Right before hitting a grand slam, Joey Votto attempted to shoo a bird away that was interrupting the game

Joey Votto never ceases to amaze us. On Tuesday night, during the Reds' 9-5 win over the Tigers, Votto watched an impressive slider delivered by Matthew Boyd go right past him. And while that first-inning at-bat didn't pan out the way he wanted, he redeemed himself in the third with a grand slam. But not before having a small encounter with a bird.

In the bottom of the third with the bases loaded, Votto attempted to shoo an adorable little black bird away after the umpire called timeout -- he wasn't that successful. The bird wasn't being cooperative:

"I was going to scare it off, but I was like 'I didn't want PETA on me,'" Votto said in a postgame interview.
It appeared the bird was too comfortable with its surroundings -- it was hanging out in the outfield with Adam Duvall as well.
"He was hanging out a little bit," Duvall explained.

Votto wanted to be clear that we don't 100% know if this was a female or male bird -- and he made a good point asking Duvall. "How do we know it was a guy?"
He's right -- Votto's right.
During the grand slam, when Votto crossed the plate, he paid homage to the bird by flapping his wings:

"I shouldn't have done that, that was silly," Votto said. "I felt like I wanted to thank it in a way. You have to try and have fun and sometimes a bird gets involved and helps you out."