I had an interesting learning moment this morning. My parrot Rose and I were having breakfast and reading the newspaper. Our favorite is the New York Times Tuesday science section. It usually has an interesting or quirky animal article. We've learned a lot of entertaining and occasionally useful facts from it.

So we started a good column, but just then a movement from the woods in back of the house caught our eye. A single deer was browsing along the fence. Soon she was joined by a half dozen of her cohort; they were the usual offenders that have decimated our holly bushes over the last few winters. Undeterred by my dogs, they come right up to the house to eat foundation plantings and peer in the windows. Today they chewed thoughtfully on vinca, and I brought Birdie over to see them. One doe was just at the window, very alert, looking at me and the parrot perching on my arm. I looked at her for a while. The bird looked at her too, then up at me, then back at the deer. The three of us didn't move for a long time, all assessing the other species and trying to decide whether or not to make a break for it.

Eventually we all lost interest and I took the parrot upstairs for the morning hair dryer routine. She perches on a counter and I dry my hair, and blow her feathers out. She loves the warm air rushing over her, and I think she imagines herself back in a desert she never knew.

Later, downstairs, I finished the article the deer had interrupted. It regarded researchers that had taught honey bees to push a small ball to the center of a platform; for completing this task, they received a sugar treat. The most interesting part of the research was that this was a behavior that is totally foreign to the honey bee. Still, they would happily work at the job to get a snack. They learned fastest when mirroring a honey bee who had already been trained. One of the scientists described himself as a "small brain partisan" and indicated that there is much work to be done in understanding the functions and potential of insects and smaller animals. It's all very exciting stuff; they think they can teach honeybees to play soccer. Well, maybe that's not world-shaking for most people, but for those of us in the animal fields, it's pretty amazing.

So today before 7 a.m., my world was filled with a bunch of different species, interesting thoughts, and big dreams.

How did you start your day? And how did your pets start theirs?

Dr. Ellen Friedman is in general practice, with an interest in geriatric feline medicine, at Newburgh Veterinary Hospital and All Creatures Veterinary Hospital in New Paltz. Email her at newbvet@yahoo.com.