Janet’s Portuguese Water Dogs Looking Ahead

We’re wrapping up what I referred to in an earlier post, “An Eventful Year.” Yes it was. And not just for me, but for the Avian Community and the world. Not all of it was positive. Not all of it was a step in the right direction. But the learning that went on even during the worst of times was a positive thing.

I always like to look forward to the coming year in hopes that it will be better as a result of what I have learned and experienced. I like to be able to say that I know more now than I did a year ago. And I hope you all can very safely say the same. But what can we as an Avian Community do to make things better? How do we improve our lives and the lives of our flocks? Susan Friedman has a quote that she placed on the bottom of her emails by W. Edwards Deming:

 “Learning is not compulsory…neither is survival.”

I love this quote and while I find it astute, I find it humorous as well.  Even in Susan’s emails, she is forever the teacher. But if you think about it, in order to survive, animals are constantly having to shift with their environment, to adapt to what is happening around them or they perish. We should really follow their lead because they’re the ones getting it right. We’re the ones who are constantly trying to bend things to suit us and our lifestyle. We really need to become more “Gumbyish.”

If we began the new year learning more about diet, behavior and training, general care and enrichment, this will not only improve the lives of our birds, but in turn, our lives as well. And God knows I’m all for upgrades!

I’m not one for making any resolutions but I am one for thinking about stuff I want to accomplish in the coming year. One thing I’d like to do is take the American Federation of Aviculture’s “Fundamentals of Aviculture” online class. I think it would be very enightening and I know I’d learn a ton.

I also want to get more writing done. But then, I always want to get more writing done. 

I want to get my office straightened up. It used to look great. Now? Not so much. And no I’m not posting a photo…

I want to try and save more money. I’m pretty tight with a buck now as it is, but I could probably get tighter. Unfortunately I’m ruing the day that I discovered the “Kindle App” for my iPad. Amazon has never sold so many books to anyone since I did that. I warn you, it’s addictive.

But more than anything, I really want to get ahold of my life and really live it. Yes, I do that now, just as most of us do. But I’d like to get some things moving in the right direction and that is going to take a chuck of time, something I usually don’t have much of. So, I’ll just have to crowbar it in somewhere.

More than anything, I want people in aviculture to learn more about feeding their birds well. That is my hope for next year. I fully support positive reinforcement training, foraging, enrichment, great health care and Vet visits.

But as I once explained my zeal to someone who asked why I was so interested and enthusiastic about bird diet, “You can’t train a deceased bird.”

There’s other things I want to learn, to improve upon, to get better at.

Or as the Mad Hatter said to Alice, “You used to be much more… ‘muchier.’ You’ve lost your muchness.”

http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/alice2a.html

I don’t want to lose my “muchness.” I simply want to be “Much more so.” Well, here’s to 2012 and “much more so.” May we all become “Muchier!”

http://www.alice-in-wonderland.net/alice2a.html

Steve Malowski with the Keas

You know, the more I think about this “Summit” jazz, the better I like it. I’m not looking at it as a particularly fun event because I have a feeling that people might be a little tense. There is a lot at stake here: Such as the future of the field of Aviculture.

While I would love to participate, I wouldn’t even begin to presume to doing so unless we needed a person representing: overworked bird people who barely have enough time to fix a meal for themselves because they’re too damned busy cleaning a cage and getting the damned dried mango off of the wall before they have to leave for work.

Hangin' with one of the "I's"

 Who I want to see there and what I would like them to discuss are just my opinion. Other people have made comments and added some really great ideas. But I’m sure that the people chosen to represent their field will do a bang-up job because they already will be armed with more information than I could possibly dig up.

I don’t know the facts and figures and I don’t have the data. Sometimes when I speak to people in the field, I’m amazed at the amount of information they have access to. I mean, some of it is really fascinating. And it’s incredible what you could do with this data. And there would be a few other problems with me participating. I’m not really an expert at anything. I am first and foremost, a writer and a blogger. I haven’t been in the field long enough to know the history of the field like other people. And besides, I’d probably do it better justice writing about it.

