I had an incredibly cute, warm, soggy (fuzzy) moment today in the shower with Kai today in the shower. Some people may ask, "Why was Kai in the shower??" Well, whenever I take showers, I take Kai with me so we can shower together. He gets showers in the shower, but also over the kitchen sink while sitting on the faucet with the hand sprayer. I give him a bath that soaks him completely three days a week, and he gets light spritzes in between. It keeps him happy and softens up any pinfeathers that he may have so he can work them free easier, especially during his molt.
I was rinsing my face off with my back towards Kai, and I hear him try to fly from his perch onto my head. My shoulders are too small, and he doesn't like to slap me in the face, because I squeaked the first time he tried. He doesn't like to hurt me on accident. Kai landed on the bottom of the tub, instead, and when I turned around to make sure he was okay, he waddled right over and perched on my toe, looking up at me. Some of the water from the showerhead sprinkled down on him, and he spread his wings and tail out and started to bathe right there on my foot! It was so adorable, I sang to him and he continued to bathe until he gave me his, "I'm done!" honk, then I picked him up and finished showering.
It was a super adorable moment...Afterwards, we ate a bit of lunch together, and now he's here with me in the computer room. I close both my doors up so it stays warmer and he can dry off faster. Brrrrr......it's 43F here right now. Go figure that NY still thinks it's winter well into spring....
Showing posts with label pionus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pionus. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Kai likes to share.
Birds are social animals. They do everything together, and absolutely hate to be separated from the flock. This means they also eat together, which is why Kai always eats with us at dinner time, and also why he eats when I do if we're in my craft room together. Earlier, I was eating fish sticks, and since I was starving, I ate them well before Kai was done eating....The following is a transcript of what happened...!
Kai: *Eating a walnut out of the shell, stops to look at M.*
Me: You can keep eating, Kai, I'm full.
Kai: *questioning chirp, followed by...* Want seed? Good seed?
Me: No, that's okay, thank you!
Kai: Want seed. Good boy. *flings the walnut at M.* That's good seed!
Me: *Cracks up, picks the walnut up and pretends to eat it.* Thank you, you're such a good boy!
Kai: Good boy, such a good boy. That's good.
It was so endearing that he felt I should be eating more, and especially that he wanted to share with me. He often asks me, "That's good?" if I'm eating something he's never seen before, too. Oddly, he doesn't seem to care for sunflower seeds anymore. I wonder if it's because he just likes other "good seed"s better.
Kai: Seed?
Me: Okay, Kai, you want seed?
Kai: Seed?
Me: What seed? Flower (sunflower)? White (pumpkin)? Peanut?
Kai: SEED. (give me a seed, woman!)
Me: Okay, how about Flower seed? *offers.*
Kai: *picks it up and drops it.* Seed?
Me: What about White seed? *offers.*
Kai: *flings that, too.* Want GOOD seed.
Me: What is good seed?? *holds out an assortment.*
Kai: Mmmm! Good seed. *selects peanut halve.* That's good seed.
Me: Hnnnnnnn.....okay, then. You're such a little diva!
Kai: Kai's a good boy.
Me: Yes, Kai's a good boy.
Good seed also seems to indicate pistachio, pecan, and walnut....
Kai: *Eating a walnut out of the shell, stops to look at M.*
Me: You can keep eating, Kai, I'm full.
Kai: *questioning chirp, followed by...* Want seed? Good seed?
Me: No, that's okay, thank you!
Kai: Want seed. Good boy. *flings the walnut at M.* That's good seed!
Me: *Cracks up, picks the walnut up and pretends to eat it.* Thank you, you're such a good boy!
Kai: Good boy, such a good boy. That's good.
It was so endearing that he felt I should be eating more, and especially that he wanted to share with me. He often asks me, "That's good?" if I'm eating something he's never seen before, too. Oddly, he doesn't seem to care for sunflower seeds anymore. I wonder if it's because he just likes other "good seed"s better.
Kai: Seed?
Me: Okay, Kai, you want seed?
Kai: Seed?
Me: What seed? Flower (sunflower)? White (pumpkin)? Peanut?
Kai: SEED. (give me a seed, woman!)
Me: Okay, how about Flower seed? *offers.*
Kai: *picks it up and drops it.* Seed?
Me: What about White seed? *offers.*
Kai: *flings that, too.* Want GOOD seed.
Me: What is good seed?? *holds out an assortment.*
Kai: Mmmm! Good seed. *selects peanut halve.* That's good seed.
Me: Hnnnnnnn.....okay, then. You're such a little diva!
Kai: Kai's a good boy.
Me: Yes, Kai's a good boy.
Good seed also seems to indicate pistachio, pecan, and walnut....
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Coming in for a Landing! One Week of Flying with Kai and Lots of Poop.
Kai is progressing very nicely on learning to fly! He's become more confident, but he's also become a little more territorial where his cage is concerned. It troubles me a little that people say that you should clip their wings so "they have to depend on you". They already depend on you for food, water, and companionship, that shouldn't necessitate mutillating their wings.
I had listened in on a presentation that a man was giving when he spoke of his raptor. He mentioned that if he could never show fear, anger, or upset, or his raptor might lose confidence in him and possibly hurt him very badly. He said that he would have to starve his raptor for a few days, because he was the one who controlled the food source, and then work on building his raptor's trust all over again.
That does make sense to me, in a way, though it isn't very kind. Before anyone becomes upset at such treatment, I can't recall how many times I've heard of children being sent to bed without supper as a manner of discipline. It's basically the same concept. No one is going to die from not eating for a 12 hour period. I don't recall being sent to bed hungry, though there were plenty of other times that I was starving, but had no access to food. (Besides, if the kids are smart, they'll already have foxholed caches of food in their rooms, anyway, like I usually did!)
I would prefer to reward good behaviour rather than resort to punishment. That being said, there is also a big difference between parrots and raptors. Raptors are not affectionate; they learn that life with their master is a sure way to survive and depend upon them for food, shelter, and care. In return, the falconer must trust that their raptor will return to them. Parrots, on the other hand, are social birds, who are affectionate, and form strong bonds with their families.
Would someone ever clip a raptor's wings? No, of course not. Raptors need to be able to fly to be physically and mentally healthy, and also to hunt. Flying is what makes a bird so special and set apart from other species - there is no other animal (with feathers) which is capable of flight. There is nothing as beautiful as a bird in flight, a butterfly fluttering from one flower to another, or a horse galloping across an open stretch of field (even if it's gleefully bucking and farting, ahem). Flying promotes the best health they can be in by providing exercise as nature intended. So why should anyone clip a parrot's wings and rob them of their flight?
I also feel strongly about other similar, related controversial issues, such as genital mutilation (circumcision), declawing, debarking, pinfiring, racing horses without closed knees, ear and tail cropping, etcetera. Why, for the love of children, would you do something like that to your helpless, vulnerable baby? Why risk the slip of a scalpel, which accidentally severs the nerves which will later bring them pleasure and condemn them to a sexual life lacking sensitivity. Why risk the doctor royally screwing up and severing the glans off completely? Or how about a botched job and infection causing your son's penis to become necrotic and fall off, completely? (It's happened....and it has been estimated that as many as 209 babies die every year from circumcision and related complications.) I don't think I need to bring up MRSA. Why risk mutilating and deforming a limb of his body, which will affect a large portion of his adult life later on? I've seen some tragic examples due to botched jobs. It isn't just their love life that's affected, it's their self-confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem.
