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So sorry you've had family member losses Karen -- that always makes the holidays harder. But so glad Timber is still doing okay. Wishing everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving! (Yes, even those across the pond who don't celebrate it -- eat something delicious for tea Katrina (and share whatever is appropriate with Alfie -- he'd probably love our pumpkin pie and candied sweet potatoes here - Snickers always did!) I'm up late tonight, just managed a shower while my green bean casserole cools enough to go in the fridge and mixed up a watergate salad (will mix in nuts tomorrow just before serving). Sister is doing the turkey and other sides this year. Mom is 81, Dad turns 91 in 2 weeks. A lot to be grateful for.

Odie had a vet appointment a few days ago. Still awaiting blood work results. The vet agreed with the ruptured air sacs. She said it doesn't seem to be affecting his breathing at all so she's just going to leave it be. He got his photo taken with the vet. He has settled in really well. He's about as naughty as can be. Loves to secretly get into stuff and seems to love getting caught. I used to feel bad for him that he would always say "Odie you're a bad bird" but after watching him he seems to relish getting caught being naughty. He ripped up some carpet next to my wood stove. He also snuck onto a table where I was doing a puzzle and dismantled 3/4 of the puzzle. When he got caught doing that he let out a human giggle and ran back to his cage top. Hard to be mad at this little guy, so he gets away with murder. Now we strategically place things on the table that he can get into and we will ignore him for a while and then pretend to make a huge deal when he gets 'caught'. He loves it. He really excels at talking. A couple examples: - Greycie was being her usual bratty self and throwing stuff around on the countertop in the kitchen as she does when she's had it with waiting on breakfast. I started talking to her and saying "...you hungry Greycie? Are you hungry baby?". Odie then said "you got some food Daddy?". I nearly fell on the floor. I've never witnessed a bird speak in such context. First he interpreted what I was telling Greycie. Then he strung that sentence together. And I assume he used to call my aunt's husband 'Daddy'. He's not a bird that sits around talking constantly. He just blurts out words and statements and most of the time they are in perfect context to what we are saying. He's a very smart birdy. - I put him in his travel cage and I pull him around on top of a wagon. He works with me in the garden and mostly under the carport working on truck/side-by-side/whatever I got going at the time. I am always playing my Soundboks listening to classic rock or classic country. Odie love to sing in a deep voice and also he uses a high pitched baby-talk voice that I'm sure he stole from my wife. One day it was getting a little hot and I said to Odie "it's getting hot Odie" and he immediately countered with "I Know!". Another fall over moment. Some recent pics of the little nut

I find myself praying that he outlives me (I'm 68) because I don't know how I'd deal with his loss. Yes, but how will he deal with your loss.. that to me is much harder as he will never understand where you went...:( That to me breaks my heart

My sincere condolences, You have been thru a world of emotions, ups & downs with him I can only imagine. What a sad beginning he had, but you loved him into the wonder he was. Thank you for coming back here for our support in this terrible time. God Bless you & I pray for healing.

My heart goes out to you. I never understood the connection that could develop between myself and an angry and terrified African Grey until I took Timber from someone wanting to rehome him because he wasn't "adjusting." The bond is indescribable unless you've experienced it. I find myself praying that he outlives me (I'm 68) because I don't know how I'd deal with his loss. I have no words, but my heart bleeds for you. God bless.

Oh, too kind, I’m not an owner, just a rescuer of fine antiquities LOL As Talon said, it would be almost a crime to let so much knowledge be erased. You guys are the owners. I just try and keep it running. Thank you all for years of knowledge and experiences put in one place. When I found this place it was basically one file database surrounded by bad infected code. I just cleaned it up. You also helped me save Mr. Grumpy bird from the other side of the planet in the badlands. It’s all you guys. Thanks. 🙏

Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Yes it is scary how time flies. Especially when you are watching it in your children or your pets! I'm not fond of watching it in the mirror

I'm a bit late to the party but Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it! Appreciate the shoutout! Alfie is as spoiled as always. He's currently sitting behind me munching on his dinner whilst I catch up on a few things on the computer. Alfie will be 23 in April 2026. Scary how quickly time flies!

Happy Thanksgiving to you, too, Timbersmom! So happy to hear that Timber is doing well! That is something to be most thankful for!

You probably had a cookie or bookmark. In an attempt to foil this bot, I moved the site and put in an auto forward to https://greyforums.org/ip31 If you had a cookie in the browser, it wouldn’t pick up the auto forward. I have high hopes that this is resolved. I thank everyone for their patience. It’s been quite the time.

