Top 5 Reasons Why I Do What I Do... Number 1

So here we are – `Numero Uno’ reason for being a parrot behaviour and enrichment consultant eh? Hmmm. You know, any of the previous reasons I shared in earlier posts is enough to keep me motivated to do what I do. But there is one reason that really out-does the others. I want you to take a good look at the image above. It’s a nice little head study of an African Grey parrot. Neat looking bird huh? The thing about African Greys is that when you look into their eyes, I mean really look, you can’t help but be a little overawed with the realisation that there is some serious neuron firing going on inside that head of theirs. Any of you who have been up close and personal with a Grey will know what I mean. It’s different. I mean, these guys really do look back at you as if to say - `Yeah - I breathe, I think, I make decisions, I’m a complex, sensitive creature – what are you gonna do to keep me occupied today?’ Obviously I have no real idea what that Grey, or any other parrot for that matter, is `really’ thinking – but that doesn’t stop me from making a double take every time I look at one of these guys and just wonder – just wonder.

Anyway, thinking that Greys are pretty darn neat isn’t what I’m on about here for my `Number 1’. The thing about that headshot above is that it’s actually a close-up of the bird below. My bird. Not someone asking for my help for his or her feather plucked parrot, my bird. You see, the number one reason why I do what I do is because I’ve actually lived through the problems, the traumas, the heartaches, the frustrations, the sense of despair, and the self-evaluation as a parrot owner that often leaves you asking... `Why?’

When I’m supporting a client, it’s not just with a few snippets of advice I gleaned from an Internet chat board, or read in a magazine, or heard about from Barry the breeder down the road, or just made up because I have no `real’ reference point to work from but it sounds good in theory. More often than not, I’ve lived it. I’ve walked in your shoes. I understand the sadness, the relationship strains, and the confusion that often envelops your life when things go bad with a parrot that you brought into your home. The flipside is that I also know what it takes to get to the other side – to get that parrot trusting me again, to get its feathers back, to communicate with me in a way other than screaming its lungs out. That’s because I haven’t just lived through the problems, I’ve taken the weeks, months, and sometimes years, to live through the solutions.

That African Grey in the picture? His name is Cheeky. He came to us 5 years ago at the age of 25, in the same state he is in today. He’s probably plucked himself like that for a good 27 or 28 of those 30 years and unfortunately, it’s unlikely he’ll ever experience the sensation of lift beneath his wings. He has some of the most intensely stereotypical picking behaviour I’ve seen in a parrot. It doesn’t make me feel any better knowing that he’s always been that bad though. When I go around to my birds each day, I stop and have a chat with Cheek, look at him in the eye, and get reminded of a simple goal – Don’t give up, keep doing what you do, keep trying to make a difference. So, when Cheeky looks at me as if to say, `What are you gonna do for me today?’ – the answer is try – just keep on trying. In the process, the knowledge I gain will inevitably help someone else, and the ripple effect flows on from there. That little bald guy is the most important parrot in my aviaries, my inspiration, and my reminder that I owe it to them to do what I do – bigtime. Number one reason why I do what I do as a matter of fact J