The Downside of Being a Parrot Person

When we saw the kid walking up the sidewalk with a parrot cage in his hand we immediately knew he was headed for our door. No other possible destination. We didn't even wait for the doorbell.

Argentino and Rainbow needed a new home. They couldn't stay in their current home because the people just didn't have time for them any more. Sigh! How many times have we heard that before. That wasn't a question.

They sent the kid over with the Budgies because the parents were probably too embarrassed to deliver the  birds. The kid admitted that the folks even thought about setting the birds free. Yeah, right. Free to do what, exactly? That is a question. At least they came to their senses and remembered the parrot people around the corner. Hard not to know we're here. You can hear the macaws a block away when the windows are open. And we're frequent visitors to the neighborhood park, so the kids know us even if the parents don't. Our Diva parrot and Greenwing macaw Roxanne just loves hanging out at the park with the kids and swinging on the kiddie swings. Needless to say, we're convinced Argentino and Rainbow would have been set loose (we won't say free) if we had not agreed to take the birds.

Rainbow (left) and Argentino

With the ceaseless chatter of a pair of Budgie parrots added to the squawking of our macaws, greys, and one lone cockatoo, we contacted the circle of parrot people our parrot rescue, Northwest Parrots Fund, works with. We quickly found someone to adopt our temporary house guests.

Our road to establishing a parrot rescue group was surprisingly short, and not a route we ever expected to travel when we got our first parrot, Roxanne. Roxanne, named after the Sting song.

You don't have to put on the red light

Those days are over

You don't have to sell your body to the night

We only ever intended to get the one parrot. We got Roxanne back in the last century from a Microsoftie who got divorced, quit his job with Microsoft, and was moving to California with a new girlfriend. The girlfriend gave him an ultimatum. Her or the parrot. In our opinion, he made the wrong choice, but we got Roxanne.

It didn't take long for the neighbors to brand us as the parrot people. Roxanne was so easy going we figured this parrot thing was a piece of cake. So when we heard about a Blue and Gold macaw named Bubba that a retired couple were going to unload on a parrot breeder, we bought the parrot to save her from a life stuck in a barn.

Now we had two parrots. For several years we operated Seattle's original Parrot Cafe. One weekend a lady dropped off a male Blue and Gold macaw named Aboo. She just needed us to watch the bird for the weekend. Okay. What did we look like? An animal shelter? We were a coffee shop for chrissakes, but we said okay anyway. Surprise, surprise! She never came back. The weekend turned into a week. Then a month. We learned from others that Aboo was considered unmanageable and unhandleable. Well, years later Aboo is still with us. Quite manageable and handleable!

We started getting calls from people asking what they could do with the parrots they could no longer care for. We told them definitely not to bring the parrots to the cafe. But we needed to help them find new homes for their birds. We started building a network of parrot people willing to foster or adopt parrots. We helped some people find new homes for their parrots. We even fostered a few parrots while we searched for new homes. We became a de facto parrot rescue. It was only a matter of time before we formalized our work and established a 501(c)3 nonprofit charity, Northwest Parrots Fund, registered as a charity with the State of Washington. The rest of the story, as they say, is the rest of the story. Some other time maybe.

Thankfully, Rainbow and Argentino are settled into their new home with a terrific parrot person who already had two Budgie parrots. Rainbow and Argentino are males. The other two Budgies are females. This should get interesting.

What Do You Do With a One-Footed Pigeon?

A Moral Conundrum. Or is that redundant?

Definition of CONUNDRUM

1

: a riddle whose answer is or involves a pun

2

a : a question or problem having only a conjectural answer

b : an intricate and difficult problem

Just what do you do with a one-footed pigeon? What can you do? What need you do? Anything? Or simply leave things be? Chalk it up to nature?

This one-footed pigeon has become a regular in our North Seattle back yard, joining the flock of pigeons that usually hangs out around our yard. As you can see from the photo below, the pigeon's right foot is rolled up in a ball and not functional. The pigeon hops around on its good foot, occasionally using its wings for balance.

This pigeon's right foot is severely deformed and rolled into a ball

In all other respects the pigeon seems perfectly healthy and happy, as pigeons go. It will sit on its one good foot and preen itself, like a parrot does. The bird seems to have no problem following and participating with its flock. Other than its foot, it seems to be a perfectly normal wild critter.

We've been told we should try to catch the bird to have the foot examined. But we're not sure how useful capturing the bird would be. If the deformed foot is say, a birth defect, there may not be any fix for the problem. Our inclination is to leave the bird alone. There might be more harm trying to catch the bird than potential benefit to the bird.

We'd love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

Qahwa: The Wine of the Gods

We are followers of the Prophet Kaldi, the Ethiopian goat herder living in the Kingdom of Kaffa in ancient Ethiopia who discovered the Tree of Life, the Coffea arabica or coffee tree. Legend holds that Kaldi noticed that his goats became energized after eating a certain berry. Kaldi sampled the berries with the same effect. In his excitement he sought to have his discovery blessed by a Muslim holy man. Instead, the holy man tossed the beans into a fire in disgust. The subsequent enticing aroma caused Kaldi to create the world's first cup of coffee after recovering the burned beans and dropping them into hot water.