Why would anyone surgically remove the claw at the distal phalanx and cause them a remaining lifetime of insecurity, biting due to fear aggression and the inability to fight back, trauma, and chronic pain? For those who don't believe declawed animals suffer, they have but to ask someone with an amputated limb if they can still feel it, or if they still feel pain, because of it. The answer is yes, and much of the time, it's chronic and lasts for the rest of their lives. With debarking, people remove their dog's natural ability to communicate, causing a wellspring of behavioural issues and detriment to the dog's well-being. Why don't more people notice their animals are suffering? They have higher pain thresholds than people, though their trauma generally manifests in unfavourable behaviour, such as bite aggression, marking, excessive licking/plucking, and other self-mutilating examples.
That being said, it stands to reason that a parrot is also affected on many levels, not just physically, but also mentally.
I found a site that has good information on it. Also:
http://www.parrotchronicles.com/features/freeflight/freeflight.htm
http://www.flyingparrotsinside.com
I absolutely love and stand by the article written by Pamela Clark.
On a rather unsavory note, husband made the comment that, because Kai was flying from room to room, he thought it was time to clip him again. I reasoned, "Well, then, we should cut off your cat's legs. He doesn't need to play, tear around the house, or exercise, either..." He said that his cat doesn't fly around the house like Kai does, and I said, "Have you never seen the cats running around the house before...?"
I have a long list of things that the cats have eaten, spilled, broken, damaged, or otherwise ruined in our house and past living spaces. We buy furniture with the knowledge that it will become defaced by claws, covered in a veneer of shed fur every fall and spring, shredded, possibly peed and or pooped on/in, and otherwise made holey. His cat not only mauls the couch corners to ribbons, but he also chews and eats the foam that comes out of it. My cats poop in the bathtub, or on the kitty bathroom floor. The bed has been christened numerous times when Ollie experienced blockage due to his bladder crystals, and twice when B's cat peed on it for no real reason at all.
My dog's stomach is extremely sensitive to treats and weather changes. Quite often, if I'm not around, am sleeping, or if B ignores his pleas to go outside, my dog will go as far away as he can from either of us and do his business. Then he'll run and hide... I've never so much as raised my voice at him for doing so, but he's always so ashamed and embarrassed that he did what he did where he did. And my husband is worried about Kai flying around the house a little, occasionally pooping on stuff? Let's compare poop size, shall we...? This dog's head is also so insanely hard, once, he was doing his Husky 500, took the corner too fast, and ran straight into the steel wall corner reinforcement. He was fine, but he BUCKLED the corner, broke through the drywall, and made a dent that was over an inch thick. Boy did I spend a lot of time trying to disguise that one with tablespoons of spackle, my airbrush, and acrylic paint diluted with rubbing alcohol. I also had to hammer the buckled part flat again on the other side.
My life revolves around cleaning up sh*t, literally and figuratively. I've done it for years - since I was 4 or 5, at least, and we got our first cat. It doesn't bother me, seriously. Some day, if I have a baby, I'll be cleaning up its poop, too. Hell, I'll make my husband do it! It'll be a nice dose of reality and an actualization of responsibility for him. Maybe it will make him more sympathetic to what I deal with on a day to day basis. Dog poops on the carpet? I just sigh and make for the paper towels and the green machine. Every morning, I change Kai's papers. Every couple of hours, I scoop the litterbox and flush the kitty poop. Every day, I clean some part of the house. It's routine, I'm used to it, it doesn't bother me - and B comes home, none the wiser to what I've done. He just knows that dinner is almost ready, that he can change out of his work clothes and into his freshly laundered comfy pants, and that he should feed everyone just before we eat. And yet, when Kai poops on the floor, he freaks out a little?
Pshhh. I told him it was training for all the poop that'd come with a child. He said kids wore diapers and eventually potty trained. I just gave him a look. I told him about my friend's daughter, who has taken to removing her diaper, scooping her feces, and flinging it downstairs at her mother, followed by her poop-filled diaper. If he thinks kids won't potty in bizarre places (like outside in the yard, like the dog, in planters, on doormats, in litterboxes like the cats, etc), he's sadly mistaken.
Where damage is concerned, I also don't think my husband realizes that Kai seldom chews. Compared to other species, it doesn't appear that Pionus really chew much at all. He'll snap wooden disks and take apart vine balls, maybe chew his hanging wooden feeder box, but he's never really chewed aside from that. I've been trying to teach him to forage through cardboard, but that's not going very well. Besides, I don't think Kai could ever cause nearly as much damage as the cats.
SO. I'm really not worried about Kai being flighted. I'm working on recalling him, but so far, he's only really mastered flying from my hand to his house, his perch, or to the faucet. He knows the difference between stepping up for me to go somewhere, and stepping up for me to practice flying.
Me: Kai, let's go!
Kai: *looks at finger.* (Na, thanks.)
Me: Come on, Kai, let's go! Do you want to go kitchen and help make dindin?
Kai: *disinterested stare* (Ehhhhhh....)
Me: Hnn. Well, Kai, let's go whee! Do you want to go whee?
Kai: *eyes sparkling* (We're going to fly?)
Me: Come on, Kai, let's go whee to perch, okay?
Kai: *steps up immediately!!* (Okay!!!)
He has found the confidence to fly from my room into the kitchen, usually up onto the top of the fridge, but he has yet to figure out how to fly to me. I can tippie-toe to get him off of high places, but I don't know what I'd do if he got up onto something higher than I could reach. I don't shoulder him at all, because I like my face, ears, and earrings. I hold my arm out at a right angle to my body with my finger pointed as he flies towards me, but he winds up flying right over me. I guess it'll just take practice! I'm still optimistic.
Please note that if I'm cooking with the stove on, Kai is NOT in the kitchen with me and all the kitchen doors are closed. Kai gets to eat bits of fruit and veggies on the faucet as I'm doing the prepwork, but as soon as it's time to turn the burners on, Kai has to go to his livingroom perch. I'm not going to risk burning my bird. It helped that my mother would totally flip out if my sister or I ever stepped within two feet of the stove or oven while it was on. Why was she so paranoid? Well, when I was a toddler, apparently she had the oven open and I fell against the door and burned my arm. Lesson learned! Years later, I still maintain that lesson with all of my animals (and my husband.). My kids, human or furry/feathered, will always be kept safe from hot things...I'm very cautious, considerate of my animals' needs, and am a responsible individual, who has an understanding of each of their distinct personalities and temperaments.
One thing that I have been having him practice is flying from his playstand to his house. That's been going swimmingly! A couple times, he's flown in circles around the room, which I found delightful, only to land on something awkward for him to stand on. Tonight, he landed on a framed picture that I have leaning against the wall waiting to be hung. He was nearly face-flat against the wall as he clung to the frame. I resisted the urge to go get him, because I want him to learn that mommy isn't always going to rescue him. I told him, "Kai, if you don't like it, you should go house. Come on, you can do it!" After a couple minutes of looking at me pathetically, he sucked it up and managed to turn himself a little, then launched and flew right to his house! I cheered and praised him as he crowed about what a good boy he was, then I gave him his beloved sunflower seeds and aya (papaya). He's always so pleased with himself when he flies and lands right.
So far, so good - he hasn't tried to dive-bomb my husband yet. We'll see how he does during mating season. I'm going to take pains to try to keep his hormones at low levels by limiting his light exposure (our house is dark, anyway!), not feeding him large amounts of meat protein/eggs, and by not encouraging mating habits.
