1 / 1 Sherlock perched on the shoulder of his person, Lorraine Livesey, as she packed up from a lecture at the Aldergrove Library on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025. (Heather Colpitts/Black Press Media) Advertisement
Sherlock and Sonny charmed a large audience at the Aldergrove Library on Aug. 29 without even ruffling a feather.
The members of the parrot family were part of a presentation by the Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary by volunteers Lorraine Livesey and Stephanie Mitchell.
Sherlock enjoyed her favourite activity - shredding a roll of toilet paper - a task that took less than five minutes.
While she was busy with that, Livesey answered audience questions ranging from care and feeding to whether their toenails can be painted (no, because they might ingest pieces of nail polish).
"They're not domesticated animals. These are wild birds living in my house," Livesey noted. "They should be living in the jungle. I'm the first to admit that one. But they can't they can't be in the jungle. They don't know how to survive in the jungle."
As well, the two birds have lesions - Sherlock around her heart and Sonny on his airway - due to a virus and would not survive very long in the wild.
Livesey explained that despite their seemingly small size, parrots are powerful birds.
"He could break my arm. He could take my finger," she said of one of the birds. "Sherlock could break my arm if she wanted to bite me."
She noted that they have incredibly strong beaks to be able to break open hard nuts and seeds in their wild habitat.
Greyhaven is a volunteer-run non-profit bird sanctuary devoted to helping exotic birds and teaching people about responsible pet ownership.
A key lesson was that birds such as parrots have long lifespans, typically outliving their owners so people should have specific plans formalized on what happens to the birds and their care if an owner becomes infirm and what happens after an owner's death.
"So before you get a bird, do some research," she said. "Because she's 48 [her bird], I'm 66. When I turn 90, chances are I'm not going to be able to pick up her cage and move it to clean it and do all that I have to do with that."
She expects to hire someone to help with pet care when she's unable to and has an agreement for her grandson to take owner of the bird after her death.
Livesey noted that people should choose someone whom the bird likes, otherwise they may act out. She took in a bird in what was supposed to be a hospice situation, only expected to live a matter of months. The bird didn't choose her and so is stand-offish but with proper nutrition and care, it is now healthy and should live for several years.
Livesey also spoke on bird health, noting that poop is something that must be monitored.
"The smaller the bird, the more the poop," she quipped. "So I have two little birds about that big at home and they poop every 10 minutes. Yeah, there's a lot of poop in my house. Now poop is important when when you have a bird. Every day I have to look at poop to see how it is because that tells me how my birds are."
She noted that birds can aim where they poop and spoke about her bird, Sherlock, who has learned when and when not to poop. So now Livesey can safely drive in the car with out her bird messing the vehicle.