Starting Out

Best Friends Elmo & Gigi

This is my first blog and first blog post. The long view is for this blog to become a well-organized, collaborative, welcoming repository and exchange of information and resources for people who are, or want to become, parrot parents. It is also intended to help raise awareness for the third or fourth (the jury is still out on which) most popular "pet" in the U.S., possibly the world -- the plucky, in more ways than one, precocious parrot.

I am the proud parent and friend to nine rescue parrots of varying sizes, ages, colors and creeds. They are, in order of adoption first to last:

Nanday conure Gigi, 6 years old
Gold Capped conure Elmo, 13 years old
Parakeet Lucy, 3 years old
Mitred conure Fred, 23 years old
Military macaw Theodore, 5 1/2 years old
Senegal Beaker, 9 years old
Blue Front amazon Callie, age unknown
Mealy amazon Fred, age unknown
Military macaw Aloisius, Allie for short, 14 years old

It all began with Gigi who I adopted from a family who felt they were not giving and could not give the future give her the attention she needed. I knew I was an animal person and a parrot seemed like fun which made me like most people who decide to take on a parrot. Enamoured, but clueless.

But I am super inquistive. So before I went and fetched her home, I researched - online, books, vets. I got a lot of good, but conflicting, info that dialed up the intrigue and effort to find out all I could. Living with a parrot didn't seem as straightforward as most pets, but I felt capable and challenged. I was determined to get it right and give this little nanday pumpkin the best ever.

I have since made numerous mistakes with Gigi and my other birds, and thank goodness, I've been forgiven. I've also learned perfection and parrots don't go together any which way you slice it.

I hope to share some of my shortcomings as well successes, and I invite others to post theirs. The hope is that this blog can help people and parrots live well together.