Cage & Aviary Birds Magazine No.5796 King of the Andes Back Issue

WANT IT – GET it.” You may well have seen the poster campaign for an online payment system which features this charming slogan. You browse an online catalogue, spot some luxury item you don’t really need, and click! It’s yours. Or at least you’ve ordered it, and the payment has left your account. Impulse buying is nothing new, but it’s getting perilously
easy, and younger people, in particular, are being targeted all the time with the insidious message that by instantly acquiring whatever they fancy they are somehow fulfilling themselves. Birdkeepers, who deal all the time with living creatures, know that is nonsense. To them, any new
acquisition, be it an outcross canary cock, a different soft food or a revolutionary seed hopper, is judged by results, which will take time
– perhaps a whole breeding season – to assess. Instant gratification is
the exception, not the rule, and most purchasing decisions are considered, not off the cuff. Yet even in this hobby, some impulse buys work out well. Gwen Palmer describes a splendid example on page
13, where she recounts how, long ago, the man who was to be her father-in-law was smitten at first sight by some wonderful budgerigars in a Yorkshire birdroom. He came, he saw, he bought... and, fortunately, he acquired a lasting passion for the fancy which in due course he bequeathed to his son Bernard, later Gwen’s husband. Like it or not, birds seen in the flesh have got the “wow!” factor and they always will. Many of us can recall a mind opening encounter which sowed the seed for a lifetime’s pleasure and commitment to our hobby. Let’s just make
sure, when we see that “wow!” look in beginners, that we try to offer them what they need, not simply what they think they want. Have a great week.