One of the best moments in parenthood is when you watch your younger child(ren) develop an interests of their own. For most of his life, Nico has liked whatever Mikey likes. Dinosaurs, paper airplanes, swimming, music, everything. That is, until a few months ago when, out of nowhere, Nico discovered birds. I’ve mentioned Nico is saving up for a Real Green Parakeet, and he’s serious–except now he wants a cockatiel. He saves every nickle he earns and immediately put the Easter money from his grandmothers into his piggy bank. He knows down to the penny how much he has. “I can afford a cockatiel, mama, but I can’t afford the cage. Maybe you can let me borrow some money?”
The obsession with birds, we have no clue where this comes from. I just know one day he walked into the library and wanted a book on birds. He’s since checked out and read every book on birds the school owns. He’s watched little documentaries on Youtube, Smithsonian channel, and PBS, but I think I struck gold while writing this post. I just searched Netflix and found Paulie, Bird Squad, Birders, and The Life of Birds . If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. We have Amazon Prime, but I’m not sure how to work it. Sigh. Technology.
The birds in these pictures are all at Magnolia Bird Farm. They have locations in Riverside and Anaheim and they are huge. You’ve never seen so many birds. I took the boys there a couple of days ago and they had so much fun we went again with the Mister when he got back into town.
Can you believe the beauty of that rose-breasted cockatoo? There was never a more perfect rose color.
Baby doves! Never thought I’d see baby doves, never thought they’d look like dinosaurs. Though, it does give credence to the theory that birds are avian dinosaurs.
Birds freak a lot of people out–it’s the feet. They’re kind of creepy. Also, they have those pointy beaks and their feathers make that noise when they flap. They’re unpredictable if you aren’t familiar with bird behavior. Mikey, as much as he enjoyed himself, spend most of the time in a mild state of terror. Whenever it was his turn to hold a bird, you could see the panic in his eyes and hear it in the shrill laugh that would escape his lips.
“Mom,” he said. “I said ‘Hi’ to the toucan and he seriously looked offended.”
I didn’t know how to reply to that. I wasn’t aware toucans had such poor poker faces.
Nico, on the other was fearless.
The white parrot nipped at Nico twice, but he didn’t let that phase him. He was too in love with the bird to let a little biting get in the way.
Nico loves this picture of himself. When he first saw it he said, “Mama, wow. Don’t I look so amazing in this picture? And happy? And I think the cockatiel looks happy with me, don’t you think so?”
Magnolia Bird Farm also sell rescue birds as well as captive-raised, and are willing to buy birds from owners rather than have the birds abandoned. The rescue birds (not sure if ‘rescue’ is the right word) have names and bios and little bits about their personalities. Most of the “pre-owned” birds aren’t abandoned by choice. Some are, but quite a few are there because their owners have passed away. Birds live for a very long time, and odds are you won’t outlive a pet with a 85-90 year lifespan. I wonder, though, if they really live that long. I heard birds bond deeply with their owners (provided the owner is good and kind) and I imagine losing them would be heartbreaking.
This is Bentley! He’s a few years old, very tame, and likes to perch as high as possible on your body. I’m not sure why he no longer has a home. :( He loves broccoli and cheerios. He was a bit nervous at first, but took to us–especially me and Nico–quickly. I wish we could be his forever home. Nico and I are working on the Mister, who thinks I secretly aiming to be the next Doctor Dolittle.
Little Bentley, I have to say, he does look happy with Nico — I mean really, he’s smiling!
I’ve never had much of a desire to own a bird, but my aunt has an African Grey, Albert, who does a mean impersonation . . .
Amazon prime – you can watch on your laptop by just clicking on it and a watch now button pops up. If you have a smart TV, Xbox 360 or Roku (or similar device), then you can stream it to your TV through the internet. You can get a Roku for as little as $40 and through it you can stream netflix, hulu, amazon prime and more. They are awesome little gadgets!
Our DVD player (which was less than a hundred dollars and isn’t complicated) streams internet also – netflix, amazon, etc.
I don’t really like birds (for me it’s the tongues) – but YES that cockatiel looks happy! I think Bentley looks like a perfect Nico bird and should definitely come live with you.
Nico is the bird dominator!
Oh – love birds and love this post. Nico looks beyond happy.
I hope you get Bentley. Pretty please, Mister!!
Oh! I hope the Mister can be persuaded — He looks like a very sweet bird, and he TOTALLY looks happy with Nico!
