Bird, the remake
Dear Cod put that glue away!
Added on the 10th of November, 2025
Like all good (and bad) remakes of films, taking on a new bird will never be the same experience as any previous birds you've looked after. Comparisons may be natural, but not always useful.
I’m sitting in a very comfortable chair in my home office watching the 2021 remake of Candyman on the TV that sits in front of me and slightly to my left, while being fully conscious of the large, empty, bird cage slightly ahead and to my right.
From one perspective an empty cage is a sad affair, speaking of the previous birds I’ve looked after through my life and the grief experienced from losing them. Two well before their time was due, two after a lengthy and, I hope, happy life with me. I can’t help thinking of them flying from perch to perch, chirping away happily, irritably, excitedly, but always noisily. I can’t help thinking of one passing while I was holding him, sitting in this very spot.
Yet an empty cage is also a decade of promise. What will its future inhabitants be like? Will they barely tolerate me as long as I provide food and care or will they eagerly come out their cage in the mornings to sit on or near me, playing with whatever I’m attempting to work with, chirping loudly into my ear and listening to the unwelcome but inevitable echo?
Like the remake of a movie, no new bird will be the same as the previous. Not necessarily better or worse, but different. All I can do is provide them with a safe engaging environment, nutritious tasty food and all the attention they want from me – but absolutely no more.
Soon, the cage will no longer be empty and I will do everything I can to ensure it remains that way through a safe, happy, fluffy life. And one day, in the hopefully distant future, it will once again become empty.