Cordonier Roxanne Walker - Conversations with Cosmo

AT HOME WITH AN
AFRICAN GREY PARROT

By Betty Jean Craige

Preface by Irene Pepperberg

SHERMAN ASHER PUBLISHING Santa Fe

Copyright 2010 Betty Jean Craige

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced

without the permission of the publisher

except for brief passages used for reviews

ISBN 13: 978-1890932-374-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 00000000

Cover design by Maureen Burdock

Edited by Cinny Green

Text design by Jim Mafchir

Photo Credits: John Ahee and Robert Newcomb

Sherman Asher Publishing

P.O. Box 31752

Santa Fe, NM 87594-1725

I dedicate this book
to Margaret and Wyatt Anderson,
Cosmos extended human family.

Acknowledgments

I thank Judith Ortiz Cofer, brilliant writer and good friend, for inspiring me to write this book and providing helpful criticism of it. Judys students love her as a teacher, and now I know why.

I thank Julie Dingus, with whom Ive worked at the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at the University of Georgia for some ten years, for reading the manuscript carefully and thoughtfully. Julie shares my sense of humor, and she let me know what she thought was funny, to my great gratification.

I thank my brother Branch Craige and my colleagues Hugh Ruppersburg and Nicole Mitchell for reading critically the whole manuscript and responding to it with good suggestions.

I thank my many other wonderful friends not only for reading parts or all of the chapters but also for listening patiently to my Cosmo stories over the years and receiving with apparent enthusiasm the numerous email Cosmo updates I sent them regularly to brag about my parrots latest achievements.

I thank Lloyd Winstead, my other companion at the Willson Center, for welcoming Cosmo on her many visits to my office. I thank Margaret and Wyatt Anderson, Richard Neupert, Cathy Jones, Sophie Neupert, Doris Kadish, and Raymond Woller for entertaining Cosmo frequently in their homes. And I thank all my colleagues who have given Cosmo work experience by inviting her to their classes and book clubs.

I thank John Ahee and Robert Newcomb for taking good pictures of Cosmo and me. John Ahees picture of Cosmo giving me an affectionate peck on the nose is on the books cover.

I thank John Avise, geneticist, ornithologist, bird photographer, and parakeet lover, for taking me to the pet store in May of 2002 to show me baby Cosmo.

I thank Jim Mafchir of Sherman Asher Publishing for his interest in Cosmo and for his confidence in this book about her. And I thank Cynthia Green for being a superb editor, and Maureen Burdock for designing the striking cover.

I thank Cosmo for being a good bird and my dogs Mary and Kaylee for not eating her.

Contents

Forty-Four Tips for Living with an
African Grey, or Forty-Four Things
I Have Learned from Cosmo about
Loving an African Grey

Preface

H aving anything to do with parrots evokes many conflicting emotions. As someone who has studied them for over thirty years and who has interacted with them in some manner for almost my entire life, I am well aware of their engaging personalities and the considerable joy that they can bring to their human companions. I am, of course, also aware of the noise, the mess, and the responsibilities that accepting these birds into ones life engenders. And, although I fortunately have had little firsthand experience with the negative side of the parrot trade, I am also aware of the sad plight of large numbers of parrots whose owners abuse them, whether through neglect or more active forms of negative behavior, of the equally large numbers of parrots that end up at shelters and sanctuaries as a consequence, and of some of the less-than-sterling breeders who have little care for the birds themselves other than as money-making stock. That is why I am so glad that Betty Jean Craige has written this book.

Professor Craige describes in great detail the intelligence and the striking personality of her Grey parrot, Cosmo. Craige entertains us with many anecdotes that provide insights into a brain that, although organized somewhat differently from those of mammals, functions in ways reminiscent of a young child. Cosmo clearly analyzes situations, uses her relatively limited vocal vocabulary, and devises appropriate communicative strategies to get what she wants in many varied situations, be it a special treat or just some additional attention. But Craige also explains to us just how Cosmo has developed into such a wonderful being: it is Craiges constant interactions with Cosmo, their immersion in one anothers lives, and the fact that Craige treats Cosmo as one would treat an inquisitive toddler.

Thus Professor Craige does not make light of the responsibility she has undertaken in bringing Cosmo into her life. We learn about their daily routines, of Cosmos endless craving for close, personal attention, and even of Craiges awareness of the need to figure out how to provide for Cosmo when she is no longer capable of so doing. Craige doesnt spare us the descriptions of the bird-food littered floor, of the feathers that get into all possible nooks and crannies, the occasional painful bites, the destruction of anything that Cosmo might consider beak-worthy (whether it be a designated parrot toy or a valuable antique), the expense and work needed to provide a diet that is more varied and probably better than that of the average American human, and the times when maybe a bit more peace and quiet would be appreciated. Craige, albeit with a light touch, makes it clear that parrots are not creatures that provide unconditional love and that they are clearly not good companions for folks who are unwilling to make the same kind of effort and sacrifices that she does.

So enjoy the truly wonderful stories about Cosmoof her interacting with Professor Craige, with the dogs with whom she shares a house, with Craiges dinner guests and family, of the tricks Cosmo plays on her companions (human and canine)but remember that such an exceptional bird requires an equally exceptional owner.

Irene M. Pepperberg, author of The Alex Studies and Alex and Me.

1. Where Wanna Gonna go?

COSMO: Where wanna gonna go?
BJC: Betty Jean wanna go to work.
COSMO: Cosmo wanna go to work, okay?
BJC: No. Cosmo stay home. Cosmo stay home with doggies.
COSMO: