Mikey and Mia turn two into four
THE number of non-professional handlers of parrots who free-fly their avian companions world-wide is growing. There’s no central register of numbers, but in the UK, from the handful I knew of some years ago, the total has now grown probably into the hundreds.
A young couple who are extremely influential in this movement to enrich and extend the life of companion parrots are Nimal Fernando and Claire Atallah. Claire and Nimal are designers in a photography studio, a job they love which enables them to choose their hours and spend plenty of time at home with their two blue-and-gold macaws, Mikey (six) and Mia (four). They live in London – not, you might think, the easiest environment for free flying.
As a first parrot, a
