For the Love of Parrots

Ancient Hindu Proverb:

One day a man asked God: What is your love and what is my love?

God replied, son do you see the parrots flying in the sky?
That is my love...

And do you see the parrot caged in your house by you?
That is your love....

Wild Parrots Should Stay Wild!

The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who... looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space...
on the infinite highway of the air.
Wilbur Wright

Recently Audubon Magazine summarized the illegal parrot trade still ongoing today:

The business of exotic pets is poorly regulated and enormously profitable: Interpol values the illegal animal trade at $10 billion dollars, placing it just behind guns and drug trafficking in profitability. This illicit industry is believed to have contributed to the threatened status of 66 parrot species and the extinction of brilliant blue Spix’s Macaw.

At the least the illegal parrot trade threatens the biodiversity of parrot species, and at worst may result in the extinction of many parrot species within our lifetimes!

Mr. Cracker is a wild-caught Ruby macaw believed to be about 40 years old. Does Mr. Cracker dream of flight when he's flapping his wings in the house?

For too many parrots the gruesome reality of the companion parrot trade is a transport box at the hands of wildlife poachers with small chance of survival!

Wild parrots should stay wild! The best way to preserve wild populations of parrots is to halt the commercial breeding and sales of companion parrots. The companion parrot market only encourages the poaching of wild parrots. We have a simple credo when it comes to companion parrots:

Parrots: Don't Breed! Don't Buy! Adopt!

For me, the sight of a Parrot living alone, living in a cage, deprived of flight and miserably bored, breaks my heart. And the Parrot's too perhaps.

Dr. Jane Goodall.

Parrot Tattoo Boogaloo

The Famous Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Parrots Rock! We have a bunch of them. We don't mind parrot beaks. We're used to them. But we've never in our life had a tattoo. Fear of needles and other sharp implements. But to celebrate our sixtieth birthday in September, we've decided to get tattooed. With parrots. Of course. But not just a single parrot. A whole pandemonium of parrots!


We've been searching far and wide for the tattoo we like enough to actually sit and let a total stranger apply sharp implements to our skin. And where else but San Francisco's renowned North Beach tattoo emporium, the Tattoo Boogaloo! One of their artists, Deanna Wardin, created a tattoo inspired by the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, the Cherry-headed or Mitred Conures of San Francisco:

Artist: Deanna Wardin

We just love this tattoo! And fittingly, the same species of feral parrot, the Mitred Conures, can be found here in Seattle, in at least two different locations.

Mitred Conures Photographed in Seattle's Golden Gardens Park

Support your local invasive species!

Living With Parrots: Parrot Blogs

All parrot care should be this easy! Our male Blue and Gold macaw Aboo was abandoned because he was considered unmanageable and unhandleable!

As Patricia Sund of Parrot Nation says: Parrots are "one hell of a lot of work." Whether you have one parrot or an aviary, where do you go to find useful and up to date information regarding positive parrot care and training? As a service to conscientious parrot owners, we are attempting to compile in one place links to the best parrot people currently writing and blogging about parrot care and training. If we have overlooked any parrot writers and bloggers you know of and follow, please let us know so we can add them as well. There is also a community of parrot writers who blog about parrot and wildlife conservation, many affiliated with The World Parrot Trust. We will leave these writers and bloggers for a later blog post.

We'll start with the generalists, and then move on to the specialists:

Living With Parrots

Patricia Sund with two of her Congo African Grey parrots

Since we already quoted her, we'll start with Patricia Sund's Parrot Nation. Patricia Sund's blog encompasses the world of aviculture, and especially the part of the world in which she lives with three African grey parrots in her Florida home.

Shadow, Katherine Rawson's Nanday Conure

Katherine Rawson is a writer and blogger who lives with a Nanday conure, Shadow. Shadow's blog is The Parrot's Point of View. Katherine has published the picture book, If You Were a Parrot.

Betty Jean Craige's female Congo African Grey Cosmo

Betty Jean Craige is a professor at the University of Georgia who lives with a gregarious Congo African Grey parrot named Cosmo, who has published her own book, Conversations With Cosmo.

