CHAPTER 2
"Chicadee dee dee dee"
"Charles", the Black Capped Chicadee announced his presence to St. Louis.
"These humans have taken over this area. They even want me to land in their hands for a few paltry seeds. Of course I do humor them. I have even gone so far as to pose for their stupid photographs!"
The little bird, as though dressed in formal attire, flitted up to a tiny branch well beyond the perches chosen by larger birds. Weighing only 11 grams he was tiny even by Louis's standards. Friendly to humans, if only as a way to make it through the winter months, Chucky was a fun little friend to have. Despite his diminutive size his call was large and distinctive. His sense of humor a delight to all his friends. And teasing to humans as he waited until they were just within reach before flying off was his speciality.
"Charles, you are such a tease but beware you get to close to all those much bigger creatures. Cute doesn't always carry the day you know. And what are you doing here along the river and not at those feeders in all those neatly groomed back yards over the ridge?"
"I heard Raucous and had to check out what was going on. You know how humans just have to stop and watch a car wreck.....Well, if that noisy bird starts, there must be something to it. And all I find is you sitting here in apprehension and hiding from even a mild north wind. You are a way to nervous an individual!"
"P-shaw my friend. One can never be too cautious and besides all that purveyor of conspiracy theory was doing, was a noisy greeting. The river walk is void this morning. No thin skinned humans and their obnoxious pets. I must admit it is funny to see them straining the way they do at the end of a vine attached to a wolf like animal of questionable lineage. They tell each other that it is good exercise to walk the animal. That is when they actually talk to each other. Well, if it was such extraordinary exercise, why don't they keep up with the beast?"
St. Louis was far more realistic than most of his friends. He had a clear attitude toward things even of which he had no knowledge. If it was new to him, his caution exceeded that of the feral cats that over populated the area and were not only a nuisance but an actual threat to life and limb.
"I was luxuriating in a bath of black oil sunflower seeds that my favorite human had left by his back window. I heard Raucous's announcement of glee and it so startled me that I just had to come and investigate for myself. What a disappointment, I thought he had cornered Uncle Julius and the war was back on."
Uncle Julius is the all wise, all seeing, Barred Owl who inhabits the "Owl Woods" about two miles down river and just about at the end of the Riverwalk. Older than most of the birds along the Congaree and much wiser, he is often shadowed by Lilbits. She being a diminutive screech owl living in the same general area as Uncle. She always seems to be his shadow. While the larger owl announces his presence in the evening with the deep hooting that humans love and are familiar...Lilbits emits horrible screams that resemble a pair of mating fox or a small human child being pulled slowly apart. Only way to describe her song, of which she is immensely proud and for which universally derided.
"That reminds Louis to ask Julius what it is about those humans. I mean they have no feathers and even if they could get both feet off the ground, they would only fall on their back sides. Flying is obviously out of the question for them. They can't keep warm in winter as they are as bald as the turtles in the river. I mean I have seen them in the summer....not a pretty site!"
"You do have a point chuck! But look at the beautiful walk they built. Before this, those poor souls unable to fly had to crawl, walk, run or slither through the meanest of landscapes. And now they even have bridges across the river. Do what end I know not. But we have to give them credit for something."
"Perhaps so Luis, but then you see the way they treat our world"
"I just don't understand and am just going to have to ask Julius about all this!"
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