There are many people who are familiar with the issues and would know how to do this and be able to pinpoint what needs to be accomplished. I’m confident that with a group effort, we could cover a lot of ground in a short time.

Do I know a few things? Yup. But that was a result of literally thousands of hours of reading and participating in seminars and listening to the people who are experts.

If it wasn’t for Steve Malowski, I wouldn’t know how to band a penguin. I know that’s an odd, “for instance…” but I like the fact that I know how to do that. I’m not real sure knowing how to band a penguin is the most applicable piece of information in the day-to-day. I mean, it’s not like knowing how to do an oil change, but hey, what the hell…

My friend "Ze Bird"

This subject has been brought up frequently lately: What is our future? Where do we go from here? And what’s going to happen to the field? I think if we came to terms with some of the issues and began to at least try to work together, we might be able to improve the situation.

Now I may be naïve, but I am not so unsophisticated as to believe that “It’s all about the birds.” You know that we’ve had that discussion here before. That’s like believing that major airlines are all about providing you with safe, reliable transportation, friendly service, on time arrivals and never losing your bag. I know better because I’ve worked in the industry for almost 25 years and you know better because not one of you has ever not had a bag lost, a late arrival or a crabby agent.

Security! Security!

But unless we work some of this out, we’re pulling in opposite directions which only adds to the problem. While not knowing if this has ever been attempted before, and not knowing Thing 1 or even Thing 2 about event planning, I’m just throwing it out there and see if there is any interest.

So there you have it. My first post was a general posting about the whole deal. And this is simply a follow up  with a few more scratches on a somewhat empty white board. I have stated that I don’t have all of the answers and haven’t thought the entire thing out because, while I am aware of some of the issues at hand, I don’t know all of them. I wish I even knew how to frame this event up. And as I said, God knows I have no experience with event planning.

But I am confident that it is indeed possible to at least get some of the issues out on the table and come up with some workable solutions.

At least I hope so.

I have an idea. I would love to call an Avian Summit. This would be where all of the experts in the industry would be called together to have a meeting. At a round table. And the people there would talk about the state of the industry and what needs to be done to improve the situation, promote better good will between factions and maybe begin a dialogue on how to begin to work together a little more closely and fluidly. Not all of these people would agree on many of the subjects I’d like to see discussed. Some of their points of view are so diametrically opposed, it’s startling. Yet I think it would be a very valuable meeting and I believe a lot of good would come out of it. What I want to do is perhaps try and begin to have all of us on the same page to help the field become more united and moving toward the same goal: Keeping the interest in birds alive as well as the advancement of research, information and education.

In this particular post, I am neither agreeing with nor disagreeing with these people. I simply think they have their points of view and in my opinion, they would add a lot to a meeting of this type. I’m a writer. And doing what I do, I think my job is to write about the field as a whole, not necessarily just the things I personally prefer.

But who to ask? What would they talk about? Well, as you can imagine, I have a few ideas. And these are just off the top of my head. Perhaps I’m not accurate on this, but at least it’s the beginning of what I would hope could come to pass. This is not a complete list. It’s just a mind toy at this point. And I don’t have all the answers. This is not a complete list of individuals nor is it a complete list of topics. I have other ideas, other thoughts. And I would leave it to people far more knowledgable and up to date than me to arrange and design this summit. I can’t even imagine trying to schedule these people so they are able to all show up on the same date, in the same place, at the same time.

Most of these people I have met, know, communicate with or have heard them speak. And in the case of Dr. Brightsmith, we even danced together once.

May they all be wise and strong….

People I’d like to see sitting at the round table and why:

Dr. Susan Friedman (Behaviorworks) Behavior training helps everyone. I’ve known Susan for years. And I credit her for even getting me into this writing business.

Rick Jordan (Breeder) He maintains that the breeding aspect keeps the research funding going. And Rick makes me laugh!

Dr. Scott Echols (Avian Vet)  He knows a lot of bird people, he’s a DVM and he has a level head. Besides, he’s not hard to look at.

