About 13 years ago, I began publishing a website called "The Kooky Congos Website." I even owned the domain for it, up until this past year, 2013.
The site featured articles about caring for companion parrots (some of which had been previously published in magazines, a few which became published in books and magazines), articles and news about parrot conservation, and a section of reviews of books about parrots, both fiction and non-fiction, and a host of links to parrot websites of all kinds.
In recent years, as I began to do more travel writing (and hence more travelling), and as the rise of blogging and social media began to dominate the Internet, I was posting less and less to the site. Also, some of the information began to become a bit outdated and it was actually a bit of a pain to update it on a static website - plus the software program that I developed the site for, FrontPage 2000, was no longer supported by Microsoft.
Blogs are usually much more current and easier to update, so, after a bit of an absence from the web for about a year, Kooky Congos is back.
I named the original site Kooky Congos because of my two Congo African grey (CAG) parrots, Nikki, and Coco. By 2006, however, Einstein the double yellow-headed (DYH) Amazon had joined our flock, and he had his own page. That's okay, because most of the information on the site was not just CAG-specific, the articles about nutrition, enrichment, safety, etc. were written in a general sense, and all applicable, for the most part, to all parrots.
By the way, each of our birds will have their stories re-told in future blog posts.
You may ask why I write about parrots; as well, what kind of background do I have that makes what I have to say any more credible or important than what thousands of others write on their blogs, on social media, in chat rooms.
I am a professional freelance writer/photographer. Since 1981, I have earned my living by producing work for both radio and print media. After 15 years of working full-time in radio and newspaper, I began freelance writing for magazines, newspapers and websites in 1999.
I have lived with parrots since 1994, when Nikki came into our lives. When Coco joined our flock in 2001, I joined the Calgary Parrot Club, quickly became the editor of the club newsletter for the next two years, until moving to Vancouver in 2003.
At the same time, I began attending international conferences about parrots in Toronto, Victoria and the Canary Islands. I also earned my PIJAC Certified Avian Specialist designation. It wasn't too long before I began writing about parrots for pet magazines like Animal Wellness, BirdTalk, Bird Times and Parrots.
I also began seeking travel assignments that would allow me to see parrots in the wild, writing about my experiences and informing people about parrot conservation issues.
In Vancouver, I became involved as a volunteer with the Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary, which is how Einstein came into our lives (first as a foster, then as an permanent adoption) after we fostered Rocky, a blue-fronted Amazon for six months. For a year, I was the newsletter editor for that organization.
I also began to do some bird-sitting for a variety of pet birds -
I continued to write parrot stories for publication, and had two stories about our greys published in the book, "The Ultimate Bird Lover" (2010).
Now, with this new blog, I will continue to write about parrots. Some of the material here will be reprints, some will be updated from previous web articles and some will be brand new. As I begin to build the site, more and more new material will be added, supplemented, from time to time, with reprints.
I hope you enjoy reading it and I hope it helps you and your feathered families enjoy better lives together.
If you do have bird-related questions, it would be best to email them to kookycongos@shaw.ca
You can also follow me on Twitter, where I go by the handle Congolover.
Cheers!
John Geary
The site featured articles about caring for companion parrots (some of which had been previously published in magazines, a few which became published in books and magazines), articles and news about parrot conservation, and a section of reviews of books about parrots, both fiction and non-fiction, and a host of links to parrot websites of all kinds.
In recent years, as I began to do more travel writing (and hence more travelling), and as the rise of blogging and social media began to dominate the Internet, I was posting less and less to the site. Also, some of the information began to become a bit outdated and it was actually a bit of a pain to update it on a static website - plus the software program that I developed the site for, FrontPage 2000, was no longer supported by Microsoft.
 |
| Nikki: the bird that started it all, back in 1994. |
I named the original site Kooky Congos because of my two Congo African grey (CAG) parrots, Nikki, and Coco. By 2006, however, Einstein the double yellow-headed (DYH) Amazon had joined our flock, and he had his own page. That's okay, because most of the information on the site was not just CAG-specific, the articles about nutrition, enrichment, safety, etc. were written in a general sense, and all applicable, for the most part, to all parrots.
By the way, each of our birds will have their stories re-told in future blog posts.
You may ask why I write about parrots; as well, what kind of background do I have that makes what I have to say any more credible or important than what thousands of others write on their blogs, on social media, in chat rooms.
I am a professional freelance writer/photographer. Since 1981, I have earned my living by producing work for both radio and print media. After 15 years of working full-time in radio and newspaper, I began freelance writing for magazines, newspapers and websites in 1999.
I have lived with parrots since 1994, when Nikki came into our lives. When Coco joined our flock in 2001, I joined the Calgary Parrot Club, quickly became the editor of the club newsletter for the next two years, until moving to Vancouver in 2003.
At the same time, I began attending international conferences about parrots in Toronto, Victoria and the Canary Islands. I also earned my PIJAC Certified Avian Specialist designation. It wasn't too long before I began writing about parrots for pet magazines like Animal Wellness, BirdTalk, Bird Times and Parrots.
 |
| Coco, opening a present on his 13th hatch-day. |
I also began seeking travel assignments that would allow me to see parrots in the wild, writing about my experiences and informing people about parrot conservation issues.
In Vancouver, I became involved as a volunteer with the Greyhaven Exotic Bird Sanctuary, which is how Einstein came into our lives (first as a foster, then as an permanent adoption) after we fostered Rocky, a blue-fronted Amazon for six months. For a year, I was the newsletter editor for that organization.
I also began to do some bird-sitting for a variety of pet birds -
I continued to write parrot stories for publication, and had two stories about our greys published in the book, "The Ultimate Bird Lover" (2010).
Now, with this new blog, I will continue to write about parrots. Some of the material here will be reprints, some will be updated from previous web articles and some will be brand new. As I begin to build the site, more and more new material will be added, supplemented, from time to time, with reprints.
I hope you enjoy reading it and I hope it helps you and your feathered families enjoy better lives together.
If you do have bird-related questions, it would be best to email them to kookycongos@shaw.ca
You can also follow me on Twitter, where I go by the handle Congolover.
Cheers!
John Geary