Rosie Red Bottom: A Comedian With Feathers

From Georgia we travel 6,000 miles across the continent to Alaska where a parrot writer named Donna Hart Mann lives with her Congo African Grey parrot named Rosie Red Bottom and a Cockatiel named Percy. Donna documents her life with Rosie and Percy in her blog African Grey Parrot. Donna recently published a book about Rosie, Rosie Red Bottom: A Comedian With Feathers.

Bryan Xie's Black Capped Conure Kacy

Even farther afield, we travel to Singapore where Bryan Xie lives with his three parrots, Kacy the Black Capped Conure, Kermit the Senegal, and Kiki, an African lovebird. Bryan blogs about life with his companion parrots, including their care and training, on his blog Bryan's Angels.

Coco, a cage free Yellow Crowned Amazon parrot

Robin Cherkas lives in Ashville, North Carolina where she writes the blog Living With Parrots Cage Free, documenting her life with her cage free Yellow Crowned Amazon parrot Coco. As Robin tells me, while she's touched on virtually every topic imaginable regarding parrots and parrot care, her blog's primary focus is simply living with a cage free parrot, the symbiotic relationship between parrot and companion, teaching both the parrot and companion behavior/life skills that promote this harmonious relationship and parrot empowerment.

Rebecca O'Connor with one of her flock mates

In addition to being a parrot person, Rebecca O'Connor is a conservationist, falconer, and writer who lives in Sacramento with her flock including Ty, an African Grey parrot, Bali, a Red-Bellied Parrot, Loki, a Senegal, as well as two falcons and a Brittany. Rebecca writes about her flock on her blog, Heckled by Parrots. Rebecca has documented her career in falconry in her recent memoir Lift: A Memoir. We await a sequel about her life with parrots!

No doubt we have overlooked many parrot bloggers. Please forward their names to us so they can be added. From the generalists we will turn to the specialists. A future blog post will focus on parrot writers blogging about parrot care, training, nutrition, and flying. Stay tuned!

Training Your Parrot To Wear A Halter

Most parrot training videos are tediously boring! The Zen Parrot takes a different approach to parrot training. Here our male Blue and Gold Macaw parrot Aboo shows the proper way to wear a parrot halter (in High Definition, of course):

Parrots Day Out at the Sunday Ballard Farmers Market

With the delightful weather this mid-May Sunday, our parrots wanted to get out and mingle with the crowds at the Sunday Ballard Farmers Market. Of course, knowing there was as almond croissant waiting there for them didn't hurt!

Another parrots day out at the Sunday Ballard Farmers Market with our Diva parrot Roxanne, and our Hyacinth macaw, Princess Tara:

The Ballard Rain Forest: Arua, Our Congo African Grey

Our female Congo African Grey parrot, Arua, thinks she's a conure:

Training Your Parrot: Flying Upside Down

What's more boring than a parrot that only flies right side up?

Denizens of the Ballard Rain Forest Close Up

Introducing the Ballard Rain Forest

Living With Flighted Parrots

None of our seven parrots have their wings clipped, and of the seven, only one (Roxanne the Greenwing macaw) is flightless.  Please see her blog entry below for a discussion of the reasons why. Our parrots generally live outside their cages (or houses as we call them) during the day when we are home. Fortunately, our lifestyle allows for someone to be home most of the time during the day.  Of course, if we're both out, the birds are generally, with some exceptions, moved into their houses for the duration.

When out, the birds are allowed to fly or scamper around as they wish. Some of the birds, such as the 'too and 'tiel are more inclined to fly than the others. The macaws, with the exception of Tara the Hyacinth macaw, generally prefer to walk or run to where they want to go. Before having birds, I could never have imagined how fast macaws can run when they are motivated! And then there's Tara. She's just as liable to fly as walk to her destination, and watch out if she decides to do a 180! It's like having a miniature B52 in your house!

Of course having flighted birds presents special challenges in keeping your birds, yourselves, and your house safe. Finding reliable information is difficult. Fortunately, a website has been established by the current president of the Northwest Exotic Bird Society, Mona Delgado, an experienced parrot person and long time flyer of parrots herself. The website includes links to other resources providing information about flying birds both indoors and outdoors.