danmcq

You and your grey have my prayers. I hope you see a change for the better today, even if it is just the slightest for the better. I can only imagine the anxiety you must be experiencing. Please keep us updated on how he is doing.

Ok, the honeymoon is over. Your Grey as most will be on "Best behavior" in a strange new environment and people. She put up with you for the last week, now thats done and she's letting you know she does have a space limit, mind of her own and she will decide when she wants up close interaction. They can become hormonal during breeding season, but I doubt that is what's going on with your grey. She is fully mature at 8 years old and set in her ways. It does not sound like she had a very good life up to this point. Now you are going to have to spend a lot of time and patience with lots of love to show her she has respect and understanding of her needing her space. She truly sounds like a wonderful grey that just needs to trust this new home and flock. By chasing her, it ramps up her adrenaline and also the level of aggression she will take to get her point across. Anytime time you basically chase a bird around to try and have your way with it, you are going to get bit. This is even true of "Love Muffins" that have been raised in a very loving home. So just hang in there, slow down and know that her initial fear and honeymoon is over. Now meet the "Real" Abby. :-)

GreYt video of her attacking those hoops. I loved the little victory dance at the end. :-) Thanks for sharing this.

Ok, I guess I owe you all an explanation for why I have not written further here. Some of you have asked "When" a new chapter will be written in some of my newest posts with videos. I have had to stop and really think about this. I have been reflecting on when it will be time that Dayo will need to go to a new home I hope in decades, not years. I must say Dayo and our experience is not the "Norm". I have not brought him up through the past 2 and a half years to be "Housed" with a new flock. I say this, because reflecting on how he was brought up, with the generous liberties, routines, expectations, freedom and flightedness. That I MAY have made it nearly impossible for him to find a home that would give him the same freedoms, attention, going to bed (cage) rituals, morning wake up rituals, playing games one on one, giving foods like we do, many rooms arranged to include the "birds" with T-Stands, hanging playing gyms etc. so they can have a space of their own when sitting with us in various rooms. After reading several books over the years on "Training" a parrot or other bird when young to be a "Good Birdy" in a humans home. I have failed. We live together like a flock of equals. Not a home where every thing revolves around our being comfortable and caging the birds when we tire of them. Like 95 percent of homes treat parrots and other birds. The people on this forum are a unique group of people that take caring for all critters as a serious relationship and pretty much live "With" their critters. Not the norm of people just having "Pets" they want to interact with briefly then put them out or in a cage. I have broken MANY rules of making Dayo a "Pet" that could reside in a higher percentage of "Human" homes. My only hope is, when the time comes, someone on this forum will take him or we will find a Parrot lover that will give him all and maybe even more freedom and love than we have. I worry about him just as if he were one of my own Son's. Which in reality, I do view him as such. At this point, I would not trust either of my Sons to treat Dayo as we do. They would not like things possibly getting pooped on, chewed on etc. and cage time would become a norm. This is even though they love him dearly and interact with him when they and family come and visit. Visiting someone is completely different than having them live with you twenty-four - seven. I will continue to write this journal - book, but I need to really get down how I am going to thread in comments about this upbringing NOT being the norm.<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2010/01/02 01:04

Dave - Your absolutely right regarding whether they ever utter a word or not. They are loved just like any other critter, whether they speak or not. Also, they definitely do like to chatter to themselves all day long with no reason other than to hear themselves talk and practice. There are those times though, that they are 100 percent focused on a person, critter and requesting something or stating something that just took place or is taking place in the correct context. At that point, they are not mimicking, they are using a "Sound" correctly for the "Thing" they wish to communicate. I believe the article I posted was specifically discussing "Parrotese" in the sense of a birds "Natural" language though. I hope I didn't offend you using a term you used or coined that I had never heard before. Thus the research to see if anything existed web wide on that word. :-)

LOL - You scared the hell out of me at first when I read theh text message! Nice technique by your Daughter. :-) Thanks for sharing this GreYt photo.

If it was still an active "Blood Feather" it would have started bleeding the minute it was broken. He is "Ok". A blood feather looks like this. You can see the blood in it:

It is in the ball park for a small CAG. They can actually be as low as 395 according to the charts composed by experts in the field. The good thing, is now you have a base liine to watch now. :-)

I can just picture Chocko dancing till the sun rises. :-) Thanks for sharing this.

Abby will take care of that feather. Birds are the feather experts. :-) The only time this would not apply, is it were a blood feather bleeding.

It would be nice to visit there and observe. :-) I think the most import information to gleen from this, is the climate. Temperature - ranges from 90 daytime down to mid 60s in morning. Humidity - Ranges from near 100 percent in morning down to 60 percent in afternoon. Rain - Many months at 10 inches!! They live in a very warm, wet and humid climate. :-) Thus the need for a humidifier in the home or room they are in and constant showers and mistings. :-)<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2010/01/01 18:06

It is a good organization and link Jay. Thanks for sharing it. I am a member and have the DVD as well. They do very important work in conserving greys and other parrots as well as rehabilitating previous wold caught greys by poachers illegally.

I thought some here may find the climate data for the Congo area a good reference on temperatures, rainfall and humidity. The best overall time to visit is probably June-September. (Avoid the rainy season, October-May.) Since the country is located on the Equator, the climate is fairly consistent year round the average day temperature is a humid 75 F/24 C, with nights generally in the 60s F/16-21 C.