While on the subject of behaviours, I tried something new with his territorial cage aggression. He struts around on his house, all puffed up like a macho bird if B walks by, or if I'm changing his papers and cleaning his tray out. The strutting while cleaning his tray out is a new behaviour I haven't seen until recently. T.T My little baby is growing up... So, anyway...I don't want to encourage him to be territorial and show signs of aggression like that. Well, while eyeballing my little puffball, I open up his treat bin and pull out a handful of pumpkin seeds and exclaim, "Seed!!"
Kai went from aggressive to perky bird in half a second flat. I was mightily pleased and dumped the pumpkin seeds into his dish so he could eat them while I finished cleaning his tray out. It only seems like he has aggression if he's out on top of his cage, but not if he's inside. If I close his drawbridge up and change his tray, he shows absolutely no signs of aggression.
On another note, I also might get a little flight suit for Kai so I can take him to other people's houses or to the store, but we'll see how that goes...if I have any skin left on my fingers after trying to get it on! Okay, I should really sleep now, it's 9:12 am as I finish this up...I need to sleep sometime today!
I had listened in on a presentation that a man was giving when he spoke of his raptor. He mentioned that if he could never show fear, anger, or upset, or his raptor might lose confidence in him and possibly hurt him very badly. He said that he would have to starve his raptor for a few days, because he was the one who controlled the food source, and then work on building his raptor's trust all over again.
That does make sense to me, in a way, though it isn't very kind. Before anyone becomes upset at such treatment, I can't recall how many times I've heard of children being sent to bed without supper as a manner of discipline. It's basically the same concept. No one is going to die from not eating for a 12 hour period. I don't recall being sent to bed hungry, though there were plenty of other times that I was starving, but had no access to food. (Besides, if the kids are smart, they'll already have foxholed caches of food in their rooms, anyway, like I usually did!)
I would prefer to reward good behaviour rather than resort to punishment. That being said, there is also a big difference between parrots and raptors. Raptors are not affectionate; they learn that life with their master is a sure way to survive and depend upon them for food, shelter, and care. In return, the falconer must trust that their raptor will return to them. Parrots, on the other hand, are social birds, who are affectionate, and form strong bonds with their families.
Would someone ever clip a raptor's wings? No, of course not. Raptors need to be able to fly to be physically and mentally healthy, and also to hunt. Flying is what makes a bird so special and set apart from other species - there is no other animal (with feathers) which is capable of flight. There is nothing as beautiful as a bird in flight, a butterfly fluttering from one flower to another, or a horse galloping across an open stretch of field (even if it's gleefully bucking and farting, ahem). Flying promotes the best health they can be in by providing exercise as nature intended. So why should anyone clip a parrot's wings and rob them of their flight?
I also feel strongly about other similar, related controversial issues, such as genital mutilation (circumcision), declawing, debarking, pinfiring, racing horses without closed knees, ear and tail cropping, etcetera. Why, for the love of children, would you do something like that to your helpless, vulnerable baby? Why risk the slip of a scalpel, which accidentally severs the nerves which will later bring them pleasure and condemn them to a sexual life lacking sensitivity. Why risk the doctor royally screwing up and severing the glans off completely? Or how about a botched job and infection causing your son's penis to become necrotic and fall off, completely? (It's happened....and it has been estimated that as many as 209 babies die every year from circumcision and related complications.) I don't think I need to bring up MRSA. Why risk mutilating and deforming a limb of his body, which will affect a large portion of his adult life later on? I've seen some tragic examples due to botched jobs. It isn't just their love life that's affected, it's their self-confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem.
Why would anyone surgically remove the claw at the distal phalanx and cause them a remaining lifetime of insecurity, biting due to fear aggression and the inability to fight back, trauma, and chronic pain? For those who don't believe declawed animals suffer, they have but to ask someone with an amputated limb if they can still feel it, or if they still feel pain, because of it. The answer is yes, and much of the time, it's chronic and lasts for the rest of their lives. With debarking, people remove their dog's natural ability to communicate, causing a wellspring of behavioural issues and detriment to the dog's well-being. Why don't more people notice their animals are suffering? They have higher pain thresholds than people, though their trauma generally manifests in unfavourable behaviour, such as bite aggression, marking, excessive licking/plucking, and other self-mutilating examples.
That being said, it stands to reason that a parrot is also affected on many levels, not just physically, but also mentally.
I found a site that has good information on it. Also:
http://www.parrotchronicles.com/features/freeflight/freeflight.htm
http://www.flyingparrotsinside.com
I absolutely love and stand by the article written by Pamela Clark.
On a rather unsavory note, husband made the comment that, because Kai was flying from room to room, he thought it was time to clip him again. I reasoned, "Well, then, we should cut off your cat's legs. He doesn't need to play, tear around the house, or exercise, either..." He said that his cat doesn't fly around the house like Kai does, and I said, "Have you never seen the cats running around the house before...?"
I have a long list of things that the cats have eaten, spilled, broken, damaged, or otherwise ruined in our house and past living spaces. We buy furniture with the knowledge that it will become defaced by claws, covered in a veneer of shed fur every fall and spring, shredded, possibly peed and or pooped on/in, and otherwise made holey. His cat not only mauls the couch corners to ribbons, but he also chews and eats the foam that comes out of it. My cats poop in the bathtub, or on the kitty bathroom floor. The bed has been christened numerous times when Ollie experienced blockage due to his bladder crystals, and twice when B's cat peed on it for no real reason at all.
My dog's stomach is extremely sensitive to treats and weather changes. Quite often, if I'm not around, am sleeping, or if B ignores his pleas to go outside, my dog will go as far away as he can from either of us and do his business. Then he'll run and hide... I've never so much as raised my voice at him for doing so, but he's always so ashamed and embarrassed that he did what he did where he did. And my husband is worried about Kai flying around the house a little, occasionally pooping on stuff? Let's compare poop size, shall we...? This dog's head is also so insanely hard, once, he was doing his Husky 500, took the corner too fast, and ran straight into the steel wall corner reinforcement. He was fine, but he BUCKLED the corner, broke through the drywall, and made a dent that was over an inch thick. Boy did I spend a lot of time trying to disguise that one with tablespoons of spackle, my airbrush, and acrylic paint diluted with rubbing alcohol. I also had to hammer the buckled part flat again on the other side.
My life revolves around cleaning up sh*t, literally and figuratively. I've done it for years - since I was 4 or 5, at least, and we got our first cat. It doesn't bother me, seriously. Some day, if I have a baby, I'll be cleaning up its poop, too. Hell, I'll make my husband do it! It'll be a nice dose of reality and an actualization of responsibility for him. Maybe it will make him more sympathetic to what I deal with on a day to day basis. Dog poops on the carpet? I just sigh and make for the paper towels and the green machine. Every morning, I change Kai's papers. Every couple of hours, I scoop the litterbox and flush the kitty poop. Every day, I clean some part of the house. It's routine, I'm used to it, it doesn't bother me - and B comes home, none the wiser to what I've done. He just knows that dinner is almost ready, that he can change out of his work clothes and into his freshly laundered comfy pants, and that he should feed everyone just before we eat. And yet, when Kai poops on the floor, he freaks out a little?
