Our little family of three recently took a weekend trip to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge in East Tennessee so Mr. Handsome could attend a conference. We did several touristy things, as it is a popular vacation area and has tons of attractions. Friends of ours invited us to stay with them, which made the trip very cheap.
On the first day, Little Buddy and I visited Parrot Mountain while Mr. H was at the conference. Located at the top of a huge hill, Parrot Mountain is home to hundreds of tropical birds. As you walk through the gardens (which are very hilly, making pushing the stroller a great workout) you pass by all the birds. Some are in large cages, while others are just on perches.
I absolutely adore birds because I had two as pets growing up. Our budgie was beautiful and brought lots of joy to our home with his constant singing, but he wasn’t trained and wouldn’t allow us to hold him. Our cockatiel, on the other hand, loved human interaction and would even allow us to stroke her head.
Our current lifestyle is not one that would allow us to have a pet bird, so visiting Parrot Mountain fed my soul. There are two locations in the gardens where visitors are able to hold birds, and I was thrilled to be able to convince a cockatiel to step up on my hand.
Little Buddy had a great time at Parrot Mountain and even laughed at some of the birds when they chirped. A couple of the smaller ones took an interest in him and came over to get a closer look. But don’t worry, I made sure they maintained a safe distance, and I didn’t allow him anywhere near the larger birds. I honestly am not a huge fan of the bigger birds, like macaws, African greys, and cockatoos. They are fun to look at, but their beaks are just too large and sharp for my liking. I much prefer the cockatiels, lorikeets, Quaker parrots, and love birds.
I am curious to hear if any of you have ever had a pet bird? It seems like most people prefer dogs and cats, although I don’t know that I could see myself with either because I never had any growing up. Would you enjoy visiting a place like Parrot Mountain?
Barb
Ellie, I had the same experience!!! My first two pets as a child were parakeets. We lived in an apartment and birds were great pets for that. Both of our birds were green. Our first one, Nicki, could say phrases that my dad taught him. He picked up words so well that you had to be a little careful. Nicki was extremely interactive with humans. We could let him out when we were home. Once we left and forgot he was out. He picked all the dots off my sister’s dotted Swiss dress on her bride doll. When I read our scripture in the morning, I read it aloud because he would lay his beak on my lip. I think he liked the vibration. Thank you for bringing back sweet memories. Tell me more about your birds.
Ellie
Our parakeet was green, too. That’s really quite impressive that yours could talk because I have heard that most parakeets don’t. Our parakeet wasn’t trained, and we didn’t keep his wings clipped. We would let him fly around our bathroom to get his exercise, and sometimes he would land on us. Sometimes when he was singing, he would come up close to us, but he didn’t really like us to touch him. Our cockatiel was the opposite. She had her moments, but most of the time, she loved to sit on our shoulders and nuzzle up to our necks. She loved my dad the most because he would let her sit with him for hours while he worked at his computer. She had health complications and had to have a C-section of sorts when one of her eggs got stuck. But she survived it.
Ellie
Barb
Thank you for the reply. I loved hearing your bird story. People who have never had one wouldn’t believe that birds could make such wonderful pets but they do! We absolutely loved ours. It’s amazing that your bird survived a c-section! It’s funny that you said how much your cockatiel favored your dad. Our parakeet, though very loving to all of us, adored my dad. I’ve read that men can teach them to talk better, and my dad was the one who taught our bird the words and phrases. My dad used a coat hanger to make a perch in front of the mirror in the bathroom, and our bird would sit and “chat” with himself for an hour. Thank you Ellie, for telling your pet birds story and reminding me of our first pet and how he related to and belonged in our family.
Ellie
I have enjoyed reminiscing about my birds. That is very true! They make great pets. And it doesn’t take long before you are so used to their constant song that you hardly even notice it.
That’s funny, our parakeet also loved looking in the mirror and talking to himself. He had a toy (a plastic bird on a spring) that he loved. Sometimes he would cuddle with it, other times he would knock it around and try to bite it. We called it his friend.
