Well, Onan, the African Gray Parrot is coming along nicely. He can say ‘I love you,’ ‘I’m a pretty bird’ and ‘Good morning.’
Yesterday he began to fly into my office and so I built him a play area. He seems to like that.
Just a few hours ago, he landed on my desk, attacked by the noise of my typing. He seems to like playing with the mouse.
Guess what? He just let me stroke his chest for the first time! Yah team!
‘attracted,’ not ‘attacked.’
I love parrots! They seem like so much more work than other pets, though. I’ve had dogs and lived with cats (roommates’ cats), and it seems like parrots need even more attention than they do. Do you find this to be the case? I’ve heard they can get bored easily, as well. What do you do to keep him entertained?
Also…post pictures if you have any!
He is the perfect pet. He makes just the right amount of noise and he seems to be OK on his own during the work day. Right now I have a Thai roomie who is parrot-sitting for a couple of more days at least.
I do not find him to be any more trouble than a properly-raised dog. Of course most people ignore their dogs.
Sorry, no photos on this site.
I tried for years to get friends to name their pet birds “Onan,” with no success—thank you! Does he live up to it?
Yes, has he spilled his seed yet?
Parrots are slobs. He throws away at least eighty percent of all the food I give him. Even things he likes seem to end up mostly on the floor. Beaks are simply not very efficient.
So yes, he spills his seed upon the ground.
I am sooooo jealous of you. I fell in love with a baby African Gray a few years back, and while I couldn’t afford him I’ve never forgotten him. I used to come see him at the breeder’s whenever I could, pat his head, play with him, and help train him to be handled, etc.
I wanted him so bad but someone else bought him.
sniffle…sniffle…WAAAAAAAAAAA!
Paul in Saudi, where’s the pictures? Come on, I’m tired of freakin’ cat pictures!
Can I post pictures here? How?
Go to a website, such as Yahoo! Photos, or Photobucket. (www.photobucket.com) You set up an account, upload your pics, and make sure to make it “public” in your user options.
Give me a few minutes.
All the time you want, for parrot pics! Yay!
Is that what the kids are calling it now?
(Come on! The bird is named ‘Onan’! Great bit on Onan in Not The Bible, BTW.)
My great-aunt had a cute and clever parrot, Koko, who ate his food from an oldfashioned teakettle’s cap. It had a sort of egg-holdershape, so he could put his claw around the thin part and eat from the cup-shaped part.
My great aunt told him to ask for “flute” if he wanted food in it. I really liked that parrot.
I had a white-cap pionus named Kyoko…she was the sweetest thing. I’ve posted about her here before, but she lurved popcorn and would pitch a fit if I dared to eat popcorn in front of her and not give her any.
She got to recognize the microwave beeping and would get excited whenever she heard it, even if it wasn’t popcorn.
She also used to take baths with me or my SO, on our finger. Whoever wasn’t in the bath would take her away when she was done and blow-dry her…she loved the blowdryer and would open her wings wide to catch the air, and then wave her tail at it.
I loved her.
Go into your “user options” and about halfway down the page you’ll see an option to make it public.
Done.
Great pics! The first one looks like Onan is about to feed you. 
Onan is soooo cute! I love him. Looks clever.
Thanks, Paul in Saudi. We need more bird pics around here.