Weegee, the Senegal parrot

Weegee is our oldest and noisiest pet. He's 16 years old, and while it's not likely that he'll outlive us, he's probably going to be around after our kids leave for college. That's fine with me, because he's pretty entertaining.

The parrot version of the cat-sitting-on-the-newspaper-you're-reading.

Weegee has no fear of consuming food three times the size of his head.

Weegee and Dunecat, via an iPad

Weegee keeps an eye on the bunnies from above.

Wordless Wednesday: Weegee

Rosie's Self Portrait

I'm so impressed with this self portrait that Rosie drew in her 2nd-grade art class! Mrs. N, the art teacher, was telling me how wonderful it was before I had a chance to see it, and now that I've had a peek, I agree wholeheartedly. With just a felt-tip pen and crayons, she drew a beautiful scene of herself and our family pet parrot, Weegee. I love her beatific expression with a slight smile. She's set herself in her (imaginarily pink) room, holding Weegee next to his cage (that *does* have yellow, purple, and brown toys in it). In her right hand, she's holding his pelleted food, since she's now in charge of feeding him. Around her neck is a bow, tied with her purple cape's strings, and the magenta dress with a red heart she's wearing is adorable. These articles of clothing are imaginary, although she does have vinyl butterfly decals on the walls of her room!

Her school has been kind enough to offer to reproduce this drawing on mugs, t-shirts, or journals. Hard to resist—I'll be purchasing several items as gifts!

Weegee LOVES Grandma Sheila!

We brought the family parrot, Weegee, out for our Thanksgiving dinner, so he could enjoy time with the flock and eat some tasty comestibles. But, really, he was only starved for some attention from Grandma Sheila. We tried feeding him some scraps from his table-side cage. He was not interested, and just bobbed his head and chirped for Grandma. We let him out to sit on the back of Grandma Sheila's chair, where he accepted some potato from her. It wasn't too long before we realized that he was only taking food from her hand in hopes that he could catch her finger and climb on.

He sat on her shoulder for as long as she tolerated him, all feathers fluffed in happiness, giving her kisses, and begging for the privilege of drinking from her water glass. In bird terms, this is LOVE.

I have a bird in my office!

Weegee the Senegal parrot was shrieking up a storm in his bedroom-cage upstairs. Once I brought him into the office with me, he became completely chill. He just wants to be near his flock (i.e. me), you know? Purely instinctual behavior.

I just made an appointment for him for a well-bird visit at a local avian vet. Unfortunately, the closest "local" vet is 45 minutes away, not far from my office. Maybe they would board him while I worked? Finding an avian vet or one that treats exotics is troublesome—we had a fabulous vet for years (since 1990) who relocated to Pennsylvania in 2005. Since then, Weegee's records have been shuffled to three different vets.

We haven't been to Dr. Stahl's office before, I'll let you know how it goes. From their website, http://www.seavs.com it looks like they have some pretty interesting and committed staff, all with bizarre exotic-animal collections of their own.

Dish duty

I somehow let two full days of dishes accumulate in the kitchen. Horrors! Weegee and I are hanging out, enjoying each other's company while I get the dishes out of the way. Woo. Harold Budd is cycling on the iPod and the kids are downstairs with Monkeyrotica, watching Ren and Stimpy.

I actually get a kind of thrill when I come up with ways for Weegee and I to spend quality pet-owner time. He spends so much of his day alone and, quite honestly, comes fifth (including me) in the family hierarchy. Cheers, little bird-guy!

Dash and Weegee are friends!

Dash was very happy to see Weegee when we came back from our trip! Weegee was being boarded by a neighbor while we were gone and had a happy visit; more one-on-one time with a work-at-home caregiver, more fun with lots of other birds. I'll bet coming home with us was a bit of a downer for him.

Hopefully, some on-the-head time with Dash made up for lack of socialization with our neighbor's flock. They're awfully cute together! We had friends over on Labor Day and Dash was very well-behaved interacting with Thea and Lila. He needs more fun!

Our little circus

On Saturday morning, our yelling kids and shrieking bird were sending AJS up the bricks, so I suggested I take them all for a walk. Bird included. Out came the radio flyer wagon from the shed, insert pillow and blanket, Rosie in the back, Dash between her legs, and Weegee in his carrier between Dash's legs. Off we rolled, down the street (cue circus music).

Dash loves Weegee; he helps feed him and gives him hearty pats while I keep the pointy beak away from his tender mitts. Weegee is a Senegal parrot and is nine years old; in good health, his breed will live to be 35 years or more. AJS and Weegee didn't get off to the best start (discipline issues), so Weegee thinks he's the Alpha male and succeeds in dominating AJS with shrieks and bites. I get preened and kissed. Rosie mirrors AJS with Weegee: she'll make chatter-noises with him, but doesn't want him out of his cage. Dash wants Weegee "out" and "up"!

Before kids, Weegee was the baby. I'm most certain that he dearly misses all the attention and playtime he used to get.