Good, he is on a perch. Off go the lights. I am off to bed.
My parrot has a swing that she loves to sit on. Last night a nut came off in the middle of the night and she went “clunk.” She was pissed at me too (as if it were my fault.)
They hang upside because they like to, but he will do it more if he thinks it will freak you out. Music is good for them. The Timneh at my house can whistle motifs and elaborate on them, but his big trick is transposing them into another key. I can tell when he does this because it impresses muscians, but I am not as muscially astute as the bird.
My Timneh (iian) is about 7 years old now. I got him from a PetSmart…ended up being the BEST way to go caus sometimes he’d get a lot of attention and others, he’d be completely ignored. Made for a pretty well balanced bird.
I spent a lot of time with him, getting him used to things he wouldn’t normally be used to (being held on his back, holding his wings out for clipping), it made him easily deal with new situations when they occured.
He’s in my home office with a Cockateil to keep him company, which is good as I’ve not had near as much time to spend with him since the boys were born. (nearing 2 years old) I’m hoping as they get older, that there will be three people in the family to spend time with him, rather than just me, occasionally.
I’ve read that Greys need a lot of attention (not as much as Cockatoos, but still), but Iian seems to be doing okay on the ‘reduced schedule’.
Well, the bird is older than I would have liked, and so far at least has not let me handle him. I half-suspect he might be a ‘used’ bird. ‘Used’ in this country could very well mean ‘abused.’
On the other hand, it is too soon to tell. He is happily eating his cage and ignoring the strawberries I gave him. If I found a bird in need of a good home to recover, then at least I am doing that.
I like the noises he makes and only wish I could interact with him more directly.
No photos yet.
Yeah, parrots are weird.
I just got a Senegal parrot last night and I’m getting almost as much entertainment out of my mother’s reactions to Psitticine behavior as I am from the behavior itself.
Shamus yawns. Mom is amazed. “He has a tongue!!!”
“Yes, Mom. Birds have tongues.”
Mom gives Shamus a grape. Shamus holds the grape with his foot while he eats it. Mom is amazed. “He’s holding the grape with his foot.”
“Yes, Mom. Parrots hold their food like that.”
After I put him in his cage to sleep I looked in on him to find him hanging upside down from the bars at the top of the cage. Wondered if he was planning to sleep like that. A bit later, Mom comes into the living room and says “Where’s the bird?”
“He’s in his cage.”
“No, he isn’t. I just looked.”
“He’s hanging upside down at the top of the cage.”
Mom goes to check. She is amazed. “He’s hanging upside down in the top of his cage!!”
“Yes, Mom. Birds do that.”
“That’s weird.”
“Yes, Mom. Birds are weird.”
I was at work today, so I didn’t get to directly observe her reactions to Shamus’s antics. Apparently, he peeped at her once. She was amazed…
Okay, it’s tangentially related: There was an article on how toddlers develop language skills on slashdot, I contributed the following: