As a media producer, I’ve spent a great deal of time helping other creative people “find their voice”.  I work to refine my own as well, but finding your voice is a freeing moment in creativity.  It’s the moment when, as a scholar, as a photographer, as a designer, and an author, you find the words that represent who you are, and not what others have put upon you.

An 8 week old hen pheasant, with others in the background

So if you are a pheasant chick, finding your voice means switching from the chick “cheep cheep cheep” to the cackle of a game bird.  This week, my birds began to find their voices.  I first heard it when I drove the truck by the pen — to be honest, I wasn’t sure if it was just the sound of an old truck, the the new found cackle of a young pheasant.  Tonight, I heard it again, and I suspect I’ll start hearing it regularly.

They are eight weeks old.