My Shocking Parrot

Those of you that know I have an African Grey and a Macaw. The Grey I have had for some time and is in fact probably close to 20 years now. They live till around 60 which is good for him.

A common downside of birds is that a high percentage suffer from a nervous disposition and they basically pluck all their feathers out and within a short period of time you have a talking chicken like bird.

Thankfully mine doesn't have such disorders and preens his feathers majestically and doesn't have a care in the world. He barks at the dogs and meows at the cat and has been known to swear, burp and fart like a trooper. The swearing and burping is me testing to see what he would pick up and the farts are obviously the kids as I could never possibly be so revolting.

source

Yesterday I went to go and hand feed him some nuts and I shocked him when I touched him. I have no idea but it seems to be certain conditions or seasonal that the carpets become full of static and it is easy to zap someone or something. Sparks flew out of my hand like an evil wizard and the poor bugger said "ow". This was so unexpected and hilarious it was comical. The timing is what nearly killed me as I was initially worried for him when it happened.

He has a wide repertoire that I wont list as there are some shockers that have made us blush. Imagine selling a house with a foul mouth parrot that burps and farts every five seconds trying to show off.

I have some favorites which is a can opening sound, a bottle cap opening, low battery on the phone, recharging sound when you plug it in, Phone ringing, phone conversation with a few words like "Hi how are you" and he breaks into laughter, the condenser in the fridge bubble sounds as they have exceptional hearing, Good morning,good evening, knows everyones names in the house including the dogs names and uses different voices to call everyone plus my favorite is the jet engines from his time spent in the quarantine at Heathrow Airport. He adds to them all the time as he watches TV all day and he is becoming more human in his reactions.

He is part of the family and chose me from the early days as he was my bird and the kids teased him. They can't pick him up and he does try and lure their fingers to get a bite whenever he can.