Dr. Irene Pepperberg (The Alex Foundation) Well, it’s the Alex Foundation. Enough said.

Donald Brightsmith (Tambopata Project) Conservationist, Scientist and great dancer.

Sybil Erden (The Oasis Sanctuary) The Oasis is strictly Sanctuary as opposed to rescue.

Marc Johnson (Foster Parrots) Rescue and Sanctuary. Also not hard to look at.

Jacque Johnson (Best Friends- Parrot Garden) Works at probably the largest the most economically stable rescue in the country. Really incredibly cool person.

Steve Malowski and Dave Oehler (Cincinnati Zoo)  They’re Zoo Guys. They have their points of view as well. It would also be cool to sit down and have a beer with Steve again.

Mark Hagen and Melanie Allen (Hagen Pet Foods) Manufacturer and funders of HARI. Besides, they both make me laugh.

Laney Rickman (Bird Endowment) Conservationist AND Breeder. Great lady!

Ann Brooks (Phoenix Landing) Successful Adoption and Education Organization. Another great lady!

Irena Schulz (Bird Lovers Only Rescue) Rescue and well known for “Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo” and the marketing involved. Ditto!

NPRPF Reps (Houston Parrot Festival) Successful marketers of an annual event.

The World Parrot Trust. They’re the freakin’ World Parrot Trust for cripes sake. I don’t think I need another reason.

 It would be a long road, but an interesting one and certainly enlightening. Now, what would they talk about? Well, how about these topics for starters? You might have ideas on what could be discussed, but this is just a start:

“Breeders and Rescuers” (Can we get our act together please?)

“Sanctuary, Rescue and Adoption” (Can we get our act together please?)

“Would Aviculture Survive Without Breeding?” (Or: Is the end of breeding a return to poaching?)

“Exploring the Possibility of a National Directory and Database” (Database of Rescued birds, Sanctuaried Birds, and the exchange of birds for placement, rescue and sanctuary)

“Conservation: Involving the Civilian Bird Owner in the Conservation Effort”

“Zoos: Education, Infotainment and the involvement of Zoos in all areas of Aviculture”

Will it come to pass? I’d certainly like to think so. As I stated before, these are simply some pretty broad strokes I’ve painted here with a very big brush. I didn’t sweat over the details because I can’t think of everything. It’s just a taste; a glimpse of something I would very much like to see happen. And maybe someday, it will.

]]> http://parrotnation.com/2011/09/17/the-summit/feed/ 26 parrotnation Painted image Owl long road http://parrotnation.com/2011/04/01/finding-family/ http://parrotnation.com/2011/04/01/finding-family/#comments Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:04:49 +0000 Patricia Sund http://parrotnation.com/?p=4839 ]]>

The inspiration for this piece is from the film, Finding Forrester.  I love this film because it’s about writing, and involves typing, talking and ideas. At the end of the film, the “J.D. Salingeresque”  character, writer William Forrester delivers the essay “Losing Family” to a classroom of students written by one of their classmates. The film dissolves the middle of the piece and we never hear the entire essay, but the beginning and end are poignant, touching and gripped my heart. It also didn’t hurt that Sean Connery played Forrester and was reading the piece written by the character, sixteen year-old Jamal Wallace. I decided to fill in the middle. My words complete what I think it might mean.

“Finding Family”

By Patricia Sund

Losing Family.

“Losing family obliges us to find our family. Not always the family that is our blood, but the family that can become our blood. Should we have the wisdom to open our door to this new family, we will find that the wishes we had for the father, who once guided us and for the brother, who once inspired us…”

…are not merely wishes at all.  A family is not what you always imagine it will be. It isn’t the Norman Rockwell painting emblazoned in the minds of so many who’s memories of their own family get-togethers  depict the quaint “New England” quality that Rockwell so beautifully depicted.  We didn’t all have that picture postcard in our lives. And if we did, not all of us have the luxury of repeating the experience.

