The Non-Ordinary – Part I: Connecting With Animals - Great Blue

Great Blue Heron

In the not too distant past, 30,000 – 40,000 years ago or so, we humans were glorifying our relationship with wild animals using petroglyphs and other kinds of art on cave walls. Not only did this show tremendous artistic skills as described in the book Stepping-Stones: A Journey through the Ice Age Caves of the Dordogne by Christine Desdemaines-Hugon and Ian Tattersall, but it also provided an important insight into the enduring connection between humans and animals. That bond is still a significant part of being fully alive.

As writers, using our imagination is one of the primary ways we connect with the world, just as our expressive cave ancestors did. Our imagination allows us to embrace a whole cadre of possibilities that may include non-ordinary ways of thinking and seeing the world. Dreams, myths, connection with living beings outside of the human realm, these are all non-ordinary. And they are invitations into non-linear, trans-rational thinking.

The story of the girl and the Great Blue is a wonderful example of at least one way, and at least one level on which relationships and even friendships with animals may develop.

I was on the beach, Pensacola Beach, early in the morning last Winter. I love Winter at the beach, so stark and raw, so few people, so many creatures. I saw a girl far off down the shoreline. As I got closer I could hear her in a full-on conversation with someone. I didn’t see anyone with her and I supposed she was on the phone. I got closer yet, and realized she was not on the phone.

The wind was whipping around me and I couldn’t make out the words she was saying, but I could hear the indescript formations of sound and could see that she was quite animated. When I finally got opposite her I witnessed something I’ve never seen before or since. The girl on the beach was playing catch with a very large Great Blue Heron. They were both having the time of their lives. She had a small net with which she would hurl a sand crab up into the air and call out to the Great Blue alerting him to the incoming treasure. The Great Blue responded like a dog retrieving a stick.

How did this wild, undomesticated creature come to have that kind of interaction with the girl on the beach? It was clearly not their first encounter. Passing by them later, on my way back up the shoreline, I heard her call to him and he followed her over dunes and away from the shore.

I suppose it’s not all that difficult to teach animals in the wild. I suppose they will learn all kinds of rote behavior if the reward is consistent. And yet…can we teach them to respond to our laughing eyes or our familiar gestures, to follow us home, to love our company?

When was the last time you had a conversation with a “wild” animal?

Writing Prompt for the Week: Embracing the Non-ordinary