Chrissie
My son has 2 parakeets, one is green and one is a white albino. Erin, the albino, has a little basketball goal with a little basketball attached…she plays with that all the time. It is hilarious to watch her ring the basket and then take the ball out and do it again. So glad to find out about Parrot Mountain! We have it on our list to visit….soon!
Ellie
That’s incredible! Smart little thing. Yes, I definitely recommend visiting. And while you’re there, there are plenty of other things to do in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg.
Ellie
Christy
Male Parakeets are excellent talkers. I had one that talked, and barked. There voice is quiet but they can learn a lot of words. Google disco the talking parakeet.
Karen
We had a budgie that would ride around on our shoulder. He even learned to say a few words. So, yes, I think I would enjoy visiting Parrot Mountain. 🙂
Ellie
Aww, love it. That’s pretty rare for budgies to be able to talk. What color was yours? Ours was green.
Anonymous
I would love to visit parrot mountain, as i love birds, specially parrots. As a teenager a bred with budgies, they were tame and very sociable, I had over 30, in all colours. I also had a few cockatiels, and now I have an African grey parrot. He is very attached to me, and wants to play games with me every chance he gets, but he’s not friendly towards other people. He’s also quite chatty… talking away all day, making cellphone noises, and saying hello, Good morning, goodbye, Good night, and a few other things…
Ellie
That’s so sweet! What is your African grey’s name? They can live about 50 years can’t they? Did you get yours as a baby, or did you rescue him?
Ellie
AmyRyb
Never really thought about this before, but don’t some of the parrots’ eyes look like the googly eyes you use for crafts? I feel like that subconsciously adds to their silly personalities!
Ellie
Haha, that’s true, they do.
Anonymous
Parrots are very cool and I certainly would visit Parrot Mountain, but ravens and crows are my favorite birds. I saw the famous ravens at the Tower of London two years ago and was fascinated by them.
Ellie
There were a few ravens and crows there, as well. I remember watching a cartoon about the birds at the Tower of London. Neat that you saw them!
Anonymous
I didn’t have a parakeet until I was married. My grandmother gave me her parakeet. After a few months it died. Someone said it probaby died because I had it near a draft. I never got another bird because I’m more of a dog person.
Ellie
That’s too bad. But it’s definitely true that some people are dog people, some people are cat people, and some people are bird people.
Ellie
Regina Shea
I never had pet birds but my mother-in-law had cockatiels.
Lily smith
We have a amazon parrot and a cockatiel. In previous years we have had finches and parakeets.
Ellie
How fun! Do the two birds like each other?
Lily smith
yes!
anon
we have a similar place here called ‘sunken gardens’ that has a large bird area like that where you could watch them perform or see them in aviaries. it’s really about the botanical gardens itself but the birds are their big attraction. they also have otters and capybaras and other cute little animals like that and do things like host weddings there
my husband and i used to have finches, parakeets, cockatiels (one who could say ‘ra ra baby’) and a dove. and we used to adopt the finches who were unsaleable because they’d have only 1 leg or otherwise injured so they wouldnt kill them. they made great pets and adapted to their ‘situations’ well. believe it or not, finches are incredibly smart!
my brother had an african gray who mimicked the microwave, telephones and even a conversation, and sang ‘i left my heart in san francisco’. he died of old age
Ellie
Very fun! Was the dove interactive? I’ve never heard of having one as a pet, but they are beautiful creatures.
Ellie
anon
oh yeah! her name was daphne and she was incredibly tame and trusting! she had gotten hurt by a local cat and we brought her in and nursed her back to heath. until she could fly again and be released, she would ride on my rabbit or dogs backs around the house. she preferred bun-bun’s back and they would often preen themselves together. we also had dogs, cats, birds and fish at the same time so we would separate the dogs and cats when we would let the other birds out to fly around the rooms they could go in (not near fish tanks or kitchens)
Ellie
That’s absolutely adorable! Thank you for sharing your bird stories!
Ali
Would you ever get another bird Ellie? 🐦 🦅
Ellie
Someday we might, but right now, it would just be too much to care for any type of pet. Birds are also hard because you can’t just give them to anybody when you go on vacation. It has to be someone without a dog or cat who is familiar with taking care of birds. Right now, we don’t know anyone like that. Perhaps someday though. 🙂
Ellie
Candi
I absolutely love birds! We had a cockatiel for a few years growing up and I think I developed a love of birds after that. I’m blessed to live in a area that has a lot of colored birds like cardinals ( my favorite wild bird), finches, indigo buntings, etc. I’ve been to parrot mountain also! Love that place. My fav was the cockatoos. They are so creamy looking and soft. They would let us pet them a LOT more than the macaws ever would. We had such a positive experience with the cockatoos that if I could ever get a bird someday I would love a cockatoo I think! Someone talked of ravens…I had a strange spiritual experience with them a few years ago that I know God sent my way. And I also have been piqued with ravens after that. I had just dropped off my husband and daughter (13 years old at the time) on top of a high mountain so they could do a 2 day/overnight hike and I was pretty worried that something could happen to them on the way….when I left the drop off point (I was tense and distraught a little as this was their first overnight hike) and started back down the mountain 2 ravens flew down to my windshield and did some acrobatics/flips etc right in front of me. Then they proceeded to fly in front of me as I was driving down the road. One of them left after a half mile or so but the other stayed right in front of me, doing some more flips etc in front of the windshield, and proceeded to lead me for another mile or so cruising right in front of me in the middle of the road going around bends and all. He finally flew off to the side out over the mountainside and into the valley. I was so uplifted and my 2 other girls and I watched with awe what happened right before our eyes. I write this experience out of praise and glory to God. He does really take care of us today still like He did with Elijah and the ravens so many years ago. 😊
Ellie
That’s a wonderful story. God is so good! Thank you for sharing, Candi. May I ask what mountain they were hiking?
Ellie
C
Roan Mountain in east TN.
Ellie
Haven’t heard of it, but we love hiking so I will have to check it out. Thanks!
Natalie
Hi Ellie!!
We have a green cheek fancy conure. She loves music, especially when my daughter practices her violin, she chirps along! She likes apples. She likes songs with bells and answers back to blue Jays! She says “pretty girl” and loves company! She will move back and forth like she is dancing when you talk to her!
I enjoy all your blogs!
PS When Little Buddy gets older I highly recommend a sand and water table for outside play. Kept my daughter entertained for hours of fun….she is twelve now and we passed it along to little cousins!
Ellie
How fun! I love it when birds look like they are dancing. One of our friends gave us a small water table, so I’m looking forward to using that. We will probably get some kind of sandbox, too. I’m glad to have you as a reader! 🙂
Ellie
Lily
Ellie, I’m interested in visiting this place! Were any of the birds aggressive? I have a two year old and that is my biggest worry when visiting a place like this. We used to have two small parakeets but had to re-home them once we had our little one.
Ellie
I was concerned about that too, but they weren’t. I think the owners have a pretty good handle on them. The ones that are aggressive seem to be in cages. I still didn’t let my baby get super close, but I felt like he was very safe, and there were plenty of other children there.
Ellie
Lily
Thanks for the reply! Looks like we’ll make a stop there. We encountered some birds at the local zoo but they were small and stayed towards the top of their exhibit. I don’t think my child even noticed them so based on your pictures, these birds will definitely be noticed!
B
I’ve never had any pets growning up. I think because we always went on vacation and he didn’t have anyone to watch a pet if we were gone.
But when my Dad past away my mom let me get a cat. I’m a cat person.
Christy
I also live in Nashville but I love to visit Parrot Mountain it’s my all-time favorite place to go in Pigeon Forge I love birds I have a cockatiel and a green cheek conure at present I’m also not a fan of the big birds because they have a big bite but I love to go to Parrot Mountain and feed the smaller birds I also love to go to the bird nursery I have met the owners of Parrot Mountain they are so nice and knowledgeable and love their Birds