Pshhh. I told him it was training for all the poop that'd come with a child. He said kids wore diapers and eventually potty trained. I just gave him a look. I told him about my friend's daughter, who has taken to removing her diaper, scooping her feces, and flinging it downstairs at her mother, followed by her poop-filled diaper. If he thinks kids won't potty in bizarre places (like outside in the yard, like the dog, in planters, on doormats, in litterboxes like the cats, etc), he's sadly mistaken.
Where damage is concerned, I also don't think my husband realizes that Kai seldom chews. Compared to other species, it doesn't appear that Pionus really chew much at all. He'll snap wooden disks and take apart vine balls, maybe chew his hanging wooden feeder box, but he's never really chewed aside from that. I've been trying to teach him to forage through cardboard, but that's not going very well. Besides, I don't think Kai could ever cause nearly as much damage as the cats.
SO. I'm really not worried about Kai being flighted. I'm working on recalling him, but so far, he's only really mastered flying from my hand to his house, his perch, or to the faucet. He knows the difference between stepping up for me to go somewhere, and stepping up for me to practice flying.
Me: Kai, let's go!
Kai: *looks at finger.* (Na, thanks.)
Me: Come on, Kai, let's go! Do you want to go kitchen and help make dindin?
Kai: *disinterested stare* (Ehhhhhh....)
Me: Hnn. Well, Kai, let's go whee! Do you want to go whee?
Kai: *eyes sparkling* (We're going to fly?)
Me: Come on, Kai, let's go whee to perch, okay?
Kai: *steps up immediately!!* (Okay!!!)
He has found the confidence to fly from my room into the kitchen, usually up onto the top of the fridge, but he has yet to figure out how to fly to me. I can tippie-toe to get him off of high places, but I don't know what I'd do if he got up onto something higher than I could reach. I don't shoulder him at all, because I like my face, ears, and earrings. I hold my arm out at a right angle to my body with my finger pointed as he flies towards me, but he winds up flying right over me. I guess it'll just take practice! I'm still optimistic.
Please note that if I'm cooking with the stove on, Kai is NOT in the kitchen with me and all the kitchen doors are closed. Kai gets to eat bits of fruit and veggies on the faucet as I'm doing the prepwork, but as soon as it's time to turn the burners on, Kai has to go to his livingroom perch. I'm not going to risk burning my bird. It helped that my mother would totally flip out if my sister or I ever stepped within two feet of the stove or oven while it was on. Why was she so paranoid? Well, when I was a toddler, apparently she had the oven open and I fell against the door and burned my arm. Lesson learned! Years later, I still maintain that lesson with all of my animals (and my husband.). My kids, human or furry/feathered, will always be kept safe from hot things...I'm very cautious, considerate of my animals' needs, and am a responsible individual, who has an understanding of each of their distinct personalities and temperaments.
One thing that I have been having him practice is flying from his playstand to his house. That's been going swimmingly! A couple times, he's flown in circles around the room, which I found delightful, only to land on something awkward for him to stand on. Tonight, he landed on a framed picture that I have leaning against the wall waiting to be hung. He was nearly face-flat against the wall as he clung to the frame. I resisted the urge to go get him, because I want him to learn that mommy isn't always going to rescue him. I told him, "Kai, if you don't like it, you should go house. Come on, you can do it!" After a couple minutes of looking at me pathetically, he sucked it up and managed to turn himself a little, then launched and flew right to his house! I cheered and praised him as he crowed about what a good boy he was, then I gave him his beloved sunflower seeds and aya (papaya). He's always so pleased with himself when he flies and lands right.
So far, so good - he hasn't tried to dive-bomb my husband yet. We'll see how he does during mating season. I'm going to take pains to try to keep his hormones at low levels by limiting his light exposure (our house is dark, anyway!), not feeding him large amounts of meat protein/eggs, and by not encouraging mating habits.
While on the subject of behaviours, I tried something new with his territorial cage aggression. He struts around on his house, all puffed up like a macho bird if B walks by, or if I'm changing his papers and cleaning his tray out. The strutting while cleaning his tray out is a new behaviour I haven't seen until recently. T.T My little baby is growing up... So, anyway...I don't want to encourage him to be territorial and show signs of aggression like that. Well, while eyeballing my little puffball, I open up his treat bin and pull out a handful of pumpkin seeds and exclaim, "Seed!!"
Kai went from aggressive to perky bird in half a second flat. I was mightily pleased and dumped the pumpkin seeds into his dish so he could eat them while I finished cleaning his tray out. It only seems like he has aggression if he's out on top of his cage, but not if he's inside. If I close his drawbridge up and change his tray, he shows absolutely no signs of aggression.
On another note, I also might get a little flight suit for Kai so I can take him to other people's houses or to the store, but we'll see how that goes...if I have any skin left on my fingers after trying to get it on! Okay, I should really sleep now, it's 9:12 am as I finish this up...I need to sleep sometime today!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Someone's instant messaging me! Wait, no they're not!
Earlier, I was chatting on Skype IMs.
When someone sends an IM, it goes, PWOOP! Well, I keep hearing multiple PWOOP!s like someone has messaged me, but there's nothing new added to the conversation! What the heck?
Then, I realize that the extra PWOOP!s are coming after someone actually sends me a message. I look to the right...
LO AND BEHOLD, Kai is mimicking the sound...and is calling back, PWOOP!, after someone IMs! Augh, it's so unbearably cute!!
The forum post I submitted to the Bird Channel forum.
I did hours of research before I brought home my very first parrot, a blue-headed Pionus, January of 2009. Based on my research, I had also been considering a Senegal, but it was Kai who stole my heart. I wanted to make certain that whichever species I brought home would match my own personal temperament and lifestyle, which is calm, quiet, and peaceful for the most part. It was very important to me that the parrots I looked at wanted to be with me, because in my experience, if an animal isn't interested in you, then it may not be a good match when you bring them home. Kai was the only one who marched right over to me for head scratches, cried when I walked away, then stepped up onto me when I put my hand out. The thing that clinched the decision for me was when he tried to regurgitate food for me... Kai chose me, so I chose him, and it has been a wonderful relationship since!
Pionus are well-known for being wonderful beginner's parrots, because they tend to be quieter, quite amicable, level-headed, very good about socializing with other people, are independent, and are very affectionate. Obviously, every pi is different, though, and it varies by individual. It seems that Pionus are rarely rehomed, because they're such wonderful birds and they don't tend to have some of the less favourable traits and behaviours of other parrots.
Noise-wise, Kai is chattier during the morning when he first wakes up, then again before it's bedtime, which is normal for most parrots, I've read. If we're listening to music together, he loves to sing along, or if we're watching a music-oriented television show together (he LOVES watching Metalocalpyse with my husband and I), he also talks up a storm/sings. His chit-chat is generally on the rambling, quiet side, on a conversational level. His natural parrot sounds are very pleasant to listen to, varying between a rolling chitter to chirps to crackles to popping peeps. If you were in a room talking to someone else, you might not even notice your pionus talking, they're so quiet. That being said, when they want to be heard...a pionus WILL be heard!
I remember the first day that Kai came down off his perch by the couch, because I had told him, "BRB", which means that I would be back in a second. Well, I took a little longer than a few minutes, so he came looking for me. My dog came over to say hello, and I heard this totally unfamiliar, LOUD, startling honk from the living room. It sounded like a bicycle horn, except with a honk. My dog took off in the other direction, terrified, and I stood there in the doorway staring at Kai in disbelief. It was so funny when he strutted over, because he gave me an exasperated look and huffed as if to say, "Look what you made me do! I had to walk all the way over here looking for you! What's taking so long?" He understands the difference between "BRB" (minutes) and "I'll be back later" (hours).
