Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Meet Cantinflas



Sigh. I know not everyone is a bird-lover, but isn't he the cutest? This little man has been with my family for almost 15 years and has become my gordo's new obsession. Understandably, of course.

A few facts about African Grey Parrots:

  1. They are considered to be the most talented talking parrots.
  2. In many cognitive tasks they perform at the level of dolphins, chimpanzees, and even a human toddler.
  3. The owner should expect to hear regular renditions of the microwave, telephone, alarm clocks, dripping water, wild birds, video games.
  4. They require large cages, a varied diet that includes fresh foods, and plenty of safe and destructible toys.
  5. An ability and tendency to produce human speech.
Specifically, Cantinflas:

  1. Repeatedly says PANGIT (translation: UGLY). We have yet to figure out who he is referring to.
  2. Makes some noise resembling a laser: pew-pew, pew-pew, and whistles, and says hello when the phone rings.
  3. Loves apples and corn, and apparently cheese - although we don't feed him that too often.
  4. Rips apart newspapers.
  5. ...and for some reason continues to call (in my mom's voice) for FRED - our gardener who passed away nearly 4 years ago.




Considering they have a life span of about 50 years, Cantinflas is a mere teenager and has many decades left in him. Thus, we have made the decision to bring him with us to Mexico. Of course, we did not ask him for his opinion, although I do get the impression he won't be very happy to be confined for the duration of the trip. But now that I think about it, it will be his first time flying; naturally or otherwise.

Now we are faced with the
slight inconvenience of actually getting him to Mexico from across the Pacific. Who knows if that will happen this trip over, but at least now you know that with all the other things in life that I must worry about, I've added importing a pet parrot to my list.


3 comments:

  1. Hi there! Welcome to Mexico!

    On the bird front...Jonna and Mimi in Merida (http://baddog.com/) and my husband Paul and I (www.countdowntomexico.com) are both trying to figure out how to import our birds from the US to Mexico. Jonna has a lead on a "Bird Man" who runs a sanctuary in the Yucatan, which may prove helpful. But it would probably be good for all of us to keep each other informed on any progress. I'll send Jonna a link to your post.

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  2. Hi from Mérida. I'm following another lead as well but I am not overly optimistic. It seems the world has decided to blame all bad things on birds plus any possibility of disrupting the all mighty chicken business is heavily regulated. Pet birds don't even get half the diseases that chickens do and that the regulations talk about, but it is used as an excuse to limit their movement. I wish I could just let them go on one side of the border with the address and a little gps and let them fly south.

    Anyway, glad to find another blogger in English in Mexico, we are a fun group. Welcome!

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  3. Hi Jonna. Thanks for the post. I know this can be frustrating, I also have my fingers crossed. As we gather more info that is helpful, I'll pass it along. Best of luck!

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