Slender-Billed Conures
by Eddie B. Horvath, Director
Castle Country Hookbills Inc.
I received this email from Annitta Roberts who lives in Nikolaevsk, Alaska. Before you read the rest of it, go grab a tissue because you will probably need it. It is about Jasper, her Slender-Bill and her ill husband.It must have been 18 months ago that we got Jasper. The former owners had been bugging us for more than 6 months to buy the bird until finally they dropped the price and we got Jasper for a mere $200.00. The former owners had had a fire in their woodstove and when they ran from the house they had left Jasper behind, so when we got him he smelled terribly of fire and smoke. His left eye was damaged and still is not really great. We already had 8 parrots of different breeds and really did not want any more, but what the heck; what is one more carrot thrown into the parrot pot? It took Jasper about two weeks and then he fell head over footsies in love with my hubby. Hubby's recliner, Jasper's cage and the desk were all in a line. Hubby could lean back his recliner and reach up and Jasper would lean down from the top of his cage and "lick" hubby's fingers or coo to him. When Hubby would sit at his desk and play a game on the old computer, Jasper would climb down his cage and join him. I, on the other hand, was not welcomed by Jasper. A true love story between a human and a bird, and then Jasper began to act strangely. Hubby was on oxygen and a breathing machine and was not well with bad lungs and congestive heart failure. For ten days Jasper dogged hubby. Jasper would cling to hubby and not let go and on more than one occasion we had to lock him in his cage for several hours. When hubby would try and go down the hallway to the bathroom, Jasper would screech and fly to him and dig his claws into hubby's shirt. Jasper called hubby, "pretty baby" or "poor baby", would sit behind him on the recliner, and groom hubby's hair, strand by strand. Hubby slept in his recliner for he was unable to lay down and many times a night I would have to check on him and when I did, I would find Jasper resting on the back of the recliner. On Feb. 2 at 12:25 am, hubby's breathing took a turn for a worse and by 12:30 he suffered a massive heart attack. As the paramedics worked to save his life, Jasper attacked them. He would land on their shoulders and grab their ears and cheeks and bite. He would fly down on hubby and try to remove the IVs, tubes in the throat and several times he tried to pull off the electrodes that were attached to hubby's chest to shock his heart. Finally, Jasper zeroed on one EMT and I had to get the guy into the bathroom and get Jasper off of him. Even after closing the door, Jasper would attack the wood door trying to dig his way out. Hubby did not make it! That afternoon, the oldest daughter and I were sitting at the table looking at photos. Julia held two pictures: one with hubby and I, and one really nice one with just hubby. Then Jasper flew over and landed on her right shoulder. Julia froze since she did not know if Jasper would bite her in the face or not, but he dug his claws in and leaned way over looking at the pictures. Jasper slowly climbed down Julia and walked out on her arm where he got on the table and then walked over to the picture with just hubby in it and in the silence of the room, he grabbed a hold of the picture and let go and he broke that silence with "poor baby." Up until that time I would have fought anyone who would have told me that parrots had the ability to recognize pictures, much less understand what they represented; but in that split second, Jasper changed my entire mind about how parrots think. For two weeks I could not turn off any lights in the living room (hubby always kept his light on at night). Jasper would scream and so I now have a small light. Jasper is slowly coming around and now he is more friendly to me. He now lets me run the water in the kitchen sink so he can take his bath. He lets me talk to him but he is cautious around me. But, like me, he is healing and we are healing together. I do not know what sex Jasper is, but he liked to try and "feed" hubby and liked to get on the bottom of his cage and tear up paper trying to make a nest. I would have to drive 250 miles to go to a good vet to get him sexed. I think that the slender-bill is a rather wonderful bird. I have other birds such as other conures and amazons, but this fella is quick, smart and is now starting to be more outgoing. I would love to have a mate for Jasper, but all things take time.
Annitta Roberts