Foulest of the Fowl, Part 2

Two weekends ago, Jeremy and I took a mini-vacation to the Outer Banks. The hotel lobby housed a fancy-looking bird named Sabrina, and a sign near her cage indicated that she loved people but that she would bite. I walked over to her to say hi and she lifted up one leg and leaned toward me. Wondering if she wanted to walk out onto my arm, I held out my arm and she hopped on. Jeremy snapped some pictures while she walked up and down my arm. After he had documented my bird encounter, he headed toward the local brochure display and left me alone with Sabrina.

She started nibbling on my knuckles, which was kind of cute and tickled a little. I then made a fist so that she wouldn't have any skin to latch on to. She was not pleased with this development and promptly leaned over the side of my hand and bit the side of my first finger. Clamped is probably a better word, because she kept holding on, no matter how much I moved my hand or tried to pull away. I got her to walk from my arm back onto her cage, but she was still attached to my hand. I was too shocked to call for Jeremy to come help me (but I'm not sure what he would have done but laugh - can't say I blame him). After a few minutes, it became clear she had no intention of letting go - she kept licking the bit of finger she had trapped in her mouth - maybe I tasted good. I started pulling my hand away as hard as I could, and she gripped the bars of her cage with her claws and pulled in the opposite direction. You can imagine what happened next - let's just say there was some blood shed.

After I had cleaned up my hand and found Jeremy, we had to walk by her cage to get to the exit. As we walked by she started talking and lifted out her leg towards me. Nice try, bird, but I learned my lesson.