A Parakeet In the Bush Is Worth...

Image by ecocentrikGuy via FlickrMost every family has their share of pets as the children grow up. For a number of years we kept parakeets, as many as three or four at a time. Never would we have fewer than two. They seemed more content in pairs. Even so, introducing a new pal to a lone parakeet created a skittish situation at first. You wouldn't think a parakeet could be restless or jittery, but put two together who were not used to each other and it took about a week for them to even rest on the same perch. After that they would become inseparable.

In the summer they spent their days outside in the back yard. At first I would set the cage on a picnic table on the deck. That worked well until the first time we forgot to bring them in. By the time I remembered they were still outside, the cage had been knocked over by a prowling cat. I found it on it's side and empty. But the story has a happy ending. Believe it or not, the birds escaped and were found in various bushes and trees around the yard! We caught them with the girls' butterfly nets. Not used to flying, I guess they didn't have it in them to go very far.

One of the birds, curiously named "What's That?" by my imaginative daughters, was obviously injured with a bleeding wing and missing feathers. But he made it to see many more days. From then on, their cage was hung about six feet above the ground safely away from neighborhood cats.