A Bird With a Funny Name or: How to Live with a Challenging Pet

Parrots make terrible pets.

It makes sense if you look at their nature. In the wild many, like Macaws and Amazon Parrots, live in dense rainforests. When they want to find their friends or alert others to danger, they scream. They have to be loud for the sound to carry through the greenery - so they can scream very, very loud. Living in a rainforest also allows them to be messy. It’s easier to drop bits of their fruit to the forest floor and grab more off a nearby branch than meticulously eat every bit of their snack. Though it makes them seem wasteful, it’s a behavior that is important to the ecosystem, allowing for new plants on the floor to grow.

Food is also easily available to them because their powerful beaks allow them to break into just about any nut or through thick branches. This efficiency in finding and obtaining food gives them the time and energy for other activities like playing, exploring, and meeting new friends.

They are remarkably social creatures. In the wild they tend to live in flocks, mate for life, and have complex social interactions. Some species even rival apes in their intelligence level and can use basic tools.

They bring all these behaviors with them when they are in a house. They scream for their owners, drop their food everywhere, they destroy whatever they can get their beak on, and they form very strong emotional bonds. Sometimes they do this to the point where they will see their owners as their mates, making them depressed or temperamental when they don’t get the individualized attention they require.

This makes them very difficult pets for first time bird owners.

This is why when a close friend of mine started a parrot training business, she ended up with several clients who couldn’t handle their birds. Her company stressed the need for the client to put in the work and be patient with their animals, but for people with hectic lives, this was not always possible.

Many of her clients had gotten in over their heads. There were a wide variety of stories but, for some reason or another, many needed to rehome their animals. Which is how my friend ended up taking in around a dozen parrots.

One of my favorites was Jax, a 6 year old Umbrella Cockatoo.

Cockatoos are particularly challenging birds. They have a similar intelligence level to a three year old child, and like a three year old, they like to play and want everything to be their way. They have been known to throw temper tantrums very similar to a human child and can be very emotional animals.

They also have very subtle mannerisms. They don’t growl like a dog as a warning before biting, so you have to know their behaviors. There are horror stories of even hand raised birds being difficult to read and erratic. This all is made worse by the fact that they can live more than 80 years.

They are not recommended for first time bird owners.

However, they can also be affectionate birds when they want to be. Jax was a very sweet, cuddly cockatoo. He was missing a toe from a previous accident but was always very patient and gentle when I would help put medication on it. He was a bit timid, but still loved to explore and play.

His previous owner didn’t see him that way.

She described him as a terrifying, volatile creature who would scream, chase her and her son, and bite them. He was hard to live with, and he needed constant stimulation to keep him from getting depressed or angry.

She hired an animal trainer, but ultimately gave up on him. She turned him over right before going out and buying another bird.

I loved my time helping out with Jax and the others, but this story made me reluctant to get a bird of my own.

I love birds, but I live in a quiet townhome with two roommates. It’s a small place that shares a wall with our neighbors and has a large window leading to a busy courtyard. I was worried if I got a bird, they would be too loud or too messy for such a humble home.

But after I graduated college I had more time, more freedom, and more of a desire to try something new. I wanted a pet. I felt comfortable that I knew what I was getting into when I decided I wanted a parrot.

Even so, I wanted to do it in the most responsible way possible. I didn’t want to buy from a breeder or a bird store because I had seen first hand how many amazing birds were looking for a home and needed an experienced owner. So I started looking around at local rescues.

I also did a lot of research to find what species would best fit my lifestyle. My roommates wouldn’t have liked a large bird like a macaw or a cockatoo, but something smaller would fit in well in my home. I reduced my search to a smaller bird, possibly older, that would be reasonable for a first time owner. A friend who connected me with Dee, a woman trying to rehome a bird that fit the bill.

A 15 year old Mustache Parrot.

This was a species I had never even heard of. I did some Googling and found they are gorgeous birds. They have mostly green bodies with a coral pink chest and a pastel blue head. They get their names from the distinct black ring under their beak that looks vaguely like a handlebar mustache when you see them from the front. They are closely related to the colorful, sleek Indian Ringneck Parrots - a more common species that I had worked with before. Their lifespan is only about 25 years, so her bird was already a bit older. On top of that, every source I found said they were quiet and mellow by parrot standards.

I reached out to Dee. The Mustache Parrot, named “Teesha”, was originally owned by Dee’s sister. But Teesha unfortunately outlived her first owner and now was in Dee’s care.

