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Customer regularly visits North York Second Cup with five parrots in tow
A North York coffee shop plays host to five parrots who love to lounge around and eat bagels,
Buddy, Bella, Kita, Kikko and Rawi are regulars at the Second Cup near Bayview Ave. and York Mills Rd. in North York.
Twice a week in the summer, they can be found lounging outside, enjoying toasted cream cheese bagels.
They often catch the attention of passersby because they’re not your ordinary customers. They’re parrots. “Every time (they’re here), I don’t feel like working inside,” said Second Cup employee Najmi Zaman while holding one of them. “I want to come out and see (them).”
The parrots belong to Asha McLeod, 64, who lives nearby.
Twenty-five years ago, her husband told her about a parrot he saw in a bikini shop’s window. She didn’t like hearing that because “he’s not a prop, he’s a living creature” and went to the store to see it.
That’s when they rescued Buddy — and since then, they’ve rescued four other parrots and 20 other birds like pigeons and doves.
Each one has been through “some kind of hell” like neglect, an owner’s death or simply not being wanted anymore.
“I didn’t plan on doing it, I just got stuck understanding them,” McLeod said with Bella on her shoulder, it occasionally singing parts of “Happy Birthday” and “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”
“I grew up with a bird when I was 6-years-old and once you know they actually go through stages of emotions like a 2year-old, a 3-year-old ... and you see them suffering locked up in a cage, it’s just hard to see.”
For over five years, McLeod has been bringing them to the Second Cup to socialize with passersby like Elise Green.
“I walked by and first there was one and then two and then she talked about cream cheese and bagels and I was gone,” she said. “I love birds, what can I say.”
McLeod brings them out so they can get used to being comfortable around humans again. Their wings are clipped so they won’t fly away.
“It’s so they’re not afraid of being abandoned, not being afraid of humans hurting them,” McLeod said.
But, she won’t give up them up until she dies.
Amazon parrots have a lifespan of up to 60 years, she said. Her parrots range from 10- to 40-years-old.
“I’m going to live till 90,” McLeod said. “I got time (to work with them).”
However, she doesn’t work with the birds alone.
Elissa O’Boyce, 27, works at McLeod’s downtown hair sa- lon and started helping out about a year ago.
At first, she was a cat person but after she met them, “I fell in love with them.”
“It takes a lot to be able to do it,” O’Boyce said. “So for her to be doing it, it shows that she’s a really good person.” She called her job “amazing.” “Who gets to hang out with parrots all day, you know?” O’Boyce said. “It’s unreal. It’s unheard of.” To get to and from the coffee shop, the parrots are loaded into McLeod’s car, either in a crate or on handmade perches in the cabin.
Inside her home, she said the parrots have a room with drapes and covers to block out the sun so they can rest.
Her kitchen has perches in it because the parrots want to help cook.
“When it’s time to shower, that’s a big deal. They’ll walk up the stairs, climb up the shower curtains, sit on the doors and sing while the music is going and flap their feathers,” McLeod said. “They basically imitate what you do, which is kind of OK because if they want to eat with you, nap with you, shower with you then they’re kept busy.”
But, she won’t take more parrots because it’s “emotionally time consuming.” She also doesn’t want to see them being bred and sold.
“If they’re going to breed them, then they should be able to adopt them back when they’re older and people get tired of them,” McLeod said.
“They’re not toys.”