Ginger

(the bird)

Ginger is a pretty bird, and he knows it. He doesn't do much editing, but he is clearly the head of this operation. Ginger is a yellow-sided green cheek conure, which is a kind of small parrot. He enjoys climbing, destroying things, standing on Katherine's head, and improvising poetry using the words "Ginger," "step up," and "squawk!"

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Oddly enough, Katherine's love of language is indirectly responsible for her choice of pet. Katherine first learned about the intelligence of parrots from a linguistics lecture about experiments where scientists were studying an African grey parrot's ability to talk. Many people know that parrots can mimic human speech, but what is less widely known is that some parrots actually have a pretty good idea of what many words mean, and can learn to use human language meaningfully to communicate with their owners. As Katherine did more research on parrots, she fell in love with their intelligence and their quirky personalities.

Now Kat has a feathery goofball of her own! Ginger is of a species whose ability to talk is quite limited. However, his ability to play, cuddle, and be a source of general joy is boundless!