C'mon Terry

 [Image from Pixabay]

When my son was a small toddler and I was at home we used to go to a nature centre over in the next town. Often I met my friend H there with her young son too and together we'd amble round with the boys looking at the animals. Over in one part were a series of large aviaries which housed a variety of birds which had needed to be hand reared and couldn't be released back into the wild. We always headed to our favourite...the shared enclosure with Merlin the crow who laughed like a small child and Terry the Raven.

Now Terry was something else. He'd look at you silently with those wise eyes and if you were lucky he might surprise you with a "hello Terry" or a "c'mon Terry"...a perfect imitation of the male warden who had brought him to the centre originally. It was quite a surprise the first time we heard it and it was sometime before my child could understand that not all birds can talk! I hadn't thought about Terry in a very long time, but was rather sad to learn that he had to be put down last week. However, he'd had a good innings and was 30. It's stirred up some lovely long forgotten memories for me though. I had to laugh as I caught up on Terry's story for the missing years....naughty people taught him to swear and he appears to have had excellent timing and produced his most choice language in front of the most inappropriate audiences. He was also heard to often shout "arse" and there are a handful of films on Youtube with him doing his party piece followed by lots of chuckling by his ardent fans! He'll be missed I think, but fondly remembered for his antics!

Arilx