Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Florence, SC Shown: Banana pieces on top of the aviaries

I was trying to pick out certain pictures this week and having a really hard time figuring out if I really liked what I was looking at. My birds were making a lot of racket, and I was getting annoyed and feeling like just giving up on my project because I couldn't focus with all the noise distractions. I got a call from the elephant trainer, and went over and helped him feed the elephants some bananas and carrots. I was feeding the elephants one by one, enjoying the time with them. I took a bunch of bananas over to my place and as I passed the aviaries my birds went nuts when they saw the bananas in my arms. I hurried into the RV hoping they wouldn't hold it against me that these bananas were for me, not them. Well, they did.  

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Florence, SC Shown: Macaws eating banana through cage bars

So in my efforts to calm them down, and out of being too lazy to want to unlock all the locks on their cages and put bananas in there... I broke the bananas in pieces and tossed them up on the tops of the aviaries. The birds all climbed to the top as fast as they could and began trying to eat the bananas through the cage bars which was taking forever. They were quiet, except when they fought over the banana that was easiest to get to... and it was the best thing ever!   Dave was on a business call and was trying to hear the person on the other end. When he noticed the silence, he looked out the window and turned to me to give me a thumbs up on that brilliant idea! The birds were busy as ever and we got to enjoy some peace and quiet even as the sun went down.

Article by Jamieleigh Womach. She has been working with parrots and toucans since the age of 17. She isn’t homeless but is home less than she prefers to be. She travels the world with her husband, daughter, and a flockful of parrots whom she shares the stage with.