Pet Birds

Since about 1989, I've had pet birds. First there were two cockatiels:
The cockatiels were named Billie (for Billie Holiday) then Charlie (Parker).

Birds make great pets, particularly for apartment dwellers and anyone allergic to furry animals, like my wife is. It's amazing that an animal with a brain the size of a peanut can have such a personality (or any personality at all). For example, Billie was very sweet and affectionate, while Charlie was never as nice. Charlie, however, was much more musical than Billie (typical of male birds). He would whistle the theme music from Jeopardy and from Hawaii Five-0. Intermingled. Repeatedly. Starting at dawn.

The Grinch is our current bird. He's a domestically bred Meyer's parrot (poicephalus meyeri). Meyer's are the smallest species of true parrot, and are native to West Africa. They are known for their playfulness, acrobatics, quiet voice, and generally good disposition. The Grinch is fairly typical. He's always climbing around, and even eats upside-down sometimes. His claw-eye dexterity is amazing, and he often acts like a much larger parrot.

If you'd like to know more, you can send the Grinch e-mail!

Sometimes, the Grinch tries to make friends with other members of the animal kingdom. Not a good idea when you weigh 107 grams, and your visitors weigh about 100 pounds!

Human Care FAQ

A birds-eye view of human-care.

There's plenty of good bird information on the 'net. The regular members of the newsgroup rec.pets.birds try hard to keep a good, flame-free dialogue going.

There are a number of bird related web sites. Many of these are primarily pictures, but that's a lot of fun too. Two good sites are:

rec.pets.birds FAQ Page
Bird Care Info from Catherine Quiñones