Sailor the greenwing update

[Minimaker]

I thought I'd drop in with an update on our progress with Sailor. She's come a long way. I finally have a relationship with her, it's tentative and it took seven months of working with her and trying to gain her trust. We have a sneaking suspicion that she was a rehome, after talking to the place on the phone they finally admitted she was bitey when they sent her and needed a lot of work. They never did say she was rehomed, but she seemed really traumatized to be a gently handled baby who had never left the place. My husband brought it up, and the more I thought about it the more sure I was that she may have been returned by someone who couldn't handle her. She seemed nothing like anyone else's hand-reared socialized babies. Like something must have happened to her.

But anyway, I digress. Our whole family can handle her without getting bit now. She still loves the guys more, but she's warmed up considerably to us ladies. I can let her grab my fingers and 9 times out of 10 she doesn't do anything to hurt me. I can grab her beak and kiss her head. After some coaxing she will come to me and step up knowing I am taking her out of the enclosure. She still really loves her enclosure a bit too much. We think we would have been better off getting her a regular cage because she doesn't like to leave her enclosure. If you take her to another room where she can't see it she gets nervous and sways back and forth like she wants to fly away. She hates to be on the floor as well, we're working with her on that now. She's still protective of her food bowls. I have a blinky princess-type wand from the dollar store I use to distract her while I reach around her and grab the bowl. Works every time. She eats well, she seems happy. She loves to go for walks and on trips to town. We are going to start building her an outdoor aviary next summer so she can get more light and fresh air.

Her true love is my teenage son. She tries to regurgitate for him every time he comes near. She has a fun, playful-type relationship with my daughter now. They play all the time, it's funny to watch. She gets so excited she starts hollering "Hi!" and eye pinning wildly but she doesn't try to bite her anymore. They play wrestle and play tug of war with toys. She really enjoys it, it's obvious. After so long she starts trying to feed her and making these cute lovey noises at her. It's exactly what I wished for when we got her. I'm happy to say it's finally a reality now.

 

[Birdman666]

Yeah. It didn't sound like a typical baby greenwing to me when you got her.

She was very, very phobic.

So nice of the place you got her to be so truthful... yeah, okay, you caught us. She needed a whole lot of training and socialization...

But it's nice to hear that she's finally come around, and is acting like a "normal" goofy greenwing. They are such fun birds!

 

[RavensGryf]

Great to hear a good update on Sailor! I'm so happy for you and your family Tara, after such a long frustrating time . Sorry they weren't more straightforward with you at the time of sale, but I bet they thought you wouldn't take her if they were more truthful .

ps... if I were Sailor, I think I'd be quite attached to that deluxe enclosure too. I'd love to have that for my birds .

 

[Minimaker]

Thanks guys. We weren't a good match at first. Being a brand new parrot owner I was ill prepared to handle a big bird with attitude. I can honestly say that despite that I'm glad it was us who got her over someone else who might have given her up when it got too hard. She was scary for quite awhile. She had no problem defending herself and anything in her cage because apparently she felt she had to. I've gotten a few good bites from her. She got me good on the arm one time when I was trying to get her to step up so I could put her on a playstand so I could deep clean her enclosure. A nice hard goose egg bruised lump for about two weeks on that one. Ouch. But it's much more calm around here now. Thank goodness

Have a nice day everyone, and thanks for all the advise over the course of time as I needed it. It did help me understand what was going on enough to make this home a successful one for her. If I didn't have people to advise me and get me through those times I might have never known to expect any less from her. That may be one of the reasons why parrots get rehomed so often. People don't know what to do or what they are doing wrong and end up feeling defeated by the situation and by the lack of bond with their bird. Parrots are nowhere near as easy as cats and dogs, they certainly don't love or trust as easily. I know I went into it with a "must be like other animals" mentality. But parrots are nothing like other animals...even the myriad of other birds I've known. They are totally unique and have vastly different behaviors/attitudes. They need to come with that disclaimer for clueless new owners like me

 

[RavensGryf]

Well you've certainly had a crash course, and you aren't a big bird newbie anymore (and from Mako too I'm sure) lol! Although it wasn't ideal at first, you put to work what you've learned on the forum from other experienced mac people and never gave up, and were successful finally. I figured with the right work she'd get there, after all, she was still a baby. What a great feeling that must be!

 

[Anansi]

I'm so happy to hear this update, Tara! And it's so good to hear from you, again! Your success with Sailor, and the amount of time it took you to get to this point with her, is a great example for current newbies.

This is what happens when you put in the time. While it's not easy, it's most definitely worth it.

So Tara. I'm thinking it's pretty much about that time for some new pics, no?

 

[4dugnlee]

I second...more pics! Great update! I'm so happy for Sailor and your family!

 

[Minimaker]

Here is a short video of her loving up on my son. Those cute little raptor in love noises are reserved only for him most of the time. [ame="https://youtu.be/JMJkdT30ZRs"]https://youtu.be/JMJkdT30ZRs[/ame]

 

[RavensGryf]

What a good bird she's become! Beautiful.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

Wow...for a bird that was difficult to handle,Sailor sure has come a long way..You can definitely tell she loves the attention and play time with your son..Great video,and nice job


Jim

 

[Allee]

Tara, I'm so happy for Sailor, you and your family! All your hard work has certainly paid off, beautiful update and video.