My Word for the Day

[Catseye3]

Oratrix

A distant (?) cousin of Siddy's. "The yellow-headed amazon, also known as the yellow-headed parrot and double yellow-headed amazon, is an endangered amazon parrot of Mexico and northern Central America. Measuring 38–43 centimetres in length, it is a stocky short-tailed green parrot with a yellow head.
Scientific name: Amazona oratrix"

[George K]

Nice.

Let me introduce you to Peanuts.

We got Peanuts in about 1986. He was a "Blue Front Amazon." He bonded with D2 and was a great companion. Blue Fronts and Yellow Heads are closely related. They are good talkers, much better than macaws.

After we got him, he had a bit of a rough life. After we boarded him for a vacation, he contracted psittacosis, a mycoplasma-like organism. He was sick as hell, but we pulled him through.

In 1997, he succumbed to "macaw wasting disease." This is a viral infection (who knows where he got it) which affects the nerves of the GI tract preventing the gut from moving and absorption of nutrients. Despite our best efforts, he passed away on July 7 of 1997.

[George K]

Oh, good talker?

I'll never forget a "conversation" I had with Peanuts.

"Oh, George?"

"Hi, Peanuts."

"Whatcha doin?"

"Paying some bills on the computer."

"I love you!"

"Yeah, I love you too..."

He was a good bird.

[Catseye3]

@George-K He sounds like a sweetie.

His wing colors are so beautifully subtle.

[George K]

@Catseye3 said in My Word for the Day:

He sounds like a sweetie.

D2 has always had a great relationship with our birds. She has the calm temperament and patience to pull them (dare I say?) out of their shells.

We got Peanuts, on a whim, at a pet shop. After we got him, he was absolutely terrible. We couldn't get him out of his cage. He would bite and scream if we did get him out. It took about a year, but finally, he became more and more tame.

We were all devastated when he died.

Here he is with our other bird, "Max." Max was an obnoxious nanday conure who spent hours screaming.