Pictures from the Book: Page 13 (Pakshi)

Pakshi was my first macaw. I laugh at myself now because I remember that when I first got him I thought he was HUGE! Now I think of him as petite.

It was Pakshi who taught me the important lesson that many parrots, especially macaws, need to have 10-12 hours of quiet and darkness in order to get adequate sleep. He was the first bird that had a separate "sleep cage" away from the living area of the house. He went to bed about 8:30 (and would scream like a monster if I wasn't prompt about that) and got up at 6:30 with me in the morning.

A Hahns Macaw, Pakshi's species is the smallest of the macaws - only about 12 inches from beak to the tip of his tail. He was a loving little guy but could be quite nippy. He gave me the worst parrot bite I've had to-date. He pierced through the fingernail on my right-hand ring finger. It was a wound inflicted to punish me for failing to focus on HIM while I was holding him; he was intensely jealous of me and demanded my full attention.

He could also be fairly aggressive toward the other birds. Below is the first photo taken of Jesse, the Catalina Macaw we had in Ohio. I had just taken her out of her carrier and was holding her - Stephen snapped this photo just as Pakshi (who was out of his cage at the time) flew at us in rage. I never dreamed he'd attack something so much larger than himself. The photos is blurred because I was pulling back - but you can see a green blur just above my left hand - that's Pakshi - and look at the terrified look on poor Jesse's face!

I stepped aside quickly and prevented Pakshi from landing on us. Stephen put the camera down in a hurry and scooped my little green devil up and promptly put him in his cage.