Ruth, Jenny, and Leigh Ann along with Lady Scarlet (scarlet macaw), Zoe (Moluccan cockatoo), and Pepper & Franco (Congo African greys) visited The Virginian on November 17. This facility is a retirement and continuing care community for seniors, and Phoenix Landing has an ongoing relationship with them thanks to the efforts of Bozena Pait.

Bozena kindly cares for the facility’s resident cockatiels and schedules our group‘s visits about every six months. Staff and residents alike know and love Bozena, and many asked about her and sent along well wishes as she recovers from her recent surgery. We missed Bozena, and we look forward to our next visit when we know she’ll be better and able to rejoin us.

As is typical with our visits to this facility, a good time was had by all. We had some excellent questions and discussions. One gentleman seemed particularly fascinated when Jenny mentioned the Indonesian origin of Zoe, the Moluccan. We finally realized why he was so interested when he told us he had been in a war in that region but didn’t see any parrots or other animals at the time. It was sobering to imagine beautiful creatures like Zoe living in lands torn by warfare.

Lady Scarlet, Pepper, and Franco demonstrated a few of their trick behaviors and were very good little parrot ambassadors. However, I think anyone we asked would likely have voted Miss Zoe as the highlight of the visit. Ever a sweetheart, Zoe became very animated and vocal to the delight of all the residents. Surprisingly, many commented they had never known parrots can be so interactive and intelligent.

Special thanks to Ruth and Jenny for taking time out of their day to help.