PH> I just watched the PBS show "Nature" segment on Parrots again, for the
 PH> third time. There's an African Grey (I think...) in there making the
 PH> "passing gas" sound. Hmmm...I wear hearing-aids and at times they make
 PH> feedback squeals. I hope my parrot doesn't pick that up (when I get my
 PH> parrot, that is...) as it tends to drive people batty...and I'd have
 PH> trouble knowing if it was me or the parrot squealing. :)
         Yeah, that was what he was doing all right! Anything embarrass-
      ing, gross or naughty, they seem to pick up right away! But this
      dang guy will NOT say "I love you" for anything! He does do an
      annoying series of household sounds though... the smoke alarm
      (which he always does when the oven's on for some reason... Mom's
      a rotten cook?)  He does a car alarm, microwave beep, computer
      error beep, bicycle tire pump (that one really sends your nerve
      endings into orbit!), etc.
 PH> Lots of "for sale" ads in the local paper again from people trying to
 PH> get rid of various parrots. One ad has a moluccan 'too and cage for
 PH> $500. Makes me wonder what's wrong with the 'too, or what's wrong with
 PH> the owners.
        Hmmm, that doesn't sound good at all... i've seen Moluccans as
     high as $3,000 around here. The cage alone would be $500. Maybe they
     found out he has a terminal illness or something. Cockatoos are
     cuddly darlings, but they can also be pretty destructive and de-
     manding of attention. Hopefully that was all that was wrong with
     that poor critter.
 PH> BTW did you see the CBS news story on Ebola last week where they said
 PH> that some researchers in SC theorize that Ebola cycles through birds?
         Yipes, no, i didn't! There was an article in National Geographic
       a couple years ago about the influenza virus... part of its cycle
       it passes through domestic animals like pigs and chickens. Which
       is why so many of the new strains come from Asia... the poorer
       rural people there have a habit of letting their farm animals in
       their houses for the night and they are in close contact with
       them, passing those mutated viruses around. Not to worry about a
       parrot though... most of them are domestic raised (like mine for
       instance). So i don't have to worry about him having contact with
       an Ebola-carrying wild bird from Africa.
             Sue
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