We begin with pure hearts, high ideals, and huge aspirations. We want to have the word by the tail. And at age twenty-two, we have the energy. It seems that at twenty-two, anything is possible. We are inspired and it seems we have all the time in the world.  There are now many different types of families. As you might know and perhaps have experienced, not all families are completely human. Not all of us know what we want in life at the outset of adulthood. This responsibility and  capability of “knowing” what you are to do and really want to do with your life doesn’t always occur to so many of us at such an early age.

Then comes the process of elimination. We may not know what we want to do, but perhaps we know at this point what we don’t want in our lives.

Life has a strange way of sometimes choosing for you. You end up in a place purely by a series of choices. You choose to live somewhere and that life unfolds. You choose to do something and suddenly, things in your life begin to change. You make an arbitrary decision and it alters the course of your life.

Deciding what you don’t want has the same effect. I didn’t want to live in tract house out in the suburbs somewhere, married and with children. I couldn’t have done that. I admire the people who look to that as their goal because, to me, it seems so hard. It seemed so selfless and grinding. I just couldn’t have imagined that as a life for me.

And yet, it appeared to me that so many people chose that lot in life because they thought it would be the easier, more predictable way of living. I think many choose that because they didn’t realize that they have a choice. This astounds me. I never understood why it might not have occurred to them they could have selected a different road and chosen an alternate way to travel through life.

I suppose if you knew me or have even met me, you’d understand that the life chosen by so many others, meant that it was not for me. In choosing my road in life, I “took the one less traveled by.”

Because of this choice, my family has come to me. They too, ended up on the rockier, more slippery slope.

Life sometimes chooses for you. My family is not of my blood, and not entirely of my species, but I view them as my clan. My tribe. My troop. My fraternity. It includes people, birds and a dog and it is indeed where I am grounded. Spiritual writer Denise Linn has observed: “My old Chinese teacher used to say that a person will draw to himself those who want what he has to offer. So, whatever your level of ability, whoever comes to you, knows within his higher self what you have to offer. And what you have to offer is what that person needs at that time.”

My family, and perhaps yours, is one of your own destiny and of your own making. It defies species, relations and arbitrary obligations. It is, indeed what life has offered and what you have accepted and embraced. It is not bound by the traditional meaning of “Family.”  You are not connected by blood, relation, obligation, or any other prerequisite to form what is important and meaningful to you. It doesn’t matter that it might be incomprehensible to others.

FORRESTER: Do you know what people are most afraid of?

JAMAL: What?

FORRESTER: What they don’t understand. And when we don’t understand we turn to our assumptions.

Deciding  what to do with the time you are allotted in life is a challenge. Best you do what is in your heart; even if it takes you down the mossier path. I have found that while that path is sometimes rockier, more difficult, and tougher to navigate, in the end you might find the family that you truly belong to and in turn belongs to you. We chose this path because our family spoke to us along the way and it was often in the form of a bird’s call, a dog’s bark, or a friend’s request for company. That beckoning might be a door opening to your family. It may not be traditional, but it is what we are and what we chose.Accept this group, or clan that you have and respect it for what it is: Your Family. It may not be what others perceive as family. But then, they didn’t choose the same road.  The limits in their choices are not yours. Live and celebrate your choice. Respect the road you chose.

By taking that road, you have made the decision to choose how to live and who to love as opposed to accepting what has been given to you by merely being born. It is the dignity of choice that makes all the difference. And the gift of choosing your family is the ultimate bestowal. Treat them well.

“… The only thing left to say will be: “I wish I had seen this, or I wish I had done that, or I wish…

Most of you are too young to know what your wishes will be. But when I read these words…words of hope, dreams, I realize that the one wish that was granted to me, so late in life was the gift of friendship.”

Preparing Yourself For Getting a Bird

(Inspired by Amy Lawrence)

Thinking about getting your first bird? This thirteen-step guide will emotionally and physically prepare you for what it’s like to live with one. If you follow this, you will have a fairly good idea what it’s like to have one of these lovely creatures in your house.

Take a big bite of carrot. Chew it up well, but don’t swallow it. Now go out to your dining room and spew it all over the wall. Leave it there until it dries. Get a sponge and a scraper and scrape it off the wall. Repeat at least three times a week.

Go to the bird supply store. Buy everything you need for the month. Then with the leftover money, go to the grocery store and pick up a five pound box of macaroni, some parmesan cheese and some margarine. This should last you about two weeks and it’s about all you’ll be able to afford after all that money you spent at the bird supply store.

Take a newspaper to the bird supply store. Place it in the bottom of an empty bird cage. Read it while it’s laying on the bottom of the grate. This is how you will be reading the newspaper from now on.

Get some pelleted diet, some chopped up vegetables, borrow some bird poop from the bird supply store, (They’ll look at you funny but they probably won’t charge you for it.) some parrot feathers, pieces of bird toy parts, some wood chips and some almond shells. Combine in a one gallon container. Throw some of it on the floor. Now clean it up. Throw more of it on the floor. Now clean it up. Repeat at least twice a day.

Get a screwdriver from your tool kit. Make some gouges in the paint on the wall. And while you’re at it, use it to rip one of your lamp shades and smack up a couple of picture frames.

Make sure you know the meaning of all of these terms: Cloaca, preen gland, PDD, PBFD, choanal papillae, calcium to phosphorus ratio, polyomavirus, E.N.D. and boing. This involves a lot of research so get some reading glasses while you’re at it.

Measure out a cup of flour and place in a sifter. Move about your house and lightly coat all surfaces with the flour. Now dust all the surfaces. Repeat at least three times a week.

Get a copy of a wild parrot DVD. Place in the your DVD player and turn the volume up to full blast. Repeat at least three times a day for 15 minutes.

Take some of that bird poop you borrowed from the bird supply store and place it on a spatula. Now reach over your shoulder with the spatula and rub the bird poop on the back of your shirt. Let dry and then go grocery shopping. Count the number of people who either stare at you or tell you that you have bird poop on your back.

Do a little dumpster diving and collect odd items like water bottle caps, pieces of raffia, tree branches from bird safe trees, pieces of cardboard and old plastic clothesline. With these items, attempt to make an interesting toy. You have 8 minutes. You may begin.

Set the timer on your TV and DVD player for 6 a.m. with the volume turned all the way up so that the Wild parrot DVD starts playing the next morning. Repeat every morning for the rest of your life.

Get some bed sheets. Now take that screwdriver and make various beak-shaped holes in them. Take some of that bird poop and smear it on the sheets. Launder and repeat at least twice a month.

Find a reputable bird Vet and make his car payment for him. Repeat at least once a year for each bird you intend to get.

Do these exercises for as long as you can. If you can keep this up for at least 6 months without losing your mind, you just might be ready for a parrot.

This is Not Me.

You might know me from Facebook. You might know me from “BIRD TALK Magazine.” You also might know me from grade school. (Hi Sandy…)  As a result of all of the above I’ve met some amazing people. Some are internet friends and a few have made an impact on me. Beth Ferguson is one of them.

Beth, the Evil Facebook Poster

I have never spoken to Beth. We have emailed a few times when she had a couple questions about her African Grey.  But the one thing that has stood out about Beth is she puts an entirely new twist on sarcasm.

She is passionate about saving animals and I think sometimes she feels physical pain about some of the stories of homeless animals and cruelty in the world. But she keeps on trucking and posting photos and bios of homeless animals in hopes that they find a home. But she balances these dark postings with a sprinkling of self-deprecating humor and raises evil to a new level. She is a bird person as well as an all-around animal person. She has an African Grey named “Obi” and a Greencheeked Conure named “Little Guy.”  And of course Beth has dogs! There is a Chihuahua she calls Woo Woo, her Shih Tzu mix, Lucy and a Brussels Griffon mix she named Bucky.

Beth’s Facebook posts are twisted and yet I find them very refreshing and I hope she never stops writing them. If she ever decides to get into writing she’ll probably give a few people a run for their money. And I can guarantee they won’t be children’s books.

