The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog

By Nancy Ellis-Bell

Nancy is an animal lover. So when the opportunity to acquire a blue and gold macaw came along, Nancy just had to take it, despite the difficulties presented. One of which is that the bird was captured in the wild and during the capture its leg was damaged so badly that its foot had to be amputated. Also, it is aggressive and bites. Further, Nancy's home is pretty small and this is a big bird. She has two dogs and two cats in the home already.
But she brings the bird home and names it Sarah and proceeds to fall in love with it. She can't really touch the bird since it bites and its beak is powerful enough to take off a finger. In fact, it likes to crack bones and eat the marrow, which I guess is common with macaws.
Somehow, she and her husband and her pets manage to adapt to the big bird. Nancy decides to let the bird out of its cage and gives it the freedom of the house, making every one's life more complicated as the bird harasses the dogs and cats. Giving Sarah more freedom makes Nancy feel good. So good that eventually she lets the bird go outside, relying on the bond she has established with the bird to keep it from flying away. Even though she has been warned by a good friend and parrot fancier that, "If you free-flight your bird, it's only a matter of when, not if, the bird will be lost or die."
Nancy cannot resist the idea of giving Sarah the freedom she lost when she was captured and she lets the bird out. She is justified when Sarah sticks close to home, never venturing too far away and always coming back into the house when Nancy calls her home. They spend a lot of time outdoors together, since Nancy is an avid gardener. They have a special relationship although Sarah is still too aggressive to be touched or handled. Still there is a strong, loving bond between the two.

This was a pretty good book. I didn't really sympathize with the author much, bringing that big, noisy and aggressive bird into her little and already crowded home. And I especially didn't sympathize with Nancy's desire to give the bird its freedom. (Bit of a spoiler here.) In the end it's the bird who pays the price for Nancy's hubris. I guess Nancy learned her lesson, though. Her new bird, a scarlet macaw, is not a wild captured bird nor is it allowed to fly free outside. Too bad Sarah had to die to teach her that.