Right now Salty is.....

[wrench13]

Boats, it was both funny and a bit sad, because my little Maxie used to do the same thing when we played Scrabble, throwing the tiles off faster than I could replace them. We used to play just to laugh at him throwing them away as only a parrot can, with disdain and style, ya know? Salty reminds me sometimes of Max.

 

[wrench13]

Here is video we shot last night, Salty being very cooperative doing some newer tricks.

 

[SailBoat]

Clearly he enjoys not only the treats, but completing the trick as well!

 

[wrench13]

Oh yeah, he loves doing the tricks we did, they are some of his favorites. He does have those, and others that he would rather not do (though he humors me and does them anyway). I always get a kick out of watching him run to the side of the table and look down to check out which toys and tricks I have laid out on the floor. When Salty likes a trick, he will do it for 'free'; flipping the yellow hoop is like that. He would do that all night long just for fun!!!

 

[Flboy]

Nice!! JoJo says he’s showing off! But, you know conures!

 

[wrench13]

I think we may, just may, have turned the corner on this years mating season and its unpredictable, arbitrary behavior. Of course that means that tomorrow, Salty will give me a bite from out of the blue! But it really seems like my sweet lil' yellow shoulder amazon is back in town and open for business. He even seems like he is giving Tinker, our 15 yr old Cairne Terrier, a break; usually if she is anywhere near at hand, Salty would run over and try to nip her, or chase her out of her accustomed chair in the living room. The Magnanimous One has been lately letting sleeping dog lie, literally.

So, Dear New Members, this illustrates the cyclic nature of mating season and it's attendant off-the-wall behavior. Forgive him, Lord, for he know not what he do.

 

[SailBoat]

Lucky Salty!

Julio looked /acted to be on his way to safe land and then 'yesterday' happened. Like out of the blue! He was unhappy with everything and everyone! Afterwards, the poor guy just perched there for near an hour, trying to understand what happened.

 

[wrench13]

SO I guess I can say that Salty is flighted, with good landing control. Yesterday he flew to my shoulder, and later in the evening, he took a spin round our first floor, landing on the railing that is around the staircase. both landings perfectly controlled. I think we are going to have to include recall training in our nightly sessions. THis, along with a drastic cut back on the amount of pine nuts offered during training ( much to his chagrin) should help me get his weight back to the high side for his species nominate, 320 gr. Yep, he's a regular Buzz Flightsteer.

 

[SailBoat]

There flight is truly amazing and as they become every more practiced they start to tease their staff by pulling close to see just how close they can get prior to spinning off or bumping over the top of us.

The thing that I continue to be impressed regards is just how much air they compact under themselves.

 

[raeleigh26]

SO I guess I can say that Salty is flighted, with good landing control. Yesterday he flew to my shoulder, and later in the evening, he took a spin round our first floor, landing on the railing that is around the staircase. both landings perfectly controlled. I think we are going to have to include recall training in our nightly sessions. THis, along with a drastic cut back on the amount of pine nuts offered during training ( much to his chagrin) should help me get his weight back to the high side for his species nominate, 320 gr. Yep, he's a regular Buzz Flightsteer.

That's impressive!
Ralph does not fly unless.... well, idk why he does because he prefers not to, though he's perfectly capable and occasionally does for reasons not having to do with fear, but refuses for hours on end when he's denied a taxi ride, no matter how desperately he wants to be somewhere else.
Let's just say I'll be following your recall training, as we're still working on step up without a treat, or a bite, or asking to be put right back...[emoji51]

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[wrench13]

It still srprizes me what Salty picks up vocally and what he does not. We just wathced about an hur of Youtube videos of various parrots talking ( or mumbling). 100% of the time, what draws him from somewhere else to my my shoulder to watch a video is always a Indian Ringneck parrot. We could be watching or listeneing to macaws, Amazons, Eclectus or other parrots, and he will always run over to see the screen when its a IRN on screen. Salty always asks the parrot "Are you a bird? A pretty bird?" and most times he introduces himself with a nice clear "Salty!" and only in the beginning of the video. Such a polite parrot! Whats odd to me is that IRNs always talk in the same pitch and timber of voice, regardless of who they learned from. Doesn't seem to matter the gender or vocal quality of the trainer, the IRN's voice sounds the same from bird to bird. I hear the same with most cockatoos, quakers, Eclectus - they all seem to have the same voices. Whereas African Greys and Amazons will truly match the voice of the person they are imitating, sounding a lot like the trainers voice. Salty does the same, so when he talks , he sounds like either me, my wife or my son Erik - you can clearly tell who he is copying, or what parrot he is copying too. Funny, he also does this with coughing - you can tell whose cough he is doing. When he does my voice, wither in speaking or singing , its deeper and almost gravel like, whereas when he is copying Geri, my wife, its a much higher, pleasanter voice and sounds a lot like her voice.