I have never dreamed of having a bird, but if one of my kids looked and said things like that, I would definitely be persuaded!! I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you all that you can bring him home!
We’ve had an outside aviary for years. At one time we had @ 60 finch, 8 cockatiels, a Budgie, and 2 doves. Were down to 4 cockatiels, 2 doves and @ 4 finches. It’s fun to have birds. These are not tame enough to handle, but cockatiels are very trainable. Nico will have fun with Bentley .
I’ve always wanted a bird. My gram had a cockatiel named Friday and three different parakeets (they don’t live quite as long) over the course of my childhood. They were a little on the messy side, but they’d chatter away with her and she loved them. I don’t think I’m quite as cute and convincing as Nico though. I think he’d make a great bird owner. Fingers crossed that Bentley can join your home.
He needs the bird!
My grandma had one of these, who now lives with my aunt – very sweet bird.
Nico, you are a kid after my own heart! When I was two, I jumped out of a shopping cart in a parking lot and got a concussion (as a parent, I can’t even imagine!). After getting checked out at the hospital, my dad went out and got me a parakeet. Of course, I wasn’t really old enough to appreciate it, but I am told I named him Elliot. When I was six, I got tubes in my ears and another parakeet. Dad taught him all kinds of words, and sometimes he would just randomly shout one or two out, but eventually we got him to say, “Birds don’t talk, just people talk! Birds go peep, peep, peep!” In college, I had to move home after a particularly scary viral infection and Dad got me a cockatiel. They are a little dusty, but lots of fun, and though mine never learned to talk, some will. After I had my appendix out, my husband got me a disabled (long story) lorikeet — which I think made my dad secretly a little sad. My cockatiel lived the longest, to about 7, but we got her from a breeder. She started laying eggs, which is how we found out she was a girl. :)
What a sweet post! Getting chickens a year ago has gone far in making me less fearful of birds. Not that I ever thought I was, and chicks are great, but an actual full grown chicken is very strong and powerful! But we’ve loved having them and our kids enjoy them – especially our four year old. He just chases them all over, not quite big enough to actually catch them. And it’s fun to see our dog, Mocha, with them. When she’s bored, she’ll try to antagonize them and play. They mostly ignore her, but if she gets too bold one of the chickens will fly at her and peck at her. They’re not the least bit afraid of her. :) Also, about a month ago we found a lonely rooster wandering in our neighborhood. They’re not allowed and we think someone just let him loose. We kept him for 3-4 weeks till we found a good home for him with some friends’ parents. He was kind of noisy, but it was fun to have for a bit and he was so beautiful! But nowhere near as tame as the chickens, only Josh could catch him.
This is so sweet! Children who love animals are so adorable! I do have to laugh at the last picture of Nico. When I first saw it, I stopped in shock and just stared at it. He looked exactly like an older version of my own son. I asked my husband what he thought of the picture of your son, and he gasped out loud at the picture. Then he asked, “When did Nathan start trying to join different family photos?”
Oh, my goodness, I love that photo of Nico with the – yes! – smiling bird! My grandfather, otherwise a true curmudgeon, was quite sweet with his parakeets. I had one growing up, and now both my brother and I have introduced our children to pet ownership with them. Most recently, my son has been working on teaching ours to talk. And that bird loves to “hang” with us in the bathroom in the morning as we’re getting ready; he enjoys the sound of the running water, which in turn spurs him on to sing and fly circles around (occasionally landing on) our heads – he could almost make me a morning person. I’d never heard of the Magnolia Bird Farm, but it’s just been added to our list of day trips for this summer. I think being around birds requires a different sensibility than interacting with, say, a dog (and I grew up with and enjoy them as well). More delicacy, patience, understanding perhaps?
By the way, my kids were fascinated by “Your Inner Fish” and “Your Inner Reptile” on pbs.org, in part because of the discussion of the similarities between, for example, a reptile and a bird – something I’d prefer not to dwell on too deeply.
What a nice story! And a neat place to go to. I love the picture with Bentley on Nico’s head. They both look very pleased with themselves.
I’ve always had this desire to have a greenhouse like they do in zoos and botanical gardens, with quail running around on the ground and zebra finches or something higher up. Since I live in Canada and am not independently wealthy this is unlikely to happen — though I have been reading about bioshelters, which are a kind of year-round greenhouse with a living ecosystem inside it. The people I was reading about have on in New England somewhere, so it’s not a tremendous stretch to think I might be able to get one one day in the Canadian Maritimes …