How I met my Royal caique

I’ve always love spending time in pet stores and whenever I shopped for my cockatiels I would wander about the store to admire and play with the other eager potential pets. As I approached the specialized bird enclosure I noticed a gorgeous little parrot alone inside a cage near the door. She was hanging on the side of her cage closet to me and made it quite obvious and she wanted out to play.

Immediately I went to her and we interacted through the bars. What was she? A conure? A lovebird? I had never seen her species of bird before and asked an employee what type of parrot she represented.

“A caique,” the employee said, “specifically a white-bellied caique. Would you like me to let her out?” Of course I did!

Apparently, the little caique parrot felt the same; as soon as she was placed on my hand she quickly, without any hesitation ran up my arm and snuggled under my chin. As clique as it sounds this little bird stole my heart that afternoon. She tucked herself as close as possible and made soft cooing sounds as I carefully caressed her. I had never experienced such an interaction with any bird before.

That little caique parrot never entered her pet store cage again. She was expensive and I was concerned to spend so much money; but when I imagined leaving without her no amount would have mattered. I happily spend the required sum, reluctantly scooped her from my neck, and enclosed her safely inside a box provided by the store. She chirped and whistled questions from the dark space and I reassured her that she would be safe and happy and loved. She seemed to understand. I arrived home with my new companion a short time later and introduced her to her new home and family. Within a few hours she had named herself, Royal, and she is royalty.

She’s the queen of my heart.

Caique Calendar

Its that time of year again folks- time to start submitting those wonderful photos for our 2010 caique calendar!

For those of you that are new around these parts, here’s the skinny:

Each year, members submit their favorite photo of their bird(s), and the top 12 are picked. Those photos are then compiled and made into a calendar that is available for purchase at our online store. Any and all proceeds that are garnered from the calendar go towards the forum costs and upkeep- server expenses, etc etc.

So! If you want to participate, here is how to do it.

1. Pick your favorite photo
2. Send that photo to emily@caiquecrazy.org, as an attachment to the email
3. Please please please send along the highest quality photo possible as well as the largest copy as possible- if the photo has to be enlarged for the calender it can pixel out and not look too swell.
4. Tell me which month (if any) you would prefer your photo placed on.

I’m going to leave this open for awhile, say end of September. This means the calendar will hopefully be ready for purchase mid October. Woot!

and of course the shameless plug- if you want any sort of item that has your birds photo on it- coffee mug, postage stamp, greeting card- shoot an email my way and I can get it made for you.

So again, if you are interested in participating, send those photos my way! If your photo is picked you will be notified