Sweepea vs. the squirrel

[Birdman666]

As I said in many of my posts, I get my birds outside and let them play in trees. When my daughter was little there was a huge birch tree in my daughter's favorite park. We used to go on the weekends, bring a picnic lunch and bird treats. She would play all day. The birds got to play outside in a tree all day. And we'd stop off for ice cream (and taster spoons of orange sherbert for the birdies) on the way home.

Anyway, I was fortunate in that I saw this one coming from a mile away. I set the bird treats down under the tree. There was a squirrel cautiously sneaking up on them from the bushes... Now, keep in mind, where we lived in NorCal, there were A TON of hawks, so the wild critters were deathly afraid of birds.

Sweepea sees this thing heading for her treats, and stealthily climbed to the end of the branch. The squirrel never noticed. She got right out to the end of the branch, and it sagged down to about the level of the squirrel's tail. About the time the squirrel reached the treats, Sweepea reached the squirrel - from above and behind - and LET OUT THE LOUDEST MACAW SCREAM YOU EVER WANTED TO HEAR!



Well the squirrel went about three feet straight up. Did a summersault on the way down, and then broke a squirrel land speed record back into the bushes.

Sweepea climbed back up the tree with a gleem in her eyes - LAUGHING!!!

Here is the photo from the instant before "THE SCREAM." Check out the look in her eyes! You can see this one coming from a mile away. HERE COMES TROUBLE!

 

[Birdman666]

Well i sorta got it. The photo is in the post, it just isn't opened. DUH! OKAY! I GOT IT...

 

[JerseyWendy]

Well i sorta got it. The photo is in the post, it just isn't opened.

I fixed it for you, Mark. Copy the stuff that's next to "IMG", then it will directly paste the photo into your post.

LMAO @ the squirrel's reaction!

 

[Terry57]

How funny! That squirrel never saw anything like Sweetpea, I bet!

 

[Birdman666]

And here are a few of my birdies playing in the tree. Sallybird always went straight to the top...

 

[aliray]

Super pics especially the one with your daughter and the sun conure. From now on you need to take a video camera on your excursions with the birds ,I would love to have seen that squirrel who I am sure did not expect a parrot. How do you get them back out of the tree without them flying away? Are all of their wings clipped or are they just very well trained? Alison

 

[Birdman666]

The rest of the birds actually preferred the lower branches, and stayed close to me.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Breathtaking, Mark!!! Your fids are SO very lucky!!!! :respect:

 

[Birdman666]

Playing in the park all day can wear a little bird out...

Especially a baby! Sweepea was less than a year old when these were taken. Notice the change in color from how she is today?

She's 12 years old now, and STILL getting new colors when she molts.

 

[Birdman666]

I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD ADD A WARNING TO THIS POST:

My birds were trained extensively. They were startle trained. They were recalled so they came back when they were called, they were out and about trained. I kept them clipped so that they were semi-flighted.

YOU DON'T JUST RANDOMLY TAKE YOUR BIRD OUTSIDE AND PUT IT IN A TREE. HE WILL FLY OFF AND YOU WILL LOSE HIM 99% OF THE TIME!!! I DO NOT WANT TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANYONE LOSING THEIR BIRDS...

DO THE TRAINING FIRST!!!

 

[JerseyWendy]

Uh-oooh.....wanna come and help me find my big macs? They took right off from the Magnolia. :09:

JUST KIDDING!!!!

 

[aliray]

I am too paranoid to chance it.

 

[Dinosrawr]

Ahhh, I love all of these pictures you're posting! Someday you're going to have to write a book about how you manage your amazing training with your birds, I find your insights so helpful all the time and I'm always inspired by your babies!

And I cannot attest enough to having birds properly trained before going outside without any restraints if they're flighted. I made one simple mistake and Avery flew off Thankfully I found her again, but like Birdman says, it takes a very well trained bird and parront to accomplish what his birds have!

