When I went to the office on Saturday morning, there was a Senegal parrot in the garden, visiting the parrots of our aviary. I could hear their excited chatter all the way down Eden Street, and the newcomer did not move when I came to admire him. Unfortunately, I did not have a camera with me, but to my delight, the same scene repeated itself when I arrived on Monday morning – this time with a camera at hand.

He sat in the Eucalyptus tree, chattering away in a most excited manner, getting full response from my late mother’s two largest bird (an African Grey named Jackie and a female Senegal parrot named Parotti) just beneath him.

Our tame birds often attract outsiders with their happy chatter (especially around meal times!) and this is the fourth Senegal parrot in recent years to comes and visit us.

Normally, they stay for a week or two, but one Senegal parrot stayed for so long that we eventually let him in on the veranda. We simply opened the door and he flew in. Once he got his turf inside the bird cage, he never went out, even when we left the doors open and all the other birds went out. He was a big male with a big personality and would chatter so loudly whenever we would sit on the veranda, making communication amongst humans impossible…

This guy (or girl?) is smaller, and his chest “vest” is yellow, compared to our tame bird, which is bright orange.

Whether it’s a male or a female, I cannot tell, but for the fourth day in a row it has been a daily visitor at the Eden office; letting the whole street know that life is good and there is reason to celebrate!

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