#1 I am not an advocate for shouldering a parrot.

#2 I am not an  advocate against shouldering a parrot.

When a relationship is strong and the time is right it is a beautiful thing; But you can`t rush into this.

Weather you shoulder your parrot or do not shoulder your parrot is your decision. It`s not right for everyone.

My left shoulder was her shoulder of choice. If I let her I think she would have spent her whole life there.

She would climb up there and preen her feathers and enjoy the world around her,

The one thing she would always do is get close to my head and lean against it and coo into my ear.

God I miss that !!!

.

In many ways Zons and Greys are a lot alike in that relationships are built and not a given.

You can pat a dog on his head and he will be as happy as a sissy in boys camp.

Not so with a parrot. It`s work to develop a relationship and more work to keep it strong.

Zons have a reputation of not being the easiest to live with.

You need some big parrot experience to develop a respect and loving relationship with a Zon.

They want to always be in control of their surroundings and seam to respect people with self confidence.

It has taken me years to get over the loss of Cricket and to talk about her.

So I would like share some of my memories of my special Amazon Cricket in my upcoming post.

We will call it my home run relationship with my Zon.

Greys and Amazons are awesome companions each in their own special way.

We had a very large house. It  was a log cabin.

Crickets cage was in the family room that was between our great room and the master bed room.

The master was on a upper level over the garage and had steps with a balcony that over looked the family room.

When ever the wife wanted something she would come to the door of the great room and yell hay Ray and I would come out on to the balcony to see wat she wanted.

My computer was in the master bed room so I was up there a lot.

One day I thought I heard the wife call hay Ray so I went to the balcony to see what sew wanted. The wife was not there, but Cricket yelled  Hi.

When ever the wife yelled hay Ray  I came to the balcony. From that point on when ever I was at my computer and Cricket wanted extra attention she would yell HAY Ray and when I came out of the bed room she would yell hi.

I would always come down and giver some special time.

Over the years this went on hundreds times .I always tried to make sure she never felt left out.

It`s not the big things you remember. It`s the little things that that you remember that are important.

DOUBLE YELLOW HEADED

BLUE FRONTED

MEALY

MEXICAN RED HEADED

RED LORIED

YELLOW NAPE

LILAC CROWNED

PANAMA

RED BROWED---RARE

GREEN CHEEK

WHITE FRONTED

Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2010/01/06 18:19<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2010/01/06 22:07

How many years of this do I have to deal,with this behavior????  I am the only one who can handle her and she is bonded to me, so I’m not a problem...but any other female is.....

I welcome any opinions or advice to help us thru...

From one moment to the next, I am never sure where I will find Salsa and what I will find her doing. Early this morning for example, while I was getting ready to take care of Jay, I heard a crash in the kitchen and an “Oh GOD!” from Joe…. (always a scary moment) LOL… I whipped around in time to see Salsa rise straight up (like a Phoenix out of the ashes) from my stack of clean dishes in the dishrack, turn sslloooowwwlly from side to side, and sink ssllooowwlly back down out of sight from between the dishes…. OMG! LMAO!

After my first round of chores, I was getting ready for the nurse’s visit and I had placed a box of sterile gloves that we all use as part of the items that are needed for home visits out and turned around to reclean the floor after Joe dumped his box of dry spaghetti. I turned around in time to find Salsa picking one blue glove at a time out of the box and dropping it on the growing pile on the floor while watching each flutter down before grabbing another (like out of a Kleenex box)… Life is never dull (or clean) but worth it in laughs and entertainment…

In all sincerity, a Zon can be a very loving and warm companion with years of love and happiness. They have the most beautiful, expressive eyes also. A Zon is definitely self-absorbed...their wants and needs come first, and they are very vocal and expressive in letting you know about their wants and needs. Their companionship cannot be surpassed. They keep going and going and going.... like the Energizer Bunny....They truly are loyal and loving, and they get along well with other parrots in your home. They are masters at entertaining themselves and their slaves....

Here's to the Greenies....YEA!!! Jayd

Joey was playing in his usual spot on Saturday morning in the kitchen by the kitchen window when he decided to fly over and land on Salsa's outside cage perch. After a few minutes, he moseyed on into Salsa's cage...not the first time, but this time, he decided to make himself at home.

Salsa, alarmed at this intruder, 😲 sidled out the long way and stood on the top of her cage whining...Joe settled in and picked up one foot and got comfortable. This lasted from 11am to 6pm...Never before has Joey stayed in ANY cage besides his own...and never again since then. He actually took a nap and Salsa had a fit all day because she could not take her own nap-time. She was SO relieved when Joey finally left that she ran in and examined her cage to make sure her intruder had not mucked things up while she was gone...😂

They are a very animated species of parrots and are often called the clowns of the parrot world.

