FINE FEATHERS, FINE FRIENDS
One-of-a-kind Ontario shop pairs owners with parrots — but not just any parrots,
“It’s bigger than a marriage and it should go on longer than most marriages do,” Mark Koenig says. “Getting a pet bird is a life-changing decision. How many people do you know who stay married to each other for 60 to 80 years?”
The owner of Exotic Wings & Pet Things stands in his small, cluttered shop in sleepy St. Clements, Ont., 20 minutes northwest of Waterloo. Chirps, chatter and “Hellos” fill the air.
In one room, boarders clamber in cages; in another, dozens of colourful fledglings huddle together, waiting for new homes. Out front, Mennonites’ horse-drawn buggies clatter down an otherwise deserted street.
“Customers have actually found us locations to purchase near Toronto, but we’re happy where we are,” Koenig says.
“We’re far enough away from urban centres that if people drive out here, they’re committed to what they’re doing . . . Some people just want to pick up the phone, pick up a bird and run. It doesn’t work that way here.”
Soft-spoken yet earnest, the trained geologist grew up raising pheasants, chickens and pigeons.
But what started as a hobby-like business 21years ago quickly became Koenig’s full-time calling. Now, running the province’s only one-stop parrot shop, Koenig breeds and hand-rears birds and sells parrot accessories and a host of other pet supplies.
“We don’t advertise much,” Koenig says. “Word-of-mouth is our best friend.”
Most birds cost between $100 and $500, but whether you’re after a $5 zebra finch or a $25,000 palm cockatoo, Koenig has something for you — but only if you’re ready.
“It’s a life commitment,” Koenig says of parrot ownership. “It’s some- thing that you can’t take lightly.”
Cockatiels, one of the most common pet birds, can live for more than 20 years. Bigger breeds such as macaws can live for nearly a century. Such longevity means that parrots often have to be put in wills. It also means that owners form incredibly intense bonds with their animals.
“I have seen people who are getting divorced and are very amicable about the actual division of assets until it becomes about the bird,” Koenig says, turning serious. “Then they dig their trenches and off they go and can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars with lawyers.”
Clever but cuddly, a bird’s intellect makes it very different from a cat or dog. After all, what other pet will wish you “Good morning”?
“When they got older, they’re just like people,” Koenig laughs. “They get grumpy and lose head feathers.”
Koenig will refuse to sell animals to people who aren’t ready for the commitment.
“We’ve had people that come in here and say, ‘I have an all-pink room and I need a bird that’s only pink and it can’t be loud,” he says, shaking his head. “Those aren’t pet owners — they’re looking for a status symbol in their home.”
For Koenig, the appeal of birds is simple.
“They are very whimsical, much like a 3- to 4-year-old child,” he says. “They live their lives openly and freely.”