There Was a Little Birdie

When I got my first horse, 5 years ago, my youngest son, Will, got a parakeet for helping build the barn. He picked out a greenish blue parakeet and named it Rocky. Will loves all the Rocky movies and does a fair impression of Sly Stallone.

We'd never had a bird before and once Will got him hand tamed in his bedroom, he brought him out for all of us to enjoy. My husband is a great whistler and would make all these sounds. Little Rocky would sit on the front collar of Alan's shirt and put his beak against his lips to feel the vibrations. Soon he was doing cat calls and lots of different whistle tunes. Then he started mimicking the phone ringing and the bell that hung in his cage! He loved to sample whatever you may be drinking or eating and developed a taste for beer! He ended up staying out of his cage most of the time riding around on someone's shoulder or "helping" with chores, like shredding my bills for me or at Christmas time making neat designs on the wrapping paper. We'd let him run around the table top, we'd bought tubes of chapstick with sparkley wrapping and he'd knock them over, roll them around and then stand them back up. We never knew a bird could be such a peronality and so smart. I loved that he wolf-whistled at me whenever I entered the room he was in.

We had quite a menagerie at that time, guinea pigs, a rat, a cat, dog, parakeet, flock of chickens and horses. Everyone seemed to get along though, dog didn't eat chickens or other small pets, cat kept hunting activities limited to outside. Then one day, I couldn't find Rocky. Will and I looked everywhere. I kept thinking I heard him and would go looking, only to come up empty. We wondered if he'd flown outside, but it was quite cold and didn't think that was where he went. We asked the girls if they had seen him and they said no. We searched for hours. Then the girls said that they had seen him, they had taken him down into Dustin's room and neither remembered bringing him back upstairs. They had shut off the light so he couldn't see to fly. I found a feather and a spot of blood. We were all devastated, my husband didn't believe it and kept looking for him, but he was gone. Will blamed the cat, Fancy, he was so upset. I didn't remember the cat leaving the room when I opened the door, but what else could've happened to him? A few months later, Will got another bird. Dustin brought his rat, Alexis, up to meet the new family member, and she attacked it! Luckily, the boys saw what was about to happen and saved the bird, but now knew what had happened to Rocky and why only a feather was left. The cat never ate bird's heads, and I had thought that was strange. The rat ate the bird, and we'd had no idea they would do that. It bothers me still that that's what happened, I almost wish the cat had been the culprit. Will apoligized to Fancy and I vowed no more rats! We all still miss Rocky and remember how much fun and laughter he brought to us in his short life. There hasn't been another bird like him.