Huey and Greycie both copied an annoying high-pitched shriek from my caique. Now they have shriek battles to see who can do it the most and the loudest. The only solace I have is the new guy, Odie, tells them to 'stop it' and 'shut up'. I'm wondering if they would go good with tiki masala sauce.

This makes me thankful that I only have one grey to worry about. He loves anything loud and obnoxious. He has this ear piercing squeak that he saves for when I'm walking next to his cage and it's so painful when he does it. I try so hard not to react so as to not enforce it... but he knows full well that he's got me every time. I can't imagine three of them making the same noise! As least you don't have this problem: Swearing parrots moved enclosures to help stop their bad language - BBC Newsround

I went back to the Think Parrots Show again this year! This year I decided to break the driving up and stayed in a hotel for two nights, as it meant less stressing about timings and traffic etc. So I drove down on the Saturday and came back the Monday. The hotel was about 2 mins away from the venue and the show was on the Sunday. This meant I could enjoy the show and not have to worry about driving back or leaving early etc. It took about 2.5 hours to get there and about 4.5 hours to get home (traffic on the M25 was atrocious!) I took Alfie with me and this is the first time he's stayed in a hotel. I wasn't sure how he would react but as usual, he took everything in his stride and had a lovely time! I stocked up on all sorts of toys and treats for him which should hopefully last a while. Here's some photos of our adventure! Hotel with Alfie in his travel cage/wagon: Alfie exploring the hotel: Waiting to get in Inside! We saw lots of other parrots and watched all three masterclasses on various topics. There were loads of vendors there selling all sorts of parrot related goodies. It was a great day. Alfie wasn't too worried and enjoyed all the fuss and attention he got- except when people tried to poke their fingers in his cage (why do people do that?!). I warned them but then he gave them an extra stern warning by lunging at them if they didn't get out of the way quick enough! There was also a free flight display - which wasn't quite as well organised last year. Last year there was one guy with lots of different parrots and he intoduced them all, talked about them for a while and demonstrated them free flying. This year it was a group of people with lots of macaws who let the bird free fly but didn't really talk much. It was impressive to watch them all flocking together but then it went a bit wrong when some seagulls took an interest. One landed on top of a large sign and refused to come back, one got chased into a tree and hunkered down to get away from the seagulls, one ended up on the venue roof and wandered off. All of the goodies! Back at the hotel. Alfie was really tired after his busy day so didn't get into too much mischief in the room on the Sunday evening. He just chilled out and had a nice snooze! All packed up and ready for home The haul! One tired birdy, back home and safe

Wow, Alfie really had a nice haul there. I hope someone turned down his bed while he was staying in such nice accommodations. Something about dragging them around in their wagons that really appeals to me.

What a cool thing to do bringing Alfie along with you! Thank you for sharing all your pics with us. Alfie is one spoiled birdie!

He is top naughty. After my last post he got another spot in our carpet so he's now on no out-of-cage time unless he's being closely watched. Greycie's not this destructive. She just likes to toss stuff off the counters, run around on the floor and ankle bite for fun and take an occasional chomp out of the top of a door or cabinet. So she gets watched closely too. Huey is indifferent, doesn't really care. Odie however would love to start a fight, he thinks he's a brawler. Btw...we still play the same games on top of the fridge with Greycie, she loves it.

My Nilah will be 15 years old next month. She does not like to be filmed as you can see by the end, but I managed to get her anyways. Just wanted to share, she can be such a love, but also a brat at times..but we go with the flow in my house! She gets the upmost respect from us all when her moods arise..LOL 20230316_175111.mp4

Thank you guys. My friends understand to the extent that they're all animal lovers who have experienced their own losses. They know my attachment to my critters. They know about Phenix' odyssey. Some were his fans. If admittedly from a distance which was best for all concerned. None of them have had any birds though. I think to them it's kind of like I've had a long term relationship with a bad tempered albeit fascinating interstellar alien. The long-term thing is very hard now though. Too many rituals & reminders accrued. So the sting of this won't be going away for that much longer. In the meanwhile it helps to think of him playing with his dogs. He really did love them. He called for Wolf in particular for a surprisingly long time after he was gone. I have a picture of them all together now & no holds barred. I wished this on myself because I was afraid of what would happen if Phenix went to another home. He would have had to find a safe place to land -and- be sufficiently adjusted to keep from slipping back into the abyss. There was no way to control such a big ask. So I'd preferred to have spared him if I couldn't protect him.

I just have the one- Alfie who is 22 years old- he'll be 23 in April 2026. I've had him since he was 11 weeks old. I have thought about adding another parrot over the years but don't have the time and space needed if they don't get on with each other.

