Meet Dewy The Cockatiel
Our current pet is an affectionate yellow-headed cockatiel named Dewy. As I could see my son's gerbils, Math and Spelling, declining in health, I decided to make Dewy a member of our family to soften the blow of the inevitable demise of the furry rodents.
Once we got Dewy home, it dawned on me, I knew nothing about taking care of a bird. I felt more equipped to take care of my son when he was a newborn than I did this scrawny, yellow-feathered thing with a beak.
The first week, Dewy was so traumatized from his move from the pet shop to our home, he wasn't eating and was biting us all the time. My hands had bite marks all over them. I was thinking, what did we get ourselves into!
Although I put food into his cage, Dewy would not eat he was so frightened. Holding him in the palm of my hand, I began feeding him cooked white rice barely warm, mixed with chopped cooked carrots. Within a week, he was eating like a champ all on his own.
Dewy, The Musical Birdie
Dewy, my sweet little birdie, plays the piano with me. First, I try to play and practice my singing while he is in his cage. After a while, I'll strike a particular chord (he seems particularly fond of minor chords), for that matter so am I--like mother, like bird, and he starts singing this melodic tweet, tweet tweet, tweet tweet. It's so beautiful. I know you're probably thinking, so what!Well, if you're a parent, not of a bird, but a human being, I'm sure you can relate to the satisfaction of hearing those little baby sounds your infant makes. Remember this scenario, your baby is on the changing table and your changing his diaper and he looks up and says "goo goo, ga ga, coo coo," and you say to your spouse, "oh that's so beautiful!" Those of you who aren't parents may not get this. There is something about the melody and chords in The Sound of Music that Dewy goes nuts over; he sings his little heart out.
Then, I don't have the heart to keep him in the cage. But I know better than to let him sit on my shoulder while I play. No, I'm not worried about the bird droppings. (Can you say that on the Internet?) Dewy is a music lover; he just has to climb onto the keyboard and walk up and down while I'm trying to play. All the while, I keep trying to coax him back up on my shoulder. I hate to make him go back in his cage, so I stop playing and put him way across the room on the couch and run back to the piano. As soon as I start playing, he's off the couch heading by foot toward the piano. He climbs up my pant leg, up on my shoulder, down my arm and onto the back of my hand. While sitting there, he is moved up and down, side to side as I play. He loves it. What a crazy bird!
See a Table of the different kinds of Parrots.
