Percy

STORY OF PERCY

As Percy was an old bird, this story is rather long. I think it is interesting, as do many of my friends, so I do hope you will take the time to read it. It is a very good insight to the African Grey parrot and the continent from where they come.

Some background information

Summer time temperatures ranged between15 degrees Celsius (60 F) and 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) (in the shade) in the area of Zambia where we used to live. The story of Percy is based on what I can remember. We were living in a country then known as Northern Rhodesia. Since independence, it is now known as Zambia. Our home was on a small holding of twelve and a half acres (+- 2.5 hectares) in a farming area called Kaniki. It was very close to the Congo border, and was ten and a half miles (17 km) outside of a town called Ndola on the road to Mufulira, where I was born. Ndola was the commercial capital of the Copperbelt in Zambia. My father was a Chartered Accountant and ran his own business from home.

We had all gone into the main closest town of Ndola one day. I cannot remember exactly when it was, but I would have been about seven or eight at the time. Sellers used to cross the Congo border into Zambia with parrots and would sell these from street corners. Even at my young age, I considered some of the ways in which the birds were carried and sold as rather barbaric. Often the birds were held by string attached to one foot, with the string tied to a stop sign or street lamp post to prevent the bird's escape. They would have any number of birds, and these would be in varying states of health. Sometimes not very good. Some vendors were fairly considerate of the birds and kept them in a cage, but would accommodate more than one at a time. This was generally the exception rather than the rule though. As the date was 1957/1958, there was no control on movement or trade in birds. The borders were very extensive with paths leading from village to village, and transfer of the birds without crossing by the legal crossing points was an easy matter.

Percy, the new family member

Percy was one of these poor unfortunate birds. He got the name Percy as it was a parrot type of name at that time. My father had seen the birds several weeks running, and on this occasion, decided that he wanted one. I suppose that had he not bought the bird, someone else would have, or it would have died, just as many did. From memory Percy cost him about 20% of his monthly salary he was drawing from his company at the time. I remember that we had an estate car known as a station wagon, and Percy was put into the loading area. His wings had been badly cut and he had no hope of being able to fly. We sat in the rear seats and listened to Percy talking and swearing in French, which was the native language of the country from which he had come. He was not a young bird when we got him and he was already talking, so had been in captivity for a good while. Young Greys have black eyes and these change to having yellow around the iris as they age. I can remember him having yellow eyes when we got him, as he used to change the size of the ring with his mood and temper. We had no cage for the bird and my father had to order one in. Percy was kept in a box while we waited for this. My father made a point of ordering a play stand of metal construction at the same time. It had bowls on each end to cater for seed and water. Percy ate the same food as we ate, along with fruit from our trees. Slowly as time passed, he calmed down and began to talk in English and imitate all manner of sounds. At this time, and always, we have called Percy him, but from my knowledge now of African Greys and their temperament, on reflection, I would say that Percy was more likely to have been female.

As we lived on a small holding, we had many pets and poultry too. The pets consisted of pigeons, (about 50 or 60 of these, my father's favourite hobby being to breed and show them), cats, (about ten or so of these), dogs, (about eight or so as my mother's hobby was breeding miniature daschunds), chickens, ducks, guinea fowls, turkeys, geese and budgies. We also had a large Great Dane dog and two Alsatians. On and off we also had goats. Percy was just someone else to join the menagerie.

Some of Percy's activities

My father took great pleasure in Percy. He taught him to talk (and swear) along with many tricks and other things. As a form of relaxation, my father planted vegetables. Percy would often climb down from his stand and go down the land looking for my father. Percy walked everywhere as my father was told that he should cut both the wings to prevent the bird flying away. Sometimes a cat or dog would encounter Percy on his trip to the garden area of our small holding. Percy would fend off attacks with a sharp nip, and after a while, none of the animals dared to even think about tackling him. They would quickly side step him and avoid him at all costs. Percy would often call my father and he would answer until the bird found him. Percy would then ride around on my father's shoulder until he went back to the house. My father was Percy's favourite person, but my mother was allowed to handle him too, although he would often nip her without warning and then shout at her in her own voice. After my father's death in 1963, my brother became the favourite person. I could put my hand out for him to climb on but was never able to pat and make a fuss of him.

In 1964, when my mother got a television for the first time, Percy would look through the hole which he had chewed in his blanket and comment on the programs. He seemed to be very intelligent and understand things as he would laugh at jokes being cracked on comedy shows. He had an extensive vocabulary and could imitate all the family members exactly, as well as the farm labourers, dogs, cats and the rest of the menagerie. He could hoot like a car, whistle and sing like the wild birds and whistle like my grandmother's police whistle. He was so natural that we all took him for granted.

At dinner time, he was given a saucer of food from the selection we had. He always made a point of walking round the entire table, examining all the plates to see who had something on their plate which he did not on his. He would then help himself to the missing item and take it to his plate before continuing on to the next person's plate. He always knew how far he had got too. We normally had seven or more at the dinner table. Once he was happy that he had something of everything, he would go off and eat. Potato was a "no no" but it did not stop him taking it. It would get stuck in his crop and he would look as though he was choking on it, but he always went back for more if it was at the next meal. My father made a point of leaving a very small piece on the side of the plate, and Percy would normally help himself to this, thankfully. Christmas meals were something else as there were all manner of treats available and Percy would reach the stage where he would keep going back and forwards to see what else was available. His favourite was chicken bones, oxtail bones or any bone with marrow. He would concentrate on this until it was gone. Another favourite was gem squash or any pumpkin family. He just loved the seeds from inside these. His normal meal was sunflower seed and peanuts in the shell. In most of the countries we lived in in Africa, there was not the variety of seed or the knowledge on what should be eaten by parrots. His favourite after my Dad died was to scatter his food in all directions. This meant fruit on the walls and curtains, with seeds all over the surrounding area.

