Random thoughts on parrots

[Ira7]

Archie does a 360 degree rotation from standing upright on his rope perch, to upside down, back to upright...in like a millisecond. Like a somersault just using his balance.

Now that takes talent.

thats pretty cool! Would love to see that!

My chances of recording it are slim to none.

Basically, his toes loosely grip the rope perch, and he throws his body forward so gravity just loops him around.

 

[noodles123]

Now that takes talent.

thats pretty cool! Would love to see that!

My chances of recording it are slim to none.

Basically, his toes loosely grip the rope perch, and he throws his body forward so gravity just loops him around.

Picturing this in bird form (see 1:43 time-stamp in video)
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lC6dgtBU6Gs"]Princess Bride Sword Fight - YouTube[/ame]

 

[fiddlejen]

How they go invisible.

They like to put their beaks up against something when they sleep. In the cage this means that I look in and sometimes cannot even see them. I think the wild birds do it too, and that's how they disappear in the trees. Put their little beak against something kinda-upright, and fluff a little, and all the sudden the eye cannot make them out.

When Sunny is seeking attention and scritches and beak play, if she gets herself with her mid-upper beak pressed against my finger, she will often just go right into what looks like instant sleep.

I've read that it's natural for humans to want Some sort of covering or blanket when sleeping, even in warmth, and this is a protective instinct from times when we lived closer to nature. Sleeping & unconscious, you are less visible to predators covered.

I think for birds the relevant instinct, is to have their upper beak touching or near-touching a tree trunk / branch / leaf, so they become instantly less-visible.

 

[Squeekmouse]

Go one size bigger.
If you have a budgie get a toy for a Cockatiel.
If you have a Cockatiel get a toy for a Conure.
If you have a Conure get an Amazon toy.
I don’t know how you could upscale a Macaw toy.

Oh oh!! I know how!!

If you have a Macaw, get a toy made for a Budgie and give it to the Macaw as a foot toy to be quickly destroyed.

 

[Squeekmouse]

When my boy is especially relaxed and sleepy and sitting on my shoulder he does this little twitch thing. I've been told it's a habit from when he was a little baby letting Mom know that he is still alive and well so please don't kick me out of the nest...

Something I just don't get... Trigger (CAG) loves to put his beak in the stem of my husband's glasses and sit there with it in his mouth so he can be pet. He doesn't bite hard or try to steal the glasses, we call it "sucking on his thumb" because he just seems to like the feel of the stem in his beak. Any idea what that's about??

 

[GaleriaGila]

Ohhhhhhhhhh, yessssssssssssssssssssssss.............
Yes.
YES!
YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll have what THEY'RE having!!!!!

I have savored each and every one of your precious/priceless posts... love them. Me? I'm just thrilled with days when no blood is drawn. Okay, kidding. My big moment is that first quiet "rrrawk?" each morning which is his timid query as to whether or not we're at a sufficient extent of dawn light to wake up. The rest of the day is filled with his true-to-Patagonian 100-plus-decibel verbal assaults on the world!

Thank you for this thread, and each and every reply.

And thank you all for this Community.

I'm getting all misty. Great thread...

 

[Laurasea]

How they go invisible.

They like to put their beaks up against something when they sleep. In the cage this means that I look in and sometimes cannot even see them. I think the wild birds do it too, and that's how they disappear in the trees. Put their little beak against something kinda-upright, and fluff a little, and all the sudden the eye cannot make them out.

When Sunny is seeking attention and scritches and beak play, if she gets herself with her mid-upper beak pressed against my finger, she will often just go right into what looks like instant sleep.

I've read that it's natural for humans to want Some sort of covering or blanket when sleeping, even in warmth, and this is a protective instinct from times when we lived closer to nature. Sleeping & unconscious, you are less visible to predators covered.

I think for birds the relevant instinct, is to have their upper beak touching or near-touching a tree trunk / branch / leaf, so they become instantly less-visible.

Its amazing how they can disappear in cage cage! There is some magic there!

 

[Laurasea]

My thoughts today are how their sweet faces, cuddle, and kisses help see me through, when I'm not feeling so good.

How their quick surgical scab removal, is them trying to save me from perceived parasites. They are sneaky at this, and tgeir attitude is they are totally doing it for your own good! They are fantastic at removing a hang nail too!

 

[texsize]

Bingo is really good at wart removal.

Problem is those suckers bleed like crazy.

 

[SailBoat]

So very correct! They target imperfections on our skin and attempt to remove it! For Our Benefit! Just ask them, they will tell you its for your own good!

