2020-03-30 – Our dog Rebe makes squirrel sounds! Or that’s what we thought when we were walking her through the sculpture park yesterday.

Usually when she sees a squirrel, she just takes off running (at least till she reaches the end of the leash). This time she just stared at the squirrel and made a sort of soprano trilling sound. When we got back from the walk, I searched for squirrel sounds. Squirrel trilling sounds seem to be more basso profundo.

So, okay, Rebe doesn’t make squirrel sounds. But this was not a dog sound. We know dog sounds. This was not a dog sound.

Maybe it was a nut sound. Maybe Rebe thought she could impersonate a nut and lure the squirrel to her. Very clever.

A year ago, I was in an exercise class where the instructor was urging us to try moving meditations. She had in mind a kind of meditative state you can achieve while walking or running. Being a biker, I asked about that. One of the things she suggested was listening closely to sounds in the environment, especially if the sounds in your environment are other than traffic sounds.

Like wild animals. On my favorite routes, that mostly means birds—and, of course, squirrels.

I tried to put that in practice last year and it was very enjoyable. This year I thought it might be nice to learn to recognize some of the sounds. So I’ve started listening to bird calls. At this point, I am mystified as to how I will ever be able to tell them apart. But I figure that I’ll get it with time. And I’m planning to start with one bird at a time. The first is the robin.

Before you know it, I’ll be able to tell you who is who in the aviary just by sound. Unless my dog Rebe starts trying to imitate birds.

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