reminder: All articles and posts on my website are written by me and from my own perspective (Sophie The Pigeon) and often I'm typing it aimed at other birds 😉
Featured On – InDeBuurt (News Paper)
These ‘Featured On Pages’ are intended to give a bit more insight about platforms, media or anything else on which I (Sophie The Pigeon) have been featured. When it for example is a multi-platform publication, I will be using these Featured On pages instead of linking directly from the main page 🙂
InDeBuurt
InDeBuurt is a Dutch local and regional news paper which focuses on positive news. They write about the people in the city which have a ‘special story’, they write about new stores, new houses, event and more of the alike. Their goal is to inform, inspure and amuse people and entrepreneurs daily with interesting (local) news facts.
InDeBuurt is not ‘just about one city’, they are currently active in more than 30 city’s.
InDeBuurt meaning/translation: InDeBuurt is a spelling of In De Buurt without spaces and is Dutch for “In The Neighborhood”
The Publication(s)
As you might already have seen on my Instagram post here, I recently had an interview with a very nice reporter lady from InDeBuurt, called Natalie Polman.
Today (July 12th 2023) InDeBuurt has published my interview on their website, they posted a photo shoot on their Instagram, and a reel (video) about me and my pet humans (also on their Instagram).
NOTE: The publications bellow are in my local language (Dutch)!
The News Paper Article (Online)
Click here to visit The Interview (the news paper article)
InDeBuurt’s Instagram posts about me (and my pet humans of course 😉)
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UPDATE: A note about the article for those whom know me (Sophie) a bit longer (due to some received remarks/comments/DM’s)
Some of you whom either know me, my (background) story or my pet human(s) a little longer, or for those whom do know (quite) a bit more about us birds; you might have noticed that some parts of the interview ‘kinda reflect some “incorrect” information’. But this is obviously not done on purpose by the reporter at all. The reporter spend several hours with me and my pet humans and they have discusses a lot of topics in regards to birds, rescuing birds, what it takes to rehabilitate a bird so it can learn to fly again (when it’s wing muscles are just to weak for example), how much devotion it takes to properly care for a bird or birds and MUCH more. And what the differences are between keeping parrots, pigeons and other bird species etc, and that most people ‘by default’ often choose for a parrot instead (including budgies, cockatiels etc). And the nice reporter lady obviously had to put all that information into a ‘summarized’ article so that it would not turn into ‘an online book’ 😉, which she has done very well to be honest 🥰
And considering that the nice reporter lady had a lot of questions which might seem ‘very basic’ for most ‘bird keepers’, we can also assume that she didn’t knew that much about pet birds yet (which isn’t a bad thing, don’t get me wrong 😊). But this could mean that all the information she received in such a short period of time (about 3 hours) was a bit overwhelming to summarize it ‘perfectly’. So because me and my pet humans got some remarks, comments or DM’s from people around us or people following me a bit longer which where like: “Hey, that part doesn’t sound right…” and a few remarks like “Hey that part isn’t fully accurate, right?”, I decided to give some elaboration on those parts. But please do not “criticize” the article, because the nice reporter lady has done a wonderful job and her best effort on summarizing all that information (and trust me: it was a lot during that interview), and putting it into this awesome news article. And me and my pet humans are very thankful for her taking the time to make this cool article for us 🥰
So, because we had some questions, remarks etc on some parts, I elaborated on some quoted parts bellow:
Dutch: “Een voor de hand liggende keuze lijkt een papegaai. Maar die hebben ‘constant prikkels’ nodig, aldus Rico. En die kunnen Rico en Cynthia vanwege hun drukke banen niet geven aan zo’n dier.“
Translated: “An obvious choice would seems to get a parrot. But they need to have constant attention and stimuli, says Rico. And Rico and Cynthia can’t give it to such an animal because of their busy jobs.”
Well as most of you know: I do actually get to be with me pet human all day long, and do get to spend the entire day with him, even during work 😊. The main reason why my pet humans choose to rescue a pigeon was because we are much less likely to developer ‘feather plucking stress’, we are much less noisy (also taking neighbors into consideration), and my pet humans don’t have to worry what happens to their bird when they are getting old aged (some parrots can easily outlive humans). And due to the fact that we are rather calm and gentle birds (especially my breed).
Dutch: “Ik wou haar vertrouwen winnen, met haar bonden.“
Translated: “I wanted to earn her trust, bond with her.“
Well most of you knowing me and my pet human, know that we would both recommend not to bond with a pigeon/bird on purpose, but to get a mate of it’s own species. However as explained a few times on my (social) platforms: this wasn’t an option for me (due to behavioral problems on my side), and I myself (Sophie The Pigeon) actually did the bonding with my pet human by my own choice. Of course my pethuman doesn’t mind that I have bonded with him, and he loves spending the day with me, but he would have rather seen that I could have been with a mate of my own species and that bonding with him wasn’t “necessary”.
Dutch: “Bovendien zijn ze ontzettend intelligent, net zo slim als honden. Sophie leert ontzettend snel woordjes aan.”
Translated: “Moreover, they are incredibly intelligent, just as smart as dogs. Sophie learns words very quickly.“
Here the reporter is talking about a conversation my pet humans and she where having about studies my pet humans found online, which have shown that dog’s aren’t smarter than pigeons.
And the “Sophie learns words very quickly” part is obviously not about me actually learning to talk (because pigeons don’t have ‘vocal cords’ 😝, but neither is our syrinx as much developed as those of a parrot for example (which can mimic human words and such)), but the reporter is talking about the fact that I’m very quickly in learning to recognize words, commands and their meaning etc 😊.
Dutch: “Ze is nu supersociaal, alleen als andere mensen met haar willen knuffelen, jaagt ze ze weg.“
Translated: “She is super social now, only if other people want to hug her, then she scares them away“.
I/we think the reporter accidentally misinterpreted a part here, because as most of you know: Other people are not allowed to ‘hug’ with me because like my pet human always says: “I’m not a petting zoo animal” 😉
It was most likely misinterpreted from a part where my pet human told that if other people try to hug him (my pet human), that I will get a bit defensive and will try to ‘scare them off’ (away from my pet human) 😊.
Dutch: “Voor iedereen die na het lezen van dit verhaal ook een vogel wil aanschaffen, heeft Rico een klemmend advies: Een vogel is een verrijking van je leven, maar veel mensen onderschatten hoeveel tijd het kost.“
Translated: “Rico has some compelling advice for anyone who wants to purchase a bird after reading this story: A bird enriches your life, but many people underestimate how much time it takes.“
Personally Rico (my pet human) would not recommend to just purchase a bird, but to rescue one instead, there are A LOT of birds which need a forever home which are in shelters or even in terrible conditions elsewhere. But it is also VERY important that people whom are considering to get a bird, that they will actually research birds, bird keeping and the species they are planning to get A LOT before getting a bird. It is very important to be well educated about the bird(s), what it takes to care for them, understanding the devotion it requires and that you should be able to offer it a home for the rest of it’s life.
My pet humans already did knew a lot about birds in particular and had even ‘owned’ several other species before they rescued me, but before they even started looking to actually adopt or rescue a pigeon, they still spend another year and a half researching a lot about pigeons in particular.
Most important message here: Do not take impulse decisions and ‘just’ get a bird (or any other animal for that matter), but instead research your animal of preference way in advance, and make sure that you are (very) well prepared before your new companion arrives.