This is Anthrozoology

Our Sunday morning routine is always the same these days. It’s the one day we can get up in a more leisurely fashion, so we take advantage of that. At the same time, we want to finish work so we might have some time to play, so we try not to loll around for too long. But it happens. After we peel ourselves out of bed and away from the cats, we eat breakfast at the diner around the corner, then settle in at a coffee shop for a few hours to work on schoolwork. There’s never a shortage of that, for either of us.

Yesterday we went to a coffee shop that had always been relatively deserted, but I guess students are beginning to hunker down for their final papers and exams. It was packed, and there were no tables available with outlets for our laptop plugs. We left and went to a small café near our apartment, one we’ve been to before, but generally choose against. I'm now sure we'll be convening there more often. Meet Indigo.

Indigo is a 14-year-old, captive-bred Hyacinth Macaw, the largest flying parrot, and the largest macaw. From the top of their heads to the tip of their tails, they can be over three feet long. Indigo was sitting at a table with her humans in all her bright blue and yellow glory, rushing to the edge of the table to greet Roger and I when we came near. After talking with her humans for quite some time, we settled into a nearby table to ostensibly begin working. What came next was an informal education in anthrozoology.

While it is unusual to see a dog in a coffee shop, it happens. Service animals, or those in training, are not terribly uncommon. Exotic birds, however, are a different story – especially birds who are not caged, who are sitting with their humans, perched on the table or cradled in their arms, just as a toddler would be. Indigo even ate lunch, snacking on macadamia nuts and bread. She strutted around the table, perched on her human’s shoulder, and got a bit groggy, ready for a nap. And she had no shortage of admirers.

There was the mother with two boys, aged 11 and 12, one of whom exclaimed “whoa!” when they walked in the door. They stopped to talk about Indigo, excitedly drawing comparisons between Indigo and their friend’s parakeet. There was the couple who walked in and greeted Indigo by name; apparently, she is a regular. There was the retired gentleman who stopped by the table no less than three times to introduce himself, chat, and swap stories about animals and life in general. There was another couple who greeted Indigo, noting that they were just mentioning to one another that they were worried, as they hadn’t seen her in about a month. They talked with Indigo’s humans for an extended period of time, watched YouTube videos on an iPad (if you haven’t seen the Ultimate Dog Tease, please look it up), and interacted with Indigo herself, talking and gazing at the bird with absolute enchantment. At one point, I noticed that two complete strangers at different tables had begun talking about their dogs to one another.

Animals bring us together. They are an easy connection point and are an enjoyable topic – who wants to talk about their job when they can talk about their cat’s goofy antics or their dog’s agility training? They inspire sharing with one another when we think we don’t have any common ground. They liven up a room, and they make us smile, sometimes despite ourselves. Indigo certainly made many new friends yesterday. I know I’ll be going back to visit.