These are just a few of her posts:

Beth on the Holidays:

“This Thanksgiving I Am Thankful For Serial Killers,..For Without Them, There Would Be More People.”

“Its Time To Strap On My “Santa’s Fake & Your Parents Are Idiots” Sign & Head To Chuckie Cheese To See All The Kiddies!”

Beth’s view on Hip Hop music:

“Sadly, I Have Lost All Hearing. Eminem Came On The Radio While I Was Painting The Kitchen & I Had No Other Choice But To Jam Corn On The Cob Holders Into My Eardrums. I Do Know A Little Sign Language, …But It Only Involves My Middle Finger.”

Beth on painting her walls:

“I Would Like To Send A Special Thank You To The Gnats. Your Little Corpses Have Added A Wonderful Finish To My Paint.”

Beth on snacking:

“Man..I Am FULL ! Those Paint Chips Were Delicious!”

Beth on shoulder pads:

“What’s Up With Shoulder Pads? I’ve Never Seen Any Shoulderless People……What The Hell Purpose Do They Serve Besides Making You Look Like An Idiot With Shoulder Pads On? I Prefer Not Looking Like A Linebacker.”

Beth on Church:

“*YAWN* Im Still A Little Groggy From My Nap At Church. Happy To Get One In Though…”

Beth on Naps:

“Ready For A Nap! Time To Tape, & Tie Up The Kids!”

Beth on shoes:

“Wonders…..Why Is There Always One Shoe On The Side Of The Road?….& Where The Hell Is The Other One?!”

(Actually, I’ve always wondered about this myself.)

Beth on walking her dog:

“Thanks To My Dogs Eating Crayons,… My Poop Scooping Experience Was Much More Interesting Today.”

Beth on saying “Goodnight:

“Time To Rest My Abnormal Brain! Goodnight Everybody! ♥”

There is a blog out in cyberspace called “Stuff White People Like.” No need to be uncomfortable, it is indeed a real blog right here on WordPress, but  I don’t write the thing.

However, being a Caucasian from the Midwest, there are, umm, certain items that we supposedly like; such as the TV series, “Mad Men,” Asian fusion food, expensive sandwiches, dogs, sushi, pretending to enjoy classical music, kitchen gadgets and finally, Apple Products. And there are more. So many in fact, that they got a book deal.

Oh, about the Apple Products thing. I have to say they have me pegged on that one. The “Stuff White People Like  Blog” (SWPL) states,

“Plain and simple, white people don’t just like Apple, they love and need Apple to operate.”

Okay, so I’ve been reduced to a cultural stereotype. No matter. I thought this was a fun, interesting idea.

Let’s see if we can come up with a list of  ”Stuff Bird People Like.”

#1 Getting their photo taken with an uncommon species of bird.

Now we’re all this way, aren’t we? Well, maybe not everyone but I’m absolutely nuts about that sort of thing. But then, I have a tendency to take it a bit further and don’t want just the photograph, I need to actually work with them, feed them, clean up after them, do research about them, photograph them and write about them until I am safely able to state, “Penguins? Well, I can tell you from experience that you would not want to get crapped on by a penguin. Want to see my penguin bite scar?” I call this “volunteering,” which in reality is really hard work. I also call this “writing,” and “learning.” But what it really comes down to is getting to hold a penguin. Yes, I uproot my life for weeks at a time so I get to do cheesy stuff like hold a penguin and walk a pig. (See “Piggy Paradise” if you don’t know what I’m talking about here.)

But I think we’re all guilty of that. So much so that I have seen bird handlers go to heavily populated areas such as a beach or a park with their exotic birds and charge people to get their photos taken with their birds.

May I point out that these people never have five or six Budgies or Lovebirds you can pose with. Personally, I think that would be hilarious! “Want to pose with my parrotlets?” (And yes, the exclamation point is mine.)

No, it’s always the big guys: The Blue and Golds, Hyacinths, Green Wings and Scarlets; photos of you with the giants so you can impress your friends with your daring feat of having a macaw perch on your shoulder while you smile as though you just won the lottery.

