Inara

HRH Inara is just not one for scritches and much touching to begin with. She is way too much of a busy body (we call her Gladys Kravitz). She loves perching on my upper arm so that she can look into my eyes while we chat. She does love to have her toes massaged (who doesn't?!!) and she loves beak rubs and preening my hair. She also shows 'gurge love to both myself and my Joe without any touching, just when she is feeling very content and happy to see one of us. Loved reading about your Timmy playing and saying, "Gonna Getcha!" adorable!

bwhahaha -- loved it!

Yes! HRH Inara is the love of my life, but I gotta tell ya notsomuch at 6:15 a.m. in the winter! I am a nightbird and my two parrots of my past (r.i.p. a 'zon and CAG) both were quiet in the mornings until I would get up. When HRH wakes up, *everybody* wakes up! So I drag myself up, greet her cheerful, "Good morning," with a smile and equally cheerful reply even though I don't feel like it, and we start the day. Other times, when I am sick or exhausted, same thing. However, after having spent a combined 30 years living with parrots, I am fine letting her entertain herself on those times/days after her needs are taken care of, i.e. breakfast, cage cleaned, fresh water and food, and some play time out of her cage after breakfast. Then, it is back home for her on those days with the door shut on her cage. She eventually will stop calling and will entertain herself and then snooze. It's fine because she gets tons of attention and out of cage time normally. It is good for her to know how to self entertain and self comfort for the times when life is out of its normal routine. It is OK to want to tune out the world, and that includes your feathered buddy at times (once their needs are taken care of).

She just makes my heart melt every time! ❤️

Ray, they really do help keep us centered, don't they. I just can't imagine the depth of your loss and I am so glad that you and Corky have each other as you both learn to navigate these new skies together. HRH came to me about a year after the death of my sister. Having her to focus on helped bring me slowly back to the surface. It is so good to have you back. You were one of the first people to make me feel at home here those several years ago. <3 Neoow, thank you. HRH's language usage still blows me away too. I feel that she landed here with me during a perfect "sweet spot," neurologically age-wise for language development in addition to having the personality for it. Sometimes I have to admit that I am a bit envious of those who have snuggle birds or more physically interactive birds. She is such a busybody and while she enjoys perching upon us, is not one to be touched -- much like The Queen! :D SRS, I just adore GreycieMae! My Joe loves to watch videos of the two of you and we both are a bit wistful at times at how gregarious and interactive Greycie is with you. She is such a character and so fun loving!

Good morning, forum family! Just got back from Ireland, and *this* year, HRH and Joe (or Joes as she calls him) survived even better than last year. I love that after all this time, she and Joe have bonded so closely. My big trip last year as well as having been followed with a lot of out of town trips in order to help care for an aging relative put them both in the position to have to just deal. Best thing ever. She now loves dividing her time between the two of us. She was always friendly toward Joe, but now has a very true bond with him. She can't wait for him to come home from work each night, and will start flock calling for him at about 5:15-ish PM. ("If I Only Had A Brain" is her flock call for him 😆). Once he is home, she likes to sit with him while he has supper then she goes with him downstairs and perches on the exercise bike for an hour while he does his workout. After that, she's ready for lights out. In the mornings, she has breakfast with me, then enjoys one of her perches while I have cofffee. She then demands that we do "Exwork!" (aka exercise --- dancing to Walk Like An Egyptian) and refuses to allow me to slack off. Some days she walks back over to her cage and just hangs out there all day, others she wants to be wherever I am during the day. Whenever she decides to use a new word, she uses it incessantly for a week or two and this past week it has been "great," and/or "great-great" for emphasis! Examples: "I need a great cookie." "That's great." "That is a great tree out there." "Oh great." "You are a great great girl." "Get the birdy a great great cookie, with cheese!" (It cracks me up when she refers to herself as The Birdy.) She has such a "great great" grasp of language, but more importantly she has such a great great understanding of her place in our flock of the three of us, and how loved, respected, and safe she is. It just makes me well up with tender emotions when I see her excitement when Joe walks in the door, or when he and I are in another room and we hear the whir of her wings or the tap tap of her little feet as she comes to find us. My heart melts when I am busy and her little munchkin voice pipes up with, "Hey Sweetie? I sure love you." I think of how fortunate we are to have found one another, and all of the great great things I have learned from her over the years: 1) Always make sure that whomever is giving you food takes a bite first, just to be on the safe side. 2) Always make sure that everyone has plenty to eat by taking a few bites, then waiting until they take a few bites. Sharing is good. 3) Sleep and rest when things are quiet so that you have energy to be busy later. 4) Take time to call out to those you love and let them know you love them. 5) Keep one eye on the weather. 6) Greet each day for the brand new day it is -- with a cheery "Good morning." 7) Mischief makes life interesting. 8 ) A good shower never hurt anyone. 9) Spend time daily with each member of your flock. 10) Always ask for cheese, you never know when someone might just give it to you. Have a greyt greyt day, friends and fam! xoxox Jane and HRH Inara

