Budgie-ness

I recently heard veterinarian Patricia McConnell on the Diane Rehm show. Patricia McConnell co-hosts a show “Calling all pets” (where mostly cats and dogs are discussed). I enjoy her show and something she said on the Diane Rehm show resonated with me in particular. To paraphrase, she said that she tries not to anthropomorphize her dog(s), but rather, enjoy their wonderful “dogness”. I think that one of the joys of observing animals, including pets, is to think about what it is like to be them. Sometimes people ask: are budgies smart? And I answer, “they may not be very good at being people, but they are expertly skilled and brilliant when it comes to being budgies.” As I have noted, budgies priorties seem to be: the highest perch, the flock, and millet seed (or other treats). These are NOT human priorities. When Sutcliffe feeds Mary ann, it is really “sweet”. However, we cannot assume he has affection for her as our monkey brains would understand it. Sutcliffe is a “good father” in that he sacrifices everything in order to feed Mary ann, and in the past, the young. Mary ann is a “good mother” in a similar way. However, when we project human motives and emotions onto budgies, we lose a chance to enjoy their true “budgieness” which is very fascinating. J. asked, “do you think Sutcliffe wishes he has arms”? That is a very interesting question. Sometimes I wish I had wings, but, I would not give up my hands for them. I really do wonder what Sutcliffe would say.
Conversely, sometimes we enjoy anthropomorphizing. “Cute overload” is one of the best, (and sometimes, worst), examples of that. It is interesting to see ourselves in our pets. Part of this is biological, perhaps, as transference of our desire to love and nurture our own young. Part of it helps us feel companionship from our pets. Some of it may be true: evolution has preserved a number of behaviors across species, especially, species that live in groups (be it flocks, tribes, or packs). It may be reverse anthroporhism to say that I feel that we (K, J) are human members of their flock. We probably wouldn't make very good budgies, though. I guess that means, the budgies would view us as flawed, limited flock members. Hopefully, they "like" us, in their own budgie way, nonetheless.

Some Sad News

There are always leaders in every field: in the field of parrots, a great talent has passed away. Alex, the Parrot, worked six to eight hours a day, every day, studying parrot speech: . As you can see from his picture, he is an African Grey, thought to be the most intelligent, or at least, the most easily taught to speak of all parrots. Lets all remember to tell our pets "I Love you" as Alex's owners/researchers told him the night they last saw him, to which he replied "You'll be in tomorrow". I'd suggest a moment of silence, but perhaps more fitting is for us to all say "seven", which he had only just learned, having long been able to count to six.