Cosmos_Friend

Cosmo has picked up quite a few things from T.V. and radio. Parrots will imitate anything that interests them coming from their environment, especially Greys!

The evening of October 29th, 2012 began the worst 8 days Cosmo and I have ever experienced thus far. This date marks the east-coast landfall of hurricane Sandy. The wind and rain were tremendous as it battered the apartment building, windows shook with every gust, increasing with intensity. I was comforted by the fact that my parrot, cat and I had enough food to wear the storm through...not knowing the horrors that would stretch for over a week. At around 10 PM, the power went out as the storm gained in strength throughout the night. I thought that my picture window in my living room was going to be blown in as wind and debris battered against it. Cosmo was as quite in his covered cage as he always is as my cat, Sylvester cowered next to the cage. The next morning found utter devastation to the surrounding area, with fallen trees blocking every flooded road, homes with their roofs half torn off and our community stranded. Cosmo woke up in the usual way, ringing one of his bells and calling out "Hello". He wasn't any worse for wear as was I and I proceeded to make up his and the cat's food for the day. The temperature was not too bad outside, so the apartment was warm and through the day and into the night it remained that way. Three days now had passed and still no power. The temperature was dropping as the dim days turned into dark nights. By this time, the temperature in the apartment would drop to nearly 35 degrees by early morning so I started to cover Cosmo's cage at night with the quilted comforter from my bed, as an added cover to his cage. By day four, I had run out of non-perishable food and what was in the refrigerator had long gone sour. There were no stores open due to damage and the power outage, so I had to just tough it out until things improved, at ease only in the fact my pets had plenty. Over the next four days the nights grew colder, with Cosmo shivering in his cage both in fear and cold. I spent the evenings with the front of his cage uncovered and a flashlight on him because he would whimper and growl; I stroked the back of his neck and repeatedly said to him, "It's OK, shhhh". I periodically would well up in tears, thinking of the fact that I'm going to lose my best friend. The early evening of November 7th after an 8+ day blackout, power was restored after the diligent hard work of the over 100 utility workers that came to our area to restore power. There were 1,000 utility workers deployed throughout New Jersey coming from all over the country to help out JCP&L (Central Jersey Power & Light). You can imagine the relief I felt as the lights went on, cranking the heat as high as it could go to warm up my frigid apartment. By the grace of God, Cosmo survived, not even catching a cold which is a miracle. We made it through and were comparatively lucky as there are many in NJ and NY who are still gravely affected by Sandy's wrath. ~Rick

When I leave the room or the apartment, Cosmo doesn't scream, he'll imitate the burglar alarm or smoke alarm! I'll call out to him, "OK, I'll be right out", or "I'll be right back". I don't necessarily come out to him, by me calling back to him just reassures that I'm not abandoning him. ~Rick

I agree with not trimming Paco's wings. There has been good suggestions given so far... ~Rick

What the hell!!! I signed too. ~Rick

This is disturbing! I've read that Greys are also captured for their tail feathers. ~Rick

Wow! ~Rick

Hi Deltadawn, Yes, some pictures please. Are you the original owner of your flock? ~Rick

Watch out with those glasses!!! Cosmo pulled mine off my face one day and snapped my glasses in half in a matter of a second. I wear bifocals so gluing them back together wasn't an option, I had to get new glasses. Also, remove any jewelry before handling Inara (Especially earrings, ouch!). ~Rick

Cosmo will make a "Flip" noise at times throughout the night. He does this at times during the day too. He'll quickly slap his wings which make that quick "flip" noise. He seems to do this when he's relaxing. He'll also scratch a few times as well. Like Ray said, give him time to adjust. ~Rick

I like to hear when someone who's caring adopts a Grey. Keep us posted on his (and your) progress. ~Rick

I know how hard it is getting over a mistake with your Grey, she'll come back around to her old self. Like you said, "The people who will be watching her are really awesome with her so I feel very good about leaving her with them. She will be in good hands in my absents. " You just take care of yourself and get well soon. ~Rick

I know! I ended up giving the hut to a friend for their parrot because Cosmo had no use for it anymore.

