When I married my better half around 20 years ago he had baggage. The baggage came in a cage and it was naked. Well, almost! Her name was Goldie, and like some captive birds, for unknown reasons she had plucked herself. No matter. She was dearly loved anyway. She was a Jendae Conure with a big, golden head, and a sweetie she was!
When her "daddy" napped on the couch, she would lie on her back on his chest and nap with him. I have a photo somewhere but can't find it.Of course I was jealous to not have a bird that loved me just as much, so one day we went to the flea market and found a birdseller and got Simon, a Sun Conure. We always called him a bagbird because we brought him home in a paper bag.
Simon thought he was very cool!
And he was.
He went everywhere with me. In the car, to the beach, visiting. He waited on the dash of the car while I ran into the 7-11. He showered with me. He followed me like a puppy when I went walking on the beach, running along behind with his little legs pumping like a sandpiper.
He waited around while I sunbathed (remember this was YEARS ago, I dont even DARE put on a bathing suit now! Everybody would flee the beach!)
He gave me morning kisses :)
But then one day he remembered Goldie lived there too, and she was much cuter than me, not to mention that she was naked! Who could resist?
So Simon and Goldie became a couple.
They must have been fooling around when we were not watching, because one day I found Goldie in the bottom of the cage surrounded by torn-up papers, sitting on an egg! Well, needless to say I was brushed aside and Simon became the doting husband. One day not long after, we heard this little "peep" "peep" sound, and were actually lucky enough to watch this baby bird hatch. Of course, we had to name him Peep Peep.
Because he was a cross between a Jendae and a Sun Conure, he was a Sundae Conure.
Baby Peep Peep before all his feathers grew in.
And then there were three.
"Oh yawn, photo shoots are so boring."
(notice Simon is yawning)
We became observers while this family tended to their baby. They taught Peep Peep to climb the rope up and down their cage so he could wander. Simon would run after him if he got too far from home and scold him, then Peep Peep would run back home, climb the rope with Simon scolding the whole time, and fall into his mothers arms......uh......wings. It was a total delight to watch this family interact.
Eventually I lost Simon. It was a hard, hard lesson to learn, but I think he may have chewed on some of the chipping paint in the old, old, old apartment we lived in, probably a hundred layers of leaded paint. I cried for a month when he went to birdie heaven. Goldie and Peep Peep followed him a few years later, and I can imagine that proud Simon is loving them and bossing them around still.
Proud Simon
