A Parrot Still Life: Greenwing and Hyacinth Macaw Secondary Flight Feathers

Hyacinth Macaw (top) and Greenwing Macaw Secondary Flight Feathers.

Natural Light.

Greenwing Macaw (left) and Hyacinth Macaw Secondary Flight Feathers.

65 Watt Strobe Light.

Training Your Parrot: Showing Wings

Our parrots just love to show off their wings. No treats required! Note that our training is not food conditioned.

Ace of Spades: Deck of 54 War Criminal Playing Cards: George Dubya Bush

George Dubya Bush. Alcoholic draft-dodging lying war criminal Neocon stooge! What more is there to say?

WORST PRESIDENT IN HISTORY!

Murderer!

Iraqi body count now at 110,600 Iraqis killed, and counting, according to the government of Iraq.

Torturer!

And lied about it!

Stole the 2000 election. Engineered an illegal war on false pretenses. Subverted the Constitution of the United States. Depleted the treasury, and drove the economy into the toilet! If this doesn't fall under the definition of Traitor, I don't know what does.

And what is the punishment for sedition?

Waking Up Canadian

Our Most Prized Possession!

Today is a big day, but it's important to start with abit of Canadian history. It was the tradition of the old British Empire that when someone was born a subject of the empire, they never lost their subjecthood or citizenship. In fact, this was one of the causes of the War of 1812 between the United States and England, because the Brits considered captured U.S. sailors to still be British subjects, and therefore subject to serving in the British Navy.

The member states of the British Empire and the subsequent Commonwealth generally continued this practice. Unfortunately in 1947, the Canadian government upset the applecart, so to speak, with the passage of the Citizenship Act of 1947. This act stripped Canadian citizens of their citizenship, for among other things, having parents who moved out of Canada and naturalized their children in other countries such as the United States. The Citizenship Act of 1947 continued in force until 1977. Yours truly was one of the Canadian citizens by birth unfortunate to be born during this period to parents who almost immediately thereafter moved to the States.

However, everything changed today! We woke up as a bona fide Canadian citizen once again! A new Canadian law took effect on April 17, 2009 which restored Canadian citizenship to any person such as ourselves born in Canada between 1947 and 1977 and possessing a valid Canadian birth certificate, which we proudly do!

We are a proud Canuck once again!

Training Your Parrot: Parrot Pedicures

Nothing like having your nails done after a nice bath!

Our Flock: Our Guard Dog: Aboo

Aboo is a DNA-sexed male blue and gold macaw (Ara ararauna), hatched in October, 1999. Aboo was named for Aladdin's sidekick, the monkey, and does the name ever fit! Aboo never had a cage he could call his own home until he came to us in 2004. He lived the first three years of his life on a T-stand.

Aboo arguing over the Sunday paper with Princess Tara and Kid Kadra.

Aboo was severely mistreated before he came to us. By the time we rescued him, he was considered unmanagable and unhandleable. He would sit in his new cage and constantly repeat, in a very stern voice: Stop! Enough! I Mean It! Aboo! Now! What Did I Say! He would repeat these phrases over and over again. After each phrase he would grab his leg with his beak.

Aboo at the Ballard Farmers Market with a halter.

Aboo remains very skittish, and we need to put a halter on him when we take him out. We've already had to call the Ballard Tree Service twice to fish him out of the neighborhood trees! Aboo took to wearing his halter right away. He so wants to please, that he just sits on my knee, and let's me or my partner put the halter over his head.

This shows you how unmanageable and unhandleable Aboo is now!

Two of the best things to happen to Aboo were getting a cage that he could consider his own space, and meeting our first blue and gold macaw, Miss Bubba Boy. So far (fortunately) the two have shown no interest in mating, but Aboo clearly recognizes Bubba as the alpha bird in the house, and wants to cozy up to her. He's happiest sitting next to Bubba on Bubba's T-stand. But he frequently asks to be carried to his room and to his own house, where he loves to sit on his hanging rope ring and play with his toys. Because he's so skittish, he can't live next to a window, so his house is in one of the basement rooms. We call him our guard dog, because no one can walk past the house on the sidewalk without him raising an alert.

Training Your Parrot: Creating Your Own Indoor Rain Forest

It's Tough Being A Parrot: Part I

Our blue and gold macaw Aboo is molting.

Aboo dropped a 24 and 1/2 inch long tail feather today.

He's making room for a new tail feather rapidly coming in.

Just check out the size of the sheath protecting the new feather. How'd you like to have something that size sticking out of your rear end? Aboo was extremely uncooperative when we helped him remove the sheath. It was like he was being murdered or something!

Ethiopian Coffee Ritual

For those of you thinking of eventually joining me in the Church of Keffe, followers of the Prophet Khaldi, the discoverer of the Tree of Life, the Coffea Arabica, the church requires certain rituals, just as with any other church. With the Church of Keffe, it's the Ethiopian coffee ritual. The Seattle Times newspaper ran a delightful description of this ritual in its April 6, 2009 edition.