I had plans to meet a candidate for Brownsville’s City Commission today following a meeting he was having at the zoo.

It’s an American Kestrel named Kelsey!

It’s within walking distance of the office, so I had no qualms about making it a little easier on his schedule, but moreso I was hoping I could see some animals while I was there.

When I called to make sure we were still on, he said the meeting room he assumed we could discuss his campaign in was full of squawking birds and asked if I wanted to meet somewhere else where it would be a little quieter.

Yeah right.

I convinced him it was fine, stressing that I wanted to make things easier on him.

While he was finishing up the meeting I met the little guy pictured to the right, plus a handful of snakes thicker than my arm, a cockatiel, a little owl that had his head cocked to the side like he was trying to sleep and DID NOT appreciate all of the noise and some insects that I somehow doubt realized they weren’t on display, but on the menu.