The Moth - The Moth Radio Hour: Birds of A Feather

Episode Date: January 20, 2021

Let the feathers fly! This week, a special avian hour. Stories from a Ravenmaster, a scientist, and a reluctant chicken farmer about the birds that made them as happy as a lark or as crazy as a loon. This episode is hosted by The Moth's Artistic Director, Catherine Burns, and her parrot, Hamilton. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by The Moth and Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media. Hosted by: Catherine Burns, Hamilton Burns Storytellers: Christopher Skaife, Dame Wilburn, Irene Pepperburg

Attention Houston! You have listened to our podcast and our radio hour, but did you know the Moth has live storytelling events at Wearhouse Live? The Moth has opened Mike's storytelling competitions called Story Slams that are open to anyone with a five-minute story to share on the night's theme. Upcoming themes include love hurts, stakes, clean, and pride. GoodLamoth.org forward slash Houston to experience a live show near you. That's theMoth.org forward slash Houston. This is the Moth Radio Hour from PRX, and I'm Catherine Burns. And the tweaking you're hearing right now is my white belly kayaked Hamilton in my kitchen.

He's a small orange green and yellow parrot. I love him, but we haven't always had a great relationship. He's more of my husband's bird, and when you live in New York City, apartments are small, and all pets are family pets. Hamilton is a beautiful bird and he's very friendly. He likes to lie in his back in the palm of my hand while I rub his belly. He imitates laughter and is learned to tell from the tone of our voice that we're making a joke and laugh along with us.

But sometimes we're at odds. Like most birds, he's up with the sun, and sometimes I'd like to sleep in. And when I'm working from home, if so many of us are right now, I often have to explain on a Zoom call. No, that isn't a child screaming. That's my pet. To give you an idea of how loud he is, here is his daily reaction to my husband, Josh, putting him back in his cage so he can eat his breakfast.

With that in mind, welcome to this week's hour, Stories About Birds. We're going to hear about encounters with the mischievous Raven, scientific adventures with the beloved African Grey Parrot, and a flock of lesbian chickens. First up, Raven Master Christopher Skave, live at the Maw. I am one of 37 Yomon Warders, commonly known as beef eaters, that live and work within the ancient fortress, the Tower of London, right in the heart of London. The Tower of London has a great history, but it has some ancient myths and legends. One of the legends tells us that should the Ravens leave the Tower of London, it will crumble yw'r ysgwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydwch ydw Dyrich Coil was the Ravenmaster.

Ym yn ymwch yn ymwch yn yw'r cyflwyr. Chris, yw'r cyflwyr yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ymwch yn ym around tower green and around the scaffold site and thought that I might have had some interest in them. He said to me, boy, he said, I think the Ravens might like you. I thought to myself, why did he call me boy? I was 40 years old at the time. To be a Roman warrior, you have to have done a minimum Mae'n gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r a large crow or the size of a small eagle and just as powerful. And Derek said to me,

I'm going to introduce you to the Ravens. Get in the cage. And so I did. And I stood there, not really knowing what to do. This large Raven, it was massive, it was the size of a harpy, started to move towards me, shuffling its way along its perch, it got closer and closer and closer. I could see its beaded lies looking at me. It tilted its head to one side, I could almost feel its breath on my face. and it's head to one side, I could almost feel it's breath on my face. Then Derek said, get out. And I did quite quickly. He looked me straight in the eyes and said, Chris, said the Ravens like you.

