Photo by Dave Womach Location: Cape Girardeau, MO Resting on: Blue throated macaw "Jinx"

We all have bad days. I had a bad couple of days recently, and my birds really helped me through. Dave came backstage and found me and Jinx like this... and told me not to stop when I looked up at him. He said, "Put your head back down, I want to capture this." so I did and he took this photo. It's really beautiful, I have to say, and I love it so much, even though I know how sad I really was and how much I was emotionally struggling that day.

You have to just open up sometimes. And I really don't like to tell people my problems. I'd rather get over them myself, find my own closure and not talk about it to the world because it really isn't their problem. I also try not to gossip at all, and telling others of my conflicts with people just doesn't sit well with me.

Photo by Jamieleigh Location: Indiana, PA Shown: Galah "Bondi"

But I can tell my birds, because I know they won't tell, and they don't really have a choice but to listen. Hehe. Well, okay, they do...

Jinx and Bandit, my two boys as I call them, seem really sympathetic for me when I'm having a rough day. I'm usually the play mate of the flock... the one letting all the birds out when Dave puts them away, the one screaming "Woohoo!" and trying to encourage everyone to fly around and go crazy. So when I'm down. the flock is pretty much down because there's no "uppity" to the group.

My birds act differently when I'm bummed out, and this last week they were really there for me. I really liked relying on them for comfort rather than people. (Another reason animals are better than humans, huh!?)

Anyway, it just made me think about how we should all let our parrots help lift us up sometimes. Allow them the chance to make us smile. Whenever I'm down, I can't help but feel some sunshine when I look at my birds.

Article by Jamieleigh Womach. She has been working with parrots and toucans since the age of 17. She isn’t homeless but is home less than she prefers to be. She travels the world with her husband, daughter, and a flockful of parrots whom she shares the stage with.