The First Adoptee

Emelio is a Congo African Grey parrot. He was born September 21, 1995. This was my first adopted parrot. I had seen these birds, but was not interested in them at all. A friend owned this bird and I knew him somewhat, but he had acted quite frightened and seemed much less friendly than my birds. His owner had decided the bird was a girl and named her Amelia. When she returned to the breeder for a wing trim the breeder said she really thought it was a boy – hence the name change.

In August of 1996 my friend had to go to a nursing home due to complications from diabetes. Her neighbor had been caring for her two birds, but she felt that the baby grey wasn’t getting the care he needed, so on September 1st she asked me to take over. She was right – when we got there we discovered him living in a filthy cage and he was quite frightened of us. The other bird was quite friendly and was getting the attention he needed. After repeated attempts to get Emelio to step up my husband Mark grabbed him with a towel and put him in the carrier. We took him home, put him in a clean cage and let him calm down. It didn’t take long for him to decide I was harmless and he began letting me pick him up – but no petting (oh great, another one!).

The nursing home allowed pet visitors, so after about a week I took Emelio to visit his owner. She was so glad to see him, but by that time he had bonded to me and instead of staying near his owner to visit with her, he got as close to me as he could. It was obvious to us both that he had become my bird – whether I wanted a grey or not!

It didn’t take long for me to admit I was falling in love with him too. Where I once found the color of this bird uninteresting I now found it absolutely beautiful. The outer edges of his feathers are lined with white and his little white face is just adorable. I have no idea why I had no interest in this type of bird. Now I can’t imagine my life without him.