And that is how I became part of the Raven Master's team. He took me under his wing. Derek Coyle taught me everything I know about Ravens. He taught me how to clean the enclosure. He taught me how to feed the Ravens, such delights as mice and rats and chicks. And he taught me how to clean the enclosure and how to clean the enclosure. And that's really, all he really taught me what to do. October 11th, 2010, it was a cold, crisp autumn morning. I was really excited. It was my first ever Raven duty. My alarm went off. I got up, got out of bed, got myself dressed, made my way out of my little house that just happens to be tucked inside the outed defensive walls of the Tower of London. Yes, I lived there. I made my way up a spiral staircase and onto Tower Green. I stood there for a moment. i'n gweithio. Mae'n gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r

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gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r yn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ydyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ymdyn ydyn y in it and this year it was the turn of the western side to be actually cleaned. In fact the only part of the western side that could be seen was a

weather vane and a large gold crown right at the top of one of the towers for turrets. However the workmen had been making a lot of noise and the clanging of Mae'n gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaith yw i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r ymwch i'r yesaf mae'r rhaifodd. Mae'r rhaifodd yn ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n ddyn nhw'n dwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaith'n ei wneud o'r gwaith. Mae'n ei wneud. Mae'n ei wneud. Mae'n ei wneud. Mae'n ei wneud. Mae'n ei wneud. Mae'n ei wneud. Mae'n ei wneud.

Mae'n ei wneud. Mae'n ei wneud. Mae'n ei wneud. a'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch i'r gweithioedd yn ymwch, yw'n gweithio, yn gweithio, yn gweithio. Derek ei gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio. Mae'n gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi'r gweithio wedi wedi wedi'r gweithio wedi'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n gwaith yw'n the main door of the morning, running around, getting the other Ravens out, but all the time looking around to see if I could see her on the rooftops and the trees in every corner that I thought she was hiding. But it was to no avail. She had gone. She had flown the roost.

I carried on my young and more-dirt duties for the day. I didn't actually tell anybody that she'd gone missing. Mae'n gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith yn gwaith, mae'n gwaith yn gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gwaith, mae'n gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweith yw'n ddodd, ddoddoddoddoddoddodbod yn gwybod yn gwybod yn gwybod yn gwybod yn gwybod yn g I would go into stealth mode. So I started creep along, just as quietly as I possibly could. By this time I was sweating, my uniform was covered in dust, snagging it on the poles. Now, I was about 10 foot away from her. Above me was a royal weather vein, a crown, mooning and the sky. Below me, 150 feet was the cold, hard earth. This was it. I climbed up as far as I possibly

could. My plan was to grab hold ofol o'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r wyfodd yn ymwyr i'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith yw'r gwaith ymwch yn ysgwyd, yn yw'r gwaith ymwyd yn yw'r gwaith ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ywyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd ymwyd myself what a stupid move to do. I'd let down myself. I'd let down the tower. I'd let down her majesty the queen. But more importantly than that, I had let down Derek and he was going to be absolutely furious with me. So the climb down the white tower that day was a long climb down. The following day I had to explain to Derek that I'd lost one of his prized ravens. She was 19 years old. She'd been with the tower all that time. He'd cared for her and looked after her.

He never spoke to me very much. He just gave me that look. For seven days, I avoided him like the plague. Until one day, one day we got a phone call from a man, a gentleman in Greenwich, who said that it's seen a raven in his back garden. And he believed that this raven belonged to a match, did it the'r gwein. Mae'r gwein. Mae'r gwein yn ymwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwchio'r gydwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaith never to trust a raven. Because believe it or not, ladies and gentlemen, they are much more smarter than us. Nowadays, I am the raven master at the Tav London, and I look after our magnificent ravens. We have six there by royal decree, and as the country at the moment is a little bit dodgy, Mae'n gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaithio'r gwaith to the tower, I now allow the Ravens to all the Ravens at the Tower of London to be in full flight. So if you ever come to the Tower of London and you do see the Ravens, don't just look on the

ground anymore, look up into the treetops, some on the spires, and that is where you will find our Ravens. Thank you very much indeed. Chris to Prescape is the author of The Ravenmaster, My Life with the Ravens of Tower of London. A book I highly recommend. The night before a London show, I visited the Tower of London with my fellow Moff director Chloe Samman. It was near closing time, and as thousands of tourists were streaming out of the tower, Chris opened the gate for us and said, welcome to my home.

