Simon's Parrot Page
Please help them find mariah! It broke my heart to read her story.Click here to help
Simon died suddenly on the morning of September 14, 2001. There are no words to express the sorrow that my husband and I are going through. We thought it over and couldn't come up with any reason that he would pass away so suddenly. We didn't do anything differently. He was as loved as he always had been. We hadn't fed him anything wrong, his cage was always clean, and he always had fresh water. The only thing that we noticed that was different over the last couple of weeks was that Simon was tearing up the newspaper on the bottom of his cage. Peter went in and spoke with a lady that owns a store here in Victoria and she told us that Simon was probably a "Simone". She said that the tearing of the paper was a sign of nesting habits and that "Simon" became egg bound. She said that there was nothing that we could have done. it happens in the span of a few hours.
We gave Simon the best home that "she" could have had. All the love and affection that she could have ever wanted. There is now a big void in our lives without her. This page is a tribute to all the love and affection that we have received over the last couple of years, and the companion that Simon has been to us. We love you Simon and we miss you terribly. Fly free...
Simon our Yellow Fronted Amazon Parrot had to have his own page.He is unique because he is bilingual. He speaks Chinese and English. He is six years old and was with a chinese family for four years of that. My husband and I have no idea what he says when he speaks chinese, but below are some of the words that we have heard him speak in English.
Hello(when the telephone rings and when he is uncovered in the morning)
Hello Simon
Bye Bye
How are you?
I don't know
wolf whistle (one of his favourites)
clicks his tongue (only does this when he sees mom)
Okay
How are you doing?
Which Way?
That's it?!
Good bird
Owwwww!!!(often copying mom when he bites her)
Who's there?(when the telephone rings)
He imitates women when they laugh
Hi
Where are you going?
Good boy
Really?
Peek a boo
Clear for Final Approach (my husband is taking his pilot's lessons)
What are you doing?
Shut up ( I don't know where that came from!)
That's all I have
What's up?
Simon also makes sad little sounds when he wants attention
Here is one of my favourite pictures of Simon
Simon was such a character that he had to have his own web page.
The myth is that parrots live 80 to 100 years. My vet told me that the longest recorded life span for a parrot is 45 years. Let me know if your parrot is older than that! His double yellow fronted amazon parrot is 21 years old.
Simon required a lot of care and attention. We fed him fresh water,fruits, and vegetables every day as well as vitamins to keep him healthy. His treats consisted of going to the bulk bins at the supermarket and buying things such as dried fruits (rasins were his favourites),nuts that preferably have the shells on, dried beans,peas,and anything else that I would find to be interesting. I was told by the vet and by the people at Tiffany's bird shop that they eat what we eat. The only things that we cannot feed them are avocadoes and chocolate. I have heard of parrots dying within a hour after eating an avacado, so it is a pretty important fact to remember. I haven't even bought avacado for months since we got Simon. Simon's favourite meal was anything to do with pasta, espically with ground beef in it. The running joke was that Simon was part Italian!
The one thing that I noticed is that the bigger the bird, the bigger the mess! Simon could get food from the kitchen to the living room in ten seconds flat! Parrots also tend to keep loosing their down feathers so there are always feathers on the ground, on the furniture, on my clothes, etc :)
It is very important to keep your parrot mentally stimulated. Simon was out of his cage for much of the day when we were home, and when he was home alone we kept music on so that that house was not too quiet(they will pick their feathers out of boredom). For toys his favourite one had wooden blocks and rawhide. Parrots are destructive and you have to keep quite a close eye on them when they are out of the cage. Expect their toys to be destroyed in days. The more expensive the toy, the faster they destroy them it seems. Do not give them plastic toys. For a cheap alternative you can go out and cut some branches off of the nearest birch tree (recomended by my avian vet).Make sure that the branches are live and not off the ground and that the tree is in good health. The branches help to keep your parrot's beak nice and trim. Do not give them keys to play with because they can get zinc poisoning from them.
I recommend that you get a parrot only if you are willing to shape your life around them. Simon had to have a set schedule. His bedtime was 10pm and I uncovered his cage at 4am when I got up for work. When I got home from work I have to let him out of his cage and most of that time he was on my arm cuddling or on my shoulder watching me cook, surf on the internet, read a book, play with my playstation, and edit my webpage.
Simon ate with us at dinnertime and had whatever we were having. He was only truly happy when I am taking the food off of my plate to share with him. We were very lucky because Simon was not loud. Some parrots are very loud and you have to be willing to accomidate that. You have to be VERY patient with parrots. If they are biting you, do not back down. DO NOT HIT YOUR PARROT!If you need to dicipline your parrot, put him in his cage for a time out. Parrots do not like being ignored. He only needs to be alone for 3 minutes. Go back to the cage and tell your parrot to step up. He will probably be very happy to receive the attention.
I kept repeating the same commands to Simon every time that I saw him. The step up and step down commands were used often in my house. If I did not spend enough time with him, he would come down off of his cage and walk through the house until he found me. Once he spotted me he made a beeline for my foot and stood on it. He made it perfectly clear that he wanted to be picked up.
Simon was very much a part of our lives. Simon went everywhere with us, and when the weather was good we took him out for walks to our neighbourhood coffee shop for a yummy muffin, to the post office, to the bank, etc. He is missed. We will never find another bird like him, but we did decide that the house was way too quiet without a parrot. Parrots are like an addiction. Once they are a part of your life, your life is never the same. We ended up getting a very pretty lessor sulphur crested cockatoo named Sophie and she is a sweetheart. Check her link below for some wonderful pictures of her.
I would love to hear from you. sign my guestbook and I will get back to you. I check it weekly.
Our Wedding Photos
See our twins!
Willy's Page
Sophie's Page
Jazz's Page
Ducorps Cockatoo Page
See Snoopy and Mitzvah our new additions!
Here are some webpages that I highly recommend for avian information.
For The Love Of Parrots Refuge Society
This is a Canadian organization that does wonderful work with parrots
Read about Beau the cockatoo and Sapphire the macaw rescued by FLOPRS
Parrot House
These people have a lot of information on behaviour and feeding your parrot.
