My First Parrot a memoir

 

My eyes fell upon this magnificent green creature. She reminded me of a smooth miniature dinosaur. I did not dare touch her for I knew of the possible consequences. The room was spacious with minimal furniture and hardwood flooring. There was a dog and 2 cats roaming the room.  A grey rabbit in a cage close to the front door.  Off of the living room through two French glass doors, there were more cages with smaller birds on them.  I had come to see Kiki the six year old Yellow Napped Amazon. Not taking her eyes off me, Kiki walked about her  play stand slowly  while the owner and I discussed her likes, dislikes, diet and routine. I told the owner about my home, my husband, two girls and two dogs. We spent close to an hour sharing information back and forth. I told her I would go home to think about it and get back to her by the next day. Even if it was only for one hour I was going to leave and think about it. Mainly to call my Mother and see if she would loan me the five hundred dollars to purchase  Kiki. Full of excitement I said goodbye to Kiki and the owner. Off to call my Mom I went.



Kiki a Yellow Napped Amazon

 

I'm doing some writing with the subject being, my experiences with parrots. Keeping parrots has been a learning adventure for me. I have researched many parrot topics of what I knew nothing about. I now have opinions about issues, yet keep an open mind. There is always more to learn and different perspectives to contemplate. I 'm thinking the way a blog is set up (most recent first) may not be the best approach to writing a memoir. However, here is my first draft of a starting point.

Recommended Books

Alex & Me by Irene Pepperberg is a touching memoir and or personal narrative documenting her experiences working with Alex an African Grey parrot and her struggle to keep her research activities afloat. Irean Pepperberg is a research professor and a teacher of animal cognition. The book movingly combines scientific detail and statistical research to prove that some animals have cognitive ability. To demonstrate that birds are able to obtain language, communicate and problem-solve. That animals know more than we think.
In 1977 Irene asked a sales person at a pet store to choose her an African Grey parrot out of the ones they were selling. She was choosing an African Grey because of the clarity of their speech. It was fate and their relationship began. Over a 30 year period Alex and Irene changed the way science regarded avian intelligence. Irene Pepperberg included just enough scientific research in her book to give readers an idea of what was involved, to prove her experiments, yet it was not boring. Alex could count to six, identify colors, size, such as bigger and smaller, or same and different, identify materials and had a vocabulary of 150 words.
The night before he died his last words to Irene were “You be good. I love you.” Every time I read this or write it I end up with tears in my eyes. Alex is a celebrity, I found this book educational, touching and entertaining.