1. How did you acquire your bird?
A breeder specialising in Pionus and birds less commonly found in UK aviculture. I actually happened upon him by chance; I was initially looking at parrotlet breeder facebook groups and stumbled upon this guy who was breeding these gorgeous dark eyed parrots. I read more and more about Pionus and realised that they were exactly what I was looking for. I contacted the breeder with a few questions, we got talking and he asked if I was interested in one of that year’s babies. He sent some photos and that was it.
2. What is your bird's name, species, age and sex?
Leia, a female Bronze Winged Pionus, 3 years 9 months
3. Does your bird do any special tricks?
Leia is target-trained but her favourite tricks are all of her own devising and usually at my expense.
4. What are some of your bird's favorite foods?
Cherries, blueberries, raspberries and sweetcorn. Sometimes she gets a whole mango seed to pick the remaining fruit off and is thrilled!
5. What is the funniest thing your bird has done?
I asked a friend to parrot-sit for me for a couple of nights and explained Leia’s bedtime routine. At 9pm she goes to her sleeping perch attached to the door of her cage and gets an almond slice as I close the door. My friend nodded and said that sounded fine.
Later that night I got a message from my friend. Leia had been hanging out on top of the cage so my friend thought she would try offering her an almond slice to tempt her to the side with the perch on, then give her another almond slice when she was on the perch itself. Leia went to the right side of the cage, took the almond slice…and ran away with it. My friend tried offering another an almond slice. The same thing happened: Leia took the almond slice and ran away. It took a good fifteen minutes for my friend to realise that Leia was carefully training her to provide almonds on demand and that she had, in fact, been out-smarted by a parrot. Supportive friend I am, I laughed until I cried.
My friend was very worried about what would happen the next night. She didn’t need to be. At 9pm Leia went inside the cage by herself and beeped until my friend covered the cage. I think she just wanted to make a point.
6. How has your bird enriched your life?
How hasn’t she? I’m a better person because of her – more patient, more settled, better able to watch and observe. She keeps me company, she makes me laugh, and I can feel my heart grow several sizes bigger whenever I think about her.
7. What would you tell people who are considering this species?
Pionus parrots have a reputation for being quiet apartment birds, but they’re only quiet in comparison to other parrots. Leia has a shout that makes my ears ring!
Pionus are watchful, observant birds. They like to be given time to make up their own minds about something, whether that’s a new person, a new toy or a new food. You can’t hurry them or force them into something. They’ll become more confident if they can trust that you’ll give them time and space.
8. What is the activity and noise level of your bird?
Leia is a very chill parrot. She’s out for three hours a day but is perfectly happy to shred a foot toy or watch me from the curtain rail. She’s picky with toys and prefers things that are easy to shred – pine slats cut across the grain that she can chip bits off are her favourite.
She has a loud contact call that she’s happy to unleash if she thinks people are doing something unacceptable, like talk in another room without her. I live under an airport flight path and if she’s in her balcony cage, she likes to yell at planes. She can tell when I’m on the phone to someone other than my family and likes to have a bit of a shout then. Most of the time she is pretty quiet apart from normal parrot sounds.
9. What are some of your bird's quirks?
She likes me to hold her beak with one hand while I scratch her head with the other hand. She also likes the sides of her tongue rubbed sometimes. Please don’t ask me to explain why.
10. If your bird talks, what is the most surprising word or sentence it has said?
She doesn’t talk, but does have a range of beeps, clucks, chuckles, muttering, mumbles, squeaks and yells. My partner says she sounds like R2-D2! My favourite call is a three note call she makes when she’s happy and excited about something.
11. What is your bird’s favorite treat?
Almond slices. She would desperately like to share my crisps (chips for the Americans) but is constantly thwarted.
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Baby colours!
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Leia the chef
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Dropping bits of shredded birdie bagel into my mug
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A wet chicken
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"I have made a horrible mistake."
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Showering
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The time she worked out how to open the food container and was THRILLED
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It's very important to supervise your humans
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Murderbird
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Our nightly scritches
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"I think I will cause problems on purpose."
...I may have gone overboard with the photos
I recognize that scritching position and her noises sound familiar too. You should have heard the wild jungle flock call Nerd could let loose.... BUUWEEEEEP...! It definitely would have penatrated any jungle....
