Birmingham couple take pet parrots to shops and pub lunches but one ‘loves the mess’

A Birmingham couple walking around with two parrots perched on their shoulders has people all in a tizzy. Spider and Anne Spider-McKeown, from Bartley Green, go about their daily routine with Charlie, a green-winged macaw, and Chester, a blue and gold macaw, saying ‘hello’ and ‘bye’.

When the retired couple relocated their pair in 2021, they were determined that the Macaws would live with them and not be “stuck at home or in the garden”. Several times a week, they are taken out to the shops, to appointments, to B&Q and even to the pub.

The reaction of the audience is priceless, some first question if they are really real. Spider, who changed his first and last name to Spider by poll because of his love of animals, said: “It’s funny, they think it’s a parrot on their shoulder. I’m not a pirate either, I don’t have one. a shock or a wooden leg”.

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Spider, 66, and Anne, 64, adopted Charlie, Chester and Elwood from Safe Haven Parrot Refuge in Tewkesbury. Spider, a former National Express bus driver, said: “Charlie had a partner called Elwood and he was a Green-winged Macaw. Elwood was disabled and Charlie was taking care of him.

“Elwood died in June last year and we started taking Charlie out in public last July with Chester earlier this year. Chester wears a harness because he can fly, but Charlie doesn’t fly and just sits on my shoulder. They both weigh about a pound each.”

“They say ‘hello’ and ‘bye’ and when the phone rings Chester says ‘hello’. I’m not saying anything rude, but Chester blows Anne a kiss with a kissing sound.”

Three times a week, the parrots go out with their owners for up to three hours. They are also known to punters at the New Inn, Yardley, and the Sun Inn, Romsley, Halesowen, where Spider and Anne come for a pub lunch.

Spider said: “I go to Weoley Castle library, B&Q, Screwfix, garden centres, opticians, in the foyer of Sainsbury’s, a care home etc. They love attention and Charlie loves people to pet his beak.

“They accept treats and I keep some pine nuts in my pocket because they don’t make me fat. They don’t mind dogs, trucks, traffic – when they’re perched on our shoulders they’re just in their own world.

“We go to pubs and the funny part is people ask if they’re real – they think it’s a stuffed parrot on my shoulder. The last thing they expect when they go to the pub is to see a man with a parrot on his shoulder ordering a pint.

“In pubs we have to order chicken because they like it. We spread a towel and place it on the ground, then we put two perches on the camera tripods and put them on them.

“That way, if they drop something or poo, it goes on the towel and we pick it up. We are considering locations.”

The couple were originally told that fighting Macaws would be like having a couple of small children, and Chester can be a naughty boy as well as a nice one. Spider said: “They have their own routine.

“They both have breakfast at 8.20, clean the cage and are free to come and go in the dining room. When the weather is nicer they are in the garden which is placed so they don’t fly. Chester will fly from A to B but he he just likes to walk and will follow Anne like sheep.

“When she takes out the laundry, he squats on the basket and throws the laundry on the rocks. When we pot the plants, he will pick up the pot in his beak and throw it away.

“When Anne says no, Chester will say no.” He likes the mess!”