Right now Salty is.....

[HeatherG]

No progress on the sleigh idea, but that will be coming some day.

We had a great training session tonight, where Salty played an awesome game of reverse, mini Jenga. I know odd, but that's how he plays it, carefully stacking the Jenga blocks on top of one another. Drop one or cause it to make another block fall - no treat. He got 5 blocks high! He is also getting the idea of regular Jenga, of picking out a block without making others fall, but thats a much harder idea to get across to him.

Some folks here have read about me stating that parrots are fully aware of the concept of cheating, ie: doing less for the same reward. Salty cheats on this mini-ring toss game we have. He gets a reward for placing each of the five rings on the post, and one when he gives them all back to me. He figured out a way to take 2 to 4 of the rings off in one swoop, doing less for the same reward. Oh Yes - he fully understands the concept of cheating! Another example - I have 2 6 inch rings that are placed on opposite ends of our training table, and he has to go thru one to the other and back to get his treat. Sometimes though he runs thru the first one and then stops short of going thru the second one and then running back to the first. He will do this and look up expectantly at me for his treat. But he gets the buzzer on that ("BBRraaack"), and has to do it again, correctly now, to get his treat.

Salty has started saying something really cute and funny, don't know where he picked this one up from, who knows! He will pace back and forth on the top of his cage, and quickly saying in a cute little parrot voice "Doot, doot, doot!" . Reminds me of how John Fogarty of Creedence Clearwater used to sing "Lookin Out My Back Door". A buddy of mine used to sing that tune "Doot, Doot, Doot, Hanging Out My Back Door", a scatological reference that never failed to get laughs from the audience, those who caught it anyways.

That’s one of the many tasteless jokes in the fine fine film, “the Big Lebowski.” I think it involved a proctologist.

 

[wrench13]

Fresh batch of chop today

2 bags peeled mini carrots
1 -1/2 lb Habenero pepper
10 hot chiles
2 red pepper
15 jalepeno peppers
red beets & greens
golden beets and greens
kale
1 bunch broccoli
1 bunch broccoli- rabe
1 califlower
1 ingredient pasta rings
small bunch spinach
2 lb green beans, chopped
Bunch of radishes

Most of these will be going thru the food processor, some, like the beans and carrots will be chopped.
I expect to make around 25 1 qt bags with enough for 3-4 days in each bag. No corn this time.

 

[cnyguy]

Salty might not think that taking several rings at once is cheating. It's more like a way to get the job done faster and get the reward sooner.

I guess I've been living with parrots for so long I've started to think like one.

 

[Kentuckienne]

Using a food processor? Making several days food at a time instead of fresh each day? Hmmm…a little bird (who may or may not be Mr. Salty) told me “Humanz cheet too! Not just honest parrotz who only being effishen!”

 

[SailBoat]

Using a food processor? Making several days food at a time instead of fresh each day? Hmmm…a little bird (who may or may not be Mr. Salty) told me “Humanz cheet too! Not just honest parrotz who only being effishen!”

Full-on-body-laugher!!!

 

[wrench13]

Salty has a new bedtime thing he is going thru. Usually, lights get shut or dimmed at 9:30 PM and at 10:00 PM Salty climbs on to my hand, gives kisses all round and I put him in his cage, draw down the black out cover for his cage. But lately, like 1 or 2 times in 2 weeks, he refuses to climb on to my hand and will certainly nail me a good one if I force the issue. Its his loss, as there is a Comfy Perch he likes to snuggle against. I just worry about him coming off his chosen sleeping spot during the night.

And silly bird, if I wait until dawn, put his breakfast in his cage WAY too early, he climbs over and gets in to eat breakfast, at which I close the cage up. Just don't understand it, the place he chooses to spend the night is not what I call a comfortable spot. And man is he cranky the next day he does this, just like a little kid who didn't get enough sleep.

Geri calls him a dirty little stay out, reminiscing about how she used to sneak out all nite in her teens.

 

[Cottonoid]

"dirty little stay out"

Opie has been trying to sleep in a little basket I have hanging on his coatrack play area. His beak is a lot smaller though when he says No Opie is definitely like a little kid in that once he's tired he's not going to make good choices

I wonder if Salty is trying to roost a little earlier than he normally would? And then doesn't want to move? He's SO routine though, that doesn't seem to fit what I know of him.

He's just coming up with new ways to keep you thinking

 

[SailBoat]

It is very possible that Salty is attempting to Rooster a bit, as his age places him in that general area.

So, well stated, Cottonold: Parrot's attempting or being in control and making poor choices!

Julio is on that deadly Sun Schedule, which means Hormonal Season is commonly more deadly. But the balance of the year he follows the Sun, well most of the time, with the only variation being those cloudy days where the light is either slower in the morning or quicker in the evening (about an hour).

