The Continuing Capers of Companion-ing Cotton

[Cottonoid]

There's been a pattern with Cotton that whenever he figures out a new location he can explore, he spends the night there. I refer to this as him Unlocking a New Level and he's very serious about not going back to square one.

He has his play stand tree and a perch against the window, and some toys hanging from a tension rod. Last week when he thought I got too close bringing him food, instead of going back towards his cage like normal he climbed up one of the toys and stood on the tension rod and then couldn't figure out how to get back down. So I hung a boing from the rod to his perch in case he ever found himself up there again.

This evening my neighbors played a bagpipe concert outdoors, and I walked into the room to see Cotton at the top of the boing looking out the window chattering away at the top of his lungs! I think he thinks bagpipes are the song of his people! Did that Ringneck map show any of their territory extending to Scotland?!

But now OF COURSE he's sleeping there! It's SO BRIGHT from the neighbor's porch light - I usually put a blanket up just to block this window!

Golly I love him so much my independent "I do it myself" little stinker

 

[HeatherG]

I have a theory that protests would be more effective if they had annoying ethnic instruments like bagpipes, accordions, shawm flutes…maybe I could add a contingent of screaming parrots to the list?

Is there a population of ringnecks in Edinburg? I know there are some in London.

 

[wrench13]

How cool - I happen to love the Pipes! My band plays a lot of bagpipe tunes transposed for fiddle. Salty will sing like mad though when I play banjo ( also on a lot of peoples list of annoying sounding instruments).

 

[Cottonoid]

I love them too!

Oh wow, I can just picture Salty singing along to banjo - I love it!!

 

[Cottonoid]

Somebody can't decide which is more fascinating; his closer view of sparrows and finches outside, or his new love of tropical bird mating rituals

It's also quite tropical in this room - Cotton is loving it but Maynard is under the couch with a fan pointed at her lol

Mr Molty spying me with the camera pointed his way - look at his baby wing feathers coming back after he removed them Poor buddy, this has got to be so exhausting!

(For any parrot/raptor-eyed reader, don't worry, that mass on Maynard's leg was biopsied today and will be surgically removed Friday - I so wish this vet saw birds!)

I understimated Cotton's "shooting range" at his new favorite neighborhood watch spot, so tomorrow morning will necessitate bringing my new windowsills back to white

 

[LaManuka]

Cotton is looking amazing, and I hope his love of sparrows and finches and naughty tropical birds and their mating habits is sufficient to distract him from pulling those beautiful feathers of his out again!

Wishing Maynard all the very best for the removal of that mass, and with no further complications too

 

[Cottonoid]

Thank you! Maynard's mass is new in the past 2 weeks so removal should be likely to resolve the problem even if it's a baddie.

And Cotton! I have been playing him preening videos (Laura sent me a fabulous one!) and bathing videos but I think nothing replaces another bird's guidance. It seems to be a balance of not chewing on feathers for fun/soothing versus ignoring them and they get all bashed up! It really is so sweet watching him hold his wing in his foot and just nibble away....

But, he's an unruly stinky teenager so I suppose it's to be expected

 

[Cottonoid]

And we can officially add Yellow Summer Squash to Cotton's acceptable veggie list! Huzzah!

 

[LaManuka]

And we can officially add Yellow Summer Squash to Cotton's acceptable veggie list! Huzzah!

Oooooh that sounds wonderful, congratulations on adding it to the non-radioactive list! Might make for some interesting new marks on your white windowsills though - but well worth it!

 

[kme3388]

Oh thank you!!! That's so lovely of you and Cozy too!

I'm sure Cotton has something going on with his sinuses, but I struck out on vet appointments when I made calls Friday.

He's clever enough he probably called ahead and told them all to say they were booked.

Vet appointments here in Minnesota are hard to come by. I found that out very quickly when Nico’s went on vacation. I am very thankful that I have her, and we met her when we did. She is very busy from what I’ve gathered.

 

[kme3388]

My other buddy yesterday was going to great lengths to impress us

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You can’t help but to fall in love with too’s. They are going to attack you with love.

