Start With the Bird's Identity and Expected Lifespan
A large parrot may outlive two owners, so the brief for your executor should open with who this bird actually is: species, name, sex if known, age and how that age is evidenced — hatch certificate, band year, or an honest estimate. Add band and microchip numbers, a clear photograph, and the names and numbers of his avian vet, his boarder, and any rescue you would trust as a fallback. State the lifespan plainly. A family member who agrees to help settle your affairs may have no idea they are being asked to plan around an animal who could need care for decades, and they deserve that fact on the first page, not discovered later.
Describe His Daily Life the Way He Actually Lives It
Write the routine as it truly runs: what he eats and refuses, when he wakes and how many dark, quiet hours he needs, how loud he is and at what times, the words and sounds he knows, and the handling he accepts. Be honest about the hard parts — the person he dislikes, the fear of new objects, the screaming spell at dusk, the bite risk during hormonal season. An inheritor briefed on the difficult version can prepare; one handed a polished version often surrenders the bird within a year, and a parrot rehomed twice pays the price both times. Note his cage, stand, and toys as part of the inheritance too, since familiar equipment softens the move enormously. Say honestly that he may grieve: parrots bonded to one person often call, refuse food, or pluck after that person disappears, and an inheritor who expects a difficult first season — and knows it is loss, not bad behaviour — is far more likely to still be there when the bird comes through it.
Cover Money and Your Wishes Explicitly
Set out what he costs in a normal year — food, vet care, boarding, toys and cage upkeep — in plain words based on your own spending, and say what provision, if any, you have made toward it. Name your first-choice inheritor and a second choice if the first person's circumstances change, and write down any firm wishes: that he stays with a particular person, that he never goes to a dealer, that a named rescue should be consulted before any private sale. Tell your executor where this brief lives, where the bird's records live, and who holds a spare key or access — a perfect plan nobody can find during a crisis week is no plan at all.
Review It While You Can Still Improve It
Revisit the brief whenever the bird's health, your family, or your wishes change, and tell both named people that the document exists and roughly what it asks of them; a surprise inheritance of a demanding, grieving parrot goes badly for everyone. If the bird's favourite person is willing, let them build a relationship with him now, in your lifetime — visits, feeding, handling — so a future transfer is a reunion rather than a capture. With KinsLe's Transferrable Profiles, the profile you maintain for him can move to that chosen inheritor with his full history, health records, and daily routines carried across, instead of the next owner starting from a stranger's summary.