I LOVE YOU

Last night when I told Beignet good night I told her about my brother coming to see me. When she was captive in her abused situation there was a bird that ended up named Jordan that she lived with for 1 1/2 years after her rescue. She was very close to him. I refer to him as her brother, because it is the only bird family she has. She clearly has fond memories of him. We talked about it for quite a while and I told her again that I had a brother that was coming to visit too. Then I said that I was so sorry that we don't know where Jordan lives. We were both very sad and she reached over and kissed me in her special way.

This morning as I was making coffee we were in our usual banter of "want more cracker" which is the Quinoa cereal I make for us. Then she sweetly said, "I love you,", which is not uncommon during this banter. I replied, "I love you too, Beignet." Then immediately without hesitation she replied, "I MORE!".

First I am continually surprised at her reference to herself as "I", and secondly I now understand the importance of discussing past events with parrots, especially Beignet.

I am beginning to lack understanding of what divides us from the parrot species in intelligence. Clearly they can think, reason, feel, and even wait for things to happen. They can understand future tense and they accurately understand all of their surroundings. They form attachments to favorite things. They can also have the same destructive vices that humans have such as smoking, overeating and alcohol abuse. The parrot version of this is feather plucking (used to, doesn't anymore), chewing on things, and screaming (doesn't much). They form long standing bonds and love with parrots and with people, and they are fairly tolerant of people they don't love. Here I speak only of Beignet, for she is the only parrot that I know. A new definition has to be forthcoming, as we are finding this with more and more animals. The definition of human in my world has changed.