Merle...

A day in the life..

                                                                                     

Merle...where do I start?!

 

Merle is a native Australian bird a pink and grey Galah. I looked round pet shops for a while before I met Merle. I do love looking around pet shops...always have and I guess always will.  She, Merle, was perched on the owners shoulder and, already named, I immediately felt drawn to her. Maybe it was love at first sight! We agreed a price and after a while we went home together....that's me and Merle...not the pet shop owner😆

 

We have had many adventures together over the ensuing years...thirty of them would you believe! I know a very long time indeed AND they live to 60 years plus...I guess we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it...as they say!

 

There are a few missing feathers for some reason she decided to pull them out of her chest area which is now rather smooth instead of feathered. She used to fly well when younger, not now though. She has slowed down considerably I add she is greatly loved but age has taken it’s toll. I do carry her everywhere as she perches on my finger so guess there’s really no need to fly anyway.    

 

I am always aware to look after her well and know that if she were outside she wouldn’t survive with missing feathers. Merle was outside in an aviary earlier on but is now in the house in a large cage which she is rarely in I add much preferring to be out.

I do remember the day when I lived at the beach and one day I went out and there was this huge snake, a python, laying on top of the aviary. Good thing indeed he couldn’t get through the wire or Merle would have been Merle no longer! Maybe that was the initial shock that made the feathers fall out!

  

She rules our roost here on the Gold Coast and is now laying on the bed...yes the bed...while I write this sitting in the chair by the window. As long as I stay here she is fine..as soon as I get up and leave the room she calls out.

First thing in the morning as soon as I am heard...I try to creep around silently but she always knows...go and uncover her and out she comes mostly for the day carried back and forth for seed.

 

Anyone that sees Merle must think she is badly cared for but the opposite is very much the truth. Maybe a bit straggly looking but beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say and when someone says what's wrong  with her I just say well she’s thirty and feeling tired...that usually covers everything.

 

So there are three choices she has...number one the kitchen drawer where she loves to “file” papers down the back of the drawer..which I give her. I know...I know... but it keeps her busy!

Number two on the lounge and number three the bed.  I usually wander with her on my hand to all three until she selects one and settles in for a while..until she gets restless, calls out for me, and then the procedure starts once again. Lounge...Bed...or back to the drawer. The drawer by the way apart from having paper stuffed down the back is a place where almonds are eaten and often ground up and I have to empty it every week and give it a clean.

 

Every evening she settles beside me on the lounge in front of the TV sharing in my evening meal. Also to shred the occasional wooden lolly sticks into tooth pick size. I know...I know...once again.. but once you start these things it’s hard to stop...maybe that's why you shouldn’t start these things in the first place!

 

So she sleeps there until it’s bed time and the process starts over again.

 

A day in the life of Merle !!