I read to my parrot

Sometimes, I read to my budgie (this type of bird is also called a parakeet).

My cockatiel seems to like hanging out with my partner and I. He'll stand on a shoulder, a knee, on the furniture near us, whatever, and just - hang out. Preen, sleep, chew on stuff.

The budgie, on the other hand, seems to need more direct attention. He enjoys sitting on us and being talked to, and will come over and seem to ask for this (staring intently at our lips, for example). But as soon as the talking stops, the budgie goes back to a mirror. (The bird in the mirror always pays attention to him.) I'm challenged to come up with conversation entertaining to both myself and to a small parrot, so this rarely lasts for more than a few seconds.

In an effort to spend more quality time with my budgie, I've recently tried reading to him for a couple of minutes at a time. He will sit very still on my finger and listen. It's quite a different experience reading the latest article in Science News out loud. The articles are just as interesting, but in a different way I'm not really able to articulate. I also feel somewhat silly reading out loud to a budgie who doesn't understand a word I say. But it is so neat to have that intense budgie attention.