My love for birds must have begun when I was a child, but I just didn’t realize how much I liked them until much later in life. This is a picture of me when a wild bird landed on my hand to help me finish my toast one morning while we were camping. As a reminder, and for those maybe too young to remember, we used cameras back in the day, and didn’t keep them on us all the time like our phones. We had to “quick, go get the camera” and missed a lot of shots. My dad had to go in to the camper, find the camera, and come back out around in front of me to get the shot. That little bird stayed on my hand for several minutes.
The year my brother got baby chickens was the year I got parrots back into my life. He had 12 pullets that were ready to be introduced to the rest of the flock, and we were putting them in one evening at about dusk, when one of the girls actually climbed on my shoulder in the process of trying to get them all in the coop. That started it all. I hadn’t had a bird on my shoulder for 30+ years, not since my cockatiel George.
Where are there parrots I can visit?
These fond memories of George had me looking to see if I could find a store that had parrots that I could visit. Turns out, there actually is a store in the small town I live near. Yay me! My first visit there I saw various kinds of birds. It was amazing. There was an amazon parrot that didn’t like women, and she was out on top of the cages in the back. She saw me bending down and talking to another bird and she came over. I felt a beak hit my head, and I thought, what was that? There was another lady there and I asked her if Kiwi, the amazon, had just tried to bite me. She said she thought she did.
Having had a cockatiel, I was comfortable handling the smaller birds, but the mid to large sizes were intimidating. The first midsize parrot I held was an amazon named Echo. She was a sweetheart, and she would “protect” me from Kiwi.
There were seven birds that lived at the store, and I realized early on that those should be the birds I developed a relationship with, since the others would get homes. There were three green check conures, named Pepper, Skeeter and Rainy, one African gray named Coco, one quaker parrot named Gabby, and two caiques named Charlie and Ryder.
My new friends
The first bird to accept me was Charlie. He would always step up for me and play. Then one day after a couple months the owner told me Charlie was going to a new home. I was heartbroken, but it was good for Charlie. That day when I put him back in his cage I started tearing up. If you think animals are oblivious to how we feel then think again. He came to the front of the cage and hung on the side while I stroked his beak, and said goodbye. And he never moved. He didn’t try to chew my finger playfully, he just hung there, until I was done saying goodbye.
It was after that that Gabby the quaker parrot decided I was hers. She will get her own post. I will also dedicate a post Ryder, the other caique, one for Pepper, Skeeter and Rainy, the green check conures, and one for Coco the African gray. I’ll even tell you about Fred, the green winged macaw who is a bit neurotic and bit me twice. He has been available all the years I’ve been going in to visit the parrots, which I believe is getting close to four years now.
Why? you say
Why do I write about parrots when I am supposed to be talking about food, health, and simple living in an RV? Because they simply make me happy. They make me smile and are good for my health. It took me 50 years to realize that I am a bird person. I enjoy them. Bird people will understand, maybe not the rest, but I will make every effort to label and organize posts in such a way that those who are not interested can easily skip the birds stories to view what they are interested in, and those that do like the bird stories can easily find them and enjoy them.
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