Despite what its name and iconography may suggest, ThreeBirds Coffee House is home to just two birds.
The birds of the nearly eponymous coffee house are Dorian, a 28-year-old African grey parrot, and Beetle, a 16-year-old Senegal parrot. If they could speak beyond their limited bird vocabulary, perhaps they would express that they are sick of being asked where the third bird is – aren’t they enough?
“Obviously the big question we get is, ‘Where’s the third bird?’” said Joseph Langdon, who owns ThreeBirds with his wife, Jennifer Murray. “We only have two actual birds, but we like to say that the third bird is you.”
On the wall adjacent to the bird’s downstairs cages, a small gold-framed mirror hangs only a few feet above the ground with the words “The Third Bird” printed across its reflective surface.
“Kids can put their face in there and know, ‘Oh, I’m the third bird,’” Langdon explained.
Dorian and Beetle live with owners Langdon and Murray on the floors of Bull Mansion above the coffee shop space. Five days a week, the two birds journey downstairs to what Langdon refers to as “their work.”
The birds do not get paid for this work, though given the steady stream of pistachio tips and free room and board, maybe it evens out.
“Some people come just for the birds, because they’ve heard about them or seen them on Instagram,” Langdon said. “Other people just happen in, and they’re pretty loud, so they’re like, ‘Oh my God! You have actual birds.’”
According to Langdon, kids in particular really enjoy the birds and the birds seem to quite like them back.
“He does like a little kid screaming sound,” Langdon said of Dorian. “Little kids will scream and he’ll scream, and they’ll go back and forth for a little while.”
As for Beetle, Langdon says her jam is “dancing and hollering,” and she also seems to have a peculiar affinity for silverware.
“If she gets into the silverware drawer, she’ll throw every piece of silverware out onto the floor,” Langdon said. “She’s a little bit of a psychopath.”
Dorian and Beetle, though physically kept separate because of their difference in size, have developed a tremendously close bond over the past five years.
“They don’t like to go to bed without the other one,” Langdon said. “Dorian said Beetle’s name for the first time the other week, he said, ‘Ready for bed, Beetle.’”
“Beetle often doesn’t want to go to bed at night,” he continued. “She stays up too late then she’ll get really sleepy but refuse to go to bed, very much like a child.”
Both Dorian and Beetle have had their wings clipped, a non-invasive procedure common amongst bird owners, but the practice is not one that entirely prevents flight.
“They can fly across the room, but they can’t get up in the air,” Langdon said. “We did have Beetle flighted for a while, and she did crash in the window once or twice, we said, ‘Alright Beetle. Maybe not.’”
Since ThreeBirds’ opening in 2019, some of Easton’s downtown locals have developed a friendship with the birds. Dorian was quick to abandon Langdon’s arm in favor of a neighbor living a building over.
“They’re a good addition to the neighborhood,” said the neighbor.
