BIRDS!

No, St. Louisans, these aren't the BIRDS! that you're thinking of. These are parrots. Beautiful, intelligent birds who are incredibly misunderstood. I spent a day at Feathered Friends yesterday and learned a lot about the birds they care for (which isn't saying much, I've never been a huge fan of birds... not that I don't like them, I just haven't given them much thought I guess).

Things I've learned:

They form a really strong bond with their flock, and a bird who's been raised by humans considers his humans to be his flock. Charlie is a perfect example of this. Charlie's human left him for 2 weeks, and she was so stressed that she plucked most of her feathers out. She just couldn't recover from that, and ended up at Best Friends. She's definitely one of the rock stars of Feathered Friends. The picture on the left is Charlie, in her little sweater to keep her warm.

Birds are smart - really smart. They basically have the intelligence of a 3-5 year old child. This was demonstrated to me by Cody, and African Grey Parrot who kept asking me "what are you doing?" while I was washing dishes. Cody also asks "want some chicken?" -- although I didn't have the pleasure of hearing him say that. I would have loved it! I did hear him cough, and learned that his prior guardian had emphysema. The cough is something he learned to imitate, and now does because he gets attention when he coughs.

It's also hilarious how many birds do the classic construction worker whistle as you walk by. Who would think that a bird would care about getting a human's attention? But they obviously do, because over and over again, I heard birds who talked or whistled when I got near.

There are birds who like to snuggle! That was such a surprise to me, but sweet Charlie loves nothing better than for someone to pet her, and if you let her perch on your arm, she'll nuzzle your neck. It's so unexpected, and also so sad. Charlie doesn't seem to know that she's a bird.

I loved my day in the parrot house, and I came away from it feeling like these beautiful creatures should be left in the wild. Sweet Charlie wouldn't be missing her feathers if she hadn't been duped into believing that humans are part of her flock.