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great shot, kaspi!
i don't know if i've posted this before, but this is my oscar:

he's a 9-year-old african grey parrot (what alex was). i wish you could see his brilliant, bright red tail! he doesn't like cameras, so i was lucky to get this pic.

it just occurred to me that i brought him home the same day that russell brought his oscar home!

oscar has a pretty good vocabulary (want to come out! go for a walk? do you need to go pee? whatcha doin'? want some water? want to come wash my hair?), but he's a much better sound mimic. he rings like the telephone, beeps like my answering machine and all of the kitchen appliances, and depending on which machine i'm standing closest to, he makes the appropriate noise. when the phone rings, he says "hello?", and when he thinks i've been on the phone long enough, he starts saying, "okay, okay, good-bye - beep!" (because i have to turn the phone off, and it makes a beep noise). not too long ago i was broiling something that got a bit too smoky, which set off the smoke alarm; now he regularly 'catches fire' and makes that awful noise! he mimics cardinals, sparrows, chickadees and phoebes. and of course police and fire truck sirens. he also whistles part of the '1812 overture'.
but aside from all of his verbal communication, he is a remarkable judge of my emotional state. when my spree (my first dog) died very suddenly almost 7 years ago, he knew i was heartbroken. he would make a tremendous amount of noise until i let him out of his house, then he would leap onto my chest, cram his head under my chin in the closest approximation of a hug that he could give me, and wouldn't let me put him down until i stopped crying. i think he may have saved my life! i know the grieving process would have been much harder to bear if he hadn't been with me.
becks

heh! well, no, they're not as warm and fuzzy as a cat or dog, but in their own way, birds can be quite cuddly. oscar won't settle down to sleep at night without his good-night snuggle with me.
he's decidedly not a morning bird, however. i don't even think about letting him out in the morning any more, because he's bitten my index finger nearly to the bone too many times to risk it again. keep in mind that most parrots, the ones classified as 'hookbills', crack very tough nutshells using only their beaks, so just imagine what they could do to a fragile finger (phragile phinger?).
on the other hand, i have absolutely no qualms about feeding oscar things to eat from the tip of my tongue (later in the day...). he's incredibly gentle and careful, and since many birds bond with their lifemates by mutual feeding, i suspect he thinks it's only right that i offer him choice tidbits to chew on.
birds are cool , very surprising to people who don't 'get' them (much like non-russell fans!), but they're not for everyone. i expect oscar to outlive me by as much as 20 years, so it's absolutely a long-term commitment to be owned by one of the larger parrots. he's left in my will to my best friend's 19-year-old daughter, who has a gift when it comes to birds. she was very excited about this idea, until her mother explained that i have to be dead before she gets him! he'll be bereft and very unhappy for a while, but he will be very much loved.
jeez, i'm such a teacher! i'll shut up now...!
becks

... and she's already taken over the best sofa!