…bird. The Senegal. I still don’t know what I’m going to name it, but other than that, everything is all set up.
I have an appropriate sized cage out of the high traffic area of the living room. Light comes in through the window, but the curtain will shield the cage from direct light, and there are bird safe plants along the back side of the cage through which the new bird can peek out at the pair-a-tweeters. I have one toy hanging from the cage top and others “around”. I don’t want to crowd the cage with too much “stuff”. I have a swing hanging from the plant hanger where Ceaser’s old cage used to hang – though The Hub is going to lower that for me a little. I have a mobile training perch.
Tomorrow, I’ll purchase ....

... the same type of food the bird is eating now, and, of course, the bird. My brother has agreed to come with me and drive us home so that the baby bird doesn’t have to spend the whole car trip in a box. I realize that the bird would probably be all right, but, for some reason, that bothers me, the whole idea of it riding in a box. Besides, the first thing it’ll see when it gets home is Winston’s nose, and I don’t want the bird to think “Oh, God, I’m Kentucky-fried chicken!”
So, I’m glad that my brother will be available to help us.
Of course, all of this is based on the assumption that the bird is still there. I called, and as of last night, it was. Its current name is “Buttons”, which I don’t like.
I’ve been trying to figure out how quickly they learn their names. I don’t want it to get confused or traumatized, but I think that if, when it comes into a new environment it gets called by a new name that won’t be so bad. It may take a few days to figure out a name for it, though some are under consideration.
You can’t tell the gender of Senegal parrots by looking at them, especially when they’re babies. In fact, you sometimes can’t even tell with DNA sexing – though, undaunted, Senegal parrots have no problem figuring this kind of thing out in the wild. Go figure.
Thus, all of the names under consideration are “unisex” names, which, I suppose is how it ended up with a name like “Buttons” to begin with. But it doesn’t look like it has buttons, or look like a button or anything like that. Maybe when it was being hand raised it played with buttons or hung on to a button or something. All the birds at Petco have names like “Zipper” and “Be-Be” and “Sunny” – real “animal” names that bother me.
Secretly, I’ve always liked for companion animals to have what I consider “proper names” that could belong to a human. I would be unsurprised future researchers to discover shocking levels of comprehension among creatures we think of as “dumb animals”, and don’t want my moldy old diary to read like the documents of some even less enlightened 1800’s plantation owner, filled with slave names that make the reader cringe.
Yes, I’m that much of a “pro-animal” liberal. So sue me.
So these are the names that are, so far, under consideration:
“Verdi” – like the composer, and also like “green”.
“Kendi” – “Loved One” in some African languages
“Suki” – “Beloved” in Japanese
“Shannon”
“Morgan”
“Carlysle”
“Hope”
I’ll probably name it something else completely. That’s what usually happens.

Most of the books and articles I’ve been reading say to mostly leave a new bird in its cage for the first two days so it can calm down and take in the situation before you begin to try to train it. Of course, I’ll have its wings clipped, but “escaping” Senegals tend to try to dive under something rather than fly off, so I’m already clued in about that behavior. I don’t think a bird will find our house too frightening. We don’t have a cat any more, Winston isn’t mean, it’ll hear the pair-a-tweeters cheeping so hopefully it won’t be lonely when we’re not there the first few days. We can turn on the radio and try to find out what kind of music it likes. I’m not playing NPR for the birds any more – I think they find the news too shocking. Okay. I find the news too shocking.

So, if everything goes as planned, the flock will have a new member by tomorrow!