 

[kme3388]

Somebody can't decide which is more fascinating; his closer view of sparrows and finches outside, or his new love of tropical bird mating rituals

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It's also quite tropical in this room - Cotton is loving it but Maynard is under the couch with a fan pointed at her lol

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Mr Molty spying me with the camera pointed his way - look at his baby wing feathers coming back after he removed them Poor buddy, this has got to be so exhausting!

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(For any parrot/raptor-eyed reader, don't worry, that mass on Maynard's leg was biopsied today and will be surgically removed Friday - I so wish this vet saw birds!)

I understimated Cotton's "shooting range" at his new favorite neighborhood watch spot, so tomorrow morning will necessitate bringing my new windowsills back to white

The pluckers definitely go through fazes don’t they? I am always so happy to see Nico get a new feather. I am guessing he’s been plucking for years as most don’t come back in. Just a few here, and there. Cotton still has so many feathers in comparison to when you first brought him home. Something you are doing is working for him.

You are correct about the birds seeing each other preen, and learning. The conures watch each other preen, and preen at the same time. Monkey see monkey do. Are you thinking about getting Cotton a friend?

 

[HeatherG]

How cool - I happen to love the Pipes! My band plays a lot of bagpipe tunes transposed for fiddle. Salty will sing like mad though when I play banjo ( also on a lot of peoples list of annoying sounding instruments).

I’ve only heard bagpipes at funerals so I guess I have bad associations. Sorry.

However, I have relatives who play the banjo.

Lucy loved anything I played. It was nice to be appreciated!

 

[Cottonoid]

Are you thinking about getting Cotton a friend?

Not soon, but yes I still need to finish all the house projects I needed to get done before Cotton came home but they're much slower now to be safe. So probably not this year, and then we'll just see if a bird comes our way

 

[HeatherG]

Could your son’s cockatiel “show” cotton how to preen better?

 

[Cottonoid]

I deep cleaned all of Cotton's Away (from cage) things today, and moved his new favorite boing higher by hanging a new perch higher.

The last time I changed things up to where he had to take a different route to his food, he refused, but thankfully today he's his usual adventurous self and headed straight over as soon as he saw the little piece of mango I had on top.

The downside to Mr AdventurePants' confidence today is that he's already climbed up on top of the perch where his boing is hung!! And of course I left the freaking window open again View from camera on top of his cage across the room:

 

[kme3388]

Don’t you love how parrots are so sensitive to simple little changes? Then make a huge fuss about it it’s sad how often I have to bribe my parrots with food! I am right there with you

 

[Cottonoid]

I harvested my first (and maybe only, sob) red bell pepper from the garden yesterday. It's one of Cotton's favorite foods so I was looking forward to his reaction.

He liked it so much that I watched him try to figure out how to get down to the scraps he'd dropped

He spent a good 10 minutes going back and forth on his tree and hanging upside down trying to determine if it was a good idea. Mama thought it was not a good idea so Cotton got a second serving very quickly

 

[kme3388]

I harvested my first (and maybe only, sob) red bell pepper from the garden yesterday. It's one of Cotton's favorite foods so I was looking forward to his reaction.

He liked it so much that I watched him try to figure out how to get down to the scraps he'd dropped

View attachment 43167


He spent a good 10 minutes going back and forth on his tree and hanging upside down trying to determine if it was a good idea. Mama thought it was not a good idea so Cotton got a second serving very quickly

For some odd reasons birds that cannot fly will find a way to get what they want still. Rather it’s safe, or not is a different story!

 

[LaManuka]

I harvested my first (and maybe only, sob) red bell pepper from the garden yesterday. It's one of Cotton's favorite foods so I was looking forward to his reaction.

He liked it so much that I watched him try to figure out how to get down to the scraps he'd dropped

View attachment 43167


He spent a good 10 minutes going back and forth on his tree and hanging upside down trying to determine if it was a good idea. Mama thought it was not a good idea so Cotton got a second serving very quickly

Tee hee, have a look at him wavin' his butt in the air like he just don't care!! He's awesome!