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HARLINGEN — San Martin screeched as he stretched his festive wings into the air.
Nearby, Guava and Avocado, green-cheeked conyers, flexed their iridescent plumage inside their cages after being hand fed by Michael Zaker, 59, a resident at Valley View Independent Living.
“I have 14 birds,” Zaker said, as his Indian ringnecks and cockatiels created a carnival of clashing rhythms with their “de-de-de-de-de” and “seep-seep-seep” songs while hopping from one perch to another within the cages Zaker built for them.
Zaker was a machinist in his professional life before moving from Denver to Harlingen in 2016 with his mother. Once here, he quickly built a new life filled with his many passions.
One step into his home and visitors see first a woodshop with a miter saw and a power router; wrenches and C-clamps and rulers hanging from a wall.
Immediately, however, the birds in the cages on the far side of the room command the attention of anyone within earshot.
“When I moved to Harlingen, I decided to own parakeets,” Zaker recalled. “I went on to breed them as well. I also breed cockatiels.”
With such a continuous grand stage of sound from his birds broken only by intervals of tools, hammers and drilling, you might wonder how Zaker’s neighbors handle the noise. But curiously, every time he asks them if the “whack-whack-whack” of his wood working is bothering them, they insist they can’t hear anything.
As for the birds, specifically, they hear everything.
“They love them,” he said.
That love apparently is greatly reciprocated by the birds who “get intoxicated from the attention they get from people.”
“I call myself a bird brain,” Zaker said. “The meaning for bird brain is people who are responsive to birds, who do bird training.”
Zaker has indeed embarked on a new project with birds. He acquired San Martin, a double yellow head Amazon parrot, about 2 ½ years ago; Sebastian the red-crowned Amazon parrot joined the family in February.
“I adopted the Amazon parrots because they were a special meaning to me,” he said. “They are large birds, and they are also very smart, very intelligent.”
I call myself a bird brain. The meaning for bird brain is people who are responsive to birds, who do bird training.
YouTube videos had shown him how people train Amazon parrots to do tricks.
“They are people birdies,” Zaker said. “They do lots of talking, and you can teach them to do birdie tricks. It’s always been my goal to teach, to do training for them to become people birdies just like that.”
In the lobby at Valley View, Sebastian and San Martin waited patiently inside their birdie backpack until Zaker offered the two birds his wooden perch. They stepped out, San Martin’s bright yellow head bopping with wonder. Sebastian’s fiery red cap twisted around as he cocked his head sideways at the huge room that had just opened before him.
“Hand shake,” Zaker said. “Hand shake, hand shake.”
Step by step, they wrapped their feet around his finger before returning to the perch. These are such friendly creatures with their dramatic conversations and color.
Zaker has found them to be worthy companions as he takes them in the backpack while hiking on local trails, riding his electric bicycle, or shopping for groceries.
“I got the backpack in March, and they have become more social. They have become people birds,” Zaker said.
So welcoming and people friendly are the two Amazons, Zaker and other bird owners recently took the animals to an elementary school, where they quickly made some new friends among the children.
