Phantom announces himself

Mary Jo called me several weeks after my first meeting with Phantom. My friend Hannah Bonner and I went with a very well respected member of the professional avian community to meet the baby parrots at Mary Jo's home. For several reasons, she practiced having the baby parrots exposed to human contact and handling from their first few days of life through fledging. In this way they do not become fully imprinted on humans because they continue to be fed, cared for, and socialized by their parents in the nest box. They enjoy the experience of parrotdom with the intriguing opportunity to experience what makes humans tick. Each of the babies had a particular style - one chose to march over and bite the toe of the esteemed avian expert who was with us. The others were more circumspect, but no less willing to show us that they had a presence worth respect.

After that first meeting she called me to say that she had had to name one of the babies Phantom, because his nature was so ephemeral. She apologized, saying she respected the dream I had a year earlier, and would not take away my right to recognize MY Phantom, on my own, when he arrived in my life and name him myself. But this one just suited that name.

Several weeks later Mary Jo called me to say that she had a problem with the one named Phantom.

There was a problem with one leg, which the visiting vet diagnosed as a sprain due to the test flights and occasional crash landings to which very young African Gray Parrots are prone. He would need extra care, and the expertise of someone other than the first time bird people who had claimed two of the three baby parrots. There was no question. Of course this Phantom would be welcomed as my own.