It's Winter

I woke up this morning to find a whole bunch of that scary white stuff all over the place outside. My person says it's just a dusting. Dusting or not, you won't see me going outside until everything is green again like my pretty feathers. And even then I might not go out much. I didn't go outside in my carrier a lot last summer. I mean, why do that when you have a nice cozy cage inside and food dish that's always full?

The Thankful Parrot

Well, it's that time of year again -- Thanksgiving -- and time for my annual thankful blog. This year, as always, I am thankful to be a parrot and not a turkey. I am thankful to have a comfortable cage and a food dish that always is filled with tasty things to eat. I am thankful for my daily seed treats. I am thankful to have a kind person who feeds me and pets me and gives me a seed treat every afternoon, even though sometimes she yells at me when I chew her things or bite her and even though sometimes she makes me stay in my cage when I don't want to be there and even though sometimes she goes out all day and leaves me alone at home and even though sometimes she uses that scary vacuum cleaner near my cage and even though sometimes she plays with predatory things like scissors that I have to protect her from, but I love her anyway.

Running with Scissors

My person has been playing with scissors a lot recently and it's really freaking me out. She doesn't seem to understand how predatory they are. Every time she picks up the scissors, I have to bite her ear and squawk at her to warn her that danger is near, but she doesn't get it. She just gets mad at me. Sheesh! I'm only trying to protect her. Then she just leaves the scissors lying there on the table, so I have to fly over and attack them. It sure takes a lot of work to protect my person from predators. I wish she would just put those mean scissors away for good.

A Parrot's Opinion

Sometimes in my capacity as a professional parrot I am asked to give my opinion on things pertaining to parrots. Recently, the Purina Company kindly sent me a bag of their new parrot food and asked me to write about it in my blog. They gave me the food, but the opinions expressed here are, as always, my own. We parrots may like to "parrot" things we hear, but I promise you my opinions are not "parroted" (in that sense of the term). Anyhow, I received a bag of Garden Recipe parrot food, for parrots and large conures (that's me!). I was very excited when I saw my person opening the bag as I knew it contained something tasty for me. I can recognize a bag of parrot food a mile away. I should explain that this is not the type of food I normally eat. My person feeds me pellets, fruit, and table food, so I am used to eating all kinds of people food, and I love it. But I am always up for checking out something new. I was excited to see what kind of new food the bag contained. It is a mixture of things, including pumpkin seeds, peanuts, dried fruit, dried corn, pellets, and things that look like Cheerios. And sunflower seeds. Sunflower seeds! My absolute favorite thing in the world to eat. I set to work right away picking out the sunflower seeds and eating them. When I had finished them all, I kept picking through the rest of the pile looking for more sunflower seeds and was very disappointed not to find anymore. So I just flew up to my person's shoulder and sat there forlornly. After eating the sunflower seeds, the rest of the mix just didn't interest me. Now, I know my tastes aren't the same as other parrots'. If you are a parrot who likes dried fruit (I never touch the stuff), dried corn, or those things that look like Cheerios, you'll find plenty to interest you in the Garden Recipe mix. Personally, I like pellets and even enjoy the occasional pumpkin seed, but if there are sunflower seeds around, why would I eat anything else? My person says that's why she doesn't feed me this type of mix. You want my opinion? I think that's mean. I don't mind if all that other stuff is there as long as I get to eat the sunflower seeds. But my person says I can only have those as an occasional treat. Humph! So I guess I'll be sticking to my usual diet and will only be seeing the Garden Recipe at treat time. I'll look forward to that.

Autumn

The first week of October is almost over, so I guess it really is autumn. Around here, that means that the summer chewing frenzy is long over and we're now well into molting season. The bottom of my cage is covered with little down feathers, and my body is covered with lots of pin feathers (the new feathers growing in). It certainly is an itchy experience! However, my person gives me frequent baths, and that helps. Autumn means winter is just around the corner and soon we'll be settling into a cozy season of listening to the furnace rumble and roar (the poor furnace was sick again a few weeks ago and had to have some surgery, but it seems to be feeling much better now, thank goodness), eating wild berry jam on toast, and watching the snow fall. I sure hope all my down feathers will have grown back by then!

The Latest Parrot Poetry

Ode to a Sunflower Seed
by Shadow

If you feel you have a need
For something tasty on which to feed,
I recommend a sunflower seed.

This tiny morsel fulfills all wishes
For something that's not only delicious
But also filled with things nutritious.
Sunflower seed!

Parrot Wisdom

I've been around for a while now -- 15 years on my last hatchday -- and I think it's time I shared some of what I've learned over the years. So, for all you younger parrots out there, here are some bits of wisdom to help you through life:
-- Whenever your person goes away, she always comes back.
-- You can count on finding fresh food in your food dish every day.
-- If you want to let your person know that you need or want something, a few nips usually does the trick. But don't nip too hard or your person will get mad.
-- People like to be preened.
-- Don't bother looking behind the mirror for the other bird; there's nobody there.
-- If you squawk pathetically while your wings are being cut, your person probably won't make you go through that again.
-- The tastiest books are the ones your person doesn't want you to chew.
-- The walnuts are kept on the top shelf in the refrigerator.
-- Squawk often and loud.
 OK, I think I've covered the most important points. If anyone else has any bits of parrot wisdom to add, let us know in the comments.