I got Timber (TAG) in 2012. He was "thought to be" 6 or 7 when I took him. I'm not sure how many previous homes he was in, but at least two. So, based on assumptions, he would be about 20 now.

It definitely keeps me busy, but I have a good routine in place. I have my morning coffee while chopping up their fresh veggies. It's my time to mentally plan my day. In the evening is when everyone gets let out of their cages. They're all flighted, so I decided to make evenings their time to get out and fly/exercise. I have 10 fids. Like you, I stress over what will happen to them once my time is up on this earth. My family are not into birds, so I'll likely find homes for them if my health goes south. If I go suddenly, then I have a notebook of wishes,etc.

I have a young flock: Gizmo and Niko: dusky conures, age 13. Gizmo was my very first bird, and we got Niko a month later to keep her company Harley: Panama amazon, age 12 Maalik (12), Fynn (7), and Sydney (19)-all CAGS Shaylor-miligold macaw (11) Dexter-scarlet macaw (9) Teak-lesser Jardine's (11) Chloe-meyers (9)

Merry Christmas to all my bird loving friends from Timber and his family/staff here. I hope you all have a joyous Christmas season and a prosperous New Year!

Merry Christmas to all & a Very Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas to everyone here!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends here from Timber and myself. It's been a hard year with the passing of a couple of very close family members, but there is much to be grateful for. Timber had his annual checkup at the avian vet and everything looked good. His meds are controlling his seizures, and his weight is stable. Wishing you and years a blessed Thanksgiving and a joyous upcoming Christmas season!

Timber will be 20 soon also, at least if we were given the right age when we got him (6). I really have little in confidence in that, not really knowing how many previous owners he had. I just go with it though since it's all we have. We celebrate his hatchday on July 4, since we don't know that either.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Sorry to hear of your losses Karen. It is always harder during the holidays as we miss those who we have lost. It is great to hear from everyone here! Glad to know I am not the only one checking in! Bless everyone here & especially their babies! @ of my greys turned 20 years old this year! I cant believe it, I got them both when they were very young..seems like yesterday!

Ok, some of you were here and saw what was posted earlier, and well it got hacked again because of no security patches. This had to be paid, and I asked for some help paying it. I did get a small donation. Im just tired of this and was going to keep my good backup and keep rolling it back, but that would be stupid, anything you took time to post would be lost. And I am tired of cleaning the mess up so I just paid the $199. I Hope that gets us over the hump as the updated software has a patch in it. Im sure Talon will appreciate not having to look at red warning flags everytime she logs on. I know no one is made of money as you can see that gives us another year of life. I would appreciate it if folks could chip in $5 or $10 here and there over the next year. Ill keep a running total. If you don’t have to do it all at once, it isn’t too bad. So thats it. Next time, ill probably let it go.

Ok, they hit again last night. SO, assuming this is a bot, and were on a list, I am going to move the site to https://greyforums.org/ipb/ I am going to put in an auto forwarder so anyone arriving here will automatically be forwarded to the new link address. If your browser holds the cookie it may not auto forward till the cookie clears. Were getting closer. I now know it happens between 0130 hours and 0200. I also know that the database is not being attacked, because as you can see we have not lost any data. I also can restore the site in a few seconds by replacing the index.php file and removing the underlying word press infrustructure it uses. Moving the admin directory did not help so again assuming it's a bot/list setup, moving the site link might do the trick. If that doesnt work what is left is one of the plugins has some malicious code in it or it is a user here flying under the radar. We continue on LOL !!! Thanks for your patience.

Thanks Kevin, I noticed it last week, but didnt have a way to email you. I have been checking in daily, so Thank you for getting us up & running again. My apologies for all the problems.

This crazy waffle box girls turns 20 years old today!! We got her flown from Florida to Massachusetts via Delta all by herself at 4 months old :/...anyways she did great & it is really hard to believe it has been 20 years. She is the reason I joined this site 20 years ago. Without her, I probably wouldn't be here. This is our family no matter what..even if it is only a small few of us.

Happy birthday !

Ok, got tagged again. Someone is using SQL injection to change the index.php. So I have taken some extra precautions to protect it. It could also be the chatbox plugin, so I changed the version. If I catch it soon enough, we wont loose as much. I am not in here everyday, that's just the way it is. If someone that is in here everyday please email me when it goes south, I can get on it immediately. Im also going to look into a service that will alert me when it happens. I have one other IPB site running with no issues. if someone could email me at support@blackopshosting.com when you see an issue I would appreciate it. Thanks and sorry for the issues.

