The Tale of Terri and Numpty
- Howard Priestley
- Mar 28
- 2 min read
When Terri and Numpty were first brought into Mandurah Wildlife, Supervisor Fiona (Fi) Smith wasn’t quite sure what species they were. At first, it was thought they might be corellas – but they turned out to be twenty-eight parrots.
Twins Terri, a girl, and Numpty, a boy, came in on consecutive days, apparently dropped out of their nest by ravens – it’s a jungle out there. Fi concedes that "Numpty" as a name is a bit cruel, but as she explained, “He is so silly and such a character,” and he is not expected to suffer any permanent psychological harm resulting from this designation.
When they first arrived, they required around-the-clock feeding every two hours, so Fi had to take them home, where they stayed with her for three weeks – what dedication!
When they were ready to return to the centre, they first had to go into the ICU unit, where they were weighed daily, carefully monitored, and fed a baby supplement for grain-feeding birds.
At the time of writing, they have progressed to a cage in the general area of the centre and are self-feeding. Fi has stepped back from daily interaction with the birds, mindful that the goal is to re-wild them.
Their next move will be to an outside aviary, where they can develop their flying feathers and ensure those feathers are waterproof before release. The Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions requires that the release location must be within five kilometres of where they originated.
A Note on Twenty-Eight Parrots
The twenty-eight parrot is a Western Australian subspecies of the Australian ringneck.
It is thought that the species gets its name from French botanists, who believed their distinctive call sounded like the French term for 28, which is vingt-huit (pronounced vun-tweet).
*For identification purposes, we assign temporary names to distinguish between the birds, especially during feeding and care. However, we do not use these names regularly, as maintaining their wild nature is our priority. This practice ensures they remain prepared for release back into their natural habitat.