I think it makes the person whose photo was taken feel  different from the rest of the average bird owners. Maybe we feel that the “Average Joe Bird Owner” doesn’t know the joys of having handled such an exotic species and it sets us apart from the average bird owner who hasn’t had the opportunity to experience such a moment. (At least in their mind.)

But then, you’ll run into someone who will see the photograph and say, “Big deal! I have 3 of them in my living room.” which then blows your entire feeling of having experienced this “unique” moment to smithereens.

All I know is that I really like being introduced to different species of animals and getting my photo taken with them. And that’s why this is #1 on the “Stuff Bird People Like” list.

Can someone tell me why this is so? Because I just can’t figure it out, even though I am guilty of the same proclivity.

Stay tuned for “Stuff Bird People Like #2.”

African Greys have a very lofty reputation. They are considered to be not only one of the best communicators in the animal kingdom, but one of the most intelligent.

The majority of them either talk their little feathered noggins off or they are busy attempting to get you to pick up the telephone when no one has called. However, other birds are capable of this as well.

I believe the distinction between Greys and other types of verbally gifted birds is the fact that African Greys are like the old E.F. Hutton TV. Commercial:

“When Greys speak, we listen.”

Parker & Lisa

I’m convinced that the attention grabber with Greys is not how much they talk, but the content of their speech. They have an astounding ability to utter that plate-dropping comment at the right instant or make a flawless sound effect at an appropriate (or hilariously inappropriate) moment. At times, they can come up with a novel word or phrase combination that makes you wonder precisely who your little guy has been spending time with when you aren’t around. (Little parties he throws for the neighbors while you’re at the supermarket perhaps?) It’s that edgy, “smarty-pants” air they possess that simply slays me. It appears as though they know just what to say at just the right moment.

I believe the African Grey’s actual ability lies in observing the world around him.  Our birds are constantly watching what we do even when we aren’t paying attention to our own behavior. They know us better than we know them, and possibly better than we know ourselves. They can sense our emotions and reactions to a myriad of situations. By observing what moves us, they can encourage us respond to them. In other words: they know how to push our buttons.

Are they better talkers? I would have to say, “maybe”.

However, I can’t imagine that there is a parrot with better ability to listen, learn and observe precisely who we are and what makes us tick. Their verbal excellence might not be how much they talk, but what they say, and when they say it.

I just got a new gig, and I’m not minding it at all. It is, after all, writing in some form, and I learn all sorts of new things.

Bird Talk has a website called “Bird Channel.” It’s a big site with a lot to offer and a ton of information. One of the features under a top tab on the home page is labeled, “Fun and Games.”  That is where my little corner which contains the Quizzes is located. I’m now writing them and one of the things I try to do is make them fun and interesting.

I’m unsure who wrote the quizzes before, but they did a great job and I learned some new things about birds by taking them. But as things move on in the publishing industry, the staff out at Bow Tie Inc. probably got snowed under with work and gave them to me to write. I couldn’t be happier.

At first, I was a little concerned because I have to write one quiz a week. Bird Channel changes them out that often, or at least they plan to. I loathe deadlines and have always tried to get my stuff in earlier than required. My columns for “Memo to Parker and Pepper” has been filed until the end of the year, and I have enough columns banked to get me through November of 2011. (I hate sweating it out and the only pressure I like to work under is the pressure I create for myself.)

So naturally, when I took this responsibility on, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to scrape up enough ideas and information to actually get the job done every week.

“Well, that sounds easy!” (Okay, which one of you said that?)

Oh sure! It sounds easy enough. Just find some basic facts; some scientific or interesting aspect of Aviculture and create a quiz around that information. Try it and you’ll see that it’s not as easy as it looks.

Well, once you get past diet, the different species quizzes, trivia quizzes and the obvious stuff, you’re not left with much. This, my Gentle Readers, is where the creativity comes in.

So when I took a look at what was already written, I used a fresh approach. (Read: smarty-pants approach…) I chose to take a concept or idea which is the base of the quiz and I didn’t make it entirely about birds. For instance, I wrote a quiz titled “Wish Bones.” Only two of the questions are actually about the “wish bone” in a bird. The rest are just fun, but they apply to the words “wish bone.”