Later in his life with us, Percy would crack jokes and then laugh at them, sometimes falling off his perch in the process of laughing. He was really comical at times.

Percy leaves Zambia

In 1975 my mother immigrated from Zambia to Zimbabwe (or Rhodesia as it was then known). I applied for all the papers in Zimbabwe, as I had already been living there for three years and had been through this side of things with my parrots, Lucy & Shayne. Zambia was not au fait with the paperwork and requirements, but allowed the birds out on production of these plus a bank clearance for exchange control purposes.

The small holding I had grown up on was sold. It was a very sad day. We said goodbye to all the labourers and their families. They were all like part of our family and many tears were shed at this time. The pets were then down to a couple of dogs and cats and the parrot. The dogs and cats had their rabies clearance and inoculations and the cats were put into travel baskets and were bundled into the little Fiat 127 my mother was driving. Percy was bundled into the Mercedes 280 that I was driving for my mother, along with a dog. She was not allowed to take any money under the existing exchange control restrictions at that time, but was allowed her two cars, furniture and animals. The border post between Zambia and Rhodesia was closed due to sanctions. Clearance for export was given to South Africa, although the bank and the authorities were well aware that the final destination was Rhodesia. The journey was very long and involved travelling through Botswana via the Caprivi Strip, just above the Victoria Falls by ferry, then on into Rhodesia, right down to the bottom of the country via Bulawayo, and back up to the capital Salisbury (now called Harare). It involved overnight stops at Lusaka, Kasane in Botswana, a sleep on the side of the road outside Bulawayo and the on to the capital.

Percy leaves Zimbabwe and goes to live in South Africa

In September 1984, my mother died, and no one in the family really wanted Percy. I loved birds and told the family that I would have him. My sister and step-father arranged all the papers in Zimbabwe and I arranged all the papers in South Africa so that he could come and live with us.

When Percy was being put into the special air cargo box designed for him, he apparently started biting, flapping wings, growling and swearing in a manner most out of place with what everyone was used to with him. When taken in at the airport, he started swearing at all the staff who handled him. He was obviously very worried at what was happening to him, and did not like it one little bit!

We were given a flight number and estimated arrival time, and travelled up to Johannesburg by car to collect him at Jan Smuts airport, as it was then called. At the time, we were living in a town called Vryheid, and this meant travelling 630km (391 miles) to Johannesburg to meet Percy. His cage was an old one which was put on the plane too. We had all sorts of delays and hiccups at the cargo section, but eventually got Percy. He was very quiet and subdued and made no noises at all. We were spending the night with friends in one of the outer suburbs of Johannesburg and decided that once we got there we would let him out and allow him to go into his cage.

I opened the door of the box at our friends and Percy made no attempt to come out. It took a lot of coaxing to get him out, but eventually he came out. He seemed to recognise me and was soon talking, making noises and climbing up and down all over his cage. It didn't take him very long to settle down as if he were at home. He objected to going into his cage for the night, but eventually went in. We took him back home and he was soon re-united with Shayne and Cheeky. There was great rejoicing amongst the three of them and loads of talking to each other in their own ways. Percy was happy to be "home".

Percy moves to England

When we decided in 1989 that we were going to move to the UK, we ran into problems. As he was classified as a CITES bird in South Africa, the Authorities required a permit to allow him and my other two parrots out of the country. Initially they would not grant any permits at all, but eventually they relented, first with Percy, and then eventually on both of my Cape Brown Necked parrots. Percy was on the move again with Cheeky and Shayne. We now had to get permits for the UK entry, arrange their Veterinary quarantine for six months there and arrange their shipping across. I was fortunate to be working for a forwarding and shipping agency and they gave me tremendous help and support in arranging their move. The three birds had a special air carriage container made, so they would all be next to each other. Their cages were put into the aircraft's hold on the same flight as they were booked on, and they were met at the other end. Heathrow airport was 45 miles (70 km) away from their new home, and they were met by my sister-in-law. We were only due to join them some weeks later.

The three birds were moving from a hot tropical climate to a very cool northern hemisphere climate.

Sadly, we had to leave all three birds at my sister-in-law's home as they were quarantined at that address and not allowed to be moved until the quarantine period expired. Fortunately six months and several visits later we were fully re-united again and able to move them to our own home.

Percy didn't mind moving at all. He was getting used it, as this was his thirteenth move since he had joined our family back in the early 1950's.

Heart Break

In 1993 tragedy struck! Percy decided to join my parents "on the other side" when he died of old age. He had been in the family for more than 36 years. We woke as normal the one morning and when the children opened the cage, they found him dead on the floor. we were all totally devastated, and there was a lot of tears shed by all. We visited our local vet and were given a verdict of death by old age.

Shayne took it the hardest. She went off her food, didn't make any sounds and generally pined away. There was little we could do for her and she joined her lifelong buddy just weeks after he had gone.

Thank you for reading the story of Percy. Please do read the stories of our other birds.

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