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| Name: |
Taco
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Age: |
Six years old
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| Gender: |
Male
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Kind: |
Congo African Gray Parrot
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| Home: |
Mill Creek, Washington, USA
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May
I present the amazing Taco. This chunky guy has been with our family
for about one year now. What makes Taco's story interesting is that he
was hand raised by a very loving family and became entirely bonded to
the father in the family. Tragically, the father was diagnosed with a
terminal illness and the family had to put Taco up for adoption due
to the fact that he would rather not put up with anyone else in their
family. By a twist of amazing fate, I met Taco just about a month after
my Lilac Crowned Amazon passed away. I was talking to an amazon at my
local bird shop, and in the next cage, up comes this stocky gray dude
and immediately puts his head down for some serious scratching. It was
love at first sight.
African Grays are shockingly intelligent, and Taco is no exception. His
vocabulary includes about 200 actual words (eight naughty ones) and an
endless amounts of day-to-day sounds. What is amazing is that Taco
(along with many other parrots) can use his vocabulary in context. For
example he'll say "Gotta go potty!" and sure enough, he does his little
potty squat and lets it loose! If he does not get what he wants he'll
let you know, often including one or two of those eight naughty words he
knows.
Taco is treated with the same respect that I would treat a three- or
four-year-old child. When he is good, I give him all the love and
attention he craves. When he is bad (trust me, you don't know bad until
you have met a cranky parrot) he is put in time out, which is basically
sitting on his stand, eating a treat. We love Taco in this house.
Hopefully, he'll outlive us, and my kids will get many enjoyable years
with this guy, too!
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