Ornithologist works to help blind

HIGHTSTOWN, NJ -- Polly want a seeing-eye parrot?

The squawks and caws, "Polly want a cracker"s coming from Michael Sampson's Irving Terrace house aren't just the sign of an avid ornithologist, but the hustle and bustle of a new seeing-eye bird facility, the first of its kind in the nation.

"With parrots ability to speak, if you will, it was easy seemed all too obvious to me," Sampson said.

Sampson, whose mother is blind, began working on seeing-eye parrots as a PhD candidate.

"My whole life my mother had dogs, but dogs can't talk. Dogs can't tell you when there is a speeding car that is about to blow a light. I would love it if they could [talk], but they can't. This way, parrots can not only help lead a blind person--while attached to a nifty little leash/vest combo--but also vocally direct them."

The birds are attached by a harness to leashes that Sampson buys at Petsmart. The birds are trained to fly about six feet about people, out of the way of foot traffic that, Sampson said, "pesky" dogs take up room in.

"It allows for smoother pedestrian traffic. Simple as that," Sampson said, adding that his mother, in addition to being able to get around well, also gets compliments on her birds.

"Mother quite enjoys the attention."

Sampson started by attempting to train Amazon parrots, but quickly abandoned the green birds for African Grey Parrots, which according to Sampson and other experts, have a better ability for vocalizing words and are seen as more intelligent.

"I'd like to see Fido be able to tell you to stop, red light," Sampson said with a smug grin on his face.

In total, Sampson has already trained eight birds, which are distributed in pairs. The birds already know commands such as "stop," "go" and "wait you idiot, there's a car coming."

"The last command was tough, it took months for each bird to perfect, but I think it was worth it. Nothing snaps someone's attention to the 'now' better than being called an idiot," the bird lover said.

The first successful pair, Lucy and Desi, have only presented one problem.

"They tend to shit a lot. I haven't quite figured that one out yet."

Sampson said he had started working on plans for a parrot diaper, but no functioning prototype has yet to surface through testing.

"You try strapping a diaper to a bird that has a bite force of around 200psi."