Prior to turning two (according to my parents) I'd had a particularly violent interaction with a bird that had flown into my bedroom, and crashed into walls and mirrors until it died. From then on I was absolutely terrified of the feathered fiends, my mother had to throw out her feather duster, because just being in the same room as a feather would cause me to become completely terrified.
My uncle came up with the solution, and bought me a budgie, which spent it's first few weeks in our house in my bedroom. I can only imagine that this was neither a good time for myself, or for the poor bird, but within a few months, Tweety was getting pats. And thus ended my fear of birds.
Tweety had come from my uncle's aviary, so we were never sure on his age, but by the time I was 10 or 11 he had passed away, and my brothers were desperate for their own birds. This time we took two babies from the aviary, two budgies, and they, while never being trick trained, were hand-tamed, and loved playing soccer on the table. Buddy died from a tumor on his wing when he was eight or nine, and Falco never got over the loss of his best friend, and he died within a year.
About six months before Buddy passed away, I happened upon a bird in our backyard. Or rather, my dog did. I had a Maltese, who was 13 years old, blind, almost deaf. One afternoon after an intense thunderstorm, I heard screaming from the backyard, and when I went out to look at what it was, I saw a cockatiel in the mouth of my dog. This is a dog who could hardly find a sausage if you held it in front of her, so I can only imagine that she found it by tripping over it. Being a good dog, she retrieved it and handed it to me completely unharmed, except for the injuries that it seemed to have already sustained.
I'm not sure where the cockatiel (whom my brother called Cooper) came from, but he came with a seriously clipped beak, toenails that were all but gone, severed tail feathers and seriously clipped wings. When we took it to the vet, he found a cigarette burn on the chest under one of the wings. We adopted him, and when I moved out of home just over 18 months ago, he came with me. Two months after that, he started laying eggs.
So it turns out that at 9 years of age, Cooper had decided to show once and for all that she was a girl, and it got worse than that, because she'd lay eggs and sit on them and starve herself to death. She wasn't eating, or sleeping, and she laid 4 clutches in 4 months, and when I took her to the vet, he basically said that she was suffering from depression and malnutrition from not eating. The final step was her becoming egg-bound. She was saved, but the vet suggested that perhaps I introduce her to a mate. Enter the long process of saying goodbye to Cooper. Cooper had spent time with birds before, and I slowly began to introduce her into my aunt's aviary. She was a good flyer, and for a good while, we eased her into the aviary (inside her cage, under supervision, no supervision but back in the cage to sleep, etc. until she finally was deemed to be safe without full time supervision. I worried about her a lot, but she's just finished raising her first clutch (she chose a mate very quickly) and she looks so much healthier and happier than she did with me (and her aviary is bigger than my house).
Of course, after all that, I missed having a pet around. I can't have a dog, I'm allergic to cats, and I do very much love birds, so there wasn't much choice. I did all my research, and found the bird that, to me, most resembled a puppy: snuggly (I've never had a bird crawl under my hand before!), not too loud, clever, and not way out of my price range. I put a deposit on a clutch that were half Cinnamon and half Normal, and the only boy from the clutch (no more egg troubles for this girl!) was also the only Cinnamon.
And that's the story of how I got to Rory (named for the new Doctor Who companion - geeks unite!). He is by far the smartest, most cuddly, most vocal, most clownish and most destructive bird I have ever lived with. We've been together almost a month now, and he says (though very muffled, 'Rory' and "Whatcha Doin?"), he fetches coins, lifts his wings up, spins around and hangs upside down on command. He's beginning to recall distances over 50cm (though this is hard, because he was clipped without my knowledge on the day I picked him up).
I think he's pretty spectacular, and I love this board for helping me help him become the bird he is today.
If you read that, well done. Thanks!
- WALL-E 
- Buddy
