Project Description

INKTOBER 2024 Day #4: EXOTIC.

“Polly wanna…plunger? We actually have three macaws (at one point it was four, but the oldest one sadly passed away unexpectedly at 35 years old. He was a blue and gold, and their life expectancy can be 50 or more years). Actually, all but one are older than my relationship with my wife. She had them many years before I came into the picture. Anyway, having talking birds has been normal for over two decades for me, so I forget that they are considered exotic pets. I think it’s like an encounter at a zoo for most people to meet them in our home. They have can openers for faces with a bite force of up to 2000 psi, and I’ve been on the wrong end of them before (very painful, but they refrained from breaking my bones or puncturing completely through my face). But they can also be incredibly gentle and request (through body language) to be picked up so they can preen me. One of them used to be fond of grooming my ears and EYELASHES. That was a bit unnerving at first. He had no qualms yanking my glasses off so he could access my eyeballs if I didn’t oblige quickly enough, too. They each have unique, distinct personalities and enjoy playing games and ‘communicating’ (there are a couple of call and response phrases they are fond of, like ‘achoo’, ‘bless you’. They don’t seem to tire of that one, but it does get old pretty quickly). My wife even taught them to play ‘peekaboo’ (again, before I was around), and they taught themselves to mimic her by grabbing their beaks with their feet (like covering your face with your hands) or tucking their heads under their wings (hiding your head behind your elbow), then dramatically turning their head back to look at you before excitedly yelling ‘PEEKABOO’! The older birds even taught the youngest bird to do that (he’s the one bird we got together after we started dating). Like I said, it’s normal for us, but I guess they are pretty exotic.”

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