AnimalsMAY 13, 2015

The Bird Whisperer - The Tale Of My Father And Our Two Parakeets Coconut And Scarlett

This is the story of my father, the bird whisperer, and his great relationship with our two parakeets; Coconut and Scarlett.

Many people in my country wonder at the love I have for animals. As it turns out, animals are either viewed as pleasure items that you can easily discard when you get bored from, or insignificant creatures.

"Who should care for animals when there are millions of people dying everyday from poverty and misery?"

It's not the first time that I've heard that caring for animals is a form of luxury that only spoiled boys and girls do because they are too rich to bother what's going on with the homeless or the people less fortunate than they are.
What people fail to notice, though, is that I am far from being rich. In fact...

I am a very regular, middle-class girl who just happened to have two great animal-loving parents, and a father who was a bird whisperer.

There are no words that can describe how wonderful my Dad is.
I can make post after post of his night journeys to feed the stray dogs of the neighborhood. I can talk about our balcony, which he turned into a natural bird habitat. I can talk about how every night he places foam plates filled with bread crumbs and bird seed mixes, and clean water bowls for the roaming birds who visit our balcony on a daily basis.
I can talk about how when he was sick one day, birds filled the balcony with their chirps and singing, and this went on for days to come, until he got out of bed and fed them.

However, I don't have much footage for these experiences, I just have photos that depict the brilliant relationship between my father and our two parakeets (and best friends) Coconut (nicknamed Cocobatta) and Scarlett (nicknamed Lolo).

Even with thousands of photos taken, nothing can describe how close these three can get. Moments like Coconut screaming at Dad to wake up when he is sick, or Coconut imitating Dad's whistle to perfection, or Scarlett picking Dad to be the first human she trusts as she starts to eat from his spread palm, will live with me wherever I go.

p.s. I am not a professional photographer, mind you. I was just trying to capture those moments of love and happiness that Coconut and Scarlett brought to their best friend, Salah the bird whisperer.