Erika Lopez-Tomko originally from Uruguay, but now living in Sydney, Australia with her husband John, has always loved animals, and currently has a menagerie of guinea pigs, hamsters, a very docile Standard Poodle, and an adorable blue Indian Ring-necked Parakeet, which rules the roost!

Erika admits, she knows very little about parrots, but if five year-old Rastus is anything to go by, her natural instincts and the relaxed and gentle manner that she bestows upon him, are spot-on and have turned him into a super bird. The strong and trusting relationship that they have built up, has also probably helped to save Rastus from several tight scrapes that he has found himself in, too. Here Erika takes up the story:

I was away on a girly weekend when I first set eyes on Rastus. It was late one night when we were walking back to our hotel after a night out, and my eye was drawn to something moving just inside a glass-fronted, but darkened, pet-shop. With my nose pressed hard against the glass, I realised that it was a bird that had caught my eye, and he was walking about free inside the shop.

At this point, I didn’t know what kind of bird it was, but it was a stunningly beautiful pale blue, with a long tapered tail and a red beak - I’d never seen anything like it before! Then, as I stood there watching him exploring the shop from top to bottom, so I noticed two more just like him. I was totally intrigued, and fascinated by these beautiful creatures, and couldn’t get them out of my mind.

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