Internet brings new fame to putting parakeet

[IRiSHMaFIA]

Teaching a parakeet to putt is no tap-in.

Ask David Cota, who spent months training his Indian ringneck parakeet A.J. to use a tiny putter to sink putts on a miniature green. The 5-inch-tall bird has become an Internet video star.

"It doesn't look all that tough nowadays, but try to get a a bird to hold a little stick basically in its beak. The first time, he snapped it right in half," Cota said.

A.J. can also dunk a tiny basketball on a tiny court. He rolls over. He shakes. He plays dead.

A "Tonight" show darling from the end of the Johnny Carson era, A.J. is staging a comeback thanks to such Web sites as YouTube. A.J. also has a MySpace page and a Web site.

The 16-year-old parakeet recently won an "outrageous bird" video contest sponsored by MagRack, an on-demand television network.

Cota, 38, owes his extended 15 minutes of fame to two dead parakeets.

The first bird belonged to a college girlfriend. Cota was left to care for it, and it died.

"A fluke," he insists. He tried to slip in a replacement parakeet -- and ended up single with plenty of free time to train his new pet parakeet, named "Axl" for the lead singer of Guns N' Roses.

Axl was accidentally crushed only hours before he was scheduled to perform on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" in May 1990. Cota's college roommate fell asleep and rolled on top of the bird in a hotel room provided by NBC. The death made national news.

Carson gave Cota a new parakeet, A.J., whose name is a nod to Axl and to Carson. He told Cota to come back on the show when he'd trained the new bird.

Cota and A.J. performed for Carson. They have also been guests of Jay Leno and David Letterman's "Stupid Pet Tricks."

[eefanincan]

Cute..... I saw a clip of this on the news this morning before I went into work and had a funny feeling someone would post it

[Skylace]

That's cute. Sorry the little fella got squished!