'My son's first words are nearly all bird names. We give him a plastic duck when he lies on the change table, to try and distract him so he stays on his back, doesn't roll. One day we don't and he says, 'Duck, duck, duck'. The next week we are at the zoo, it is thirty-six degrees at 4Pm in the afternoon, we are regretting our choices until, walking through the wetland aviary, he points at the water: 'Duck, duck, duck' From there, we get `coco' for cockatoo, 'gaga' for galah, `bamingo' for flamingo, then goose, budgie, emu and peacock. Owl is said as in howl, like a bird struggling free from the throat of a wolf. ' (Introduction)