They have a in your face attitude, Are very hormonal when in season and unpredictable behavior can make them very hard to live with if not socialized.

Still they are said to be the easiest parrot to train. Their out going attitude, their animated personality and their intelligence along with talking ability makes them a joy to watch.

It takes a special person with parrot experience to work with these amazing parrots.

They are very loyal and if not properly socialized become a one person parrot.

Food for thought:

You can take the best person in the world and if you look hard enough you can find something bad about them.

You can take the worst person in the world and if you look hard enough you can find something  good about them

What you find depends on what you are looking for.

When you have a Amazon look for the good and you will find it.

In the morning, she will be sleeping soundly until she hears Joe doing his nails on a chalkboard rendition by running his beak back and forth on the bars to wake me up. Then, she starts with the whining which gets progressively louder until I open her cage. Then, she greets the day and the neighborhood with her pterodactyl impression… (Oh boy!)😁😁

She steals Joe’s apples and pistachios (which drives Joe crazy because he then cannot eat until everything is replaced and untouched). 😝Then, she bugs me until she gets her toast. One minute, she will be singing songs of her own at the top of her lungs and the next moment, she will be sobbing her heart out or screaming how “Salsa is a good girl!”

She will be laughing manically and then fly over to bite Jay before flying off. 😈😈She flies to me and plays by hanging off my hands and mock-attacks and then turn around, flying over and hide in her cage for a few minutes.

When I have my asthma attack and am coughing, she joins in with a chorus of sympathetic wheezing and coughing, goes into hysterical laughing and then begins crying as if her heart is broken.

She greets dusk with her pterodactyl routine again and channels her inner Greek by tossing her plates after she finishes. She may be manic, but she is ALWAYS entertaining! Maggie

Amazons like to be in charge and this is where you need to find a happy ground.

They are known to  for their unpredictable mood swings from nice to devil.

Amazons do have respect for a person with self confidence. If you show fear they will be in charge. If you try to bully them they can and do retaliate. You need to meet them  half way before you can start to build a relationship, after that comes respect. Respect is some thing you have to earn just like any other parrot only with a zon that mutual respect can and will be the foundation of your relationship.

Amazons can and are unpredictable to a point, They are also said to be the easiest parrot to train.

They are masters of body language. They know by your body language if you have self confidence and their body language will tell what`s on their mind.

With a zon your self confidence, respect and socialization of your zon leads to trust.

It`s a two way street for both of you that can lead to your time together being some thing that goes far beyond what you ever expected.

I love my Grey Corky with all my heart and I miss Cricket my zon the same way

They are each their own so love them for who they are.

Salsa, who has never found a bath she did not like, including a water cup, has chosen this as not only entertainment, but as a bath and snack place also. She will sit on the rim, and snack off of small baby shrimp and bathe. She will bury her head under the water (blowing bubbles), dip her wings in, and splash. She does this daily, summer and winter alike...Have you ever seen an Amazon bathe in soft water? She has the best, softest, and shiniest feathers around!! Maggie

HEY MAGGIE! Can you wipe my beaker?

Thanks, Maggie

Amazon of the Week :Index

Amazon of the week Index:

St Vincent http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-week-1-09-10

Red Crowned http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-week-1-24-10

Imperial http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-week-1-11-10

Red brown http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-week-2-13-10

Blue Mutation http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-week-1-17-10

Mealy http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-Week*-4-4-10

Red Necked http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-week-1-31-10

Mexican Red head http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...he-Week-3-7-10

Puerto Rican http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...-Week..2-21-10

Red Tailed http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-week..2-7-10

Red Lored http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...Week-*-4-11-10

St Vincent,Guadeloupe, and Cuban. http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...eek*-Challenge..

Yellow-Crowned, Yellow-Nape http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...l-quot-4-24-10

Orange-Wing http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-Week-4-17-10

Cuban http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...he-Week-5-1-10

Festive http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...he-Week-5-9-10

Lilac Crowned http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-Week-5-16-10

Yellow Billed http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-Week-5-21-10

Blue Front http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-Week-5-30-10

Red Spectacled http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...he-Week-6-6-10

Tucuman http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-Week-6-12-10

DBL Yellow Head http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-Week-6-20-10

Vinacea Amazon http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?190410-NEW-!-*Amazon-of-the-Week-7-17-10*&p=202676Spanish Amazon, Amazona Hispanolian http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...na-Hispanolian

Red-Browed Amazon http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...e-week-2-13-10

Yellow-Shouldered Amazon http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...uldered-Amazon

Blue-Cheeked Amazon http://www.greyforums.net/forums/sho...Cheeked-Amazon

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A report by Meghan Bartels for Newsweek.