We spent the next two hours with him and the now empty tower. Watching as he put the Ravens to bed at night. Come on, let's go and see the birdies. How long was the uniform in the uniform? So this one since 1858. Yeah. And we do have another uniform which is our red ceremonial uniform that can be found on gin bottles, beefy to gin bottles and that dates back to a period of King Henry the eighth.

King Henry the eighth designed it for us, I don't know what he was thinking when he decided to put me in tights and rough but he did and so it quite uncomfortable. And the reason actually why the uniform changed to a darker uniform is during the Victorian period. There was an awful lot of pollution from the factories around here. And it was making our bright red uniforms, they stained, and they were expensive. And so they changed from a darker uniform to hide the dirt. We stood in a small, chilly stone room tucked into the tower wall, watching him prepare their food. So I'm just de-fosting some lamb's hearts and that's their dinner for tomorrow. I'm just going to feed this one, these two chicks in the

minute. We'll go and the back and see from the other side as well, where the public don't actually go. So the two over there is Eman and Rocky, then two there is Grip and Harris, the little monkey in there is Poppy and that one is Jubilee 2. Because Jubilee 1 was at By Fox, which was a bit embarrassing. Chris explained why there's a large pile of gloves sitting next to the Ravens enclosure. It is a collection of the moment of poppy's gloves that has been that he steals from people. It's just loads and loads of gloves around. He gave me a now treasured gift. A feather that had fallen out of one of the Ravens that day.

Sometimes I give a primary and secondary feather, and the primary and second furrow is they work together in flight and one gives the bird strength and the other one gives it maneuver and I sometimes give them on such a sentimental person two people who are about to get married so that they have to stay together for life. They are incredibly intelligent, they are incredibly intelligent. One of the smartest birds in the world. There have been scientists around the country and around the world actually that suggest that Ravens are feathered apes. There are suggestions that Ravens are as clever as primates.

The reason why the Ravens were actually probably brought into the town of London was during the period of the 1880s. There was an execution site that needed to be memorialised. Queen Victoria said that she wanted us to commemorate those who lost their lives here. And we were going for a period of Gothic revivalism. And as a result of that, people like Edgar Allan Poe and Charles Dickens were making Ravens quite fashionable. And Ravens have been associated with death and the dying for a long, long period of time throughout history. And so what better way to encourage visitors into the Tower of London than to trim up a few birds, flight feathers, Ravens, flight feathers, stand them around the execution site and

say, look, these are the lost souls of the daily departed and that's brilliant bit of marketing by the tower. To see photos and videos of Chris snuggling with his ravens, go to the Moth D'Ardorg. Coming up, a woman in Detroit decides to raise chickens in her backyard. And things go a foul. That's when the Moth Radio Hour continues. The Moth Radio Hour is produced by Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and presented by PRX. This is the Moth Radio Hour from PRX. I'm Katherine Burns. In this show, we're hearing all about birds, and our next story was recorded at the Alabama

Shakespeare in Montgomery, where we partner with Troy Public Radio. Here's Dame Wilburn, live at the Maw. Applause So, my wife is an organic water kind of person, like free range, organic, fair trade, small batch, single owner, you know, whatever the buzzwords are, whatever we buy has to cover all of those things. She likes to hike, she likes to fish.

She comes from what we call the thumb, you know, because we're emitting, so she comes from the thumb area in Michigan and I will admit it was a bit of a jerk move when I moved her from that forest to Detroit. Now, so when you're married, you get into a lot of conversations. So her first conversation with me was that,

she's like, I really don't know if I can live here because there's no grocery stores. And I said there are plenty of grocery stores, they just sell socks. And then she said, well, I need a grocery store that sells groceries and not socks. And I said, well, then this might have been a mistake. So then she said, well, what I really want is fresh eggs.

And I said, oh, that's no problem. They have eggs where they keep the socks. And she said, but that's not, those aren't fresh eggs and I said, oh that's no problem, they have eggs where they keep the socks. And she said, but that's not, those aren't fresh eggs. And so we got into this long conversation really about socks, because we're married and we ventured off. But you know how when you've been married a long time, they loop back. The men in here know what I'm talking about. Your wife is just loop back on you. This was three weeks ago and all of a sudden we're back at this again. So she looped back on me and said, yeah, I think I have a solution for the fresh egg problem. I said, well, I'd love to hear that.