Although discovered in Ethiopia, the earliest cultivation of coffee was in Yemen. The Yemenis gave coffee the Arabic name qahwa, from which our words coffee and cafe both derive. Qahwa originally meant wine, and Sufi mystics in Yemen used coffee as an aid to concentration and even spiritual intoxication when they chanted the name of God. Fitting that coffee is considered the Wine of the Gods! And the making of coffee was considered an act of subversion against the authorities. But that's a whole different story!

To pay homage to Kaldi we've been searching for the perfect Ethiopian coffee. Not finding anything on the market we liked we created our own brand!

In homage to the Birthplace of Coffee, Ethiopia, we are thrilled to offer our our own Red Tail Brand Ethiopia Sidamo. We have a distinct preference for Latin American coffees, but this Ethiopian coffee is the exception. Medium Roast. This is an exquisite example of how good Ethiopian coffee can be. This natural processed Ethiopia Sidamo shows jammy berry notes, and is so full-bodied and complex words just can't do it justice. If you like a smooth, medium roasted coffee that evolves on the palate for hours then you have found your coffee! Available in 10 ounce vacuum sealed bags. Whole bean only. Will stay fresh unopened for up to one year.

When you have your first cup of coffee of the day, be sure to bow to the East and praise the Prophet Kaldi, the discoverer of the Tree of Life!

And while you're drinking your Ethiopian coffee, show your support for the birthplace of coffee. Wear Your Yellow!

Organized Gangs of Parrots Ravage Burma

We just love this story! This article, in its entirety, appears in The Irrawaddy, covering Burma and Southeast Asia:

Organized gangs of local parrots in Pegu Division are leading sunflower farmers to despair. In Toungoo Township, farmers are arming themselves with catapults against the birds, which are attacking their crops and eating all the seeds. “These parrots have come in flocks since the previous month and we are always guarding our plantations with catapults,” one of the farmers told state media. It appears the pilfering parrots may have a coordinated plan of attack, sending out scouting parties. “Only one or two parrots come in the morning and afternoon. But they come in flocks in the evening,” he said.

Wow! Raymond Chandler could not have penned a more crisp and succinct paragraph in the whole history of noir crime fiction. This story cries out to be illustrated with blood soaked photographs of ravenous parrot gangs. Of desperate farmers fighting back with slings and arrows and catapults. But sadly, it is not to be. So we will do our best to illustrate this story with words as we attempt to parse the true meaning of this fierce struggle between parrot gangs and desperate farmers.

What in the hell is an Irrawaddy, anyway? We Googled the term to find out that it's apparently Burma's largest river and most important commercial waterway. Okay. That works for us. Guess that's a good name for a website covering Burma and Southeast Asia.

And what's up with this Burma - Myanmar confusion? You call it Myanmar. We call it Burma. It was always Burma when we were growing up.  Just like when you say Beijing we think Peking. But we digress.

Getting back to the blood soaked battles between parrots and pirates. Sorry, parrots and farmers. What do you suppose the farmers arm their catapults with to beat off the parrot hoards? Sticks and stones? Sunflower seeds? Whatever it is, it doesn't appear to be all that effective by the tone of the article.

Oh for some photos! When we first read this article we immediately thought organized gangs of Cockatoo parrots. Goffin's Cockatoos to be precise. Gawddamn juvenile delinquents! We have one, so we know what we're talking about. But probably the wrong continent. More likely the parrots involved are Indian Ringnecks, indigenous to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Specifically the Psittacula krameri borealis, or Rose-ringed parakeet native to Burma.

By all accounts, Indian Ringneck parrots are ravaging London and the rest of Britain, so is it no wonder they are overrunning a little podunk country like Burma:

Twenty years ago we never would have encountered a story this wonderful, or bizarre, in our local newspaper. Got to love the Internets!

If Life Gives You Lemons, Just Make Your Own Beach

However erudite, well mannered, and communicative our parrot companions are with us, especially our African grey parrot companions, they are still wild animals at heart. It would be better for them and us if they were all living their wild lives out in the wilds of Africa, and wherever else they originated. Unfortunately for them and us they are not and never will. So we just have to do the best we can for them. Make their lives as companion parrots as fulfilling, safe, and carefree as it is possible to make. Then we just hope that in our next lives we don't come back as a parrot stuck in a cage!

Good Writing Is Hard Work: Parrot Soup

Presenting Parrot Soup: Desperate Men (Season Two Episode Two)

Featuring Kid Kadra, as Captain Kid Kadra

Writing good dialog is hard work. If you don't believe us, just try it some time. Lauren Bacall's clip from the classic Humphrey Bogart movie To Have and Have Not nicely sums up the model of script writing we strive for: short, terse, concise, to the point! Sometimes the best dialog is no dialog at all, like when Bogey puts his lips together and whistles. As they say, silence is golden.

In case you missed Episode One of Season Two:

There Was An Old Lady Who Lived In a Shoe

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe. 

She had so many children, she didn't know what to do; 

She gave them some broth without any bread.

Then whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

Eighteenth Century English Nursery Rhyme

Who You Calling An Old Lady?

Twenty-first Century Timneh African Grey Parrot Tillie