 

[noblemacaw]

Thank you for sharing your pictures with us. I love the Sweetpea story. That is so typical of a RFM as my Valentino LOVES to startle me. They love the drama and reactions. Valentino's favorite is while I am laying on the couch he crawls up to the edge of the top of the couch and will "slide" down to me and jump into the cook of my neck. I can't help but cringe and make a squeal which rewards his need for reaction. he also likes to fly to me silently and land on my chest right in front of my face. That always gets a small scream from me because I just don't see that coming until its too late. LOL.

I would love to take Valentino outside but for now he only goes outside in his Kings carrier. He can see though the bars its not closed in like a normal carrier. I take him outside in the carrier so he can learn what surrounds the house. What trees are there and what the house looks like from outside. I hope to be able to harness train him but for now that seems impossible. It is a very SLOW process with experiencing no headway with the training. I just got to the point where the scary red thing lays on the same table he eats on with us and he can eat and not be concerned about it.

I would love to be able to train Valentino to be outside without a harness but I don't know about how to clip for a RFM to be able to fly still but be safe enough to go outside. Even though Valentino is recall trained something inside me says I cannot trust him to recall to me outside. Valentino is very strong willed and will only follow commands if it suits him.

It is my hope as Valentino matures and our bond becomes more solid he will want to follow commands for me.

 

[Birdman666]

Sweepea is one of my only store bought birds. She's one of Cindy's babies. (Even though I consider Wendy the best macaw breeder on the planet!)

I raised that one from just finished hand feeding status...

She rode home from the breeders with her body pressed up against me like in the wet bird selfie... that is her personality. All my macaws have been lover birds...

Here are a few more Sweepea baby pics (She's 12+ now!)

Sarah was almost 6 years old, and started handling this bird the minute I walked in the door:


That hopping on your shoulder thing, this was from Day 1:

 

[noblemacaw]

Love your pictures of your Sweetpea. She is such a doll. So reminds me of when I first got Valentino. Love the last picture of her head tilted back as you pet under her "chin". Valentino also loves to be petted there and will pretty much have his head touching his back like Sweetpea.

They say the RFM like to hug with their wings. I believed about the RFM "meltdown" Wendy Craig describes because with the bond and trust they really do just roll down your chest trusting that you would never drop them. The first time Valentino hugged me with his wing was when he was in my office with me and I was working. He was perched on my shoulder and he shoves his body up to my neck/head as close as he can taking his wing and extending it over my ear and head. Here is a picture Lupe took of him hugging my head.

Valentino also loves to have a special place in his cage that is up high and has a blanket draped behind the perch. Wendy told me RFM's like to have soft things touch their backs so I set that up for him. I never saw him use it because apparently when I came into the room Valentino was already to the front of the cage anticipating I would take him out. However Lupe can take photos and video of him on his special perch.

Here is a small video of Valentino enjoying his blankee.

CAM00311_zps85633fde.mp4 Video by noblemacaw | Photobucket

Every parrot I have had are all special to me. I would never say such and such is my favorite out of all of them. They were all such individuals and I loved them each for different reasons. Valentino happened to be my dream parrot. Since 1997 I have wanted a RFM and it took until December 2012 to finally have one in my life. Until I am settled and stable I continue to work with being able to keep him. In the short time I have Valentino I have become very attached to him and cannot even think about having to find another family for him. It is hard for me to think anyone could love him as much as I do.

 

[Birdbrain91]

Those are great photos and I love the squirrel story. I wouldn't trust my birds outside without their outside cage. To many hawks.

 

[getwozzy]

Sweepea sounds like she's quite the character- loved the squirrel story! Lol and she's very beautiful!!

 

[Birdman666]

Valentino also loves to have a special place in his cage that is up high and has a blanket draped behind the perch. Wendy told me RFM's like to have soft things touch their backs so I set that up for him. I never saw him use it because apparently when I came into the room Valentino was already to the front of the cage anticipating I would take him out. However Lupe can take photos and video of him on his special perch.

Sweepea has a couple of monster cotton rope toys, and she literally climbs inside them, and wraps herself up in them. She hugs her toys when she goes to sleep at night.

She sleeps at one end of the big playstand, Lila and Tusk sleep together at the other end. Sally has her own playstand in the window, that is MINE!
Maggie has her own playstand plus the top of her double macaw cage.

 

[Damicodric]

Great post!!!