Rob's Birds

Please read if you love parrots.

Things My Birds Have Taught Me

• Birds get cranky if they don't get enough sleep. Casey and Alex would often scream while living at my sister's -- especially if disturbed at night, or the day following being disturbed at night. At my house, their "night" is 12 hours long, plus a two-hour naptime in the afternoon. This does not mean they sleep all that time -- I often hear one or more of them moving around, chewing up toys, playing quietly, sometimes eating. Birds need their quiet time.

• Encouraging Casey and Alex to have yelling sessions during playtime substantially reduced the frequency and volume of screaming at other times. (Moving them to my house reduced all screaming.) Bert loves to sound off while playing. Jasmine is usually pretty quiet, but she will often join in. Somedays, I think Bert starts yelling just to get Jasmine to yell, too.

• Alex would screech at the neighborhood crows, and we have a resident flock. One day I suggested to Alex that he bark at the crows, instead of yelling. He did, and generally still does.

• Almost anything can be a bird toy, but not everything should be.
  Some things that are okay for bird toys (as far as I know): the cardboard tubes inside paper toweling and toilet paper rolls; the plastic caps from plastic milk bottles (take out the liner if there is one); knotted 100% cotton rope "bones" sold for dogs; plastic kids' toys -- like the sets of plastic soldiers or animals and toddler linking rings (plastic should be firm but not brittle); empty cereal boxes or other tagboard boxes (I give them these once in a while-- I worry about the inks); new wooden spoons (for smaller parrots); clean pine 1x2s and 2x2s cut into six inch pieces (for large birds), hardwood dowels in various sizes and lengths. Some birds also like metal objects, like measuring spoon sets, keys (careful - some can be source of zinc), stainless steel cups and small bowls.
  I get plastic toys from dollar stores, garage sales (broken toys or parts show up pretty often in "free" boxes), some thrift shops. Menards will cut wood for you, whatever lengths you want.

• Birds like things to stay the same, and they are very observant of details. Something new, something missing, something moved -- they notice. However, they should be accustomed to some variations in their routine, and even in their environment.

• Cockatoos understand humor, and laughter. They play games, they make jokes, they tease each other and their people.

• A bird who will happily be handled, petted, cuddled and scritched by a stranger while at home with "mom" nearby may respond to the stress of being moved to a new home and a new "mom" by becoming very cautious of new people and avoiding being touched for a period of time. The length of time varies. The birds who came home with me the day I met them accepted me and their new home MUCH faster than the ones who did not.
  
  
  • Alex liked me from the moment we met, and within a few days of moving to my sister's house he was accepting scritches and stepping up (for me -- he'd decided to attack my sister, so I became his primary caregiver). More than that took a few weeks.
    
  • Jasmine prefered to run up my arm and sit on my shoulder, scritches took about a month. Like many pionus, she disliked being touched but gradually she learned to tolerate it and eventually to enjoy it, most days she'll ask for scritches.
    
  • Bert was so lonesome and so hungry to be touched, I think he would have grafted himself to my body if he could; he got lots of cuddling and petting (still does).
    
  • Loki spent the first couple weeks waiting for his "mom" to come back, and would only accept scritches through the bars of the cage. Then he decided it was okay for me to touch him a little when I opened the cage, soon a little became more, and after a bit he would step onto my hand or arm for his petting sessions but did not want to come out of his cage on my arm. I discovered that if I offered him my arm when he was still half asleep, he would step up by habit and let himself be taken out and cuddled and petted -- until he really woke up, then he would go back into his cage. But after we'd done that for a few weeks, he decided it was okay to come out of his cage on my arm when he was awake.
    
  • With Chester, it's been very much "two steps forward, one step back." He has been in so many homes, I don't expect him to trust easily or quickly. Trust is earned. I'm happy to have Chester talk to me, and accept toys and treats, and tolerate my daily incursions into his cage. He's already learned to accept and even enjoy spray bottle baths. (His previous mom said Chester didn't get baths at the home before hers, and he hated spray bottles.) Prior to his surgery, he would let me touch a toe or a wing with one finger. We're getting close to that again. More will follow.

Things I've Taught My Birds
(-- apart from the basics)

• "tap" -- not a word Alex says, but one he clearly understands. While he was still at my sister's, I taught Alex to tap on the box holding his favorite crackers in order to be given one. He then learned to tap on other things when asked -- new toys, sticks, surfaces, and most importantly: windows.
  If Alex will "tap" an object, it simultaneously becomes less frightening to him. I've found this so useful that I've also been teaching the others. Jasmine will tap windows, but is less inclined to tap other things. Bert doesn't seem to "see the point" in tapping things -- he'll do it once or twice, but then it's "so what?" Guess I'll have to make it more challenging.

• "picture" -- again, not a word Alex says, but one he understands. He learned from the picture on the cracker box; I also use 'picture' for reflections, or TV. Alex understands that a "picture" is not the same as the object it represents. And he understood it in a new context -- One night when Bert was fussing, I asked him if he saw pictures while he was sleeping -- and got a resounding "Yes!" from Alex.

To reach me, send a message addressed to your favorite among my birds to this domain (net).

Please read if you love parrots.

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