My elderly galah, Cocky Boy definitely prefers my mother to me. He loves her so much it is sickening, she can get away with anything. I’m allowed to cuddle him to but he always holds himself a lot more tensely around me. As it turns out, there’s an advantage to that.

 
The other day, I ran my hand down Cocky Boy’s back in a patting motion. He tensed and what I thought was a little brown jumping spider, ran out from under his wing, lunged at my hand then disappeared – all in a split second. It was so fast, ...