Learning Thai

A while ago we posted this picture of our neighbors parrot and wrote about how it liked to visit our place occasionally. Those visits have continued sporadically, but this past Saturday things got a little crazy. The parrot (named "Jip-Ja") had been hanging around quite a bit, so I decided to see if I could befriend it. After I let it nibble on some bread it climbed onto my arm and quickly warmed up to me. After that, whenever I went out of the house it would fly and land on my shoulder. I was pleased with my bird-taming prowess, but soon discovered that the bird was a little psychotic in its attachment to me. First it bit Silas on the finger as it tried to take some rabbit food out of his hand. I felt bad for letting Silas get too close to it, but figured it was just because he had food in his hand. But then the rest of the family came home and the bird went berserk. As soon as Claire came near me it ruffled up its feathers and flew at her head - then came back to perch on my shoulder. Next it flew at Candice and managed to bite her just under her eye while scratching her cheek. Eliza escaped being attacked but was very traumatized. All three of them were screaming and running for the house. Apparently, in bonding with me, the parrot took it upon himself to protect me from everyone else. Later in the day he tried to attack another neighbor who was riding by and stopped to ask about the bird on my shoulder.

The birds owner was gone all day Saturday so I had to wait until Sunday to take the bird (still perching on my shoulder every time I left the house) down there and explain what had happened. She was very apologetic and since then has been keeping the bird locked up.

-Tom