Hotel provides a comfortable perch

Sydney, a cockatoo, welcomes guests to the Woodmark Hotel in Kirkland. Although he's pictured here on Guest Services Manager Brent Miller's arm, he usually perches on a stand opposite the hotel front desk, where he greets visitors with a "Hi." Members of the concierge staff, who care for the bird, are trying to teach him to say "Welcome to the Woodmark."

"He's more popular and arrogant than anyone on the staff," said Marc Nowak, general manager of the hotel. "Guests love him."

Nowak said he picked Sydney as the hotel mascot because he had been hand-raised by breeder Denise Mouroux of Denise's Parrot Place on Mercer Island.

Willows Lodge in Woodinville, a sister hotel, also has a mascot: a Labrador named Preston.

— Sherry Grindeland