And she said, I think we should raise chickens. And I said, okay, so, okay. Now I need you to help me with this chicken thing because if you want me to hunt somebody down, if you want me to pull somebody to the side and have a personal and private conversation with them, if you want me to burn down a house and collect the insurance money, I'm a Detroiter, these are skills I have.

Okay? I don't know how this chicken thing works. And she says, well, you get a bunch of chickens and you feed them and then you eat the eggs. I'm like, okay, I did go to a private school. I got that part, but how do we get the chickens? I mean, do we go to the grocery store and buy eggs and wait? Like, what do we do?

And she said, no, you can go to a farmer and pick them up as chicks and then bring them home. And for whatever reason, I said, okay. Now, I think the real reason was, secretly, I wanted to raise my own chickens and stick it to the man. That was my secret theory. So we go to this farmer to get these chickens.

Now, my wife went on, she did a lot of research, which means she went on Wikipedia. And she used the Google. So the Google in Wikipedia told her, there's all kinds of chickens, which means she went on Wikipedia. And she used the Google. So the Google in Wikipedia told her, there's all kinds of chickens, and I didn't know this. There's chickens that are good for laying eggs or chickens that make delicious soup. There's chickens that are so pretty you don't touch them.

I didn't even know that. So she says to me, what we're going to get is Buff Orping Tens. And I love that name, because it sounds like a frat guy, right? Hi. I'm Buff Orping Tens. And I love it. I love this. a frat guy, right? Hi. I'm Buff Orpington. You know, and I love it. I love this.

You know, you want to see my mom's Mercedes? No. So we find a farmer in Bellville, Michigan, which is about most people who have never been to Michigan don't understand. And it's OK. It's Detroit, and it's a city. But you're probably 15 to 20 minutes away

from farmland in any given minute. So we get outside the city and we get these birds. Now we're at the farmers and the idea is to get five chickens. Pretty sure we don't know what we're doing. We're expecting three to just die. Just because we don't know what we're doing. So we're going to kill three in general. And that'll leave us with two and two's enough.

So we get there and we're picking out these chicks and there these cute little blonde chicks. And they're making these peeping sounds and they're so cute. But I have this moment because I was raised in Detroit in the 70s and the 80s when it mattered. And I am, you know, power to the people, my people, black is beautiful. So I'm looking at these.

I'm like, I'm raising all these white birds in my backyard in Detroit. That seems insane. So I look in these chicks and they have black chicks. I didn't know they were black chickens. I didn't know. So I see this little black chicken, I'm like, yeah, we can get them little blonde chicks if you want to, but we're gonna get one black chick, yeah, right? So the farmer gives us five buff

orping tens and a plum with barred rock. Now it's time to outfit their warm space. So for those of you who don't know, now I've got to buy heating lamps. I'm buying heating lamps, and my wife is building all this weird construction in the middle of the living room, and we're buying organic feed, and it's costing lots of money. And I'm unprepared to be a farmer because I showed up at the Tractors Applied Company in a Honda element. The guy at the cash register looked at me, looked at my car and said, what are y'all doing?

And I said, we are raising chickens, sir. So we get them home and we get them all set up and the only people who are really interested in the chickens are the cats. The cats are like, ooh look, meals on wheels. And once we calm them down, we are now chicken parents. Now, it took a minute for them to stop looking like brooms that nobody had cleaned and to start actually being burned. So we finally moved them outside.

And my wife builds them a chicken coop. Another way that you know that we're unprepared to be chicken farmers is that my wife built their coop out of butcher block from IKEA. Their entire coop was built from the scrap section at IKEA. Their house was better than the house we were living in. So they're outside and here's, there's's a couple things that I don't know if you

know so I'm going to share them. Number one, chickens, one egg a day, six days, and then they cycle. They take a day off. Now, that's fine unless you have six chickens. And I don't know about you, but you can't give the eggs to the neighbors because the neighbors go from, oh, thank you for the eggs to, yo, where's my eggs in like a week? And no one wants to deal with that. So we are now eating eggs with everything.

