Don't hate her because she's beautiful

Ms. Brownlow's been requesting I put up pictures of my parents' other bird, Chara. So finally, here's the ones I took in March. If you missed it, here's the first posting about Philea.

My parents have two tropical birds: Philea the African Gray, and Charatimio the Amazon. They got Chara as company for Philea, but they don't care much for each other. Maybe cause of the continental divide in their genes.

[My usual disclaimer: DO NOT get a parrot, they absolutely should not be kept as "pets." Discourage anyone you know from getting one. They don't thrive in captivity for many reasons--which is why there are parrots rescues all over, just full of sick and injured birds. They also originate from illegal bird trafficking. They can be happy when cared for by people who take a lot of time out of their lives to care for them properly, but it's real work.]

Here's Chara sitting on one of her favorite perches.

Philea is the more intelligent-neurotic one. Curious about things, but less adventurous. She likes to be around people. Whereas Chara is more bird-esque. She's interested in other birds, and in lots of toys, and seeing the world. She's less adventurous with people, though.

Kitchen window perch, so she can hang with mommy with mommy's cleaning up their bowls and such for the night. She's got a little piece of something she's eating.

Their cages. Behind is their room. At night they go into the room, with their cages. They're not locked in, but there's a curtain blocking the doorway. They do go into their cages, or the room, if we're out or there's no one in the kitchen to watch them.

Philea's cage.

Chara's cage. She likes to just hang in there and nap sometimes.

Their "bedroom."

Chara's much more interested in all these toys. She likes to be chased across them too. "Auntie's gonna get you... auntie's gonna get you!"

Enjoying a nut.

Stepmommy had shown the birds some videos of other birds on her ipad. So one night when my dad pulled out his ipad, Chara was on the kitchen table and she was STARING at him. Til we figured out what she wanted.

Now watching bird videos every night is her tradition. Philea thinks it's ok, but Chara's very interested.

She touches the screen and makes her R2D2 noises. It's ridiculously adorable. I love her little peep peeps.

Playing on the stairs. Their wings are partly clipped so they can't fly everywhere. Birds are really destructive to your household. Not just furnishings, but walls and fridge linings, and baseboards etc.

Bath time!

Isn't she lovely? She's usually quite sweet and gentle. Except when she gets excited--then watch your fingers.

If you give her something to eat she likes to hold it. If it's in a spoon she'll take it from you.

Chara and The Mommy.

Beautiful colors!

Bitten by birdie-love

Sometimes I start writing a heavy deep post, and I mostly finish it, and by the time it needs editing I'm too tired. Which happened again tonight. This stuff is all piling up in Drafts.

So how about some pics instead?

This is Philea the African Grey. My parents' first bird was a lovebird named Agape, but she passed on a couple years ago. There's a third, but we'll look at her later.

Philea is a very smart, determined, excitable little parrot.

This is her cave, on the counter. You can't leave a glass on this counter cause she'll throw it on the floor. Actually you can't use glasses in general, she attacks them. Mugs are ok.

 Blurred head because she's dancing. She likes to dance.

 

Step-mommy dancing and singing with her.

She loves hot water but is only allowed 4 sips or else she'll vomit it.

Often when I make my tea she reasonably expects me to put the tap on for her.

Pregnant with bird.

My first Philea bite. I was alone with her and was slowly giving her time to get off a cupboard I was closing (long story) and she leapt! onto my thumb and dug her beak in real deep. I've now learned that when I want to distract her from something naughty, I put some milk in a spoon and tempt her away. (She likes to drink the milk from one's cereal. Coconut, rice, soy, any kind.)

This is the Father's lap. She is crazy about him. Likes to sit on his leg under the table and chill.

Playing Hide the Bird.

Playing on the stairs with Chara Timio (to be featured next time.)

She's dragged talking-Cookie-monster to her cave and is beating the crap out of him.

Scratches on the ruff of the neck.  She looks like an angel, and not like the bird who bit my ear the other week. (I was deciding which cereal to eat and she flew on my shoulder and, well, I guess she didn't approve my choice. She's been behaving since, though. Getting used to me.)

 

NOTE: Parrots are lovely, but they should NOT be kept as companion animals. The birds breeders use originate from the illegal trafficking in birds. 

They're used to living in large, noisy flocks, not little homes. They can live 60 + years (as African Greys do), they're ear-splittingly loud, they need a lot of attention, they need toys and stimulation and play, they do not poop in a litter box, they often destroy your home (if a beak can open a nut, imagine what else it can do!) they're messy eaters, and they have sharp beaks which some species are not afraid to use which makes it hard to leave them with a sitter. (See these posters here.)

For all these reasons, dozens of parrots end up in the local parrot refuge every year, many sick, injured, poorly cared for, lonely. They can be happy in captivity as my parents' birds are, but it takes WORK. And really the breeding and capturing of them should be stopped.