HRH Inara Sugar Bear (she calls me Tickle Bear, so I started calling her Sugar Bear in reply) Sweetiebird Booboo

Inara? Her Royal Highness. Brilliant, funny, sweet, and empathetic.

Happy 9 years from me and HRH Inara ❤️

These photos say it all, and melt my heart. ❤️

It is heartbreaking to contemplate, and devastating to see. My first Grey, Lestat, was a huge wild caught Congo that I rescued in the 70s. He was in terrible shape. As he healed he became such a majestic bird and I loved hearing him make the native sounds from his homeland. I always contemplated what his life in the wild was like and how traumatizing and confusing it had to be for him to wind up living indoors where he was further abused and neglected. When the two of us got together, I expected nothing from him and just wanted him to heal and live the rest of his life in peace. As much as I have loved my feathered companions (r.i.p.) and my current HRH Inara, I would prefer a world where parrots remain free to roam the skies and we curtail the breeding and selling of these remarkable creatures. Thank you for posting this as a reminder to us all that as long as there is the desire, there will be those unscrupulous lot that capitalize on it. PS: thank you for all you do here. Managing a website can be such a thankless job.

Looks very cool, and is great to see Alfie so interested.

@huginn so nice to know that your birdie is doing well, and is likely just copying your head tics. They do love us so much and learn from us and I think it is sweet as all get out that your Grey wanted to be like you.

I would suggest that you read the "Bird Food" forum here. Lots of great information all the way around complete with a list of what never to feed your birdies.

Oh that Huey is quite the Casanova! What a sweetie he is (well, to the ladies at least). HRH Inara hates to miss a "meeting." Whenever Joe and I are together in another room, it's not long before we here her wings flap or her little feet on the wood floors, making her way to the "meeting" and no doubt a bit miffed that she did not get the memo!

Great set up and wonderful that these two greybies are happy flock mates!

Congratulations on getting baby Ira! I have never had two Greys together, but did for many many years have a rescued wild caught Amazon, who came into my already there cockatiel's home. Samuri, the 'tiel lived in his cage, and Elliot the 'zon lived on a real tree branch in the house because he was terrified of cages. Samuri used to love to fly over to Elliot's tree and just hang out with him. Both stayed affectionate to me, and they more than tolerated each other. Eventually, when I moved from my large, victorian home to a smaller condo, I made a large cage that they shared. They got along famously. If Samuri bugged Elliot too much, Elliot would just hold up a foot and if that didn't work, he would push Samuri off the branch and that was that. I think it was successful because they lived together for several years before they were caged together. When my wild caught rescued CAG whom I named Lestat because he was more active at night, came into the picture, Samuri had passed away and it was just Elliot. Elliot and Lestat basically ignored each other, and by that time I was in a different home and Elliot was back to his tree and Lestat had his own cage. Both were affectionate to me. I think as with all things, it all depends on how *you* socialize them and react. If you are nonchalant and don't make a big fuss over things, just be matter of fact, then they take a lot of cues from you. Personalities, gender, and timing all are unique though, and so the long and short of it is that you just never know. . . In Germany now, if you have one you are required by law to have two, so that they have a companion of their own species, which I think is terrific. For me, I have always been about giving my birds a good home for them not for me. If none of them ever were affectionate towards me, that would have been fine. I just wanted them and want HRH to have a good, peaceful life since they did not volunteer to have it spent in captivity. Just my thoughts, not being judgy about anyone else :)

