Death In The Bird Room
A bird wake is held before burial
The death of a loved one is hard to accept. Brady’s companion, Gracie, died during the night. I expected the tiny, green body sprawled on the cage floor this morning. I expected an upset Brady.
Note: Most of my flock are senior birds, well into their teens. Most cockatiels, parakeets, and doves live a life span of 16 to 21 years.
A bird wake is held in the flight cage, the departed rests on a shelf visible to the entire flock. After arranging the body, I leave the cage to allow the others to visit the corpse. The dead’s friends examine the body, talk to it, touch it with their beaks, trying to coax it to get up. Bird grieving is akin to our grieving, emotional and often intense. I learned to hold wakes after a male cockatiel passed on leaving a bewildered mate with no corpse to examine.
Years ago, we had a devoted cockatiel pair: Peeps and Silky. They were inseparable. Their affection for each other was obvious and touching; they were together well into their teens, never out of sight of each other, until the fateful day Silky developed an illness that led to his death. Unfortunately, Silky died at the vet’s clinic instead of at home with his mate. My mistake was not bringing the Silky’s body home for Peeps to touch once more.