I'm eating hard boiled eggs like Oreos. People are coming to the house and it's like, would you like a cup of tea and possibly an egg? Would you like a piece of tea and possibly an egg? Would you like a piece of pizza? Here's your pizza and an egg. Like we're eating more eggs than we can shake a stick at. Now, that egg thing was easily a problem. But then the birds became a little too much to handle.

And the day we knew they were too much to handle turned out to be a Sunday. Now, I wake up to this sound. And I say to my wife, what the hell was that? Here's something else they don't teach you on the Wikipedia. Chickens are natural lesbians. If there's no rooster around, one of them will butch up on you. So I look out into the backyard and on top of the Ikea chicken coop, who's up there, crawling at the sun? That's sister I bought. The buff orping tens are p-p-p-p-p, just having their own chicken time and that girl is up

there, aahhh! Just trying to bring the party. And that's when I looked at my wife and said, we gotta get rid of them. We can't keep them. Now, my wife was concerned that we were going to somehow get arrested or get a ticket. And I informed her that we were in Detroit, and the Detroit Police Department had a bigger fish to fry. That, like, we didn't make the list of the things

that Detroit Police Department had on their plate, but she was still concerned, and Natasha wasn't getting quieter. So, I found a woman north of the city who had her own flock of chickens, and we moved them. Here's another thing you need to know. It's easy to move chickens when they're asleep.

We didn't do that. I just found it. It was easier. 6 fully awake chickens in a dog kennel and the back of an element going down the road. That was easily a mistake. Well, we get to this woman's farm, and we release our chickens into her flock.

So a couple of things that we noticed. Number one, our chickens were huge because my wife let them eat whatever they wanted. Also our chickens were a little weird because my wife had decided that since they didn't have a mother, she would teach them how to scratch the ground and dig up worms. And the way they scratched the ground looked a lot like the way my wife scratched the ground, but nothing at all the way a chicken scratches the ground. So we dropped them off, and about two days later, the woman who has the flock calls us as says, what is the deal with these birds?

And we said, well, whatever do you mean? And she said, when I go for coffee in the morning, they come up on the porch and sit with me. I said, well, they used to do that with my wife while she was teaching them how to scratch for worms. And lady just hung up on me. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Dame Wilburn is a storyteller and artist. She's the chief marketing director for Twisted Willow's Soap Company and host of the podcast, Dame's Eglectic Brain. During the pandemic, Dame and her wife became chicken owners once again to see a photo of Dame and one of her newest chickens,

Waffles, go to themoth.org. While there you can call our pitchline and leave us a two-minute version of a story you'd like to tell. Do you have a story about a bird or cat or another animal? Please call us up and tell us about it. The number to call is 877-799-Moth, or you can pitch us your own story at themoth.org. Coming up, a scientist recounts her life with a very special parrot named Alex. That's when the Moth Radio Hour is produced by Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and presented by the Public Radio Exchange, PRX.org.

This is the Moth Radio Hour from PRX. I'm Katherine Burns. Up next, the last in this hour of bird stories. It was recorded more than 10 years ago in New York. Here's Irene Pepperberg live at the moment. Applause So it's 1970s and I'm getting my doctorate in theoretical chemistry from Harvard.

And I'm watching Nova programs on this groundbreaking work on training animals to communicate with humans, work on signing chimps and dolphin studies. And I decide, that's it, I've had this epiphany. I'm gonna change my whole field and do this work. And I'm gonna do it with a parrot. And a parrot's talk, they lived for a long time. I thought this was the most incredible idea in the world,

that I'd be part of this revolution. I finished the degree, I study up everything I can in the field, I write my grand proposal, I submit it thinking, yes, no. The reviewers come back asking me what I'm smoking. The last time parrots and humans were connected, unlike apes, where we're connected pretty closely genetically, 280 million years ago, big difference.

