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Seeds and Stories are Favorites Here
Students at Menlo’s Laurel School Upper Campus met Molly, African Gray Parrot, who visited from Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue. Molly held the class spellbound as she fluffed her feathers and answered questions posed by her friend and rescuer Jonathan Kessler, responding Yes or No according to her understandings and preferences. Molly comprehends at the level of a human six-year-old and, like children, she loves story hour and has favorite books that Jonathan reads to her. She especially likes Grumpy Monkey, Pigeon, and My Big Dog. She is currently enjoying the Beak and Ally stories. She gets little breaks during story time for unsalted sunflower seeds and maybe a few blueberries. She definitely has preferences in food, as she does in books. Molly is named for the grey-colored metal Molybdenum, as the students learned, and she came to Mickaboo after outliving her previous companion—a frequent occurrence as parrots can live for many decades. The students also learned about hazards for parrots from environmental degradation and the wild bird trade, and how parrots differ in needs and care from pets like dogs and cats. The visit was part of our Pet Painter program, and the students will work in the coming weeks on portraits of Molly and other animals they met. We look forward to sharing the gallery of their work with you. For information about the Pet Painter program, contact us at info@projecthumanekind.org.
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