Awww....what a cutie in her waffle box. Happy birthday baby Talon and promise I wouldn't dare stick my hand in that box and expect to get it back in one piece. We have a spooky birthday coming up here soon as well. Somebirdy here will be turning 13...a teenager!

Happy hatch day!

Happy Hatch Day, Talon! I bet she was hoping to find a real waffle inside!

WOW 2 days, that security patch is holding. Sweet.

I'll take the smoke alarm sound any day over having 3 parrots making long, sustained belching sounds, one after the other, as if they'd just downed a tall frothy mug of beer!

Haha! Oh, that's so funny! Would love to have a match off with your two. The worst sound mine have picked up is my son's prolonged burping noise following with back and forth shrieking matches. I need me an Odie to help referee!

Oh, I am so jealous! That looks super cool! Alfie seemed to enjoy it. I am someone who can't stand to see parrots outside loose like that. I don't care if they have Clipped wings ( which I am very much against) IT scares me to see..Thanks for sharing, I loved the pictures! Looks like so much fun!

Wow, wish there was something like that in my area! There isn't to my knowledge. It looks like you got a nice haul of stuff too. We used to have a "bird fair" about 1.5 hours away I went to ever year. Not as large, but I could pick up all kinds of goodies. It has disappeared though. Glad Alfie did OK in the hotel. I've always thought Timber would be OK as long as we were there with him. He's pretty adaptable if he can see his "people." To locations anyway, toys not so much He still takes take warming up to any new toy or cage addition. Glad you had a good time and enjoyed the pictures. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for the update! So has he pushed Greycie into the second place naughtiness category? One of my all time favorite videos from many years ago is when you and your family were playing games while Greycie was on top of the refridgerator. She was so full of sass and enjoying every minute of attention! What does Hughie think of his new 'friend'?

Wow, you started this in December, and there are 3 different reply’s. I hate social media. LOL. But I’ll go with it. 😃 I have Sukei. I think everyone that has posted knows Sukei’s story. He is a Middle East refugee African Grey. I’m guessing he is about 13 now. He was about 8 months old when I got him. He is still a bird living out on the Lam. (Fish and Wildlife say his import papers were not correct when he arrived at JFK for quarantine.) So one day we’re going to have to go to court and get that straight. When I retire in 5 years we are going to do so in the Philippines and I’ll need proper documents to get him out of the country. They used to be real big into bird smuggling. But it’s a long ridiculous story. They got all there money. Anyway he has become grumpy in his old age and likes to bite as some of you have heard the stories and seen the pictures lol. I let him out and some days are ok. Other days we play the bite game. (See if I can keep from getting bit) LOL I’ve got quite good at it. I work from home so he isn’t lonely that’s for sure. I hope a few more people post, there are a few I see that log in, but haven’t posted.

It was a quiet weekend. I thank you neoow. It’s been nice to have some support. With our license being up to date now, looks like the Invision Power Board version 5 software is now available to us at no extra cost. The site has been through some interesting software changes over the years, yet somehow the database has always remained in decent shape. With the many changes and conversions, the database has areas that are in two different formats as far as the tables are concerned. To take advantage of all the new options version 5 has to offer, the tables will have to be brought into alignment throughout the entire board, going back to day 1. Depending on the continued interest, I may go ahead and do that. It is a time intensive process. Anyway thanks to everyone that has pitched in to help. It is VERY appreciated and not gone unnoticed.

Have just sent some money via paypal. Might end up being an odd amount because of currency exchange! Thanks for all you do to keep the lights on here. I still visit regularly even if I don't have much to talk about.

Why is it that when one of my CAGS learns to make an extremely obnoxious sound that the other 2 decide to adopt it as well, creating an annoying ongoing chorus? And why don't they share the more pleasant sounds amongst them?

I was his chauffeur, his maid and his cook. No change from normal really. 🤣 I do have a backpack carrier for him as well, but that only has one perch in it and the food/water bowls are fixed in with velcro, so he normally rips them off and chucks them to the bottom of the carrier, leaving me with water running down my back! It also only has one perch in it and I was worried about him being knocked around if I used that at the show. His travel cage is obviously a lot sturdier (but also heavier) so the wagon makes it easier for us to get around at that kind of event. Plus it has space for all the goodies I bought whilst there, so there was less for me to carry! And it also means I can chat to people as they come over to see him, whereas with the backpack they'd always be behind me. And again, Alfie being the boisterous little so and so that he is, it didn't take long for him to adjust to it at all. He's less keen when we had to go over grass or bumpy areas but once we were on concrete or inside the building where the flooring was smooth, he was fine and settled really quickly.