Interpretive Context for St. Francis's Sermon to the Birds

There need external sources to help comprehend what St Francis meant. Normally, it is such a weird thing to converse with wild animals which won’t even reply. Any communication is expected to have message and feedback for it to be complete but for the case of St Francis and the birds, it is hard to understand how the communication was effective. By reading the text, it is hard to ascertain the intention of St Francis in his sermon to the birds given that he addresses them just like he would do to humans. He calls the birds “my little brothers and sisters. They in united efforts hunt for honey. From a theological perspective, it is understandable from the story of creation that God is the father of all creation.