syrinx

Oliver Green

In addition to our two bouncy and demanding dogs, I have five Lineolated parakeets that share my home. This all started with Oliver, the little green mystery bird that was unwanted, unidentified and of undetermined origin. When Daniel and I saw him, he had apparently been dumped at the pet store, with no history or background data other than the fact that he was a baby, still being weaned. We decided we needed to take this little fellow home and keep him with our "flock" of Budgies and care for him.

He turned out to be a Lineolated parakeet, a little Central and South American parrot that is about the size of a Lovebird but has the personality of an Amazon parrot. Loving and playful, we fell in love with this sweet bird. To our great surprise, so did our female Budgie, Roxy.

It is very difficult to find much data on these birds now, but back then (eleven and a half years ago) it was even worse. They are at the mercy of habitat loss and due to their small size they don't get the attention they deserve on issues concerning the needs of parrots. I've learned that lots of folks do not realize that little birds like Budgies are actually parrots - just like Macaws are parrots - and often dismiss the significance of these sensitive little birds.

With a shorter life expectancy than most parrots - 10 years - our little guy is over 11.5 years old and doing just fine. They are superb mimics; I've had to learn to be very careful what I say around him as he learns very quickly and precisely, often to my great embarrassment. I did not realize he was listening to me as I would sing around the house while doing housework. He mimics the bad notes as well as the good! And laughter: if he hears a laugh track on TV he laughs with it.

Lineolated parakeets posses another quality that is really fascinating. As they age, the feathers around their face and head change colour, from green to yellow. I don't know of another parrot species that shows this transformation.

There are two sub species: Bolborhynchus lineola lineola and Bolborhynchus lineola tigrinus. The term "parakeet" is somewhat inaccurate here in the sense that it suggests a parrot with a long tail. Linnies have a very short, stubby tail, so I am not clear on how this was stamped on these little guys. They look more like a Parrotlet (a South and Central American cousin and the smallest member of the parrot family) than a parakeet.

Ollie has to be one of the most affectionate birds I've known... to me anyway. He is a little edgy toward Daniel. In this he is like many parrots that bond to only one person. Unlike our sweet little Ruby (a Green Cheek Conure that we just lost recently) who was everyone's friend, Ollie is a one woman bird. And despite his size he is a brave and smart little solider. On first meeting our puppy Fergus, he did the smartest and best thing ever. He didn't run away, fly away or act afraid. Instead, he marched up to this strange beast... and nipped his nose! Fergus respects all birds now. They are strange and slightly scary to him, which is just fine with us.

Our budgie Roxy passed away last year after being with me for 18 years. We lost our little Ruby after only 5 years. But our little green man has been with us far longer than we expected. Our tiny perfect parrot, Ollie is a wonderful little bird and great reminder of what is lost when tropical rainforests are pulled down. He is a rescue parrot and a link to our better understanding of the world around us. We celebrate Ollie day every day.

tags: birds ollie parrots parakeets budgie macaw lineolated