Parrots, unlike dolphins, they have this tiny brain, the size of a shell wallnut. But dolphins have this big brain, it makes sense to work with them, not with a parrot. Plus, I'm working with an animal that's a pet. How am I going to keep my scientific objectivity there? And plus, I'm not going to use the standard scientific techniques of the day, which means starve your animal to 80% of its normal body weight, stick it in a skinner box and go from there. No, no, I'm going to just talk to the bird. Yeah, right. But I'm really determined. I go out and I buy a parrot.

It's a gray parrot. That's the name of the species and the color. He's a gray. Different shades of gray. Bright red tail. It's about this big, weighs about a pound. I name him Alex for Avaian Learning Experiment. And so I start training him by giving him modeling system.

He's learning a couple of labels and I put in the grant proposal. And this time I'm really lucky. I have somebody on the panel who studies bird song, who recognizes the striking parallels between the development of vocal communication in birds and humans. So I get a grant for a year, and it was quite a roller coaster of a life. But at the beginning we started this work and in Alex's first 10 years he learned about oh, about 50 labels for objects. He learned to label seven colors.

He learned to label five shapes, two, three, four, five, and six cornered. He labeled different materials. He understood concepts so I could show him the object and I'd say Alex, you know, what's this? And he'd say block and I said good birdie and what color'd say, Alex, you know, what's this? And he'd say, block. And he's a good birdie. And what color, blue, and good boy, and what shape, for corner, and what matter, would.

And he combined these labels so he could identify 150 different things. This is a parrot, brain size of shell walnut. Could label about 150 different things. He learned concepts of bigger and smaller. So I could jump two things and say, what's color bigger, what color is smaller? And he tell me.

He learned, and this was really extraordinary, concept of same and different. So I could chump two things and not just tell me that they were same or different, but he could tell me what about them was same or different. So I say, what's same? And he tell me color, shape, matter, or none if nothing were same or different.

And this was pretty exciting work, and again, Alice was about 10 years old, and I'm invited to the International of Primateological Congress. This is a big deal. International Congress, I'm speaking in front of 1,000 people, and I'm the only person there who is not a primatologist. I am the one person who has been invited

to talk on comparative behavior. And I'm talking about a bird again, brain size of shell wall that to all these people are working with apes and orangutans and whatever. So I get up and I give my talk. And at the end of my talk, one of the silver, we call them the silver back males. One of the,

he, one of the senior primatologists gets up and I'm going, okay, here it comes, you know, I'm just going to get totally creamed. And he, you know, I'm just, well, you know, very, very interesting little study you did there. But you mean to tell me that your bird did something much more complicated than pre-max apes? And I'm to say, yeah, and backwards in and heels, you know, to be honest. But I say, no, and I smile, I say no, sir, you know, that's right, sir, he did. And I'm thinking, okay, and he says, oh, and he sits down. And I'm going, oh, I've done it, I've made it, you know, yay. But a couple of weeks earlier, I got this little letter from National Science Foundation

saying, you know what? It was a nice proposal, but we ran out of money, so no more funding. Some sitting there going, okay, how are we going to keep the lab going at this point? So we fast forward a little bit, and it was still very hard for me to get some recognition from colleagues, even with these successes. There was always the question of scientific objectivity, and I dealt with it by treating Alex like a colleague. And the way I would treat my students, you know, you work with them, you teach them as much as you can,

you respect them, but you draw a line between the way you interact with them and the way you interact with your own children, or the way you'd interact with your significant others, to keep that scientific objectivity. But we're doing okay. And again, by this time we're doing a lot of publicity, we're doing scientific American frontiers

and discovery channel and 48 hours. And Alex is about 15 and we get an invitation to do radio from the BBC. And by this time Alex's personality is really coming to a fore. Because he's learned not just to answer questions, but to label and to interact and ask me questions. And so now I'm thinking radio.

