Talk about Parrots
by Constance Young

Don’t get me wrong—parrots are fascinating, and they are certainly beautiful. But they are also high-maintenance. Among the 360 different species of parrots, some can live for 20 to 100 years, many outliving their human family. Parrots behave like young children and need lots of mental and physical stimuli and individual attention; they also need lots of time outside their cage. Imagine keeping a youngster locked up in his or her room all day! Parrots, like children under such circumstances, can go insane—screaming, biting, and even self-mutilating when ignored or poorly treated.

According to Marc Johnson, who with Karen Windsor runs Foster Parrots, Ltd. a sanctuary for parrots in Rhode Island, “Many parrots in this country were wild-captured and just don’t belong in captivity.” He estimates that each year about two to five million parrots “are put into the pet trade.” To address the problem, Foster Parrots offers sanctuary to unwanted and neglected or abused parrots in the United States and helps find good homes for suitable birds. Foster Parrots currently houses about 500 birds with 25 humans on staff to take care of them and run the sanctuary. They also extend their rescue services to other captive exotics. Marc stresses that “anyone interested in adopting any bird should do their homework first.”

Most of the parrot people I spoke to in our area bought their parrots about 20 years ago when they were less popular than today (a recent article calls parrots “the new dog”). They all agree that if they knew then what they know now, they would have gone to a parrot sanctuary or rescue group instead of purchasing them from a store or breeder. In our area, the parrot rescue group A Helping Wing in Hopewell Junction, has parrots for adoption.

A Helping Wing was incorporated in 2008 by John and Jeanne Gilligan, and at the moment they have about 100 large birds and a handful of smaller cockatiels for adoption. They insist that anyone thinking of adopting make multiple visits to be sure it’s really what they want. “People want parrots because they are fun, but... beyond that; these birds are perpetual five-year olds. You have to be willing to monitor them for life.” She adds that “each time a bird gets re-homed, a little piece of that bird is left behind.”

An Amazon in the Family
Columbia county resident Ronnie and her husband have four parrots. (Names of pet owners have been changed.) One is Embrie, a blue-fronted Amazon. They also have a dog, and multiple cats that aren’t allowed to socialize with the birds. They adopted Embrie about 18 years ago when his owner died. Like many parrots, he had a checkered past. Embrie was wild-caught from Argentina and has been in captivity for about 25 years. Theirs is “at least his fourth home.”

Ronnie explains that “Embrie has his own language—parrot talk,” but that he, and other parrots, know and definitely attach meaning to what they are saying. She gives as evidence the African grey parrot named “Alex,” who was both research subject and muse of scientist Irene Pepperberg, author of the best-selling book, Alex and Me. Alex, who recently died at the Amazonian middle age of 31, had been able to identify 50 different objects; understand up to six quantities; distinguish seven colors and five shapes; had a vocabulary of more than 100 words and understood the concepts of bigger, smaller, same, and different.

Ronnie’s other birds include two black-headed caiques that she bought in 1993 from a breeder in North Carolina, and Rosebud, a male rose-breasted cockatoo that she also purchased in the early 1990s. “I wouldn’t buy from a breeder now,” she adds. Around bedtime Rosebud says “Good night.” He also says ‘”I love you,” “Hi Sweetie,” and “It’s OK.”

Ronnie keeps the birds out of their cages most of the time in a separate room, although she had to set up a partition across the room because Embrie once became aggressive, and ”parrots can do damage with their beaks.” His cage was opposite Rosebud’s, and one day he flew across room and dive-bombed him, dropping little Rosebud across the room. Embrie is “a wild spirit,” but that’s not surprising considering his sordid past.

More about Amazons: The species comprise parrots ranging in size from the small spectacled (white-fronted) Amazon to the larger double yellow-headed and mealy Amazons. Amazons originate from South America, and are generally loving, sociable and intelligent. They require an owner who can provide significant and meaningful attention, and stimuli to keep them happy and healthy. Without that they can become aggressive or have other behavioral problems.

Fun with an African Gray
Sammy (short for Samantha) is an African Grey living in Northern Dutchess county with Tess, her husband, another parrot, a dog, and some cats. “Sammy loves people, and loves to laugh. She is very verbal,” Tess claims. When a cat they once had called Bear died, Sammy kept calling for him. “Kitty, Kitty, here Bear. Here Kitty, Kitty.” So I had a talk with her as if she was a five-year old, explaining that Bear had been sick and went to heaven and wouldn’t be back. Immediately afterwards, she stopped asking for him. “We have to be careful what we say in front of her,” Tess explains, “because she picks things up just like a baby.” Once she and her husband were talking about how their dog has Lyme disease, and Sammy chimed in, “Awwwww.”

Sammy also likes loud sounds and loves to dance. She sways back and forth in time to music much as in that popular You Tube video of a parrot dancing to the music of Ray Charles.

They have another bird—a 15-year old Quaker parrot named Jack who is an entirely different story. Jack likes order and routine; he likes to go to bed and get up at the same time every day, and gets crabby if things don’t go his way. Like Ronnie’s Amazon Embrie, Jack can also be a curmudgeon. He says only a few things, but when company stays too late, he will declare: “Get out!”

Both birds have cages on different sides of the living room where they hang out much of the time and talk back and forth across the room to each other. “There’s lots of mutual admiration from afar,” Tess says. “They will say ‘I love you’ to each other, but although Sammy would like to get close to Jack,” Tess claims that “he won’t hear of it.”Both birds tolerate their dog, a black lab named Coal. Sammy will even throw food over to him. “Although parrots are demanding, we have a lifestyle where we rarely travel and are home a lot, so we are able to enjoy them,” Tess says. “We love them dearly—they are family members. But we would advise against having parrots for most people.”

The Quaker or Monk Parrot Invasion
Quaker or Monk Parrots (aka Grey-breasted Parakeets) are gregarious small green-and-gray parrots about 12-inches long that are native to South America, although many now live in the wild in north America as well. Quakers do not harm or compete with other native species of birds or proliferate out of control and decimate crops. The Quaker “invasion” began in the 1960s when a shipment of wild-caught Quakers from South America arrived at Kennedy Airport destined for the pet market and a shipping crate became damaged, allowing dozens of Quakers to escape. Over the years countless other pet Quakers either escaped or were released. Their ability to build large, exterior communal nests has enabled them to flourish even in harsh climates, so that we now have wild colonies all over the United States.

Helpful websites

Foster Parrots: fosterparrots.com

A Helping Wing: ahelpingwing.org

Irene Pepperberg, Alex and Me: alexfoundation.org

Quaker parrots: brooklynparrots.com