Junior Emma Walters and sophomore Ava Griffith own birds as loyal companions. Griffith owns one Indian Ring-Neck Parakeet and Walters owns two American Pekin ducks. According to The Spruce Pets, “birds are essentially wild and need to be handled and socialized with every day to remain tame.” 

     Lafeber Company describes the Indian Ring-Necked Parakeet as an outgoing bird that bodes well with an own who appreciates a companion that demands what it wants. Griffith confirms this and adds that “they are great pets for very specific people, if you cannot handle its care do not adopt any bird.” Griffith describes her bid as small, green, with an orange beak but his personality is in complete contrast to his size. 

     The sophomore named her bird after a Pokemon named Goomy because “it sounded cute and it stuck.” Griffith’s most memorable encounter was when she left Goomy alone with her partner and Goomy stole her partner’s dorito, “when I walked in he was just sitting in his cage with a dorito almost as big as him in his beak while my partner was terrified about what just happened,” says Griffith. 

     Griffith describes taking care of a bird like Goomy as time consuming and that her experience taking care of her bird has taught her both sharing skills and patience. “These birds will steal any type of food from your hands and if you lack the patience to clean his cage, change the water, have supplies to rummage for the bird, and to feed the bird, it will be very unfortunate for that bird,” according to Griffith. 

     One of Griffith’s favorite qualities that more traditional pets don’t have is the Indian Ring-Neck’s incredible ability to talk. “It is really nice to talk to my bird and actually have a response back, something a cat or a dog could never do,” says Griffith, “if you have no one to talk to, these birds are fantastic companions.” In addition to their remarkable talking ability, Lafeber Company adds that these birds specifically “will charm and delight the person who takes the time to appreciate its other qualities.” 

     Walters’ ducks are named Quack and Gretchen, who are known for biting ankles according to Walters. She explains that raising ducks is very different from owning dogs, “if you do not know how to raise poultry, don’t,” says Walters. Cleaning is one of the main challenges that comes with taking care of this animal, “in case you were wondering, ducks actually poop every 15 minutes,” adds Walters. 

     According to The Happy Chicken Coop, “The docile and sometimes affectionate nature of Pekin ducks has also earned them intense popularity to keep simply as a farm pet along with chickens.” Walters explains that she wanted an “emotional support animal” and specifically chose these ducks for the job because they have “very strange personalities.” Surprisingly, these domesticated ducks “were not fond of being outside”, according to Walters, “they just continued to bite my ankles until we let them back inside.”