Parrots

John Steckley, a retired professor of anthropology and sociology at Humber College in Toronto, is the author of numerous books, including bestselling introductory sociology texts and guides to the cultures and languages of Indigenous peoples. He lives in Bolton, Ontario.

"There are five parrots in front of me on the floor in a caged-in area that used to be half of our living room. Two of them, Stanee and Louis, are conures, both with the slender bodies and red tails that give them a name that means 'flame tails'. There are two Quaker parrots, Quigley and Tikkifinn, closely related to the conures but a little stockier as suits the cooler climate of their ancestral home. Both are gray in the front; Quigley (a male) is green of head and back, while Tikkifinn (a female) is blue in both those places. The fifth parrot, Sam, is bigger, and hails from Africa, far from Quigley and Tikkifinn's South American origins. Sam has a gray head, a big black beak that poses a constant threat to his human companions, and a V-shaped marking down his centre, green above, orange below. I didn't see them land from their usual places on perches and on top of cag­es, but I'm almost completely sure of the order they landed in, and why. I know this because they are part of my flock, and that flock is the subject of this book." -From the bookJohn and Angelika Steckley share their home with an entire flock of parrots, and have long been fascinated by this diverse group of birds. In Parrots: The Flock Among Us, the anthropologist and author explores parrots' traits and habits, considers the matter of parrot intelligence, and answers questions such as "Do parrots talk?" Along the way, Steckley shares the joys and occasional heartbreak of living among parrotkind. After reading this book, you'll never look at these remarkable birds in the same way again.