I allowed him to choose a shortbread heart shaped cookie dipped in chocolate. As he started to eat it, Wren kept turning the cookie around and around. After a while he said "You are wrong. This is not HEART cookie it is an AXE cookie. See, you chop with it like this."
I showed him how you could turn it 90 degrees and it resembled a heart but he was emphatic that it was an AXE cookie. Next time I will get him the dog shaped cookie and see what he makes of it.
This evening, at bathtime, Wren wanted to see my vagina. I explained that was private and like the doctor had told him, you don't look at people's privates.
Wren, chancing upon the "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" tactic, stood up and waggled his parts close to me and repeated his request. "I want to see where I came OUT" he explained.
I countered that his bits were always on display and that girls were more private privates. He said that its okay, "I don't want to see all the way INSIDE, just the part I came out." I said that it was hidden but it was "down there". He peered. I told him not to.
He said he must have been very small to fit down there. "Just this small" he showed me his fist.
"No," I explained "YOU WERE THIS BIG!"
"What the hell!" he said.
"Yes, you were large. But vaginas can get bigger when the baby comes out. Like your mouth is small but if you want to eat an apple it gets big."
"Oh," he said. Looking concerned.
I decided to get out before the conversation veered further off course.
Hawaiian Birding #1
Meanwhile, the Pratt Birds of Hawaii and Tropical Pacific which I bought from Abe Books arrived today. It is used but in perfect condition and came wrapped in a piece of beautifully folded archival paper. It felt like a present even though I bought it myself.
Unfortunately, reading Pratt is very depressing. Half of the Hawaiian birds in the field guide are EXTINCT. Hawaai Rail? Extinct. Kioea? Extinct. Hawaai Oo? Extinct. Its the most depressing field guide I've ever read. Imagine going around Seattle with our bird book and half the birds in the guide are marked EXTINCT. I'd say they should have two bird books - a LIVING bird field guide and an EXTINCT BIRD MEMORIAL GUIDE. Here is a bird list for Kauai. You can see the number of critically endangered species among those remaining, particularly among the indigenous passerines.
Also, a fair portion of the field guide is for Polynesian birds. There is some overlap but there are 4 or 5 pages of native Island birds (inland ones) and then an equal number of pages of introduced birds. This whole introduced birds thing is confusing. I mean, I understand people introducing chickens and pheasant but why on earth do people introduce Cardinals, Australian Magpies and Indian Mynahs? How about "I am going to live in Hawaii, I think I will bring some Sparrows with me?" Its just odd. I shall have to explore the process in more detail.
So, I was going to provide you with one Hawaiian bird per day but now, compelled to educate myself about the mass extinction, I am going to do two. One extant and one extinct.
Extinct Hawaiian bird of the Day: Kauai Oo
2 comments:
reminds me of the bird books of New Zealand. most are extinct. they were not prepared for the invasion of more dominant species. You know what the Indian Myah is like! very agressive. And i think many remaining Hawaiian species are down to very small numbers....
Indeed, they have a similar problem. In Hawaii it seems some birds were endemic to only one of the islands so they had even smaller habitats than on New Zealand. Apparently, a few more have survived on Kauai than other islands. Still, its not only the introduced birds but things like pigs and dogs and mosquito borne diseases that are killing or killed them off.
Doesn't this honeyeater remind you of Lewins from Australia?
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