Kai has also learned the shrill, single note whistle that I use to call the dog and cats (unfortunately....I didn't realize that I was doing it until he mimicked me!). So...if he wants me to come downstairs, he dog-whistles for me. I've been working with him on this so that he'll say a softer word. I think it also helps that I never yell around him and always speak quietly to him. He knows several words and phrases, knows how to ask for things, and picks up new words after a week or two of working with him.
I really love that he doesn't have to be on my arm constantly, or that he needs my attention all the time. My friends say that some birds will scream if they're not on you all the time. He's perfectly content to sit on his drawbridge door to his house and play with toys or chewies, or perch on the branch sticking out closer to me. Kai really loves foot toys, which I tie to his drawbridge to prevent from falling onto the floor. He likes to pull them back up to play with them again, too. He isn't much of a chewer, but he does love the thin wooden discs and small clothing pins, which he breaks and snaps for fun. He really loves vine balls, which I stuff with treats. After we've eaten dinner, he's very happy to step up onto my arm for head kissies, head scratches, and allopreening. I like that he's also not a tiny bird, but a good, stocky, solid size that can defend himself if need be.
Where size is concerned, because he is also a decent size, this means that he is capable of powerful bites, which can tear skin. Kai has bitten me two times before I learned exactly why he bit me at all. Please respect your pi's personal space and do not force them to step-up, bother them if they appear to be aggravated, physically grab them, or stick your hand into their home. Imagine the world from their perspective, envision yourself from their point of view, and empathize with how small they are, versus how large a human is. A human can be very formidable and threatening. It's always best to use positive reinforcement, but it's even better to give them a choice. They should step up and down, because they want to. It took me at least two months to show Kai that he could trust me, and I never forced him to do anything he didn't want to do. After he bit me the first time, I realized that he didn't want to come out, so I let him come out on his own. Once I proved to him that I wasn't going to grab him out of his cage, push against his chest to make him step up, he began to step up onto me if he felt like it. If he didn't/doesn't feel like stepping up, he will politely turn his beak away from me and give me his back. (The other bite was because he was startled.)
My husband complains that he doesn't like Kai, because Kai always tries to bite him if he comes close to the cage. I explained to him that that is Kai's sanctuary and home, so of course he feels protective of it. I told him that it's like a dog's kennel, and how once a dog goes into his kennel, you should never try to pull him back out again, especially if he's feeling upset or defensive. I'm trying to encourage Kai and my husband to bond in neutral ways that do not involve physical contact, such as showering together and having my husband give him treats on a spoon so he can't be bitten. I also remind my husband that if Kai does bite him, he can't scream and do other entertaining things that Kai might enjoy...
So it's very important that you socialize your Pi with everyone in the family, because you don't want a situation where your Pi doesn't like certain people. I find that Kai is more than happy to step up onto complete strangers, also, though he becomes almost silent until he's comfortable with them. He can be passed around to a whole room full of people and not show the slightest bit of aggression, which is wonderful. Kai is also tolerant of my other cats and dog, as well. He loves my fluffy white cat, Murmur, going so far as to lower his head and fluff up for head scratches if Murmur approaches him. (Mur doesn't know what to do, so he just sniffs him.)
When Kai is excited, he emits his unusual Pi scent, which my husband says smells like burned honey. It's quite sweet, and I find it rather pleasant. He's really cute and lets me know that it's bedtime by whining at me and telling me, "Let's go!". When I put him onto his drawbridge, he goes inside onto his favourite sleeping perch, and I draw the blanket over. I've never had to close his drawbridge, because once he's on his house, he stays there unless I take him with me.
As another note, Kai doesn't want to poop on me. I'm not sure if that's common with all parrots, but he lets me know that he needs to go back to his perch to potty by either telling me "Potty!" or "Poop" or by whining at me if he's on my arm. If I don't put him down, he makes a burbling sound and mouthes/beaks me. If, for some reason, I'm totally not paying attention, he'll nip me a little harder. If he's on my knee or leg, he'll just back up as far as he can and poop on whatever's below. It was really cute this one time, because he shook his tail before he pooped while he was standing over his food dish, and I squeaked and pushed him back a little with my finger so he wasn't over the dish. He got defensive, opened his mouth to nip me - then paused to poop, closed his beak, looked a little embarrassed, and uttered, "Thank you."
Another thing that Kai does, which absolutely tickles me, is that he exclaims, "OOoo!!" if I give him something that he really likes - like a piece of papaya, a sunflower seed, or bellpepper.
I have my own organic garden that I grow during the summer, so Kai always gets fresh veggies and fruits from the garden, but during cold months, I buy organic produce from the store. In the mornings and at dinner time, he gets his SSG mush. I call it SSG, because when I cook it, my husband always comes home and remarks, "What is that? It smells so good." It's a mixture of organic ingredients, including azuki beans, mung beans, split peas, spinach and bellpepper rotini, white quinoa, barley, steel cut oats, forbidden rice, wild rice, green, red, and yellow lentils, dried fruit (nothing with sulfites or sugar), chopped almonds, edamame, chopped carrots, flax, sesame, pumpkin, and millet seeds, ground cinnamon, and a sprinkle of dulse. I simmer it for about 25 minutes, then store it in the fridge. When it's time to feed him, I mix in a little hot Bolthouse Farms fruit juice (carrot, mango, berry, and the new holiday flavour are his favourites), stir it, and serve it warm. I've also begun supplementing his diet with a tiny little condiment spoon sized dab of coconut oil and red palm oil. When there is ample sunlight, I also sprout a variety of seeds for Kai (and wheat/rye grass for the cats) and he gets to graze on the plantlife that grows from them.
I like to make carrot "pasta" by steaming ribbons of carrot that I've peeled off with a peeler. This also works with zucchini, squash, pumpkin, and any other firm veggie/fruit. Kai also gets a fair amount of parrot safe table food, but he absolutely adores: bellpeppers, grapes, snap peas, edamame, apples, pears, baguettes. At lunch time, he gets Roudybush's Orchard Harvest and Totally Organic pellets soaked in warm water along with a sprinkle of Zupreem pellets. There is a cuttle bone in his house that he enjoys. He wouldn't so much as touch the mineral block, so I took that out. I like to tie little baskets to the sides of his house in various places and add pinches of food and treats so he can forage. He also has a couple other foraging devices in his house that he checks regularly for goodies, a kebab feeder, and I'll tie bits of veggies and fruit to the bars.
I'm looking into getting an air filter soon, but I'm doing a bit of research, first. For these darker winter months, I have a full-spectrum light for both of us, because it helps me, too! Kai absolutely adores showers, whether by the spray mister in the shower with me, or with the hand spray nozzle in the kitchen sink. He absolutely burbles and babbles and sings when he's in a place with running water, the computer fan, or oddly enough, the vacuum cleaner running.
It seems like a lot of people like to teach their parrots tricks, but I'm happy to just have Kai act like his normal parrot self. He knows basic things like step up please, step down please, switch fingers/arms, and stay there. I'm wanting him to learn to fly, but I'm not having much luck there in that department so I'm going to do more reading. He has grown in all of his flight feathers and looks absolutely stunning! I've been working with him on learning to flap his wings, but I'm not sure if it's enough to exercise him, and he doesn't seem to enjoy it very much. If anyone has tips on teaching their parrot to fly, I would love to hear their advice.
