wild parrots of St Petersburg

One of the many nice features of my new neighborhood is a huge flock of wild quaker parrots. They hang out at the Publix and sometimes fill the sky with green and noise as the whole flock soars at once. Often a bird or two is on the telephone wire, checking out the view and commenting on stuff.

These little guys are so common here that the logo for the annual First Night party features one of the quakers instead of the official city bird the pelican. (I love pelicans too).

But of course the finest companion animal in the world is a captive bred hand fed quaker parrot. Like my baby here Nikki Two, or as she prefers to call herself NikkiBIRD (her accent on bird).

I worry about the ethics of keeping pets anyway. Unlike dogs and cats, parrots are wild animals. That is part of their considerable charm. Is it right to live with one of these opinionated, talkative darlings and let them bond with a human? I'm not really sure.

But this is NikkiBird responding to the call of her feral counterpart. Her cage is open but she is not going out.

Berry tells great stories about the escaped pet quaker who found him on the Pinellas Trail one day. Landed on his shoulder murmering "hello" and refused to be chased away.Berry had to take him home and buy him a cage and food and toys and another quaker and so on. Captured by a bird.