Wise as an... umm.. owl?
I work with a few intelligent humans, and a number of rather intelligent birds. Owls, however, are not usually in that grouping. Oh, yeah, they'd like us to think they're smart, but NOPE!
Today, during a talk about nocturnal animals, I brought out an Eastern Screech Owl. When an adult asked me how wise owls were, I kindly deflected the question and explained that owls rely more on instinct and adaptations for hunting compared to a more intelligent bird of prey, like a Harris Hawk. This led to a long, awkward series of questions from this adult, with which he hoped to quantify an owl's level of intelligence. And, of course, this is all happening with a group of 10 year olds sitting there, focusing more on the owl than whatever gibberish was coming out of my mouth.
Needless to say, once the adult asked me if owls could learn to "talk like parrots," I shut the discussion down and abruptly changed topics. If an owl ever spoke to me, I would more than likely crap my pants.
The moral of the story is... Who was the dumbest individual today: the owl or the human? Hmm. That's not really a moral. More like a poorly phrased question. Sigh.