EPT
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/ZqxVyiT.png)
No, I'm not talking about that angry bird. I'm actually talking about one that looks kinda like this:
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/16EUa3T.jpg)
My Mom has had pet parakeets ever since I went away to college (lol). They each had their own personality, and even their own story (some tragic and some epic). My Mom's first bird was Monty, a blue parakeet. He lasted quite a few years (whatever is normal for parakeets). He outlived two other birds by several years. Bird #2, Kirby (a green parakeet) lived in the same cage as Monty. I don't recall how many months it took, but Kirby was found dead in the cage. My Mom insists Monty must have given him a shove off the top perch.
After that she got another green bird which she named Billy, and elected to switch to a 2-cage system (to prevent birdicide). He didn't last very long either, although there was no obvious reason why. Bird #4, Perry, was her final green parakeet. He outlived Monty. Monty was eventually replaced by another blue bird named Coby (as in Cobalt): a mellow bird who still lives happily in his cage. Eventually cancer (we think it was) caught up with Perry. A while later, Pauli was introduced to the family, sporting an evil blue/grey mixture.
If Coby is lawful good, then Pauli is chaotic evil. Pauli rips his water tray down from the wall of the cage. Pauli rips his bird seed tray down as well. Today, he supposedly managed to snap one of his toys... he somehow broke it! This was a sign of what was to come.
Before I can get to the meat of the story, I must reminisce on the various birdie jailbreaks of the past. When my Mom first got Monty, she offered to let him out of the cage to fly around, but he elected to stay in the cage. Later, when Kirby was living in the same cage, the offer was extended once again. Kirby climbed out of the open door, and up on to the top of the cage. He eventually built up the nerve to fly. My parents had so much trouble getting the bird back into the cage (they eventually did) that they decided never to let them out anymore.
There were a few other cases over the years where birds managed to get out. One time the bird escaped overnight and nobody knows how the heck it happened. It was a pain getting him back in. Another time a door got stuck open and a bird got out for a while.
Today, my Mom was trying to see if she could fix the toy and attach it back to the cage again. She had the door held open with her wrist while she fiddled from both sides. Little did she know it was a trap. When the moment was right, Pauli darted out through a tiny opening between my Mom's wrist and the side of the open door. He escaped in a manner never before witnessed in this household. Somehow it fell to me to deal with this problem.
At first, the bird was avoiding people. When you got close to him, he would fly (very poorly) to a different corner of the living room. There is a lot of furniture and clutter, making for many good hiding places. At one point he settled on the windowsill, staring out at the street like a cat. I tried using a broom to usher him into a box so I could transfer him into his cage. He smiled and bit the straw at the end of the broom, and eventually flew off again. He became more aggressive and began dive-bombing at people's heads.
At one point he landed in a corner. I placed his cage right next to him, trapping him (open door towards him). I placed items around the cage to block him in, so the only place he can go is through the open door of the cage. He stayed in that one spot for thirty minutes straight, refusing to go into his cage. Eventually I got impatient and wormed a wire through an opening to try and encourage him to enter the cage. When I harassed him with the wire he decided to leave. He somehow managed to squeeze himself through a tiny opening and fly away. I was dumbfounded.
Eventually he settled in a small opening under a grandfather clock, and started squawking like mad. Apparently he realized his freedom was about to come to an end, like when L starts hearing church bells in Death Note. I placed the opening of a box on one side of the grandfather clock, and used an old VHS tape that was sitting on the floor to usher him from the other side... he backed right into the box not realizing what was going on. I closed the lid on the box and brought it over to his cage. I opened the top and quickly pressed the opening up against the open door, so that the only way he could go was into his cage.
He did not budge. He stayed in the tiny-ass box, even though he could escape into a much larger area. I started tilting the cage/box combo, trying to use gravity to pull him into his cage. He started sqawking, and flapping his wings, and gripping the side of the box with his claws as best he can. He would not go into his cage. If this were a movie, his voice would most appropriately be played by Mel Gibson as he yelled out FREEEEEEDOOOMMMMM. Eventually, I got the angle steep enough, and the bird had exhausted enough of his strength, that he fell back into the cage, which I promptly sealed.
I have never seen a bird so reluctant to enter its cage before.
I expect my Mom to find a lot of broken toys and food dishes tomorrow.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/PhhU6ES.jpg)
