Sunday morning was filled
with many preparations in the kitchen. First there was apples to
be cleaned and cut, oranges, celery, carrots, cucumbers, sweet potatoes,
and green beans. Pancakes and eggs you ask?
Don't be silly that's not good for birds and why else would I be cutting
up all of these veggies on a Sunday morning if not for birds?
To appreciate this to the fullest,
think back when your young infant took their first bite of solid food!!
Tears came to your eyes, a crescendo of music filled the air, your heart
beat with pride as they moved the food slowly around accepting it with
a smile as they swallowed. That's the feeling you get as your baby
parrot accepts their carrots without a rebellious flick of the head throwing
it to the outer limits of their cage.
By the time I heard Charlie stirring
in her cage her breakfast was prepared. They told me corn on
the cob was her favorite so I had it placed neatly on top of her bowl.
As I slowly removed the sheet from her cage I said "Good Morning
". Thinking one day, if nothing more than habit, she
would respond with "Good Morning" when the sheet was removed.
There she was in all her glory watching
me remove the darkness from around her. When I opened the door to bring
her out for her yummy brunch she reluctantly climbed to the top
of her cage. She ate the corn delicately relishing every bite as
she threw the apples and oranges aside looking for more corn. I learned
several things during the first meal of my large parrot.
-
Never
pile food in a large bowl
-
Never put their
favorite food on
top
-
Always space the food so everything
is
visible (saves on mess haha)
-
Never serve food on top of the
cage
-
Never position cage
close to walls
or furniture (unless you enjoy washing them)
-
Always place a plastic sheet under
the cage (for easy cleanup)
-
Always
remove food when they are
finished (if it sits there chances are they are going to throw it or eat
spoiled food)
-
Finally
don't stop preparing foods
daily (some days they eat better than others)
Charlie's homecoming was a breeze.
She experienced none of the problems we had read about.
She ate, she played, she went into her cage, she repeated these steps thought
out the day. Except for a few expected sounds she was perfect.
Several authors warned that Amazon red loreds were noisy, demanding,
fussy about surroundings, and not as playful as other species of amazons.
With all these facts we considered ourselves extremely lucky. Charlie
was a delight.
Sometime between Sunday evening and
Thursday morning someone took our Charlie and replaced her with a domineering,
screaming, cage bound, attack bird!
Thursday morning I uncovered
her, as usual, reciting "Good Morning". As my hand passed by
her with the sheet she lunged at the side of the cage attempting to bite
my fingers. For a quick moment's glance I thought I saw fangs
protruding from her beak (remember my horrendous fear of birds).
I tried to comfort her, thinking maybe
my quick movement frightened her. I stooped to her level watching
her beautiful black eyes dilate excessively between black and yellow.
I wondered if she was as afraid of me as I was of her. Maybe
in my mind I would like to think so, but the message she was sending me
had a little more
bite
to it. The postman didn't need to knock
twice with that message. I backed away giving her a little time and space
to regroup. We
all have bad days, why should I get so
upset. She wasn't ready to meet the new day, she was having a bad
dream, she didn't like my "Good Morning". Who knew????
Surely
not me.
I literally ran to the phone to call
Jerry. Wait until he heard that our beautiful green baby turned
into a Big Green Mean Fighting Machine with the beak of a crocodile.
What could he say? He was at work and he knew my fear and how anxious
I was at that moment. We decided to leave Charlie in the cage
for the day until Jerry got home from work. I hated leaving
her penned up, but I wasn't about to argue that point.
