A repository of parrot-human relationships. The beautiful and the ugly. The joys and the pain. The heart-warming and the heart-wrenching. And then some Buddhist content once in a long while.

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Introduction to My Parrot Flock Part 1

Well, thought that I should really introduce my flock before I proceed with anything else. :)

So here it is, starting with the lady who has been with me the longest, Tara.

Tara, the Jenday Conure


Jenday (or Jandaya) conure is very much like a Sun Conure in appearance and often overshadowed by the Sun (Conure). Instead of the yellow-orange wings the Sun Conure has, the Jenday has wings of various shades of emerald green! So for those who like more green on a parrot to balance out the flashy yellow, red and orange in a Conure, Jenday is the answer! I got my Jenday Conure from Avifauna, a bird farm in Singapore, 2003. That makes her around 3 1/2 years old now. My sis and I collectively agreed that it’s a she through perceiving her gentle demur and named her Tara.

Tara is a pretty comical and energetic girl. She likes to ride on our shoulders and play with our hair, ears, ear rings, etc and like to give kisses on the noses and lips. She’s also quite an escape artiste. Occasionally when I overslept in the morning, she’ll open the cage herself; climb over and out of the cage cover and fly into my room and clamber onto me. Then she’ll either vocalize to wake me up or play with my blanket or mattress. Sometimes, she’ll imagine the bed sheets as an enemy and screech and complain and attack the sheets. Other funny moments include her puffing all her feathers in a puff ball and swaying slowly as if she’s doing Tai Chi!


There are also affectionate and heart warming moments…Conures, though generally not known to be good talkers; there are some who do occasionally talk. Their mimic of human voice is not as clear as, say the African grey, but it is still identifiable by us, their human flock. The first time Tara spoke was when she’s on my shoulder, leaning and cuddling against my neck…and suddenly, she says, “Tara” in a cooing voice. What a pleasant and touching surprise! Since then, we have observed her saying “no”, “kiss” and “yes” and mumbling “Tara” to herself occasionally. If we spend time getting to know our companion parrots, caring and loving them, we never know what wonderful aspects of their world they can offer and show us!

I will be posting video clips of Tara in the future.


See ya next time!

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