Quick Take
- A news crew showed up for a bird interview. The bird had other plans.
- One video launched a 40-million-view career.
- Her roommates compare her to a dog, and one calls her something even funnier.
- Her clingy habits aren't quirks. There's a wild-flock instinct behind them that explains everything.
In a house near Washington Park in Denver, a small green bird is the subject of a news segment. But instead of sitting still for the news crew, this bird had other ideas.
Her name’s Olive, she’s a parakeet, and she’s racked up more than 40 million total views across social media. Denver7 (KMGH), the Scripps station in Denver, told her story on the eleventh of November. Anchor Shannon Ogden introduced her as one of the tiniest residents of Wash Park, and maybe its biggest celebrity.
One Video, Then Everything Else
Olive belongs to Heather, who did what any pet owner does and took pictures of her constantly. Someone in the house eventually posted one. The first video took off, more clips followed, and then The Dodo, the site built on animal stories, found her. After that came the brand deals. Olive took some time to warm up at the beginning, and the internet didn’t give her much choice after that.
The Third Roommate
Heather’s roommate Lexi Kleid moved in already knowing there was a famous bird in the house. Olive’s described as very much the third member of the household, a bird who’d spend all day cuddling if she could, and her people compare her to a dog. One of them calls her a free-range chicken, because she’s rarely in a cage. The thing everyone keeps coming back to is touch: Olive wants to be touching somebody pretty much all the time.
Why a Parakeet Does This
Parakeets are built to live with company. In the wild, a parakeet’s whole world is its flock, and a bird kept without other birds around it will bond hard with the people nearby instead. You become the flock.
That explains a lot of what Olive does. Sitting on the laptop is just a bird going where her flock is. Wanting to touch somebody all day is flock behavior aimed at the one flockmate she’s got. Budgies can also pick people out by face and by voice, so Olive knows exactly which roommate she’s climbing on.
An Ounce and a Half of Celebrity
Olive’s roughly seven inches tall, with a wingspan of about a foot, and she weighs between one and one and a half ounces. And she’s still on the laptop, so the shot the crew wanted still isn’t happening.
