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Parrots Behaving Badly: Beer-Guzzling and Swearing Lands British Birds in Hot Water

Posted by: Frank Indiviglio in Bird Research or Recent News, Fun Stuff November 10, 2008 Comments Off on Parrots Behaving Badly: Beer-Guzzling and Swearing Lands British Birds in Hot Water 4958 Views

Amazon ParrotWe’ve all handled our share of troublesome parrots, but 2 incidents that caught my attention recently seemed worthy of passing along…enjoy.

A bad Actor…or a Brilliant Prankster?
An Amazon parrot set to debut in a Christmas play for a professional theatre company in Dorset, England was summarily dismissed for replacing his painstakingly-learned lines with curses. Despite reciting his lines perfectly during rehearsal, the bird unfailingly broke into a stream of obscenities each time he was called upon to speak on stage. The bird’s owner expressed “shock” and claimed to be “at a loss” when asked to explain his pet’s behavior. As might be expected, a stand-in for the mischievous fellow is proving difficult to locate.

An Avian Barfly
On a more serious note, in terms of proper pet-keeping, a parrot of unidentified species was banned from a pub in South Wales, where he had been a beloved mascot. According to the pub’s manager, the bird had become “too fond” of beer, to the point of stealing sips from patron’s mugs at every opportunity, and rarely rose “before noon”. The errant bird also cursed “continually” (wonder where he picked that up!), “heckled the pool players” and produced a loud “wolf whistle” each time a woman entered the pub. This last transgression proved to be the last straw, as some women blamed other pub patrons for the whistles, and fights broke out as a result.

Happily, the bird was adopted by a concerned neighbor and is now living in much more appropriate surroundings. It seems the bird’s “peers” were a bad influence – he is now happily guzzling water instead of beer, and is up with the sunrise!

An Indian Hill Myna’s vocal talents once landed me in a bit of hot water with a zoo director…please see my article The Natural History and Captive Care of the Hill Myna (Myna Bird, Indian Hill Myna), Gracula religiosa.

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I believe that I was born with an intense interest in animals, as neither I nor any of my family can recall a time when I was not fascinated by creatures large and small. One might imagine this to be an unfortunate set of circumstances for a person born and raised in the Bronx, but, in actuality, quite the opposite was true. Most importantly, my family encouraged both my interest and the extensive menagerie that sprung from it. My mother and grandmother somehow found ways to cope with the skunks, flying squirrels, octopus, caimans and countless other odd creatures that routinely arrived un-announced at our front door. Assisting in hand-feeding hatchling praying mantises and in eradicating hoards of mosquitoes (I once thought I had discovered “fresh-water brine shrimp” and stocked my tanks with thousands of mosquito larvae!) became second nature to them. My mother went on to become a serious naturalist, and has helped thousands learn about wildlife in her 16 years as a volunteer at the Bronx Zoo. My grandfather actively conspired in my zoo-buildings efforts, regularly appearing with chipmunks, boa constrictors, turtles rescued from the Fulton Fish Market and, especially, unusual marine creatures. It was his passion for seahorses that led me to write a book about them years later. Thank you very much, for a complete biography of my experience click here.
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