 

[texsize]

For those with MBS.
Keep an extra set of food/water dishes.
I have found when feeling my flock time can be critical.
Some birds become impatient if I take too long to get to them with fresh food.
This way I dump the old, grab a already clean bowl and fill.
I can clean the used bowls at my convenience without impatient birds screaming for there breakfast.

 

[Scott]

Pellets: Offering pellets in lieu of or in addition to seed is somewhat controversial Less in doubt is the wisdom of offering most species abundant fresh veggies and fruits, aka "Chop."

For those who choose to offer pellets, the path to acceptance can be long and winding. Plenty of discarded selections of a costly product! While some pellets are subjectively "better" then others, the best pellet is the one your bird(s) will eat!

 

[Laurasea]

This person reflecting mirrors many if my own thoughts
https://threebirdsandacloud.wordpre...-love-parrots-as-companion-animals/#more-8041

 

[fiddlejen]

Do you wonder if the birds whose voices are naturally more harsh, wish they had better singing voices?

Or, same question with regard to plumage?

My Sunny used to make little cooing noises which I'm pretty sure were her attempt to "I love You" back to me, but she could only manage the "ooou" part. She does it less now, I think the sound may have become more difficult as she has gotten a little older. Her general voice has gotten a little More abrasive. (Her age is 2 1/2 years now.) At times she will yell at me until I Sing her yelling-sounds back to her. She doesn't make any sort of singing.

Sometimes I hear her imitating the budgies - but it does not sound musical in her voice. In fact, she is best at imitating their fighting-sounds. (It still sounds like Sunny, though; she cannot imitate well enough to fool, as her own voice stays the same.)

Sunny has the most beautiful plumage... a friend recently described her as a "Living Flower" ...but definitely not the beautiful voice. My budgies both have beauty and lovely voices too. (I am so blessed!)

Birds are so aware of sounds and visuals, I do wonder if less-beautiful birds are jealous of more-beautiful, and if less-lovely-sounding birds wish for better voices.

 

[Laurasea]

Do you wonder if the birds whose voices are naturally more harsh, wish they had better singing voices?

Or, same question with regard to plumage?

My Sunny used to make little cooing noises which I'm pretty sure were her attempt to "I love You" back to me, but she could only manage the "ooou" part. She does it less now, I think the sound may have become more difficult as she has gotten a little older. Her general voice has gotten a little More abrasive. (Her age is 2 1/2 years now.) At times she will yell at me until I Sing her yelling-sounds back to her. She doesn't make any sort of singing.

Sometimes I hear her imitating the budgies - but it does not sound musical in her voice. In fact, she is best at imitating their fighting-sounds. (It still sounds like Sunny, though; she cannot imitate well enough to fool, as her own voice stays the same.)

Sunny has the most beautiful plumage... a friend recently described her as a "Living Flower" ...but definitely not the beautiful voice. My budgies both have beauty and lovely voices too. (I am so blessed!)

Birds are so aware of sounds and visuals, I do wonder if less-beautiful birds are jealous of more-beautiful, and if less-lovely-sounding birds wish for better voices.

Very interesting thoughts.

Pikachu was a man's bird, and when he first came he spoke in man's deep voice. Now he matches my voice wich is very light and childlike ( I hate that , in my voice lol)

Penny came to me with a smokers voice all scratchy with a little twang... now she too matchs my voice.

There are some things that all 3 quakers say, and sound identical! So much so I didn't first catch when Orbit started talking!

Ta-dah has the scratchy conure voice that's very distinctive. After 5 years of not being a talker, she has taken off and has the largest vocabulary. She works hard to say each thing very carefully. My favorite is " Whats up little burd?" I only say that to her and she knows it! It's the first thing she says to me in the morning. At mommy and me time she talks a lot and I have to repeat each thing she says or she gets mad.

On beauty, isn't it in the eye of the beholder? To me Ta-dah is very beautiful, I love how she looks. Her colors are muted, and drab to some. She doesn't have the highh yellow or reds they are breeding for, or the rich deep color of normal/ standard green cheeks. She was even on sale when I found her. I asked why ? And they said nobody wanted her because of her ugly colors!!!! When I first saw her I thought she was so beautiful, but I'm happy to have gotten a deal!!!
Too me her soft colors are so beautiful, her soft peach belly, and her greys like a fawn, and her greens shimmer with hints of blue like a moon stone, and in ways I haven't seen on other conures, its not really what yiu can see in pictures. She never looks in pictures as she does in person

Ps. Please share picture of Sunny!

 

[fiddlejen]

Do you wonder if the birds whose voices are naturally more harsh, wish they had better singing voices?

