The debate begins

We had a friendly mock debate on the forum which had me in stitches laughing, so I thought I would share with you all. People divided up and tried to convince the other 'team' which caique species was the superior.

Posted by user Kokomo:

Let me shed a little light on this subject.


Back in 'Ye Olden Days' there was thought to be only one type of Caique and it was what we refer to today as 'The Black Headed Caique'. We all know how awesome of a companion bird the BHC is so it should come as no surprise that any/every person of stature would obtain a BHC to as a status symbol. Being the BHCs were more than the folks bargained for the BHC quickly turned in to quite a bit more than status symbols. They won over the hearts of their human owners and became members of their family. Some BHCs were even regarded as royalty and owned/ruled over townships and cities. Now this was indeed a time of turmoil and imperfection. Big changes were afoot and not everyone was in agreement with the changes that were brewing. ***PAY ATTENTION HERE as it gets really complicated.*** A strange man from a small country just south of where one of the most powerful BHCs ruled came to town. (We will refer to this man as Mr. J. because history has many different versions of this story and we won't complicate it with any of the names associated with them.) Mr. J. was a wise man and shared a wealth of knowledge with any and all people that would ask for his words. The ruling BHCs assembled a group of men to speak with Mr. J. The BHCs wanted to remain anonymous as they suspected Mr. J. knew a secret that would be thier undoing. Under instruction of the ruling BHCs these twelve men learned a lot from Mr. J. and one night at the dinner table one of the men asked Mr. J. if the beloved BHC was the best bird in all of the world. Mr. J. responded to this question with a pause and then answered -(and I quote) "No. There is another. One that is extremely close to the BHC but has a head that resembles the Sun." RESEMBLES THE SUN PEOPLE. The men were taken back by this info. They didn't know what to do. Should they go to their ruling BHCs and tell them of this news? Surely the ruling BHCs would want to banish and destroy all knowledge of this Sun Headed Caique. The men even feared that they would be either killed or have thier tongues removed to keep this secret safe from the people. The men continued to ask Mr. J. questions about the [i]Sun Headed Caique[/i] and had a local artist paint a picture of the bird. They asked Mr. J. if it would be appropriate to officially name the Sun Headed Caique the White Bellied Caique. Mr. J. said to the men (and I quote) "That would be a very accurate description but it wouldn't differentiate the Sun Headed Caique from the BHC." The men agreed with Mr. J. but told Mr. J. that the BHC's name would differentiate it from the Sun Headed Caique and not make it seem like the Sun Headed Caique was trying to be like the BHC by having the word 'Head' in its name. Mr. J. gave some thought to his and said (and I quote) "Cool." This is really a long story and many books have been written about it so if you want all the details just look into getting one of the books. I will tell you that when the BHCs got word of the teachings of Mr. J. they captured him and two of the twelve men that they had hired and had them CRUCIFIED!!!!! They wanted to set an example of what would happen if they caught anyone talking of a WBC or how it is the best bird in all the land.

I have included pictures of Mr. J. and the twelve men. This is just after Mr. J. told them of the 'Sun Headed Caique'. They are discussing the official naming of what is now the WBC.

Merry Christmas!

This post is a little late, but I wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday season. For this months post, I wanted to let you preview an excerpt of an article that will be appearing in the latest edition of the BirdBoard.com newsletter. Remember, decorating for the holidays can be fun, but you want to make sure your decorations are bird safe as well!

"During the holidays, there are many new and exciting things we use to decorate around the house that can be as dangerous to your avian friend as they are pretty. We want your holidays to be fun and safe, so we are addressing the common holiday household dangers for 2008.

Among the most common decorations for the winter season, is mistletoe. This often seen holiday plant that harbors such fairytale legend also has a dark side. Mistletoe is part of the Viscaceae family, and the form commonly seen in North America is a hybrid plant of both English and European varieties. Mistletoe is famous for bearing its fruit in the winter months, making it a popular decoration during the Christmas seasons. The red berries that are so trademark of mistletoe are toxic to our avian friends, as are holly berries. Another favorite holiday plant, the Poinsetta, can cause GI tract irritation if ingested. "

Catch the rest of this article soon, coming to an inbox near you!