This site combines two of my passions, birds and the internet.

I started developing web pages in 1996 shortly after I graduated from the University of Central Florida with an electrical engineering degree. In early 2000 I moved my family to Georgia to work at a .com.

In late 2002 my wife was contacted by a lady who needed to give up her African Grey Parrot (Rhett). We had never owned a bird before so I had no idea what we were getting into. Most of my exposure to Parrots had been in controlled pet stores and zoos. I was very concerned that our active/loud family would be too much for the fragile bird. I assumed that all birds needed to lead quite, mellow existences. Rhett's previous owner assured us that Rhett would love the high energy environment around our house, and promised that if Rhett was unhappy in our home she would take her back. My wife and daughter convinced me that we should add Rhett to our rambunctious family.

My perception of birds was very wrong. Rhett loves watching the daily, household antics. If anything she's become an instigator around the house. I was fascinated by her true intelligence, she uses hundreds of words in context. When we have guests over she has to feel included in all conversations and laughs on queue and then makes comments that she expects us to laugh at. Currently she is locked into a bitter pecking order dispute with my 14 year old daughter (I'm not sure which one is being more immature about it). I've seen many other African Greys and I know that they all have very distinct personalities.

After Rhett joined us my curiosity about birds was peaked. I knew my next store neighbor raised birds and I became fascinated by the business. She described the process by which pet birds get from breeders to pet owners. Basically, she has about a dozen finches. Her Finches sing songs, play, and lay eggs all day long. Eventually the eggs hatch and the babies grow up a little. My neighbor is passionate about the babies and get's to know the personalities of each one. Eventually she sells them to a pet wholesaler and then they sell them to a pet store. All of the individual knowledge my neighbor has about each bird is lost. When I learned about this I just knew that the internet was the answer. With internet technology buyers should be able to find breeders like my neighbor and buy a cute little bird directly from her. The breeder can give you valuable details about the bird your buying details that are lost during the traditional transaction.

I've always dreamed that the internet would break down the barriers that reduce efficiency in our economy. My goal for this site, birds.peachyga.com, is to do that for Georgians.