Or, same question with regard to plumage?

My Sunny used to make little cooing noises which I'm pretty sure were her attempt to "I love You" back to me, but she could only manage the "ooou" part. She does it less now, I think the sound may have become more difficult as she has gotten a little older. Her general voice has gotten a little More abrasive. (Her age is 2 1/2 years now.) At times she will yell at me until I Sing her yelling-sounds back to her. She doesn't make any sort of singing.

Sometimes I hear her imitating the budgies - but it does not sound musical in her voice. In fact, she is best at imitating their fighting-sounds. (It still sounds like Sunny, though; she cannot imitate well enough to fool, as her own voice stays the same.)

Sunny has the most beautiful plumage... a friend recently described her as a "Living Flower" ...but definitely not the beautiful voice. My budgies both have beauty and lovely voices too. (I am so blessed!)

Birds are so aware of sounds and visuals, I do wonder if less-beautiful birds are jealous of more-beautiful, and if less-lovely-sounding birds wish for better voices.

Very interesting thoughts.

Pikachu was a man's bird, and when he first came he spoke in man's deep voice. Now he matches my voice wich is very light and childlike ( I hate that , in my voice lol)

Penny came to me with a smokers voice all scratchy with a little twang... now she too matchs my voice.

There are some things that all 3 quakers say, and sound identical! So much so I didn't first catch when Orbit started talking!

Ta-dah has the scratchy conure voice that's very distinctive. After 5 years of not being a talker, she has taken off and has the largest vocabulary. She works hard to say each thing very carefully. My favorite is " Whats up little burd?" I only say that to her and she knows it! It's the first thing she says to me in the morning. At mommy and me time she talks a lot and I have to repeat each thing she says or she gets mad.

On beauty, isn't it in the eye of the beholder? To me Ta-dah is very beautiful, I love how she looks. Her colors are muted, and drab to some. She doesn't have the highh yellow or reds they are breeding for, or the rich deep color of normal/ standard green cheeks. She was even on sale when I found her. I asked why ? And they said nobody wanted her because of her ugly colors!!!! When I first saw her I thought she was so beautiful, but I'm happy to have gotten a deal!!!
Too me her soft colors are so beautiful, her soft peach belly, and her greys like a fawn, and her greens shimmer with hints of blue like a moon stone, and in ways I haven't seen on other conures, its not really what yiu can see in pictures. She never looks in pictures as she does in person

Ps. Please share picture of Sunny!

Here is Sunny with the budgies. I also struggle to get pictures that show how she actually looks. I realize my prior post about her beautiful plumage probably reads like bragging or show-off-ish. Did not mean it that way. I guess that is where my thoughts went, when I was wondering if she wishes for a more beautiful voice. I mean, Jefferson-Budgie seems to just Love the sound of his Own Voice. Where Sunny's natural voice is rather abrasive, and she seems to mainly want to use it for purpose such as calling me. She only wants me to talk or sing in happy, gentle voice. She will go into vocal practice some times and it really sounds like she is trying to make her voice sweeter, and getting upset at herself for failing.

I definitely agree that muted colors can be exceedingly beautiful also. In my case, AFTER getting Sunny, I have begun loving brighter colors moreso than I used to. All the decor changes I've made since getting her, have been toward brighter colors, more like hers. But as colorful as she looks in photos, I cannot get pics of her reality. She practically glows in the sunlight, which the camera's light-balance cannot handle. Her feathers have a lot of shading between yellow-orange and orange-reds, but, they follow contour lines. So in pics she appears mostly all-one-shade of yellow-orange. And yet this is with her bright colors. I certainly understand how a bird can be muted but vibrant. (I have definitely seen, in a few birds at petstore.) Your TaDAh is definitely beautiful even in your pics, and I can definitely understand that beautiful subtleties often don't appear in photos.

And I know elsewhere on the forum, discussion that birds see into the spectrum more than we do, that some birds (perhaps your Tadah) might be exceedingly bright if we could only see that portion of the spectrum.

 

[SailBoat]

Our Amazons have all been in your face about such things:

"This is my voice and I like it, and the louder the better"
"This is my Featheration, it's truly unique and I love it"

If you have a problem with any part of this, Get Over 'Your' Problem!

Amazons Rule, others drool!

And, why I Love Amazons!

 

[Laurasea]

Do you wonder if the birds whose voices are naturally more harsh, wish they had better singing voices?

Or, same question with regard to plumage?

