Angie Peery from the south-eastern coastal regions of Alaska, USA, obviously has a way with birds, and has turned her young Plumhead into the most wonderful companion bird. Here, she shares with us, her first eight months of living with this very special and joyful parakeet.

I have longed to own a hand-tame Plum-headed Parakeet ever since I first saw one when I was 11 years old. There was a pet-store at Agoura Hills, California, where my grandmother lived, that had a resident male Plumhead, and I would always beg and plead with her, to take me to visit him. Last summer, and some 25 years later, I eventually realised my dream and brought home my own wonderful little boy!

The youngster had been hand-reared by a fantastic breeder in Tampa, Florida and once he was fully independent, she arranged to have him flown up to Seattle, Washington, in the far north-west. I couldn’t have him ‘shipped’ directly to Juneau, Alaska, where I live, so flew down to Seattle to pick him up.

I had to collect my bird from the cargo area of the airport, and then go back through Security. So, our first meeting was when I had to take him out of his carrier, so the container could be X-rayed. Talk about scary, there were hundreds of people queued up at Sea-Tac Airport, and there I was, in front of everyone, putting my hand in the container to pull him out - handling him for the first time ever. I was nervous he might bite me, but I think he was calmer than I was, and carried him through Security without a hitch.

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