Kai has taught me so much about parrots in our first year together, and my life is richer for it! While I enrich my parrot's life, he also enriches mine. It's really kind of funny, because the girls at Birds Unlimited said that he was one of the nastiest little birds at the store! Hee hee.....he's come such a long way. I love Kai so much.
Pionus are well-known for being wonderful beginner's parrots, because they tend to be quieter, quite amicable, level-headed, very good about socializing with other people, are independent, and are very affectionate. Obviously, every pi is different, though, and it varies by individual. It seems that Pionus are rarely rehomed, because they're such wonderful birds and they don't tend to have some of the less favourable traits and behaviours of other parrots.
Noise-wise, Kai is chattier during the morning when he first wakes up, then again before it's bedtime, which is normal for most parrots, I've read. If we're listening to music together, he loves to sing along, or if we're watching a music-oriented television show together (he LOVES watching Metalocalpyse with my husband and I), he also talks up a storm/sings. His chit-chat is generally on the rambling, quiet side, on a conversational level. His natural parrot sounds are very pleasant to listen to, varying between a rolling chitter to chirps to crackles to popping peeps. If you were in a room talking to someone else, you might not even notice your pionus talking, they're so quiet. That being said, when they want to be heard...a pionus WILL be heard!
I remember the first day that Kai came down off his perch by the couch, because I had told him, "BRB", which means that I would be back in a second. Well, I took a little longer than a few minutes, so he came looking for me. My dog came over to say hello, and I heard this totally unfamiliar, LOUD, startling honk from the living room. It sounded like a bicycle horn, except with a honk. My dog took off in the other direction, terrified, and I stood there in the doorway staring at Kai in disbelief. It was so funny when he strutted over, because he gave me an exasperated look and huffed as if to say, "Look what you made me do! I had to walk all the way over here looking for you! What's taking so long?" He understands the difference between "BRB" (minutes) and "I'll be back later" (hours).
Kai has also learned the shrill, single note whistle that I use to call the dog and cats (unfortunately....I didn't realize that I was doing it until he mimicked me!). So...if he wants me to come downstairs, he dog-whistles for me. I've been working with him on this so that he'll say a softer word. I think it also helps that I never yell around him and always speak quietly to him. He knows several words and phrases, knows how to ask for things, and picks up new words after a week or two of working with him.
I really love that he doesn't have to be on my arm constantly, or that he needs my attention all the time. My friends say that some birds will scream if they're not on you all the time. He's perfectly content to sit on his drawbridge door to his house and play with toys or chewies, or perch on the branch sticking out closer to me. Kai really loves foot toys, which I tie to his drawbridge to prevent from falling onto the floor. He likes to pull them back up to play with them again, too. He isn't much of a chewer, but he does love the thin wooden discs and small clothing pins, which he breaks and snaps for fun. He really loves vine balls, which I stuff with treats. After we've eaten dinner, he's very happy to step up onto my arm for head kissies, head scratches, and allopreening. I like that he's also not a tiny bird, but a good, stocky, solid size that can defend himself if need be.
Where size is concerned, because he is also a decent size, this means that he is capable of powerful bites, which can tear skin. Kai has bitten me two times before I learned exactly why he bit me at all. Please respect your pi's personal space and do not force them to step-up, bother them if they appear to be aggravated, physically grab them, or stick your hand into their home. Imagine the world from their perspective, envision yourself from their point of view, and empathize with how small they are, versus how large a human is. A human can be very formidable and threatening. It's always best to use positive reinforcement, but it's even better to give them a choice. They should step up and down, because they want to. It took me at least two months to show Kai that he could trust me, and I never forced him to do anything he didn't want to do. After he bit me the first time, I realized that he didn't want to come out, so I let him come out on his own. Once I proved to him that I wasn't going to grab him out of his cage, push against his chest to make him step up, he began to step up onto me if he felt like it. If he didn't/doesn't feel like stepping up, he will politely turn his beak away from me and give me his back. (The other bite was because he was startled.)
My husband complains that he doesn't like Kai, because Kai always tries to bite him if he comes close to the cage. I explained to him that that is Kai's sanctuary and home, so of course he feels protective of it. I told him that it's like a dog's kennel, and how once a dog goes into his kennel, you should never try to pull him back out again, especially if he's feeling upset or defensive. I'm trying to encourage Kai and my husband to bond in neutral ways that do not involve physical contact, such as showering together and having my husband give him treats on a spoon so he can't be bitten. I also remind my husband that if Kai does bite him, he can't scream and do other entertaining things that Kai might enjoy...
So it's very important that you socialize your Pi with everyone in the family, because you don't want a situation where your Pi doesn't like certain people. I find that Kai is more than happy to step up onto complete strangers, also, though he becomes almost silent until he's comfortable with them. He can be passed around to a whole room full of people and not show the slightest bit of aggression, which is wonderful. Kai is also tolerant of my other cats and dog, as well. He loves my fluffy white cat, Murmur, going so far as to lower his head and fluff up for head scratches if Murmur approaches him. (Mur doesn't know what to do, so he just sniffs him.)
When Kai is excited, he emits his unusual Pi scent, which my husband says smells like burned honey. It's quite sweet, and I find it rather pleasant. He's really cute and lets me know that it's bedtime by whining at me and telling me, "Let's go!". When I put him onto his drawbridge, he goes inside onto his favourite sleeping perch, and I draw the blanket over. I've never had to close his drawbridge, because once he's on his house, he stays there unless I take him with me.
As another note, Kai doesn't want to poop on me. I'm not sure if that's common with all parrots, but he lets me know that he needs to go back to his perch to potty by either telling me "Potty!" or "Poop" or by whining at me if he's on my arm. If I don't put him down, he makes a burbling sound and mouthes/beaks me. If, for some reason, I'm totally not paying attention, he'll nip me a little harder. If he's on my knee or leg, he'll just back up as far as he can and poop on whatever's below. It was really cute this one time, because he shook his tail before he pooped while he was standing over his food dish, and I squeaked and pushed him back a little with my finger so he wasn't over the dish. He got defensive, opened his mouth to nip me - then paused to poop, closed his beak, looked a little embarrassed, and uttered, "Thank you."
Another thing that Kai does, which absolutely tickles me, is that he exclaims, "OOoo!!" if I give him something that he really likes - like a piece of papaya, a sunflower seed, or bellpepper.
I have my own organic garden that I grow during the summer, so Kai always gets fresh veggies and fruits from the garden, but during cold months, I buy organic produce from the store. In the mornings and at dinner time, he gets his SSG mush. I call it SSG, because when I cook it, my husband always comes home and remarks, "What is that? It smells so good." It's a mixture of organic ingredients, including azuki beans, mung beans, split peas, spinach and bellpepper rotini, white quinoa, barley, steel cut oats, forbidden rice, wild rice, green, red, and yellow lentils, dried fruit (nothing with sulfites or sugar), chopped almonds, edamame, chopped carrots, flax, sesame, pumpkin, and millet seeds, ground cinnamon, and a sprinkle of dulse. I simmer it for about 25 minutes, then store it in the fridge. When it's time to feed him, I mix in a little hot Bolthouse Farms fruit juice (carrot, mango, berry, and the new holiday flavour are his favourites), stir it, and serve it warm. I've also begun supplementing his diet with a tiny little condiment spoon sized dab of coconut oil and red palm oil. When there is ample sunlight, I also sprout a variety of seeds for Kai (and wheat/rye grass for the cats) and he gets to graze on the plantlife that grows from them.
