Life as a Parrot Mom
Oh, where to even begin, Ah how about with my first Parrot of course! Zozo the one who started it all, I decided to get Zozo as a companion animal for my Major Depressive Disorder and PTSD and Anxiety. I am so glad I did he got and still gets me through some really hard times. if you’re wondering yes, he talks and a LOT! he says “hi there” hi baby” '“what?” “Huh?” “who’s the birthday boy!” “Wanna see Mama” “OOOOh Myyy LoooRRD” '“Bye Bye” and so much more. he loves to preen my hair and whisper sweet nothings in my ear while he does, I never thought I would be so close with a bird but Zozo cheers me up when I’m sad and acts concerned like a human even tries to entertain me when I’m down, if any one asked if a parrot is a good companion I would say yes, but for the right people. now I say that because having a parrot is a lot of work as much as you benefit you have to put in twice as much especially in the beginning. I Started with Zozo and when the love of my life and I got together, he fell in love with my Zozo, but Zozo didn’t love him not at first but after some growling and beak punches at my Partner and consistent work he now loves him too. after a while me and my love decided to get a 2nd parrot and that brings me to Mr. Kevin. Kevin is the same breed as Zozo and is the complete opposite, which is very common all parrots have unique personalities and are unpredictable until adulthood, even then they can surprise you! I base most of my interactions by their body language mostly because this is how more birds show emotion than not; in some cases, some birds have a few tricks up their sleeves. Kevin in particular is one of those birds who is difficult to read he will lift his little birdie claw to step up and psych now he’s chomped right into your arm and laughing, while some days he steps up and is happy to be with you…. for a moment. So, we have two Amazons Zozo and Kevin, once they heard each other talk they bonded, and are now inseparable. so much that Kevin attacks if Zozo is interacted with without him being involved, even then Kevin is very typical of his breed and very much acts the part. in which case makes Zozo a type of one of a kind of bird with his unusually sweet personality. Which brings me to Lola the lilac crown Amazon, before we got Lola the previous owner thought it was a girl, however after a DNA test Lola is very much a male. So, Mr. Lola now well he’s an interesting bird, doesn’t talk, but sure knows a cat call, and will scream and whewww with you all day. Lola is definitely a female focused bird when it comes to humans, he’s literally obsessive over me following me around the office preening my pantlegs constantly and chases me to the door when I leave. But if my partner is even in the room while I am Lola will make it a point to become territorial over me and attack him at all costs and angles, but is completely sweet to me I can even remove the attacking bird and it will not turn on me, but my partner only when I am not here Lola secretly treats him the same as me, just until I walk in though because then it’s all over and back to attacking. no matter what we continue to work with Lola on this and have established fair boundaries for us all. it’s just a fact that birds all have very specific unique personalities and we cherish the diversity in our flock. Okay so we have introduced Zozo, Kevin, & Mr. Lola now let’s talk about Daisy, she’s a pretty little sun conure with an attitude, she knows she’s cute and likes to flaunt it when she can squawk enough to get your attention and she dances for you. she’s definitely a diva and can be a bit bossy with other birds but she’s fit perfectly in with our large parrots and few other buddies she has acquired since becoming a part of our flock. Which brings me to the two Green cheek conures Reptar and Chucky these two are probably the most excellent flyers of our flock they can almost hover, and are great at dive bombing! these two love Daisy and she loves them they have formed an unstoppable trio of conure bullies to the other birds if they get in their way, irony is that Mr. Lola is scared to death of them but pays no mind in taking on a full grown adult human, there is no logic with that one hahaha. So now we have Zozo, Kevin, Mr. Lola, Daisy, Reptar, & Chucky, and that brings me to Louie the Caique, he’s a goofy little fella and boy does he love hats! I tend to wear hats quite often so I’m constantly walking around or at my desk with Louie on my head. oh, but don’t try to remove him once he hath sat on top of hat or thou shall be chomped and screamed at. I did say he loves hats, right? he’s kind of a head/hat accessory in our house and when he thinks he’s accomplished some great feat like landing on my head or bullied back a conure he has his very own victory screech he proudly lets out for all to hear and its adorable even when he’s being a pain and won’t get off your head. his favorite things to chase and quite clumsily I might add is our two Budgies Piki who actually is an Albino and is almost blind, and Puff who is almost solid white with blue freckles on his belly. we got them at the same time because I saw a blind bird and couldn’t leave it behind but couldn’t just take one so both it was! Puff loves Piki so much it’s so sweet when Piki goes too far Puff will Marco Polo with him till he finds his way back, they are the best pair I could have put together, it is so sweet to listen to them talk and play. they recently made some big buddies of their own which brings me to our last two Gibbles the green ringneck and Ms. Lola (yes, we have two Lolas…) the blue ringneck though they are fairly new to our flock they are quite an amazing addition, Ms. Lola has taken in our budgies as her little cuddle buddies and preening pals, she’s very motherly to them and its downright adorable. while gibbles is a young male who really want Ms. Lolas heart she is reluctant to give in until its breeding season, so keep trying buddy! all that said we absolutely love my parrots, and my flock is a huge part of our family even grandma gets in on the spoiling and attention she even asks to birdie sit! since our flock seems to be always expanding am sure there will be more introductions to come! Check back for weekly stories about what our birds are up to and maybe if a new member has joined! thank you for your time reading this!
-AM