I could ask him anything. And I could say, yes, good boy, because they can't see what's going on. So I think, all right, how am I going to do this? I'm like, OK, so I start the program. And I say, OK, I'm holding an orange square piece of wood, and I'm going to ask Alex some questions. So you hear my heels, click, click, click, as I go into the room,

and I go, Alex, I'm going to ask you some questions, I'm going to do some work, and I go, Alex, what color? And little birdie voice, no, you tell me what shape. Oh, okay, Alex, it's four corner now. Can you tell me what color? Tell me what matter. Okay, Alex, it's four corner now. Can you tell me what color? Tell me what matter. Okay, Alex, it's wood. Can you tell me what color?

No, how many? Alex, there's one toy here. And you know, part of me again is going, oh, this is so cool. He's not just acting like a little robot. I mean, he's interacting with me. He's talking with me. The other part of me is going,

but they really want to hear him answer some questions. So I'm going, Alex, come on, what color? And he goes, no, tell me what shape. And I go, okay, Alex, time out. You're misbehaving and you hear my heels as I start to walk out the door, giving him a time out, and then comes the little birdie voice, I'm sorry, come here, orange.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. So obviously I treated Alex like a colleague but he didn't necessarily treat me like a colleague. We got to get the media lab at MIT. Big time. I'm hired for temporary position that could be extended to do use the bird as a model for intelligent learning systems. But once I'm there and I start looking at all the gizmos and whatever they have, I start developing for the sponsors, animal human communication systems to enrich the birds, lives, all these animals, interpet explore web browsers for parrots, things like that. And those of you who know the media lab know that the sponsors who have given us all this money to do these things come twice a year to see what we've done with their money.

Well word had gotten out that there was a live bird and they wanted to see Alex. And they come through in waves five to seven minutes. What we were doing was showing him refrigerator letters. The things you show your kids to have them sound out the letters in the hope that somewhere down the road he'd be able to like we could put the letters together And he could maybe sound out a label to see if he understood what these sounds meant. Okay So but he's at this very early stage and the task at this point we put all the letters on a tray They're different colors and then you know we ask Alex what color is you know, and he goes blue good birdie

One and that okay Alex you can't have a nut. We've only got these people for five minutes We ask Alex, what color is, and he goes blue, good birdie. One and that, okay Alex, you can't have a nut. We've only got these people for five minutes. You know, let's do another thing, okay. You know, what sound is green? Shhh, as H, good birdie. One and that, wait, wait. So we do this several times and each time

he's getting more and more upset because he's not getting his reward. And finally after about four or five times, he looks at me and goes, what not? N, uh, t. T. And in typical Alex, he's telling me,

stupid, do I have to spell it for you? But the other part of it is, you know, I'm thinking he's gone light years ahead of us, because nn, nt, we're on the tray. But ah, was not. So he had figured out himself how to split the words apart into the sounds and use them. So again, after all of these high points, you know, the media lab, gig falls apart. I'm actually on an employment for a while. I get a Radcliffe fellowship to help things through, but

to keep the lab going, I'm going to bird clubs every other weekend to literally to raise money. I have to raise $100,000 a year to keep the lab going. And it's getting more and more crazy and we're trying to figure out what's going on. And my colleagues at Harvard have this great idea that Alex has been so interactive and fun. Maybe we should start looking at how he sees the world literally. Can he do optical illusions? So we put together a grant and of course it's rejected the first time. We fix it up.

We resubmit it. And it's September 2000 and 2001, a little bit later that week, I'm sitting at my desk eating breakfast which I do. Emails are coming in from Europe and Japan, and one comes in from Europe. I talk has been funded. Yeah, yeah, okay. It's a big European consortium, millions of euros coming through for this. I'm a consultant, no real money, but they send me to Europe once a year to use Alex as

a model for intelligent learning systems. And I'm thinking, again, yes, justification of our work. We're on an upswing. I'm so excited. Get a second cup of coffee, sit down, and there's another email with the tag sad news from the head that it brandized with a bird's arc. And I opened this email, but it's not exactly

about a tag except that one found a dead parrot in the back left-hand corner of the room. And I freeze. And I'm going, this is not true, it can't be. I mean, this is a nightmare, right? I'm going to wake up. But I call Brandeis and no Alex has passed in the night. And I go into complete shock because this is a bird he's now 30 years old. We're supposed to have another 20 years here.

