A Place to Perch

Sometimes all you need is a good place to perch. Some days it’s all rainy and cold and I can’t go outside in my carrier or sit by the open window and talk to the outside birds. Or I might get to thinking about my true love Quentie, who I had to leave behind in the city when my person and I came here to live. Or maybe my person forgets to give me my afternoon treat. Yep, some days can look pretty dreary, even to a bright green parrot like me. But then I notice the laundry rack right there in the middle of the living room just waiting to be perched on, so I fly to it and sit on the very top bar and stretch and preen and let out a few loud squawks, and the day starts looking pretty good. The right place to perch can really make a difference, don’t you think?

What happened to summer?

One day it’s all warm and sunny and I’m hanging out on the windowsill talking to the outside birds and going outside for walks in my carrier, and the next day it’s chilly and rainy and the window is shut tight and my carrier is nowhere to be seen. I don’t like being shut up inside on a gray, wet day like this. I sure hope the sun comes back tomorrow. Well, anyhow, at least I still have strawberries in my dish, so that’s something. And speaking of outside birds, those phoebes that built their nest right outside our kitchen window are gone. They just disappeared. Mrs. Phoebe sat on that nest for like a month and then one day we didn’t see her anymore. We still hear the phoebe pair calling “Phoebe! Phoebe!” out in our woods, but they’ve never come back to the nest. We started wondering what was inside it. Did the eggs just not hatch? Did the babies die? Finally, the other day my person took the nest down and we looked inside, and guess what we saw? Nothing. That’s right. Absolutely nothing. Poor Mrs. Phoebe hadn’t laid even one egg. Maybe she’ll try again next year.

The Joys of Summer

Imagine my delight when I peeked into my food dish this morning and found strawberries! Mmmmm, seedy! Now I know summer is really here.
Now that I have recovered from my fright of last week, I have ventured back onto the windowsill a few times to check out the outside birds, though it is a bit nerve wracking since there are always cars and trucks speeding by. But despite that I’ve had some good communication with the outside birds. They chirp and twitter and sing, and I chime in with squawks and beeps, and sometimes I throw in a “Pretty bird!” or two for good measure. We’ve had some interesting conversations.

Spoilsport

So I’m sitting on the windowsill this morning, enjoying the beautiful spring day and listening to the outside birds. There were phoebes, mourning doves, chickadees, dumb robins, a whole lot of different birds. It was quite a melodious bird conversation that was going on and I was trying to figure out what everyone was talking about, and contributing my two cents worth, too, when all of a sudden the house started to shake and there was a deep rumble in the distance that kept getting closer and closer and closer…then this giant truck comes roaring by. Well, that scary predatory thing sure had me squawking and flapping, and I flew right to the safety of my cage as fast as I could. Now I don’t know when I’ll feel safe enough to sit on the windowsill again. Sheesh. All it takes is one monster truck to spoil a good time.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Don’t you just love some things, while there other things that you can’t stand? Here are some things I really like:
walnuts
sunflower seeds
anything with seeds
head scratches
preening
dark corners
things that beep
baths
remote controls (love chewing those buttons)
laundry
watch straps
the cabinet where my food is kept
pencils
music

Then there are those things I can’t stand, mostly because they look predatory and need to be attacked:
dogs
cats
earphones
CDs and DVDs
the vacuum cleaner
the kitchen clock
hats
chairs when they move

What about you? What are your favorite things? What are some things you can’t stand?

Catbird

A catbird has been hanging out around the yard recently. He has a really nice voice. I enjoy listening to his calls, and sometimes I call back. I’m partial to catbirds because they’re good imitators, like parrots. They imitate other birds, frogs, machines, lots of different kinds of sounds. Me, I tend towards beeping sounds, like microwave ovens and telephones make. I don’t imitate other birds. But I like listening to the catbird do that. There’s one thing about catbirds I really can’t understand, though. They get their name from the mewing sound they often make. Why would any self-respecting bird make a sound like a cat?

Places to Hang Out

Do you have any favorite comfortable corners in your house where you like to hang out? My current favorite place is the shower curtain rod. It’s a great place to be because it’s so high up. We parrots tend to prefer high places because we always have to be watching out for predators. So the shower curtain rod is really good for that. The other thing I like about it is there’s some good stuff up there to chew – rings and the top edge of the curtain. Of course, as soon as my person sees me chewing on the curtain, she takes me down from there. She really cramps my style sometimes. Oh well. You gotta love her anyhow. What about you? Where do you like to hang out?