It's also time to shop for some new tricks or props to use in our training sessions, he whips through all the ones we currently use and you can tell he is a bit bored. One trick that still holds a lot of interest for him though is playing Jenga. But his new variation is to put the Jenga sticks BACK onto the Jenga pile and its interesting and funny to see what his interpretation of the pile is; they rarely wind up in the right places.

Also a new batch of chop' was made last weekend, I use the normal recipe, except I went to a new supermarket, better stocked and with more variety, so I included some new types of peppers and oddball veggies. I also drained the processed veggies a lot before adding them to the bowl, to cut down on the amount of water. That way the chop is not as runny when I defrost and zap the nights meal of chop. The Texas Freeze Dried mix works well in absorbing most of the water from the chop, and Salty takes to it greedily.

Recall training is not going so well, Salty is more than content to sit and just watch me try to entice him from a perch to my hand, but I keep trying. His flying abilities though keep improving, and he lands where he intends to, be it a shoulder, a railing, the lip of the kitchen sink or where ever, including adjacent to our dog Tinker, thereby giving Salty a perfect opportunity to give her a nip on the ass or ear. If Tinker notices Salty's approach, she will bolt just as he lands, but most times she is flaked out and sleeping. I've also seen Salty use a sneak attack, stealthily stalking her with his head down almost cat-like.

With the beautiful warmer weather lately, I've dusted off the larger travel cage so Salty can enjoy some outdoor time, soaking up the rays. He's become a bit wary of putting harness on, so we practice it more at nigh during training.

 

[SailBoat]

The single thing that drives me crazy with Amazons is this issue of: "Recall Training." I can see them looking at me and running the thought of whether they 'need' to be where I am at! More times than not, if they see no reason to make the trip, they just sit there and look the other way, etc...

What I have found is that if 'they' see a reason to come, they come to you quickly. If the World seems fine to them, they may or my not come my way.

Like I say, they drive me crazy.

 

[raeleigh26]

The single thing that drives me crazy with Amazons is this issue of: "Recall Training." I can see them looking at me and running the thought of whether they 'need' to be where I am at! More times than not, if they see no reason to make the trip, they just sit there and look the other way, etc...

What I have found is that if 'they' see a reason to come, they come to you quickly. If the World seems fine to them, they may or my not come my way.

Like I say, they drive me crazy.

Yup. That's truth right there.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[wrench13]

Yeah!! its Salty's Hatch Day !! 7 years old! Tonight he will get a special dinner, all his favorites: a bit of boiled egg, some pizza crust, walnuts and a freebie of a few pine nuts. And some chop - this latest batch he seems to really like. So calm and playful these last 4 weeks or so, the mating season crazies are gone !

 

[SailBoat]

Congratulations Salty!
Clearly is worth celebrating your special day with the family and friends! I understand that folks are flying in from all over the place!
Enjoy Good Friend, your pal, Julio!

 

[LaManuka]

:smile054: Happy Hatchday!!!!!:smile054:

To Salty, The Best First Mate
A Pirate Ever Had!!!

And Here's To Many Many More,
Me Shiverin' Matey!!!

​

 

[saxguy64]

Baxter and Tucker wish you a very happy happy hatch day Salty, you cute little smarty pants!

 

[Scott]

Happy Hatch Day Salty!!
​

 

[wrench13]

I showed each and every post to Salty, and he sez QUAWWKK, which means a big thanks to all of you!

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

A belated happy happy joy joy to you Saltyboy! from your buddies Amy,Beebs,and Jim!
Al...with this covid thing "almost" behind us ( CT is doing extremely well,under .5 positivity rate,and things are fully open,but still a death or two every couple days) Amy is thinking PLAY TIME with my pal(s)


Jim