And I can't believe it. I mean, obviously, I'm not functioning. We're supposed to have another 20 years here. And I can't believe it. I mean, obviously, I'm not functioning. I kept a diary, but I can't, you know. It's hard to even talk about it now. But so over the weekend, friends come up. They drive from Washington to be there with me to make sure I'm fed, to roll me into bed.

So I won't sleep, but to get some rest. Other friends locally are taking care of me too. My board of directors from the foundation sets up in obituary because I can't, I mean, I'm just totally out of it. I'm walking into walls. And Monday morning comes and I call the Brandeis PR folks, the folks I've been working with for all these years, because every time Alex had done something cool, the media would pick

up on it and we do some interviews. So I call them and Laura, my friend there says, I'll let this out, but you know this is a bird. I mean it's not going to get any traction, but I'll put it out, I say fine, whatever. And by the time I drive the 40 minutes from my house to Brandeis, my cell phone is ringing off the hook. My lab manager's cell phone's ringing off the hook. The lab is phone is ringing off the hook.

We're at being asked for interviews all over the world. And I'm, you know, interview mode I can handle. I've done this for years. Pick up phone, you know, close eyes, answer questions as they come, hang up phone, take the, answer questions as they come, hang up phone, take the next interview, find that I can deal with. And I'm doing this for a week.

Meanwhile, emails are pouring in 3,000 to my own account. Boxes and boxes of letters are coming from people all over the world. Alex gets three articles in the New York Times and obituary in the economist. I mean, you know, yeah, and I'm still in total shock. It's just nothing's coming through. And finally I get this big box of letters, but there's a little box inside, and I open it up, and it's from grade school

class. And the week before Alex died, the teacher had brought her gray parrot into the classroom to teach the animal intelligence and conservation issues. And when the kids learned about Alex's death, they said they all wanted to write sympathy notes. So they all drew pictures of Alex and then little notes to me. And I'm opening one of these and it's from a little boy and he says, I know how you feel. My grandma died this summer and someday your heart will heal." And that's when all these barriers that I had put up to keep Alex on the other side of my emotions. So I could do the science. It came through that there wasn't going to be any more science. Alex was gone.

And all these emotions broke through, and I realized I had lost the most important being in my life. Thank you. Thank you. I'm reading Pepperburg is the president of the Alex Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to avian intelligence and conservation. She's been a research associate lecturer at Harvard where she studied the cognitive abilities of gray parrots. She has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals and is the author of the book, The

Alex Studies, and Alex & Me. To see photos of Irene and Alex, as well as a video of my parrot, Hamilton accidentally doing a front roll off our bed, go to themoth.org. Hey Hamilton, the bird hour is over. You want to say goodbye? That's it for this episode, so we hope you'll join us next time, and that's the bird story from The Moth. Your host for this hour was the Moths artistic director, Katherine Burns, who also directed the stories in the show.

The rest of the Moths directorial staff includes Sarah Haberman, Sarah Austin Janess, Jennifer Hickson, and Meg Bowles, production support from Emily Couch and Chloe Sammon. Special thanks to Kyle Gassett, Carolyn Hutchison and Rick Dildine. Most stories are true as remembered and affirmed by the storytellers, or theme music, by the Drift, other music in this hour from Blue Dot Sessions, Still I Can Symphony Net, Lewis Harden, Moon Dog, Carla Kstead, and Dan Rathburn. The Moth is produced for radio by me, Jay Allison, with Vicki Merrick at Atlantic Public Media in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.

This hour was produced with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Moth Radio Hour is presented by the Public Radio Exchange, PRX.org. For more about our podcast, for information on pitching us your own story, and everything else, go to our website, thomoth.org. you