When Hurricane Irma started barreling toward Puerto Rico, people across the island launched into their storm preparations. Edwin Muniz and Tom White were among them, but they had a somewhat different plan for dealing with the storm than most, seeing as they also had to ensure the safety of a bunch of bright-green individuals covered in feathers. That’s because their jobs involve protecting 230 endangered Puerto Rican parrots.

The species, which has been protected for five decades, is the only parrot found on U.S. soil. Native residents nicknamed the foot-tall, red-foreheaded birds iguaca because of their chattiness. Muniz, a field supervisor at the Caribbean Ecological Services Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), called the parrot “an icon” of the island.

By the late 1960s, however, it was in trouble, mostly because of habitat loss due to agriculture and road-building.

So the FWS began tending to the birds, which now make up three wild populations and two captive populations—including the parrots Muniz and White needed to get through Hurricane Irma’s wrath at the aviary in El Yunque National Forest, in the northeast corner of the island.

Captive populations are a conservation tool because they produce birds to be released into the wild, and their success rates are higher than those of wild populations. “The captive population is a critical and integral component of our overall species recovery program,” said White, an FWS parrot biologist who has worked on the island for 18 years.

Tending to the captive populations isn’t the only way the FWS is helping the Puerto Rican parrot. The birds don’t build nests; instead, they lay their eggs in the hollow cavities of trees. In order to encourage reproduction, conservationists mount artificial cavities in forests to give the parrots more property listings. They also take in wild chicks that are sick or orphaned and raise them.

Hurricanes have always been a threat to Puerto Rico, and the parrots are in no way immune to them. In fact, Hurricane Hugo in 1989 killed nearly half the wild population—25 of what was then just 47 birds. There isn’t much scientists can do to protect the wild parrots, but it’s a different story for the captive populations.

Not every hurricane merits a response, Muniz says, but his team keeps an eye on National Hurricane Center forecasts and then decides what risk each storm poses. If it looks like a storm will be a real threat, they’re ready to respond. “We always prepare. We have several protocols that we have to put in place,” Muniz said. A similar procedure takes place at a second aviary, run by Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, which is home to 175 more of the birds.

For Hurricane Irma, it was clear the parrots would need to be protected. That meant gathering all 230 of them into the so-called hurricane room, a process that takes at least a few hours and sometimes half a day. “Our staff has been trained—they’ve done this many times,” Muniz said.

The hurricane room is a concrete space large enough to hold all the parrots in suspended cages. The building’s hurricane shutters are lowered.

The entire aviary, which was constructed in 2007, was built to withstand hurricane-force winds and is equipped with a backup diesel generator. But the parrots can’t stay there by themselves, so White and his wife, who also works for the FWS, moved into the aviary with them.

Both had experienced serious hurricanes before. “We were prepared. We knew that given the size of the hurricane, and given the damage that we anticipated to the forest and the roads, we anticipated we would be there for several days,” White said. “We were confident that the building would hold up, that we would be fine.”

During the storm, the pair was responsible for making sure the birds stayed safe and healthy. The parrots didn’t make very courteous roommates to the biologists bunked down next door, however. “You do not need an alarm clock when 230 parrots start squawking as soon as the sun comes up,” said White. “You will wake up: There’s no sleeping in under those circumstances.”

Morning parrot duties include changing their food and water bowls and hosing off the floor of the hurricane room to clear away their droppings. It’s also important to keep an eye on the birds throughout the day. “Sometimes, when they’re in a confined space, some of them get stressed out, some of them may start fighting,” said White, adding that since the birds can sense barometric pressure, “I’m sure that the parrots knew instinctively that there was a storm coming.”

The pair of scientists arrived at the aviary on Wednesday morning; Irma hit in the late afternoon and evening. Their colleagues couldn’t reach them until midday Monday because of downed trees blocking the roads.

Since Hurricane Irma hit, scientists have been able to get a first look at how the wild population fared in El Yunque National Forest, outside the aviary but in the same neighborhood. (A larger wild population in Rio Abajo, on the west side of the island, is also being monitored after Irma.) Surveys before the storm hit found about 50 birds in the area, according to Muniz, and scientists were able to reach the site by Tuesday.

The area is fairly mountainous, so it was well protected from the winds and received little damage. While the parrots were initially scattered by the storm, White said, “now those birds have started to regroup and all come back together, so we’re optimistic that the wild population will pull through this quite well.”