The choosing non-comfortable sleep locations and being less interested in interactions sure screams young Roostering. Play with it a bit longer, then begin to move him back to his historical schedule with the sleep position being the first. Tired Amazons can be real grumps! Having it look like it's his choice can help! Just like Kids!!

 

[wrench13]

I had to replace Salty's little baby grand piano prop, it just stopped working one night. I finally found an exact copy it, made in China of course, What is cool about the replacement one is its an organ sounding one , not like the piano-like sounding original. Salty goes to town, all Ethyl Merman like, it sounds so different!

Speaking of prop maintenance and repair, Salty's little bicycle has been out of commission for some time, the chain drive started to bind up, and I never was crazy about the open sprocket and chain arrangement it had. I took all the measurements and checked clearances to convert it to an o-ring drive, but the circumference has to be perfect - too large the o-ring will slip, too small and it will be hard for Salty to pedal. SO now I got all the new components prepared (had to drill out the bores on these pullys) AND I can't find the DAMN frame! Prediction from the Mrs: It will be in the last place I look.

 

[wrench13]

So tonite was Sports Night at the ol' training grounds at Wrench Stadium. We:
Played a game of pool
Did a frame of bowling, and Salty picked up the spare!
Shot some hoops
Played a round of darts (Mommy won)
Salty hung 4 on his skateboard a few times
Played some cards (Salty won with 4 kings)
A round of ring toss
And of course the tricks we do every nite - roll overs, putting his harness on and the slide.

Such a good sportsman!

He got almost a 1/2 hour of head scratchies too !

 

[Cottonoid]

An epic Sports Night by all accounts!

I've been working with Cotton every day and he's now desensitized to a target stick but isn't motivated enough to touch it yet.

I was showing him one of Salty's videos and he started chattering up a storm but he was not inspired to work with me, go figure!

Opie on the other hand was SMITTEN immediately and told Salty he is a good boy several times. He's the definition of copying other birds so your videos are awesome for him!

 

[cnyguy]

Good job, Salty! I would be exhausted if I did half of the things Salty did. He sure has plenty of energy, and I bet he had lots of fun too.

 

[wrench13]

Tonight's training session was the first one in a long time where Salty just aced one cognition trick after another. He got all 6 colors right, he often spoofs me on this one, deliberately doing it wrong. He got all of his "B" words/objects right; Baby, Bell, Bear and Bird. Salty did his card trick, pulling all 4 kings from a deck of cards, this time with queens and jacks mixed in. He can tell the difference. Played a little piano and put his harness on with a minimum of grumbling. A really good training session all in all.
Heck he even wanted to do some play fighting with me right before nite nite - he usually gets a mini scratchie session, but he wanted to play for certain.

 

[SailBoat]

That has to be a true joy!

 

[Cottonoid]

Ahhhhhh that's wonderful! What a good night for both of you!

 

[cnyguy]

I've always been interested in Dr. Irene Pepperberg's studies of the intelligence and learning ability of Greys, but have long thought that similar studies should be done to demonstrate that other types of parrots are smart and capable of learning too. It may not be formal research, but Salty's training is a perfect demonstration of what an Amazon can do. Good job by both you and Salty!

 

[wrench13]

Well if you've read some of this thread, you know that I have mentioned that Salty is smart enough to figure out cheats to some of the tricks. Oh yes! He definitely is smart enough for that. He figured out that for this one trick, he was getting a treat for giving me back all the rings, all 5 of them, one at a time.. He cheats and grabs all 5 in one beakfull.

I think parrots in general are a lot smarted that they get credit for, and they get plenty already.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Well if you've read some of this thread, you know that I have mentioned that Salty is smart enough to figure out cheats to some of the tricks. Oh yes! He definitely is smart enough for that. He figured out that for this one trick, he was getting a treat for giving me back all the rings, all 5 of them, one at a time.. He cheats and grabs all 5 in one beakfull.

I think parrots in general are a lot smarted that they get credit for, and they get plenty already.

I think people underestimate parrots because they don't understand them. One that always annoys me is when people dismiss stories about talking parrot by saying "they're not talking, they're just mimicking- they don't understand what they're saying! ".
How do they know what the parrot understands? I agree that we can't assume that every talking parrot understands, but some parrots demonstrate a pretty remarkable understanding of human language when they've been taught and trained like Salty has.
Is there anywhere we can watch a video of Salty doing any of his tricks?

 

[wrench13]

Yeah sure, just click the YouTube link in my signature, he has lots of videos of whole training session.

 

[wrench13]

SO this is a post to advise anyone who is going to leave their parrot for a few days. If you tell them about it and graphically show them, with fingers or other things, how many days you'll be gone, it really lessens the pissed off parrot period when you return. I was just away at a concert series for 3 days, and I showed Salty with 3 fingers how many days and explained it to him several times. And tonight , first night back, he was fine, no bitey bitey, and took a nice scratchie session.

It really works people!!