Thanks everyone for such kind words about Her Majesty. Stella must have known she would be on petoftheday today, because she woke us up bright and early! She is a morning bird, this Stella- unlike her parents, who are sleepy grad students who like to stay in bed.

So sorry to hear about the lead poisoning- I know it's hard to keep an eye on such inquisitive birds. Stella gets depressed when her wings are clipped, so we finally decided to let her be a flier. She's much happier, and usually easy to keep track of, though I still worry. Happily her parents spend so much time at home reading/researching/grading that she's always supervised. Besides, we never really liked those paper windowshades anyway.

Stella sends her regards from the fireplace mirror, where she is sitting as we speak. So thanks again everyone, and cheep cheep cheep squawk chirrup!