Aristophanes
Posted on January 16th, 2013
In the afternoons, it’s up to me to provide enrichment for Pea. Today we went to Audubon, and were pleased the raven Aristophanes was in the cage accessible to the public (sometimes he’s in the back and out of commission).
Pea and I have always talked to Ari when he’s out. We tell him how clever he is, how lovely he is, and we’ve always gotten a cocked head and some interest when we’ve spoken. But nothing like today.
Today, he played a game with us. He hopped right up to the ground, picked up a piece of a stick, then pushed it through to our side. Then he waited. I put the stick back in the cage, and he’d catch it or pick it up, then push it back out at us. We played the game for about 15 minutes (before my feet froze!) and it was absolutely delightful.
Such a clever, handsome bird. Amazingly, we did not get scolded by volunteers (I told Pea to not say anything, but like THAT works). They all thought it was cool.
What an awesome experience! I am so glad you got pictures so you and Pea can look back and remember the fun you had.
That is really true. It wasn’t an easy day in so many ways; I’m glad this will be what sticks with us!
I’ve played that game with him once or twice too. The last time, I discovered that he seemed to be looking for the opportunity to nip my fingers if I got them close enough to the cage to make it possible. Be cautious!
We were! He definitely wanted to nip fingertips, and that beak is amazingly long! I would drop the stick from a much higher place (about my eye height) but had to keep Pea from being the one to pick up the sticks.
I loved everything about reading this! (From Aristophanes’ name to the almost fairytale exchange between child and avian world…) Thanks for this, AAL.