Each and every issue of the Companion Parrot Quarterly (CPQ) has a special FUN PAGE with cartoons, recipes, and parrot stories. The following are just a few examples of the CPQ entertainment! All material on the Fun Page is copyrighted and can not be reprinted without written permission of the PBIC, Inc.

 

• CARTOONS
• FUN AD
• PARROT STORIES
• HUMOROUS FICTION

Bongo Marie and the Cornish Game Hen
Story & Illustration by Sally Blanchard

This story about my African grey, Bongo Marie, appeared in the first issue of the Pet Bird Report and I have had many requests to repeat it.

I am convinced after living with Bongo Marie for over 20 years that she has a sense of humor. Her laughter is almost always appropriate. It seems to me as if some African greys have a superiority complex, as if they think they are better than other parrots they live with.

Certainly Bongo Marie has always acted as if Paco, my female double yellow head Amazon, was not her equal - as if green was an inferior color. They both have lived with me for about 20 years now and will never be friends. Bongo will occasionally call Paco’s name until Paco responds. Then the grey will tell the Amazon to "Be Quiet!"

A few years ago, Bongo Marie’s cage was right next to the dining room table and Paco’s cage was right near the door. I was fixing dinner and had just taken a Cornish game hen out of the oven and was poised to carve a piece of the breast meat. Bongo Marie slid down the side of her cage and eyed my dinner quizzically. Suddenly, she threw her head up and in a frantic questioning voice exclaimed, "OH NO, PACO!?!?!" After I stopped laughing. I explained to her that the bird on the platter was not Paco, "Look Bongo Marie - that’s not Paco. Paco is right over there." She looked towards Paco and in a very indignant voice said, "oh no," as if she was disappointed. Then she laughed hysterically with her very maniacal laugh as if to let me know she had been joking all of the time!

(Note: This story has become quite well known in the avian world, both because I often tell it in my seminars and because bird show trainer, Steve Martin, has used it in his video as an example of what he considers to be excessive anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism is the attributing of human shape or characteristics to gods, objects, animals, etc.

In a video-taped program he gave for a Minnesota Bird Club, Mr. Martin told the story wrong and stated, "well, you know what - that whole story is fiction - it has to be fiction and I guarantee you it never happened that way. There is not a bird in the world that I know that has the capability of conversation of language like that in that the use of language context. I mean that’s some incredible cognitive thinking that they’re trying to say - basically its a fiction story. But unfortunately its put across by the quote unquote expert as fact. It think that’s sad because it allows and encourages people to go home and interpret the behaviors that their bird does in such an anthropomorphic way that takes them farther and farther from a positive relationship with their bird."

Mr. Martin calls the Bongo Marie and The Cornish Game Hen story fiction and virtually accuses me of making it up - of lying about it. Am I a liar? I can assure you this is a true story as are all the others I have told about my clever African Grey, Bongo Marie. In telling the story, I am very careful to use the words ‘as if’ to tell it in a way that does not give the impression that I believe Bongo Marie was cognizant of each and every thing she was saying. The article occurred on the Fun Page for a reason.

However, I have stated many times that Bongo does use many words appropriately and that she does often reflect my mood with the use of words. So how much of what she said in the story did she understand? I have no idea? I can tell you that Bongo Marie is always very curious (as most parrots are) about any food that I prepare. She loves an occasional piece of well-cooked chicken, a wing or, a leg bone and will usually have something to say when I offer it to her. One of her favorite sayings is "OH NO" which she usually says with a great deal of emphasis. Years ago, I started saying it to her emphatically when she said something I did not want her to say. She liked it so much she would say it instead of the offending words. She certainly knows Paco and says her name frequently, often laughing at the same time. Bongo Marie laughs a great deal, probably because I laugh a great deal. I find much of what parrots do to be very amusing!

I have no idea what went through Bongo Marie’s incredible little brain to create the scenario with the Cornish Game Hen, but I can guarantee I quoted her accurately. Yes, as Steve Martin says "Bongo Marie is a bird" but she is not ‘just a bird.’ She is a very intelligent bird who has lived with and been influenced by her relationship with a human being for over 17 years. Mr. Martin seems to negate the fact that birds can learn cued behaviors, both in postures and words, simply by their response to being in a relationship with their owners. Over the years, I have established certain patterns in my life with Bongo that she has adjusted her response patterns to. I guess that means she has ‘anthropomorphized’ herself?

Update: Author Eugene Linden, used the story of Bongo Marie and the Cormish Game Hen as the title story for his book on animal behavior, The Parrot's Lament. This and several other delightful parrot stories are told within the book. In a Time Magazine article about the Eugene Linden and his book, a sidebar tells the story. So this wonderful story about Bongo Marie was also in Time Magazine and later in an article in Reader's Digest. Most of her fame came posthumously. Bongo Marie passed away in 1999 so they actually used a picture of my new Grey, Whodee, in the sidebar.