The Way It All Began

I was cleaning out the filing cabinet recently, reorganizing and transferring to computer some of my aging parrot files when I came across a very special manuscript.  What I had found was the original copy of the first talk I ever gave to a parrot-loving audience.  Composed with my old friend, a 1963 German-made Olympia typewriter, on fifteen yellowing, dog-eared pages, the address launched my public avicultural career.  It may be just by chance, but that presentation was given exactly twenty years ago this month.

Re-reading the text, I thought it might be a propos to do a Complete Psittacine column using excerpts from that speech.  However, I would ask the reader to bear in mind that this was my birdkeeping mindset back in 1990, or so, when I was working as manager of Feathered Friends of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Still, there are some interesting points brought out that bear repeating.

Read more in the magazine…