The Pig and Parrot
Rosa is our four year old Blue Fronted Amazon parrot and arrived to find herself alone as the original parrot passed on, he was my Grandmother’s bird and had led a most interesting life .Rosa was reared with other parrots of her own age and came to us very much imprinted as a bird and after two attempts at locating a suitable mate we thought to leave this matter for a later occasion and bought a guinea pig to console our daughter as Rosa is an unpredictable pet. Much to our surprise Rosa took an immediate interest in Sid, the Peruvian “pig” and I allowed Rosa to climb into his cage; actually this is the former parrot cage, after removing any food in case of conflict.
Rosa and Sid now have a really good relationship. In the summer they went out together into the aviary, Rosa has learnt to follow Sid around on the floor, they both share the same hobby of gnawing fruit tree branches, and it is hard to tell which one is squeaking! Rosa has learnt to do this rather well and Sid yesterday started calling out when a siren went off, as does Rosa. Sid has a tunnel system built of roof tiles so he can retreat if Rosa gets demanding. It is winter now and they go out together in the conservatory in the morning. Sid loves bouncing around after Rosa and she enjoys grooming his long fur. One day I will probably get them both more appropriate companions, but at present the friendship carries on well, Rosa realises Sid is delicate and doesn’t bully him, unlike she does with us, and he is not at all afraid of her, whereas everything else in his life, except food, is a source of fear.
Rosa now protects her “pig” as we call Sid, and a few weeks ago started dive bombing all visitors when they are out together. This doesn’t impress me as I have been reared with all kinds of animals both here and around the world, but to discourage her she is shown the children’s fish pole used to catch bees in the summer who don’t work out how to escape. Rosa is a lovely beautiful Amazon Blue fronted parrot and features in three out of the four paintings in my parrot series, which can be seen on the web site ; Artist tuition The other painting on that site is of my former parrot Ferdinand and a girl friend of his called Samantha, but that is another story. Currently, Rosa has made a very co-operative model, flying around the downstairs and giving me lots of good material to then transport her, theoretically, with the help of foliage round the Palm House in Kew Gardens, and elsewhere, back to the Amazon. I hope to do more paintings on conservation themes in the hope that Rosa’s country of ethnic origin will realise what a wonderful resource they have. Sid and Rosa have now also posed together in a new painting and continue their eccentric lifestyle.