You are doing such an excellent job of reinforcing Alfie's positive interactions with the harness. All those baby steps chain together into something wonderful. Your patience is spot on and Alfie is doing great. Short sessions ending on a successful note are definitely the way to go. Exciting!

@judygram Dave forgot more about birds that most of us will ever know, for sure. When I think of him, I imagine him soaring the skies in whatever form his spirit is in now, watching over our flock. ❤️

@SRSeedBurners GreycieMae is such a character!! I can just picture Huey trying to keep her at bay. Yes, cheese appears to be some kind of magical potion to them. I cannot talk, I am also a cheese lover. LOL

HRH Inara's favorite treat in the whole world is a bit of cheese. She only gets it when she is in her home with the door shut, hence her always either scurrying really fast to get back into her cage at the end of the day, or her grabbing onto my shirt and scurrying further up my shoulder as I take her home and saying, "cheese," if she has not seen me get it prior to taking her home. Yesterday morning she was out on her tree, and cheese apparently came into her mind. She was saying to herself, "I like cheese. Cheese cookies." Then she hollered to me while I was in the kitchen cooking oatmeal, "Get the birdy a cheese." I hollered back, "I am cooking oatmeal. Do you want to share some oaties?" She replied, "With cheese?" 😂 She's currently perched on one of her perches in here with me as I type, just contentedly preening away. It won't be long though before she slides down the perch pole and walks over to her home to putter around for awhile. She waits for me to clean it, change her waters, and put fresh dry food and fresh fruit and veg of the day before she heads home. Our beloved dog, and her friend, Dezi died two years ago in April, and so now we have an open cage door policy during the day when I am home. Prior to that, I would only have her out and about if I was in the room with her and Dez. Every once in awhile when she hears the bells on the door ring she will say, "Dezi?" Tugs at my heart. Our fids are so smart, sensitive, funny, witty, pranksters, tyrants, and lovebirds. Sometimes when I look at her my heart just feels like it will burst with all of the love and amazement it holds towards her. Have a peaceful Memorial Day, our US friends. Today, here, I think of our Dave aka Dr. Flock, KittyKittyKitty, and others whom have passed from our Grey Family and send up silent thanks for having been so dedicated to helping others see the wonder in our beautiful fids. xoxo Jane and Inara

Fantastic news! So happy your sweet Jambin is back to herself! ❤️

Oh gosh. Sounds like the initial treatment has helped get her up to a certain level of health and now these followup treatments will let's hope knock out the remaining issues. So glad that she is doing her little happy head twist and looking more bright eyed. Fingers Xd that this does the trick! ❤️

Very peculiar, indeed. I agree that Alfie is likely going through some phase. Much like @SRSeedBurners 's Huey, HRH Inara is a busy bee who loves to chat with me all day long, but has never been one for scritches and cuddles. She does looooove to perch on my Joe while he is in his chair reading. She will perch on him for a couple of hours just contentedly hanging out with him. Me? The instant she alights upon me, she begins with the orders: "Get a cookie, go back to the tree, let's get a carrot, get the cheese," etc. I am definitely her chief cook and dishwasher, although I do get a lot of, "Hey Sweetie? I do love you." so no complaints in that department :)

Just checking in to see how Alfie is doing and if the aggression has settled down? xoxo