alex the African grey parrot