I like to make carrot "pasta" by steaming ribbons of carrot that I've peeled off with a peeler. This also works with zucchini, squash, pumpkin, and any other firm veggie/fruit. Kai also gets a fair amount of parrot safe table food, but he absolutely adores: bellpeppers, grapes, snap peas, edamame, apples, pears, baguettes. At lunch time, he gets Roudybush's Orchard Harvest and Totally Organic pellets soaked in warm water along with a sprinkle of Zupreem pellets. There is a cuttle bone in his house that he enjoys. He wouldn't so much as touch the mineral block, so I took that out. I like to tie little baskets to the sides of his house in various places and add pinches of food and treats so he can forage. He also has a couple other foraging devices in his house that he checks regularly for goodies, a kebab feeder, and I'll tie bits of veggies and fruit to the bars.
I'm looking into getting an air filter soon, but I'm doing a bit of research, first. For these darker winter months, I have a full-spectrum light for both of us, because it helps me, too! Kai absolutely adores showers, whether by the spray mister in the shower with me, or with the hand spray nozzle in the kitchen sink. He absolutely burbles and babbles and sings when he's in a place with running water, the computer fan, or oddly enough, the vacuum cleaner running.
It seems like a lot of people like to teach their parrots tricks, but I'm happy to just have Kai act like his normal parrot self. He knows basic things like step up please, step down please, switch fingers/arms, and stay there. I'm wanting him to learn to fly, but I'm not having much luck there in that department so I'm going to do more reading. He has grown in all of his flight feathers and looks absolutely stunning! I've been working with him on learning to flap his wings, but I'm not sure if it's enough to exercise him, and he doesn't seem to enjoy it very much. If anyone has tips on teaching their parrot to fly, I would love to hear their advice.
Kai has taught me so much about parrots in our first year together, and my life is richer for it! While I enrich my parrot's life, he also enriches mine. It's really kind of funny, because the girls at Birds Unlimited said that he was one of the nastiest little birds at the store! Hee hee.....he's come such a long way. I love Kai so much.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Kai Comes Home!
Tonight, I also took a big step and brought Kai out to the living room while I finished up my dinner from earlier. We all sat together as I ate, and after a little initial settling down, all was well. I had been out with Peaches, who took me to the first volunteer class for the Braddock Bay Bird Observatory tonight. Earlier, I had brought him out to his stand in my room to have some dinner, then parked Hubby with him to babysit while I dashed around trying to get ready. I'm having Hubby learn to bond with him a bit more, because I don't want a one-person parrot. Fortunately, Pionuses are known to be very good birds who are social with many people. I do plan on sharing him with many people so he will be easily handled, though he'll be spending much of his time with me. I would like for Kai to learn early on that the cats and dog will not hurt him, and I'll always be there to monitor and supervise them all.
My friend Sue is sharing a lot of great information with me, and I'm taking lots of notes. One very interesting thing that she brought up was the idea of having a sleeping box. After doing a bit more research, I find a lot of people keep their birds in a special sleeping box. When it's time to wake-up, they bring their birds out, then put them into their cages; this is said to prevent territorialism, which strikes me as very valid. As I don't want to prevent the use of one of my cat carriers, I'll be buying an extra carrier that's a bit smaller so Kai can sleep in it. I can keep him upstairs in the bedroom with me that way, also, which will be nice. I won't have to worry that he might be in trouble, and he'll get used to my odd sleeping schedule. (My bedroom is nice and dark...it's more like a den than a bedroom. We just can't sleep if it's bright, so it's very dark and comfortable up there.)
I still have to ask Mr. Lewis about feeding mealworms, which I would behead, of course. Feeding live things living things is just dangerous, especially if that live thing has big pincer mouthparts. I'm not certain Kai has even touched his pretty pellets, which look like fruits and smell like Fruit Loops. He's only been eating since this morning when I woke up to sit and talk with him, but I prepared cucumber, carrot (which I shaved off with a peeler, a habit of mine from when Justin and I used to prepare buckets of veggies for the reptiles at the reptile shop. Imagine preparing about 20 lbs of shaved carrots, zuchinni, yellow squash, and brocolli by hand.), blueberries, red seedless grapes, brocolli, banana, dandelion greens (which he flung out of his bowl everywhere....so I guess he disapproves!), mixed bean sprouts (which he loves, along with the cucumber!), and a few pieces of white sweet corn, which I was told he loves. Today, when we wake up, I'm going to make Kai some quinoa. Speaking of "today", it's almost 6am, so I should tuck in for the night and let Kai get some shut-eye.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
A Special Friend.
Yipes...I've been really distracted with various things, cleaning especially, this past week. I meant to write little updates on the activity at my feeders, but at the end of the day, I was just too tired or feeling too blah to write anything. I'm working on resizing all of the photographs I take, because I realized that when I clicked on the photographs in my posts, they were ENORMOUS.... Yikes!
I also have something to confess....
I bought a special little bird...
It isn't so much crow that I'm eating as it is a Blue-headed Pionus Parrot...! I thought that since I've been wanting to have a little birdie friend for so long, it might be time to give another one a chance. I did a lot of research on the birds that were available at the shop here in town. I read up on everything from Cockatoos to Cockatiels, Macaws to Caiques, Finches to Lorys. I was enchanted with the idea of having a Pacific Parrotlet, but I was afraid of accidentally killing it. I needed something sturdier and larger, which looked intimidating enough to the cats that would make them think twice about going up to sniff it. (My cats are all very much scaredy-cats, the biggest thing they'll eat is spiders.)
I ruled out any parrot that I thought could be accidentally knocked off the desk and killed while reaching for a glass of water (Parrotlets), was known for lots of screaming (Cockatoos, Macaws, Conures, etc), was known to need lots of attention (Cockatoos, Macaws, Conures, etc), had super watery, projectile poop (Duyvenbodes Lory), was too hyperactive (Caiques), and of course, with the little birds like Finches, were very skittish and were unable to be handled.
After ruling many birds out, there were two possibilities: Pionus and Senegal. I thought something that was quiet in temperament, calmer, more independent, yet still playful and affectionate would suit me best. When Peaches asked me what I was going to get, I first said a Parrotlet or a Budgie, but that was before I did my research. When she asked again, I had thought about it for a while, and I had decided that I would go after I had read up on everything and see if anyone was attracted to me. I would rather an animal choose me, rather than me choosing someone who might not suit my personality in the end.
When we got to the bird store, we were both very excited. We mingled and said hello to all the birds. Wellllll, after lingering at the adorable little Cockatiels, who were all bobbing their heads and making hungry sounds as they begged for food. I stopped by the Lesser Sulphur Cockatoo, who was reported as being very sweet, but he didn't appear to be interested in me. I stopped by the Parrotlets and realized, WOW, they ARE tiny! I didn't trust my clumsy hands at all with something so petite and fragile. The Caiques were adorable as they played with toys on their backs, but watching them again, I realized they're just too active for me. I glazed over the Canaries, Budgies, and Finches, which always manage to provoke my prey drive (I want to eat them....*cough*). We talked with the Conures a little bit, and marveled over their beautiful colours...and at long last, I finally arrived at the Pionus' cage.