That was a good "2p" Steve. I have whistled to Dayo since the day he came home at 16 weeks old. The only down side I see to it, is it makes him louder at times than a grey that had not been whistled to, perhaps. It did not seem to slow down his speech whatsoever, unless not really starting to talk until a year old is considered "Slow". Now, at 2 years 8 months old, he picks up a new word or phrase in 2 days flat and uses it in the correct context. I agree also, that the peculiar contact call each of our Greys use for us, is the call that we will hear and respond to if or when they ever fly away. I can hear Dayos contact outside when the house is closed and 50 feet away. I can not hear any "Speech" even if I am standing a foot from the window and can see his beak moving but hear only silence. :-)

Please stop treating your bird with best guess medicines. I know your intentions and actions are warranted. But, they could actually be making him worse. The others have given the best advice. I don't know how far the closest avian vet is, but you need to get your grey to one immediately for the tests necessary to diagnose what the problem is for correct treatment. Time is of the essence.<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2010/01/01 13:57

I thought everyone venturing to this room would truly appreciate the wealth of information at this site: http://www.freeparrots.net/parrots/index.html

Congratulations Mareee!! I am looking forward to hearing the entire story and the good news that you have him in his new home. :-)

Uh, well the uh book is coming right along..... Dayo must have writers block to his latest obsession.....

GreYt tip Acappella!! I noticed when running water in the sink that Dayo will become more "Interested" in water. An electronic device to do that is a good idea. :-) Karma!!

Wonderful photos of your very cute and clever Yoshi! Thanks for sharing these. :-)

Since Dave mentioned "Parrotese". I started looking for any articles or research that had bee done on the calls of Parrots in the wild. This article is VERY interesting: Hamburg, Aug 1 (DPA) In a discovery that is likely to rekindle the debate about language in the animal kingdom, researchers in Germany have found that some parrots appear to give their offspring individual names. Animal behavioral scientists at the University of Hamburg say that parrots use a distinctive call for each of their chicks, with no two chicks being given the same 'name' call. The small South American parrots also apparently have name calls for their mates. 'The birds very definitely use a particular call exclusively with a particular bird and never for any other bird,' says Rolf Wanker, head of the Hamburg University Zoological Institute's behavioural research laboratory. 'What is not yet clear, however, is whether these calls can be equated with what we would call names such as Hans or Fritz or whether they could be more generic labels such as 'my baby' or 'my mate',' he adds. The studies were inspired by observations in the spectacled parrotlet's natural habitat in Colombia. There, researchers noted that individual parrots seemed to respond to specific calls that other parrots in the same flock ignored. 'A mother bird had the uncanny ability to utter a cry that would result in her chick returning to the nest immediately amid the cacophony of the other parrots all around,' Wanker recalls. 'It was obvious that the baby knew it was being called,' he says. At the laboratory here, studies showed that these name equivalents are fractional cries lasting between 90 and 120 milliseconds. The cry is distinctive enough to provide acoustic clues as to the identity of the individual uttering the call and also to the identity of the intended recipient bird. 'A mother bird uses a different call for her baby from the one she uses for her mate, and they respond with calls that correspondent to her identity,' he says. Similar findings have been achieved with certain primates and with dolphins. Many years ago, British TV science producer David Attenborough showed that macaque monkeys use distinctive alarm calls to alert other monkeys to danger. Macaques will use one call to identify a panther, thus telling other monkeys to climb up a tree. But they will use a different call to identify a python, thus ensuring that all the monkeys climb down a tree that has a snake lurking in its branches. Other studies have determined that birds develop regional 'accents' and 'dialects' depending on their location. Sparrows in the eastern US are known to have subtly different chirps from their cousins on the west coast. The German findings are the first involving parrots. The spectacled parrotlet is among the smallest parrots, only slightly larger than budgerigars. The bright green birds with a distinctive yellow ring around their eyes live in eastern Panama and northern Colombia. In the study, parent birds and their chicks were placed in separate cages within earshot of each other but out of view of each other. The birds' calls to each other were recorded and later played back to the individual birds to ascertain their response. The findings demonstrated that each bird used name-specific calls. Wanker shies away from calling this labelling behaviour any form of language, noting that it has yet to be proved conclusively whether humans are the only animals capable of abstract linguistic structures. 'Parrots are unique among avians,' he says. 'They are the primates of the avian world and are very highly developed creatures with complex social systems and prodigious cognitive skills.'

Short video of Dayo doing his CrAZy War Dance, before flying off to destroy and pillage.......His toys......I hope.

Congratulations on your Grey feeling comfortable enough to speak. :-) Most times no reward is needed, other than what they are asking for. Namely saying "Hello" is either a greeting or letting you know they would like your attention. Sometimes however, they will just run down a list of words and sounds to hear themselves speak and calibrate. Good treats they mostly love, are grapes, apples, pine nuts (as Luvparrots mentioned) almonds, walnuts etc.

LOL! It was actually hung from a chain in his cage until about 6 months ago. I would stuff it with almonds and other goodies. He loved foraging to get them out. Then one day it was on the bottom of the cage as it had been chewed off the chain. We watch him have big fun playing with it and thus just let him keep it as a foot-body toy he loves to pounce on and attack. :-) Since he is flighted. Many times he will have it up on the wine rack, flip upside down after beating it severely, then let go and start falling, let the bong dash itself on the floor as he swoops up satisfied that he just put another "Whoopin" on it. I do not think however, that he roll off the cage door in his moment of exitement. Again though, being flighted made it a "Non-Event". :-)

They do need more practice for words that we use our lips to pronounce clearly with P's, B's and M's. However, Greys have muscles controlling the air flow for vocalization that we do not have and thus can precisely duplicate all sounds we can make. They will practice and calibrate until they are mimicking us precisely, including our lazy letters and speech. My Grey can say all letters very clear in words like Poop, Put, Pea,aPPle, Mommy, My, Boy,Ball, Bean, Banana etc. I can not count the number of words or even phrases that he says and in correct context any longer, I quit after around 180.<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2009/12/31 17:24