Willa Joins our Family

We have a new family member. It is a Cockatiel named Willa. Her Birthday is the same as mine, October 2nd. I have always enjoyed birds. As a child, I had a beautiful blue,green, and yellow Budgie named "Davy." His cage still hangs in my parents garage. I purchased him in 8th grade with the money I recieved from my family and church family for my confirmation celebration. I have such fond memories of him singing when we vacuumed or when we were loud. He had free flight of our home. Thankfully he never flew out an open door. He also never flew into the ceiling fans. He returned to his cage each night on his own. But one week when I was in highschool, I forgot to feed him and he died. I was so sad and I buried him under the pear tree in a decorative tin. I have always wanted to get another bird, so I finally decided to do it. So I purchased Willa.

I hope Shelli posts a picture so you can see her. She is quite pretty and has a fun personality. She loves both of us. She is sometimes talkative, especially when she wants fed or out of her cage. She mostly just wants to be with us, specifically our shoulder. She just got through standing at Shelli's feet the entire time she did dishes... and now she is upstairs sitting on my shoulder while I type this. Willa has already made a trip to the nursing home to visit my grandma and she went right to Grandma's diamond earings and started pulling on them! She has good taste. She also went home for Christmas so Luke could enjoy her.

Shelli doesn't particularly care for pet birds, but she has quickly become a fan of Willa. We wanted to give her a name that declares her home in Nebraska, because Cockatiels are originally from Australia. She is named after Nebraska native author Willa Cather.

If you or your kids like birds, come over for a visit! I hope we have her for a long time and that we enjoy her as much as I did Davy. I have noticed that Willa is a little more needy, not quite as pretty, and not as good of a flyer. However, she loves people and that makes her a great bird!