Some of the wrong answers in my quizzes are more fun than the right ones and while I want people to learn from them, I also want them to have fun and occasionally get a laugh while taking them. For instance, one of the quiz questions asks about what a bird’s diet needs more of in a particular situation. One of the wrong answers for this  as-of-yet unpublished quiz question is: “More Cowbell.” Here’s why:

http://www.gofastvideo.com/video/876/Christopher-Walken-More-Cowbell–Classic-SNL

I’m a big believer in entertaining while you are teaching something or attempting to get a point across. If it’s fun and interesting, you don’t realize you’re learning. I’ve always appreciated that whenever I was trying to learn something, so why should the quizzes I create be any different? I just don’t think learning has to be painful or a chore.

So if you get a chance, stop in to “The Bird Channel” and take a quiz. My first quiz is titled, “Vitamins For Your Bird and You.” Then let me know what you think. If anyone has any great ideas for subject matter on a quiz, I’d love to hear what you come up with. It can be any old thing or any new thing, just as long as it’s not something that’s already been done. The more creative, the better.

Thanks for stopping by!

I’m back. Back to the blog once again! My apologies for having left it untouched for so long, but I had a lot of catching up to do. As you might recall, I spent three weeks working at the Cincinnati Zoo. (Here is their Kookaburra):

While I was gone, I had some renovations done to my Condo: I had that heinous popcorn junk scraped off the ceiling, and I had a slate tile floor put in. This is the tile. (It’s not my place. My slate is on the floor, but this is the stuff:

In order to accomplish this, I had to remove most of the furniture and store it in a POD. A little about PODS: They are wonderful!

It was a great customer experience for me and they actually did everything they said they were going to do. Loved it!

But the floor took a little bit longer than expected. In other words, when I got back, it wasn’t done, and I didn’t really have a working kitchen. Or a working bathroom. Or a working T.V.  I resigned myself to the fact that I would be living on a mattress on my bedroom floor with a chair. Oh and did I mention it was kind of dirty in there? I would go to work and joke that I’d wake up looking like a coal miner:

I didn’t look this bad, but it was pretty grungy in there. I took a shower every day at my neighbor Tamara’s place next door. In the middle of all of this, I had to fly to Long Island for the Long Island Parrot Society Expo to give a presentation:

http://www.liparrotsociety.org/parrotexpo.htm

I then pitched in to help by sealing the tile. This involved crawling around on my hands and knees with tile sealer and a sponge and wiping the sealer over the tile. After a few days of this, I was a wreck. With some help, I got the POD back and we moved everything back into my Condo. My friend Jean and I spent three days cleaning EVERYTHING: the floors, walls, wiping down the furniture; Yeckkk, what a grimy mess. Things are better now and back in place. And I just love my new floor.

And now I’m back. I still have a fairly full schedule: I have to hit the Rocky Mountain Society of Aviculture Expo on the Weekend of the 14th of November. I’m doing a presentation for them:

http://www.rmsabirds.com/

Oh, and did I mention that I’m flying a 90 hour month this month? That’s about 20 hours or four extra days of overtime. I’m also messing around with experimenting with drying vegetables in my oven. The dried sweet potato is killer! The birds seem to like it and even Mattie the dog is crunching away at them. I also have to get my rear in gear and start working on a few of my feather scarves. I’m planning on going to the Houston Parrot Festival in January:

http://www.parrotfestival.org/festivalinfo.html

I always make one to wear and then donate it for auction, so I have to get busy and begin gluing my fingers together again:

Jill Bell and I at the Houston Parrot Festival

So, I’ve been a tad busy with everything going on in my life. It usually goes like this in the fall. The same thing happened to me last year; I got back from the zoo and all hell breaks loose. I do have some new posts in mind, so I’ll try and be a bit more timely again. Thanks for your patience. In the meantime, I’m going to go scrub the parrot poop off of my new floor. Some things never change I guess.