What Does a Parrot Do All Day?
A Day In The Life of my little Meyers' Parrot...

What with all the serious stuff happening out there (take your pick; stock market buyouts, high gas prices, The Vice-Prezzidential Debate, layoffs, the just-concluded Miserable Seattle Mariners '08 season), we need maybe some lighthearted stuff; after all, this is the weekend. So what do I have to offer, on a somewhat lighter note?

Well, how about some speculation on the lifestyle of the typical Parrot? Since I have a Typical Parrot (no, that's not a new breed of bird), I can maybe fill in some of the blanks here. If you were a Parrot, well, what would you do all day? I will try to enlighten you, based upon things I've read, as well as personal experience with Jill, my typical Meyers' Parrot. I can only guess what she does early in the morning, since I'm not a Morning Person and probably will never be. But anyway, if you were a bird, your day would probably go something like this:

Jill, my Meyers Parrot, having an in-between-snack meal...

*SUNRISE TO 9AM: Rise and Shine. Yawn...Guess I better Get Up, stretch my legs and wings, and then maybe I'll climb down the cage bars to where my Food Dishes are. MMM! What should I start with? Oh, those Sunflower Seeds look good. (Crunch, Crunch, Crunch.) Oh, the bowl on the floor has More Seeds and some Sun Chips fragments which that "big blobby thing" that takes care of me left in the bowl. MMM...Sun Chips...yum........(crunch, crackle, chew, chew...)

*9AM-11AM: My caretaker hasn't gotten up yet...well, I guess I'll go back to the top perch and take a little nap.....yawn, stretch.....all right, I feel rested now...oh, I've just gotta have more seeds and Sun Chips fragments....okay, I'm kinda full now...think I'll climb around the cage some more...I hope my owner gets up soon; I need some fresh Green Beans...I'm so hungry; need green beans...need green beans...need green beans...I'll just go back to the top perch and wait for that funny two-legged creature who serves me to get out of bed...(for all I know, that's probably how my parrot sees me...)

*11AM to 1PM: Oh, boy! My owner got up! He reached inside my cage! He's taking the green bean food cup! Yaay! I'm getting some Fresh Green Beans! Oh Boy! And he's back! He's putting the Green Beans in my Cage! Yummm! Oh, what's that thing he's carrying? It seems to hold a steamy brown liquid which my owner needs after he gets up...did I hear him say, 'gooood coffee'? Mmm...good green beans (chew, chew, chew)...oh, now I need some seeds...(munch, crunch...) now I need some water...more green beans...more seeds...oh, this food is making me sleepy...time for a nap...ZZZzzzzz....
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(It's usually during this mid-morning time slot that the Bird Owner makes a break for it while The Bird is eating ravenously; after all, the Bird Owner needs to get out of his cage...er, house...and see what the Rest of the World is doing...)
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*1PM to 5PM: Oh, my owner seems to be gone...I hear some funny kind of noise from that big black thing over there...(that would be a radio, folks, left on so the bird has a little something to listen to)...mmm, that was a nice noon nap...I need more seeds (crunch, munch)...I'd better take it easy on my Sun Chips fragments or I'll run out (crunch, crunch)...oh, good, I still have some green beans in my dish...(sorry, green beans don't 'crunch')...yawn...this food is making me sleepy...ZZZZzzzzz.....(Repeat this sequence a few times.)

5PM (or whenever I get home) until 7PM: Oh boy! He's back! We're gonna have some FUN now! Whee! He's taking me outside for a Walk Around The House on his perch (which happens to be my shoulder)...Whee! Now I get to sit on the perch in the front room where all the WINDOWS are! Wait, I'm hungry now...(seed dishes are near that perch as well) MMM...he brought my Green Beans from my cage! Yum...oh, more Seeds and Sun Chips Fragments (crunch, munch, chew, chew, chew)...and now I get to sit on his shoulder! I hope he scratches that place on my head that's been itching me so bad! Oh, and I'd better ruffle my feathers, too...yawn...oh, I'm getting sleeepy again...

7pm-9pm: Yawn...stretch wings...Oh, good; my server is Taking Me Back To The Cage...I need a nap; whoops, I'd better eat some Green Beans and Seeds and Sun Chips Fragments first (chew, chew, crackle, crunch) yawn...ZZZZzzzzz....(sometimes Bird is too tired to find a perch sleep on; she can fall asleep in her food dish)...now I'd better eat some more of all my food (chew, crunch, crackle, munch...) okaaaay, that's it...bedtime...if I can just make it to the top perch...oh, good, he's dimming the lights and turning the TV down....ZZZZZzzzzzzz.....

9PM-Sunrise: Bird, For All Practical Purposes, Is Dead To The World. Repeat Above Steps after Next Sunrise. Dream of being a mighty Eagle. ZZZzzzzz.....

FROM WHAT I'VE READ, most birds have an active time in the morning and again in the afternoon. It would seem that in the afternoons, after the bird's mid-day forage, it's play-time. Time to snuggle with the owner, time to fly from living-room perch to owner's shoulder, time to sit on owner's shoulder while owner does housework, etc. etc. etc. For those of you who need pictures, you can play the little photo album thing-a-ma-jig that I've inserted below...



So there you have it. I'm pretty sure pet birds don't scheme or plan or plot all kinds of insane things when left alone...at least I don't THINK they do. Now that I'm done with this post, I think I'll go get something to eat (chew, chew, munch, slurp, crunch...)