She had tons of animals on her property. It was several acres with chicken coops and steel pens to hold livestock. She bred horses for a living and though she had kept birds before, she wasn’t able to take care of Teesha. Her daughter worked nights and couldn’t sleep with the bird in the house, so they moved the bird to a small cage in their yard where she lived full time.

I came out to meet her, but was honestly wary after learning this story.

When parrots get stressed or bored, they sometimes develop the habit of plucking or breaking their own feathers. Some birds that get into the habit of plucking will keep doing it even when they’re in a new home with a good family and plenty of toys. It isn’t life threatening, and they can still be friendly and happy, but it could make her harder to work with.

I thought for sure I would walk up to a parrot that looked like a raw Thanksgiving turkey.

But to my surprise, when I walked onto the patio and up to her cage I saw a quiet, nervous bird with almost pristine feathers. I had never seen a Mustache Parrot in person before. The images I had searched up on Google didn’t capture the pastel purple tint mixed in with the blue of their heads. Her green feathers had a gradient into a lime color on her wings, and her pink chest feathers added a pop of unique color to her palette. She looked older, but perfectly healthy.

She threatened to bite if I got anywhere near her, though. Her owner told me that she hadn’t been handled or even allowed out of her cage in many years. Her original owner had loved her and she could step up to hands and hang out on shoulders, but now was scared and aggressive toward people.

She would take time and dedication, but this told me that if given the chance, she could be a good friend.

The day I took her home, I started out with her slow. I coaxed her into a new cage with some treats then tried to get her comfortable enough to take food from my hand. I tried offering seeds - she wasn’t interested. I tried some fruits and veggies - they didn’t even get a look.

Then, I tried a peanut. That got her interested immediately and motivated her forward as she took it cautiously. To this day I use peanuts as a high value reward.

I introduced her to my roommates, but we all agreed that we didn’t care for her name. I wanted to rename her but couldn’t think of what would fit her best. My roommate decided to start calling her “T-shirt” as a joke nickname only based on a mishearing of her name. But before I could come up with anything better, it stuck.

So, now I have a bird named after a casual article of clothing.

I’ve now had her for about three years.

She is a relatively calm parrot, but she still loves to tear things up, scream for attention in the mornings, and requires daily one on one time. She likes making kiss noises, but otherwise doesn’t talk at all. Though she has many toys, her favorite thing to chew on is her rope perches and the puppy pads that line her cage. She doesn’t like my roommates or their dogs and only lets strangers get close to her if they bring a treat as an offering. She likes to cuddle but to this day doesn’t like me petting her.

She has required a lot of patience and understanding.

It took months of trust training, but she now steps up to me and will let me take her just about anywhere. Now, when she’s at home she’s almost always with me. After weeks of work and dozens of peanuts, she knows how to spin around on cue and throw a ball into my hand. Her cage is next to the window and she loves to look out into the courtyard and watch the people and the wild birds go by.

She loves being out of her cage and exploring the couch or her standing perch. She loves being on my shoulder or hand while I watch TV. I put a perch in the shower so she can take a bath with me and she’s always very curious about the water.

She is an adorable bird. She knows it, too. When I’m eating, she likes to beg for food like a dog because she knows I’m a sucker for her sweet face.

Even to this day I’m struck by how pretty her feathers are. The black blotches that interrupt her pastel color scheme to give her what looks like a unibrow and “mustache” still makes me smile.

All pets have flaws. They are animals and are subject to both their natural history and their individual personalities. This is something people need to take into account when they get any animal, but it’s especially important when getting an exotic pet. Parrots are tough pets. But that doesn’t mean no one should have them. It means that anyone thinking about getting one needs to do their research, and honestly analyze their abilities and their lifestyle. Even if it doesn’t lead to the answer they want, it’s important to put the animal first.

Keep in mind when you get an animal, you are that animal’s entire world so you need to know what you're getting into, know your own limits, and know where to find help. Though training, changing habits, and hard work, my parrot trainer has helped many people shape a better life with their bird. It hasn't worked for all of her clients, but the ones that were willing to put in the work were able to shape a better life with their bird.

Despite everything I’ve said here, I’m happy I adopted T-shirt. I knew what I was getting into when I brought her home, but I knew I was going to love her anyway. The key to owning a difficult animal is patience and understanding. Our pets become perfect when we accept them for exactly what they are.