Kea Grows Up

By Kea Kasprzak

Hi, my name is Kea. I am a lovable Olive Scaly Breasted Lorikeet. I am 17 months of age. Lately I’ve been feeling a little different. My human says it’s because I’ve grown up, but I looked in the mirror, and I haven’t got any taller. I get these urges to go under the dresser and dig at the carpet. My human calls it nesting, whatever that’s supposed to be. Anyway I would like it if she would join me under the dresser, but all she does is look under, say “hello”, then carry on doing whatever she is doing. It’s all a bit frustrating, this digging is supposed to be shared with the one you love, doesn’t she love me? No matter what I say, or what sweet ways I say it, I can’t convince her to join me.

A couple of weeks ago my human took me to a pet shop were I was having a great time greeting everyone. Of course everyone greeted me back with the greeting “shut up”. They must have been really happy to meet me as they said their greetings to me with much volume and emotion. Any way, I was having a great time until this man grabbed me out of my cage. He was really cunning, because he held me by my ears, and as you know I can’t bite anyone when they are holding me by my ears. So I gave him what to, telling him what a monster he was being. It is not dignified to be held by your ears. When I was in the middle of giving him a piece of my mind “YOUCH”, he pulled out two of my beautiful tail feathers. I was speechless. Then the next thing you know I’m back in my cage, and there was my human THANKING the man for pulling out my beautiful tail feathers !! Oh well, maybe she wanted to put them in her hat, or display them for all to see. But no, instead she put them in an envelope addressed to a Doctor at Massey University. Even better, they were going to be displayed at a University, lots more people would see them there, and they must be very special feathers to be wanted by such an important place of learning, but then I knew that all along.

For the next ten days after the trip to the pet shop, my human became obsessed with the mailbox. I tell you she would go out and check it several times a day.  On the tenth day an envelope arrived, my human was very excited. She ran inside, with her hands trembling and opened the envelope. On the outside of the envelope was the emblem of the university that my beautiful tail feathers had been sent to. The envelope obviously contained a letter of thanks from the directors of the university, why my human was so excited about it I don’t know, after all anyone would feel indebted for life after receiving not one, but two of my beautiful tail feathers. My human finally tells people that I am a male. If only she had listened to me for the last 14 months. She would get all silly and call me a “good girl”, indignantly I would reply “I am a not a girl, I am a boy”, but alas it fell on deaf ears. Obviously the people at the university could see my feathers were those of a male, and have told her !!

It’s a week since I last spoke to you, and wow a lot sure can happen in a week. I am now happily married, and live at a new address, and am fed by new humans. My old human told me that although she loved me she could not give me what I needed, although I did not know what she meant until she took me to my new home. My old human took me along to an aviary with 4 Olive Scaly Breasted Lorikeet hens in it, and put me in with them. There was one hen I instantly liked, and I could tell she liked me because she followed my every move. My old human, and my new humans decided it would be best to put me and this lovely lady in an aviary of our own so that we could get to know each other better. Then my old human left, but I hardly noticed because there was this great lady to get to know. That afternoon I talked, and did the lorikeet love dance with this lovely lady, we bobbed our heads to each other and hopped around each other in circles, that evening we went to sleep sitting side by side together on a perch. It was the happiest day of my life.

When I woke up the next day, there was my ladylove next to me, I was so happy, were had she been all my life? Later that day my old human came to visit. I was sitting in the shelter part of the aviary, swooning to my ladylove, when my new human came and told me someone had come to see me. I hopped onto my new human’s shoulder, and she walked out into the main part of the aviary. There was my old human. I panicked and ran behind my new human’s shoulder, had my old human come to take my away from my ladylove? She talked to me for a few minutes, then showed me one of my favorite toys, a ball with a bell in the middle, and came in and gave it to me. Then I realized that my old human had just come to say hello, not to take me away from my ladylove. So I greeted her with a big kiss, and told her how happy I was in my new home with my ladylove. After telling me how much she loved me, my old human put me on the perch next to my ladylove and left with the parting words “Be happy Kea”.

Post Script by Keas ‘old human’ I spent a wonderful 13 months with Kea as my companion. He was a doting, playful, and loving friend. But when he started to go under the dresser and dig a nest in the carpet, I knew the next stage of his life had come, that he was ready to have a bird love, and be a parent – things I could not provide for him even though I loved him dearly. I could tell Kea was frustrated with me for not joining him under the dresser to nest, and his frustration was shown by becoming nippy. So I sent some of his feathers away to Massey University to be DNA sex tested, and a few days after the results came back I got up the courage to phone Kellie and ask if she knew anyone who wanted a male Olive Scaly Breasted Lorikeet for breeding purposes. Knowing how fond I am of Kea, Kellie asked me if I was sure about parting with him, and I told her that he needed a mate as he was getting nippy, and she agreed. I went up to see the aviary set up of Keas potential new owners, and knew straight away that this would be a good home for Kea, which was confirmed when he bonded immediately with a hen upon release. I miss Kea very much, but know that he is deliriously happy with his new mate. Keas life is really just beginning, and as he will live up to 20 years, how could I have kept Kea for myself knowing he needed more?, how selfish that would have been of me. Because I love him I ‘set him free’, and seeing him so happy, I know it was the right thing to do. “Be happy Kea, I will always love you and have fond memories of the time we shared together

Kea with 'old human' Julia visiting, August 2001