I too have been very interested in a Grey's level of intelligence. I like what Sarasota said in one post, "I can't help but wonder if our own birds are frustrated by our limited ability to read their signals and body language, and thwarted by their inability to use full human language with us to communicate!" I often get that "feel" myself with Cosmo. I'd like to reiterate something that I included in one of my posts a while back. A couple of years ago, I bought Cosmo a foraging toy called "Tiki Takeout" It was a small plastic hut that came with wooden dowels of different diameters. The front of the hut was open for you to put a treat inside. On the bottom of the hut was a "secret" door that was secured by a dime screw. After placing the treat in the hut, you'd slide 4 wooden dowels through holes that were accessible by removing the "secret" door and were held in place by the door when it was reattached and screwed down. The idea was, your parrot would see the treat through the dowels, and begin gnawing through them to eventually get to the treat. I set this up in the kitchen, out of Cosmo's sight (and not for any particular reason except that's where my change was for me to get a dime to open the bottom door). I hung the toy in his cage, Cosmo went cautiously and looked it over. He then began to chew on one of the dowels then suddenly stopped. He looked at the hut up and down, front and back and side to side, then he grabbed it and flipped it over. He looked at the bottom of the hut for a few seconds, then took his beak and turned the dime screw, unlocking the "secret" door. He let go of the hut, now right-side up and the dowels and treat fell to the bottom of his cage... he climbed down to retrieve the treat and that was the end the "gnawing through dowels" concept! It took him no more than 2 minutes to figure out that the treat (which was a shelled walnut) had to be put in there somehow. Hard to believe but true! I try not to equate a Greys intelligence to a humans, however I think they have an intelligence that we'll probably never fully understand. ~Rick

That's a good idea about the journal, sort of like "The life and times of Cosmo". ~Rick

Hi Carrie and welcome to grey forums. There's a lot of experience here that will help you and Baby have a happy and captivating life together. Please post some pictures, when you get a chance. Greywings is right, you don't have to clip Baby's wings. Greys are excellent indoor flyers. However, if you do decide to continue to clip it's wings, my suggestion would be take baby to an avian specialist to do it. Greys have a protruding breast bone that is vulnerable to fracture if they belly-land while trying to fly. Most Grey owners don't clip, but if they do, the wing clipping is just so that when they do attempt to fly, they can make a more controlled landing instead of just flopping on the floor. ~Rick

I too welcome you, William and George. Thanks for joining us at grey forums. This will be a great asset for you and yours now and in the future. ~Rick

I'm having a bad time posting videos too. I saw the vid you posted and it's a riot!!! Doesn't sound like the typical frightened growl, it sounds more like Misty is imitating something heard. See if you can figure out where Misty got that from. PS You know what that sound reminds me of? When I was very young, my Dad would catch me in the "the tickle trap", where he would put his face into my belly and go, "Raow-Raow-Raow". ~Rick

Thanks for reading my posts. Yeah, it's funny when Cosmo asks "Are you OK?" He does that anytime he senses that I'm having a bad day, besides the vocally expressed, "Riiiiick, Jesus Christ are you OK?!!" when I think aloud. What he'll also do, if he happens to be out of the cage at the time when he asks if I'm ok, he'll lift one of his feet to hold my finger and he'll say, "Awe, it's OK". This is one example that convinces me that a Grey has cognitive abilities far greater than what the avian researchers say. There have been many moments where Cosmo exhibited a deep understanding that far exceeds what we commonly "know" about their mental capacities. I've heard Greys referred to as "Nature's little secrets", whoever coined that description knew what they were talking about.

BailyesPapa, Thanks for the post. I have two foraging toys that help Cosmo's instinctual interest, one is a Ferris Wheel swing where you stick treats into slots in the wheel and the other is a rubber ball that has holes in it to stick treats into. I'll also put a treat into each of 4 small colored plastic boxes that have a sliding lid that opens from the top. I have these amongst his other foot-toys at the bottom of his cage.

