Training birds is a bit harder than some think. True story.......Billie Sol Estes once had a plan to train hundreds of parakeets to fly across major cities while singing in unison, "I like Ike." Budgies can rarely talk and certainly never in unison but Billie Sol thought it was a great idea. Billie did a lot better selling non-existent anhydrous ammonia tanks.

On the other hand I seem to remember some typical California goofball who spent his entire life teaching a Macaw to sing all the verses to "Queen of the Stardust Ballroom." Sadly, before he could document this, the Macaw was eaten by a homeless drunk who thought it was a scrawny blue chicken. Okay......that one was a joke.

Seriously though, its amazing what birds can be taught.   When I was a kid the Myna birds were extremely popular and so were the Brazilian Cruncenaria Parrots often referred to as Crunchies until they were banned from being imported. A guy named Kerry Tompkins in East Rutherford was arrested and that began the start of the precedings which ended in the stopping of the importation of the rare species. Tompkins went into the All-Avian Pet and Supply store and saw one of the Brazilian birds. The clerk advised against the purchase and explained it wasn't a good pet when left uncaged in the home. He showed how the bird would act upon voice command. The clerk said, "Crunchy Bird table" and the bird flew over and destroyed the table like a buzzsaw. He then said "Crunchy Bird chair" and the bird destroyed the chair in the same fashion. Tompkins insisted on the purchase anyway. Upon arriving home Tompkins was accosted by his overbearing wife who demanded to know what the hell Kerry had brought home. He removed the bird from its carrier and proudly said it was a Brazilian Crunchy Bird. His wife scoffed at him and replied, "Crunchy Bird my ass." She bled to death before help could arrive.

Spaw