Talking to Birds

O’Cerebro>Triacastela

A couple of years ago I took a walk with my friend Jim Joerring. Jim is an all around great guy, and also into bird watching. I never really understood birdwatching, but I observed Jim on the hunt in Tar Hollow state park. It involved listening to the bird and trying to see the bird. Pretty obvious, but it gets better. Jim made short whistling noises and the bird would often reply. Jim repeated this process to triangulate the birds position and see it through his binoculars. As I remember it was some rare paisley mocking jay. I’ve since become a bit of a fan, and I often will call to birds on long walks if I hear them close by. I divide birds into the following categories: small birds that are mostly brown, small birds that are not brown, robins, crows, morning doves and herron.  I’ll try not to get too technical as I continue my story. 
I’ve been talking to birds quite a bit on the Camino, but today I had a unique experience. The trail had a low stone wall with a row of bushes, tall grasses and small trees buffering a large pasture. This is common in Galicia farm country, and a big hangout for birds. I was crunching along and I whistled to a unique chirp. The response back was loud and immediate. I stopped and repeated my three little whistles, scanning the tree branches. A louder response, this bird had some pipes. I paused for 30 seconds of gentle breeze. I called again and received an even louder and immediate response. I swear this time the bird put a subtle vibrato on its song. I don’t speak much Spanish, so it was hard to tell, but I think this bird was showing off for me. We repeated the exchange a couple more times, and then I saw the little bird (brownish variety) fly into the pasture. I continued down the trail with a big grin on my face.
Today was smooth sailing. 13 miles with a moderate descent across the last 3 miles. I was on the trail at 5:45, a little too early. I had to navigate by headlamp. Sunrise was set against high tension lines that hummed and ticked as gravel crunched under foot. Lots of livestock today. I recorded about 3 minutes of cowbells jangling. I wonder if the farmer purchase a tuned set for the herd. I was off the trial by noon and in a very spartan pension by 1:00. I’ve also snapped photos of all my food for the day, not including water on the trail. Note the “I don’t speak Spanish” plata del dia menu photo. Can’t wait for Sarria tomorrow!!!!