As some of you fellow grey forum members know I've owned my male CAG, Cosmo, since he was 13 weeks old; he's now 6 years old. He's my first African Grey and the only bird in the flock in my home. That being said, I'd like to share with you the things that I do that has built a strong-trusting bond between myself and my feathered friend. Don't forget that every Grey is different, with different temperaments, likes and dislikes so what you're about to read is what works for my Grey and me. For us, it happened quite quickly, within the first year or so. This is not to say that you'll have the same experience with your Grey however, why not? Greys are very intelligent in reasoning skills, which brings about an advanced emotional level much like are own. Our typical morning starts out with uncovering his cage with a happy, playful "Good morning, Cosmo!" "Who's my good boy?" I turn off his moon light he has on during the night, so as to give him some comfort while his cage is covered and not in complete darkness, then turn on his UVA-UVB light. I then feed my cat, Sylvester his food and fresh water while I talk to both of them about the "daily menu for today". **(I include both Sylvester and Cosmo equally in any activity) It's then Cosmo's turn to get his "Daily menu" and as I prepare it in the kitchen, I call out to him something like, "And on todays menu we have your favorite seed mix with some RoudyBush, snap peas, apply fruits..." **get the idea? I turn on the T.V. and comment jokingly about some of the T.V. shows we watch together, like "Hey Cosmo, it's the Andy Griffith Show!" (or anything that happens to be on) I'll repeat the announcers words, "Starring Ron Howard and Don Knotts..." I'll then make and eat my breakfast along with him as he starts to eat his food. He gets his morning out-of-the-cage time, where I'll sit with him for a bit, singing silly, made-up songs that he enjoys hearing, like our "Outside Song". We'll both look outside the picture window in the living room and I'll sing..."Everybody walkin' by they wave hello they wave goodbye, at 'Da Cosmo who's lookin' outside". I believe that singing to your parrot, including their name in the song demonstrates a kind-loving nature about yourself they will pick up on. It's almost nap time now for Cosmo as he let's me know, "Rick..tired, take a nap. Time to take a nap, OKaaa?", so back in the cage he goes. Most of the time he'll nap off and on for about a half hour, sometimes not, but it's **the constant interaction we have that I believe has built our relationship so strong. In the late afternoon, he gets his out-of-the-cage time again. Cosmo loves to fly around the living room and land on various perches he has set for him throughout the apartment. Studies have shown that parrots who don't have their wings clipped are healthier both in body and spirit than ones that have their wings clipped. This is just one study I've read, however it makes sense because flying is their main source of moving from place to place, so long as it's environment is safe and they become accustomed to indoor flying. I often act goofy with him, both with funny songs and silly things about the cat like when I'm eating, Sylvester will beg for some of my food, and I'll say to Cosmo, "Cosmo, Sylvester wants to eat my lunch!" I'll go on to say "You know what Sylvester said? He said, Gimme your sandwich! He's crazy!" Cosmo in turn will act goofy with me by bobbing his head while making funny noises. We even have an inside joke about Sylvester's litter box, we call it his "poop box". After the cat uses the litter box, either myself or Cosmo will say, "Sylvester went poop in the poop box, wheeew, stinky!" As I pass by the cage, I'll often stop to scratch the back of his neck, we call this "Birdy head lovins'". These are just some of the things that has culminated a sweetheart of a Grey, who's fully vocal and extremely loving! I have no trouble handling him, whether it's trimming his beak or his claws, taking him away from him something that he's about to get his beak into that's off limits, helping him extract the occasional down feather that gets stuck in his nostril or just playing with him, I'm reasonably confident that he won't bite me. I have to caution new Grey owners that you do have to take the handling part slowly as to gain trust between each other. However, if you fill your Greys day with fun, laughter and positive-attention, the transition to gaining trust will become mutual. ~Rick

How about - 8. Does poop make a good adhesive as it dries? ~Rick

Keri, Oh yes, they can be little "poop machines". Usually when a parrot is sick, their poops are not just runny, it will squirt out of them like water with almost no consistency. ~Rick

Cosmo will imitate the smoke alarm and burglar alarm just as load as they are when I ether leave the room, or as I go out. I too, will call to him, "Be right there" if I leave the room, or "I'll be right back" when I go out. This will settle him down a bit. I get concerned sometimes, because I live in an apartment, that he might disturb the neighbors, but that hasn't happened yet.