Birdies!

Our house is actually ruled by Tosca and Spike, our birds. From what I understand, Norm Abram is in the same situation, although he and his wife have a much larger number of “masters” to obey.

Tosca is an 8 year old Senegal Parrot. This breed, and its relatives, are very nice birds to be kept by in that they have most of the qualities that larger parrots exhibit in a more compact and “quieter” package. (But don’t think for even a moment that they are silent--they can knock your head off if they want to with some significant sound volume) Parrots are quite smart; many experts claim that they have the intelligence of a 3-4 year old child and the social skills of a 6 year old child. These smaller birds also live for 20-25 years. Think about that for a moment...the functional equivalent of a toddler in your house for over 20 years! And they're in charge...

Tosca’s speech ability is limited to one- and two-word phrases, such as “yum-yum”, “nite-nite”, etc. Her current favorite, however is, “Up”...as in, “Pick me up and take me where I want to go.” Birds, such as these, learn to associate words with actions. Naturally, they also learn to turn a command from their human host into a command to their human host. Now you know who’s boss...that's her corn on the cob, by the way...

Although Tosca has a very nice and spacious home (cage) of her very own, she prefers to think of the entire human house as her personal dominion and from time to time thinks nothing of walking about 50 feet from the eating area off the kitchen (where the cages are) to my office at the other end of the house--when I'm not being “attentive to her needs.” (her wings are clipped and she also never learned how to fly) She also pretends not to like showers, but in reality likes them so much, she takes a bath afterward.

Spike is an 13 year old Cockatiel who loves to whistle and chortle away. His personal interpretation of “Yankee Doodle” is quite impressive! He's not a talker, although he does make a sound that could be interpreted as “nite-nite” when it's bed time. He claims to be a very affectionate bird, although his personal version of affection is quite aggressive...it usually involves his pointy beak.

Spike’s hobbies include begging for millet and Cheerios, admiring that “other” Cockatiel in all his mirrors...as well as any other mirrors in the house... and flying onto Tosca’s cage...which is a very birdie dare-devil thing too do as her beak is much larger and more powerful than his. Unfortunately, Spike can fly even with his wings clipped, although the altitude drops quickly when his wingtips are short.

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