Abstract
As an owner and breeder of these beautiful birds, I con-tinue to grow in my admiration and awe of the Eclectus Parrot.
Much has been written about their simply dazzling physical beauty and I can add nothing new to those praises already sung on their behalf. We have also, although regrettably not enough, read articles on occasion about their impressive talking ability and their basic intelligence. But the fact remains that I feel the world just has not heard enough about how bright, funny and remarkably intelligent these birds real-ly are.
I suppose, just to set the record straight, I need to tell you about Patrick D. Bell Eclectus who was, of course, hatched on St. Patrick's Day in 1992. His predecessor, Jeremy D. Bell Eclectus, was well on his way to becoming, as Dale Thompson said, "a genius" based on the extent of his vocabulary. Unfortunately, Jeremy spi- raled into a psychotic feather plucking episode but is, hopefully, in recovery. When Thompson spoke to a local club we discussed Jeremy's feather plucking and his remarkable vocabulary and that's when Thompson observed that if what I told him was accurate, the bird approached genius.
Whether it is the environment in our
home or something in our lifestyle that
brings these birds up to a special level,
I don't know. But I will tell you that
Patrick is well on his way to equaling
or possibly surpassing Jeremy in
vocabulary.
Patrick lives in a great room with an
Umbrella Cockatoo (Charlotte) on the
other side of it. He also contends with
me, the children (Karrie and Michael),
the Doberman and the cat (Maggie
Moo and Montgomery) and all the
friends that drop in, Believe me, Patrick has interaction with all of the above.