No, it's not a typo. Harrison's bird is named Arora (no "u" in his spelling a la the recent spate of young parents inventing their own spelling for common names, rather than inventing a whole new name). He's a "rare parakeet" we bought at PetCo after a daycare field trip awhile back.
We've had him/her (the store people weren't sure, but the consensus was that the bird is probably male) for quite awhile now, and he's really started to relax and seems to enjoy his new home.
During the day, we keep him in the bay window, and he sings and chirps all day - especially on sunny days. As it gets darker he gets quieter - that is, until Julio enters the room. As with all our pets, he quickly learned to favor Julio over the rest of the family. Julio is our own Saint Francis of Assisi, probably because he usually provides the food and water, which animals seem to appreciate.
Julio has managed to teach him two melodies of chirp, though Arora steadfastly refuses to try actual human words. He does the whistle many people recognize as meaning "hey, over here!", and he learned to wolf whistle, too. Now I pretend the bird thinks I'm beautiful.
When we first got Arora, we tried to get him to perch on our fingers, but he must have had some bad experiences at the store (I say this in part because of the rough approach the store clerk used when retrieving him for us), because he would nip at our fingers and get very nervous and ruffled.
Later, just as he was warming to us, he had a couple other experiences with overly bold strangers trying to handle him, and that set him back again.
Last week we found out his pin feathers had grown back (they trim them at the store, so the birds can't fly - we'd gotten used to his Orville and Wilbur Wright impression: short flappings around the house). I was cleaning his cage, leaving the door open to encourage him to come out and explore and exercise a bit, when I felt something whoosh past my legs. Next thing I knew, Julio was trying to get him out from behind the entertainment center. After swooping to the middle of the living room, Arora actually let me pick him up and take him back to the cage, without chomping down on my flesh - a BIG step just in the nick of time (thank goodness he didn't discover the front room with the vaulted ceiling and high ceiling fans!).
Then yesterday, another step forward - he perched on Julio's finger. He wouldn't perch on mine, but I'm not the one who feeds him every day (I just clean his cage). Ah well, give it time...
1 comment:
Sounds like Arora is really beginning to feel "at home"
I'll have to make sure he is LOCKED in his cage before I come in now... I like Arora in his cage, but free-flying? Maybe not so much. :)
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