#chonicles

I grew up afraid of birds thanks to my mom’s cockatiel, Buddy Boo, who hates everyone but my mom. The way he’s show it would be by hissing and flying at you. So now I flinch whenever a bird flies near me, and so it has made it somewhat of a difficult process to come to love my own bird, Yoshi. 

Yoshi is a peach-faced lovebird, aptly named because his coloring reminds me of my favorite Mario Universe character: Yoshi the dinosaur.

I’ve had him for over ten years now and, well, I haven’t been the best owner. I was stupid and naive when I got him. Young and foolish. At 13 I didn’t know how to care for a bird. I wanted to train him, to let him out of his cage and eventually become buddies, companions.

But I was scared. Because of the bird that I grew up with, I was scared of my own bird. And because my parents wouldn’t let me take him out to even try to train him. They didn’t want him flying around getting hurt, or pooping on things. 

When the Buddy Boo died, Yoshi began plucking. It broke my heart because I didn’t know how to fix it. His feathers never healed or grew back where he plucked. And still, I never got him out of his cage.

But now, over ten years later at 24, I need to do this. Not just for myself, but for him. To give him the life he deserves, one outside of the cage he’s been in most of his life.

It’s said lovebirds don’t need another lovebird to feel companionship; that a human can take that place.

Well, I’m willing and ready to try if he is.

So with a friend’s help, we’re going to take baby steps to training him to be the best bird he can be. And to train me to become the best bird parent I can be.