My Sunny used to make little cooing noises which I'm pretty sure were her attempt to "I love You" back to me, but she could only manage the "ooou" part. She does it less now, I think the sound may have become more difficult as she has gotten a little older. Her general voice has gotten a little More abrasive. (Her age is 2 1/2 years now.) At times she will yell at me until I Sing her yelling-sounds back to her. She doesn't make any sort of singing.

Sometimes I hear her imitating the budgies - but it does not sound musical in her voice. In fact, she is best at imitating their fighting-sounds. (It still sounds like Sunny, though; she cannot imitate well enough to fool, as her own voice stays the same.)

Sunny has the most beautiful plumage... a friend recently described her as a "Living Flower" ...but definitely not the beautiful voice. My budgies both have beauty and lovely voices too. (I am so blessed!)

Birds are so aware of sounds and visuals, I do wonder if less-beautiful birds are jealous of more-beautiful, and if less-lovely-sounding birds wish for better voices.

Very interesting thoughts.

Pikachu was a man's bird, and when he first came he spoke in man's deep voice. Now he matches my voice wich is very light and childlike ( I hate that , in my voice lol)

Penny came to me with a smokers voice all scratchy with a little twang... now she too matchs my voice.

There are some things that all 3 quakers say, and sound identical! So much so I didn't first catch when Orbit started talking!

Ta-dah has the scratchy conure voice that's very distinctive. After 5 years of not being a talker, she has taken off and has the largest vocabulary. She works hard to say each thing very carefully. My favorite is " Whats up little burd?" I only say that to her and she knows it! It's the first thing she says to me in the morning. At mommy and me time she talks a lot and I have to repeat each thing she says or she gets mad.

On beauty, isn't it in the eye of the beholder? To me Ta-dah is very beautiful, I love how she looks. Her colors are muted, and drab to some. She doesn't have the highh yellow or reds they are breeding for, or the rich deep color of normal/ standard green cheeks. She was even on sale when I found her. I asked why ? And they said nobody wanted her because of her ugly colors!!!! When I first saw her I thought she was so beautiful, but I'm happy to have gotten a deal!!!
Too me her soft colors are so beautiful, her soft peach belly, and her greys like a fawn, and her greens shimmer with hints of blue like a moon stone, and in ways I haven't seen on other conures, its not really what yiu can see in pictures. She never looks in pictures as she does in person

Ps. Please share picture of Sunny!

Here is Sunny with the budgies. I also struggle to get pictures that show how she actually looks. I realize my prior post about her beautiful plumage probably reads like bragging or show-off-ish. Did not mean it that way. I guess that is where my thoughts went, when I was wondering if she wishes for a more beautiful voice. I mean, Jefferson-Budgie seems to just Love the sound of his Own Voice. Where Sunny's natural voice is rather abrasive, and she seems to mainly want to use it for purpose such as calling me. She only wants me to talk or sing in happy, gentle voice. She will go into vocal practice some times and it really sounds like she is trying to make her voice sweeter, and getting upset at herself for failing.

I definitely agree that muted colors can be exceedingly beautiful also. In my case, AFTER getting Sunny, I have begun loving brighter colors moreso than I used to. All the decor changes I've made since getting her, have been toward brighter colors, more like hers. But as colorful as she looks in photos, I cannot get pics of her reality. She practically glows in the sunlight, which the camera's light-balance cannot handle. Her feathers have a lot of shading between yellow-orange and orange-reds, but, they follow contour lines. So in pics she appears mostly all-one-shade of yellow-orange. And yet this is with her bright colors. I certainly understand how a bird can be muted but vibrant. (I have definitely seen, in a few birds at petstore.) Your TaDAh is definitely beautiful even in your pics, and I can definitely understand that beautiful subtleties often don't appear in photos.

And I know elsewhere on the forum, discussion that birds see into the spectrum more than we do, that some birds (perhaps your Tadah) might be exceedingly bright if we could only see that portion of the spectrum.

Sunny is gorgeous, I think you almost captured the glow!! Looking at her colors would make me smile and brighten any room!! I'm glad she inspired you, and has you embracing color!!! I love color.. I agree my phone can't handle yellow Pikachu and his blue eyes!

I didn't think you wre bragging, tho you should be!! Sunny is gorgeous!! I just meant for birds and us , what is beautiful is different.

I love the budgies too!

Yeah Ta-dah is very pearlized in person, but picture make her colors look so flat.

I would love to see as parrots do!!

 

[Squeekmouse]

Speaking of colorful Sun Conures.... I just finished making these for an order and I really enjoyed making them. It's fun to work with such brilliant colors!

 

[Laurasea]

Oops no pic?