[AnotherUnixGeek]

I guess as a male parrot, he took to viewing her as “his”...:)

I remember hearing someone on TV talk about what it takes to have a parrot as a pet - they're very long-lived, they form intense bonds with their owners unless they are given another parrot to mate with (in which case they will mostly ignore their owners), and they will not do well in the absence of their owners. It's a lifetime commitment to a very needy bird partner.

[rlmorel]

I admit, the more I learn about birds, the more I would love to have one as a pet. It would be fun to have a Blue Jay or a Crow, but...as you said, that would be a commitment. (They say the oldest Blue Jay lived 25 years)

That, and probably too much personality...:)

Hahaha...on the base which was my dad’s last duty station before he retired, there was a Navy Chief (Chief Silva) who had a Myna Bird, and in those military houses with no air conditioning where the windows were open any time weather permitted, you could hear the bird from far off.

It only said two things:

“Son of a bitchin dog!”

and

“Meeeeerrrrrrrryyyyy...”

Hahaha, his daughter told me they had tried repeatedly to teach it to say “Merry Christmas”, but that was as far as it ever got! It had that drawn out, truncated word where the drawn out “y” at the end rose in pitch until it petered out! “Merrrrrrrryyyyyy....”