I Met a Man About a Parrot

Vicki Cobb
the "Julia Child" of kids' hands-on science 

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     I’m often asked where I get my ideas for books.  Let me give you an example:

     The other day, when I was walking in a neighborhood park, there was a man doing whole-body lifts on a piece of exercise equipment with a huge, brilliantly–colored parrot on his shoulder.  It was so unusual that, without thinking, I called out: “What a beautiful bird!  May I take your picture?” I was full of questions so we chatted for a while.

     Me: “What kind of bird is that?”

     Scotty, the parrot-man: “She’s a green-winged macaw.”

     Me:  “What’s her name? How old is she?”

     Scotty: “Her name is Lucky.  She’s 2 ½ years old but she can live more than 60 years. She’s a vegetarian, like me.  Her beak is a nut-cracker. ”

     Lucky repeatedly kissed Scotty on the lips with her giant hooked beak as he turned to talk to her. She had been an expensive gift to him—they cost about $1500 at Bird Jungle, our local bird store. She couldn’t fly because he kept her wings clipped; it’s dangerous for a 2 ½ pound bird to be able to fly around the house.  He had given her a bath that morning.  She had communicated that she wanted one by putting her head under the faucet and looking at him.

     “Why did she want a bath?” I asked.  “Was she dirty?”

     Scotty wasn’t sure why, except that it rains every day in her natural habitat—the rain forest.  Then he pointed out a new feather on her neck.  It was encased in a white sheath.  A bath makes the sheath fall off and the feather fluffs up.  Maybe that feels like undoing a pony tail  

     This is often how I get ideas for books. I find something interesting and start asking questions.   Of course, I paid a visit to Bird Jungle.  What a noisy store!  There I found more people to interview.  It’s amazing how much you can learn from people who are experts.  

     After a while I ran out of questions.  That’s because I didn’t know enough to keep going.  How can I remedy that?  Go read a book or two about green-winged macaws and other rain forest birds. It could lead to a book idea about the rain forest like:  This Place Is Wet.

     When I write, I don’t write just about content.   I write what interests me about content. There’s a big difference.

A green-winged macaw is the second largest of all the macaws. They migrate between Argentina and the Amazon rain forest

Scotty doing full-body push ups with Lucky on his shoulder.

Does Vicki's story make you want to visit a store like Bird Jungle to meet a green-winged macaw?

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Vicki made a trip to the Amazon rain forest with her good friend, Alaskan artist, Barbara Lavallee.  You can find out what they learned there by reading This Place Is Wet. For more information about the book, click here. 

Vicki  Cobb is a member of iNK's Authors on Call and is available for classroom programs through FieldTripZoom,  a terrific technology that requires only a computer, wifi, and a webcam.  Click here to find out more.

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MLA 8 Citation
Cobb, Vicki. "I Met a Man about a Parrot." Nonfiction Minute, iNK Think Tank, 18 Dec. 2017, www.nonfictionminute.org/the-nonfiction-minute/
     I-Met-a-Man-About-a-Parrot. Accessed 18 Dec. 2017.