Noisy Time

Currently, a fine flock of feathered friends shares our life: Sophia the scarlet macaw, Sadie the blue and gold macaw, Sweet Pea the Senegal parrot, LB the green cheeked conure, and Harpo the yellow canary who can sing like no other.

A noisy time is when every bird in our house has something to say, and each of them hollers to be heard above the rest. Sophia wins, wings down. Most days, there are two noisy times: both 7ish. Will I miss them when I venture into the Bozone this summer? I fear not.

Sophia is a scarlet macaw. Everything we read ahead of time warned of the noisy wildness of this particular critter. HOWEVER, the summer Len and I got married we visited Sophia at Petco frequently. Trips to visit Spaghetti-O and Paris, a blue and gold macaw became family outings. I taught Sophia to belch during those visits (What was I thinking?). We bonded.

Paris sold to a couple in Helena. Sophia remained at Petco, waiting for a home. The bird handlers told us that due to a diminished market in Great Falls(and a deformed toe), Sophia was moving to another Petco. We did not want her to sit in a cage at Petco forever, and the first of many birds joined our roost.

The thing about birds is, when you have one, people get wind of it. Soon friends have friends who want to give you birds. They have allergies, they didn’t know how loud they would be, they don’t think they spend enough time with their feathered friends. Dumb ass us, we take them into our home so they can have noisy time twice a day.

Call and response is so natural in our home, its absence may send me into campus conversation with crows. Perish the thought.........