The other night, Mithu was on the floor playing with the dogs' toys, rather than her own. Sam had a squeaky toy and was nearby. Sam is the calmest of calm dogs. Everyone is a potential friend, even if you are a bird who has mistreated him on occasion. He is always ready to trust- a lesson to us all. Mithu stalked over (if you have even doubted the bird-dinosaur link, just watch a parrot stomp across the floor toward a victim) to Sam with her beak open and her neck outstretched. I warned as she closed in, "Don't you bite Sam! No biting!" So she closed her beak, pulled back one leg, and kicked him. It was the brattiest looking kick imaginable, and might have done some damage, if the dog weren't 50 times larger than the bird. He jumped up anyway, and hid behind the chair. I tried to admonish her, but am afraid that I may have not been too effective, since we were so amazed and we were laughing pretty hard. It was too bizarre, and very funny to see. I'd doubt it myself, if there wasn't a witness present.
How does a bird switch from a natural meanie behavior to an entirely new meanie behavior? We don't kick at our house- all adults, and fairly placid. Did she see kicking on Dora the Explorer? It is her new favorite TV show, second only to Spongebob Squarepants. Maybe the kicking was on Spongebob. Plankton is fairly violent. Mithu calls me Squiddy or Squidward or Squid-squiddy as a nickname. She came up with this on her own, and I am honored. I do not resemble Squidward (physically) at all. really. I resemble a Muppet.
How did she know that kicking was a pesty thing to do? Do birds kick in the wild? It was not a natural looking move- which I think is what made it so damn funny. The only other experience that I know she had with kicking was when the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade was on TV last year. She was watching it on and off (so was everyone while we made preparations for the feast.) The Rockettes came on and did their usual dance routine, and Mithu's attention was riveted to the TV. She began to dance on her perch, deliberately picking up her feet and kicking them out and stamping and bobbing like crazy. She had previoulsy only been observed doing the "toddler bob"- head and shoulders going to the music, but both feet plated firmly in perch or floor. Now she was high stepping around and plainly having a grand time.
Kicking. Dancing versus pestiness. How crazy does it sound to tell a bird, "No kicking!"
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