Bodie

I have some sad news. At some point Wednesday night my parakeet Bodie died. It wasn't entirely unexpected, I noticed a week earlier that he wasn't feeling well. They say, that by the time you see your bird is sick, he's very sick.

I gave him antibiotics, I took him to the vet, and in the end it appears as if he had a tumor and after six years he died.

Bodie was the first budgie I had after a hiatus of about 15 years. I grew up with budgies, but after feeding and watering them for 20 years and getting very little in return but a bitten finger, I got tired of the effort. Then about six years ago, I went to a pet shop with my sister, looked at all their little parakeets and something inside me was moved. I told Joy that I might consider getting a parakeet sometime again, in the future, maybe about six months or so...and if I got one I preferred a yellow one. If they didn't have yellow, then maybe blue, but not a green one. Two weeks later Joy gave me Bodie for Christmas, and I was thrilled.

Later, I asked her why she gave me one when I told her I wouldn't be ready for one for months, if in fact I wanted one at all. She told me that when she saw me come home and clear off a space behind my desk for that future cage, and when saw me looking at parakeets online, well, she figured I really wanted one now. ;)

So I got Bodie, and after biting me the first two days we became good friends. In his mind I was the top bird. He'd spend a lot of time playing on my desk. He would bounce on my fingers as I typed, and dropped my coins to the floor, but when I got up to leave he would quickly find security in his cage.

He never learned to talk, just imitate the beep on my Nextell. He lived a good life, and everyone enjoyed him.