To my surprise and delight, he came right over to me as I crouched in front of his cage. (Note: for the purpose of less confusion, I'm going to refer to the Pionus as a boy :) ) When I meet new birds, I like to hook my index finger over my thumb like a bird's beak, and move it slightly, as if it's a bird. If a bird is interested in having its head scratched, it may come up and investigate, staring at me from the side to get a good look, then offer its head. He came over and inspected me, but was hesitant to have his head scratched, which is understandable! Peaches and I talked to him and I wiggled my finger, then touched his cage to see if he was approachable or not. After a few minutes, he leaned against the bars and I got to scratch him gently!
My world kind of went tunnel-vision on the birdie after that. I wandered around the store in a bird-induced daze...and eventually Mr. Lewis came back to us and asked if we were needing anything. I thought it must be getting late, so I asked about the Pionus. He brought him out and put him on my hand, and I stared at the Pionus as he stared right back at me! I've never really held a bigger bird on my hand like that before, the weight was a little surprising! He's very solid, which is reassuring! Carefully, I brought my hand to the side and up along his back, because I know I would be startled if someone waved their hand over my head! Dogs tend to look up and raise their heads when people do this, some may even find it threatening, but I wasn't taking any chances with a bird, either. I would like very much for him to trust me right from the beginning.
I scratched his head for a long time with my left hand, then Mr. Lewis put him on my left instead when he wouldn't step up onto my left hand. He laughed and said the bird knew how to step up, but he was just nervous, which is understandable. My arm got tired after a while and I put him down onto the playstand, but he stayed very close to me the whole time. At one point, he started regurgitating seed for me, which made me, Peaches, and another employee go, "Awwwwwww!!" (Later, when I explained this to Lauren, she laughed and made a face. We all agreed not to barf up food for each other, even though we loved one another...)
Still in my daze, I realized it must be getting really late! I didn't want to keep everyone waiting, so I asked Mr. Lewis to show me around to purchase the other things that my bird would need. As I started to walk away, the bird made a soft sound, and I felt that yes, we definitely had made a connection. I picked out a handsome cage with an antiqued bronze finish, some toys, and a stand perch. I didn't want to bring him home without a cage, so I told them I would pick everything up the next day (which is now "today"). He/she will also be DNA sexed, so I'll know for certain what sex he/she is, and I'll be able to name him/her appropriately!
I wanted to finish writing this before it gets much later. It's almost 9am, and I still have my room to clean and prepare for my new, special friend...argh!
Pretty soon, we'll be able to watch and photograph birds together in front of the kitchen sink :)
I'm so excited...I could barely sleep! This is him/her...He's so handsome!
I also have something to confess....
I bought a special little bird...
It isn't so much crow that I'm eating as it is a Blue-headed Pionus Parrot...! I thought that since I've been wanting to have a little birdie friend for so long, it might be time to give another one a chance. I did a lot of research on the birds that were available at the shop here in town. I read up on everything from Cockatoos to Cockatiels, Macaws to Caiques, Finches to Lorys. I was enchanted with the idea of having a Pacific Parrotlet, but I was afraid of accidentally killing it. I needed something sturdier and larger, which looked intimidating enough to the cats that would make them think twice about going up to sniff it. (My cats are all very much scaredy-cats, the biggest thing they'll eat is spiders.)
I ruled out any parrot that I thought could be accidentally knocked off the desk and killed while reaching for a glass of water (Parrotlets), was known for lots of screaming (Cockatoos, Macaws, Conures, etc), was known to need lots of attention (Cockatoos, Macaws, Conures, etc), had super watery, projectile poop (Duyvenbodes Lory), was too hyperactive (Caiques), and of course, with the little birds like Finches, were very skittish and were unable to be handled.
After ruling many birds out, there were two possibilities: Pionus and Senegal. I thought something that was quiet in temperament, calmer, more independent, yet still playful and affectionate would suit me best. When Peaches asked me what I was going to get, I first said a Parrotlet or a Budgie, but that was before I did my research. When she asked again, I had thought about it for a while, and I had decided that I would go after I had read up on everything and see if anyone was attracted to me. I would rather an animal choose me, rather than me choosing someone who might not suit my personality in the end.
When we got to the bird store, we were both very excited. We mingled and said hello to all the birds. Wellllll, after lingering at the adorable little Cockatiels, who were all bobbing their heads and making hungry sounds as they begged for food. I stopped by the Lesser Sulphur Cockatoo, who was reported as being very sweet, but he didn't appear to be interested in me. I stopped by the Parrotlets and realized, WOW, they ARE tiny! I didn't trust my clumsy hands at all with something so petite and fragile. The Caiques were adorable as they played with toys on their backs, but watching them again, I realized they're just too active for me. I glazed over the Canaries, Budgies, and Finches, which always manage to provoke my prey drive (I want to eat them....*cough*). We talked with the Conures a little bit, and marveled over their beautiful colours...and at long last, I finally arrived at the Pionus' cage.
To my surprise and delight, he came right over to me as I crouched in front of his cage. (Note: for the purpose of less confusion, I'm going to refer to the Pionus as a boy :) ) When I meet new birds, I like to hook my index finger over my thumb like a bird's beak, and move it slightly, as if it's a bird. If a bird is interested in having its head scratched, it may come up and investigate, staring at me from the side to get a good look, then offer its head. He came over and inspected me, but was hesitant to have his head scratched, which is understandable! Peaches and I talked to him and I wiggled my finger, then touched his cage to see if he was approachable or not. After a few minutes, he leaned against the bars and I got to scratch him gently!
My world kind of went tunnel-vision on the birdie after that. I wandered around the store in a bird-induced daze...and eventually Mr. Lewis came back to us and asked if we were needing anything. I thought it must be getting late, so I asked about the Pionus. He brought him out and put him on my hand, and I stared at the Pionus as he stared right back at me! I've never really held a bigger bird on my hand like that before, the weight was a little surprising! He's very solid, which is reassuring! Carefully, I brought my hand to the side and up along his back, because I know I would be startled if someone waved their hand over my head! Dogs tend to look up and raise their heads when people do this, some may even find it threatening, but I wasn't taking any chances with a bird, either. I would like very much for him to trust me right from the beginning.
I scratched his head for a long time with my left hand, then Mr. Lewis put him on my left instead when he wouldn't step up onto my left hand. He laughed and said the bird knew how to step up, but he was just nervous, which is understandable. My arm got tired after a while and I put him down onto the playstand, but he stayed very close to me the whole time. At one point, he started regurgitating seed for me, which made me, Peaches, and another employee go, "Awwwwwww!!" (Later, when I explained this to Lauren, she laughed and made a face. We all agreed not to barf up food for each other, even though we loved one another...)
Still in my daze, I realized it must be getting really late! I didn't want to keep everyone waiting, so I asked Mr. Lewis to show me around to purchase the other things that my bird would need. As I started to walk away, the bird made a soft sound, and I felt that yes, we definitely had made a connection. I picked out a handsome cage with an antiqued bronze finish, some toys, and a stand perch. I didn't want to bring him home without a cage, so I told them I would pick everything up the next day (which is now "today"). He/she will also be DNA sexed, so I'll know for certain what sex he/she is, and I'll be able to name him/her appropriately!
I wanted to finish writing this before it gets much later. It's almost 9am, and I still have my room to clean and prepare for my new, special friend...argh!
Pretty soon, we'll be able to watch and photograph birds together in front of the kitchen sink :)
I'm so excited...I could barely sleep! This is him/her...He's so handsome!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)