Many years ago, when I was an unruly teenager, I used to have rough and tumbles on the floor with my owner’s pet labrador. Unfortunately, on one occasion, things got a bit out of hand. The labrador rolled over onto me, and I ended up with a broken femur. Fortunately, my owner took me to a specialist parrot vet. I joined a queue of assorted parrots in the waiting room, (which was adorned by a long string of parrot fairy lights). The vet, -a human of very few words, -soon ident

Parrots like me enjoy a regular routine. We don’t like change or variation in what we get used to. So, at night, when I’m quietly roosting, I like to hear the old family sounds both in and around my kitchen area. For example, the hum of the fridge. The quiet snores of our labrador stretched out in her comfy bed. And maybe the whooshing of water in the dishwasher as it gets towards the end of its cycle. Yes, when I hear these sounds, I know everything is right. I can tuck my b

We’re now into what I like to call ‘Fluffed-up February.’ It’s still rather chilly for parrots like me, but at least the days are getting longer, and it won’t be too long before some of my feathered friends begin to leave Africa and head north to spend their Summer with us. Yes, the skies will be criss-crossed as flocks of birds come and go, probably amassing a trillion wingbeats between them.   Meanwhile, humans tend to go on shorter migrations which they like to call ‘holid

I always like to sleep with my beak tucked into my feathers on the highest perch I can find. And very nice and cosy it is too, as I gently rock myself off to sleep. Meanwhile, humans have to make their own artificial plumage called ‘nighties’ and ‘pyjamas,’ and because these aren’t as warm as feathers, they have to create a special roost on legs which they call ‘a bed.’ And the great drawback to this arrangement is that they have to sleep in exactly the same place every singl