tatee

Thank you all for the feedback and support. I will have to do all those things you all suggested. So far she is a very quiet bird and only makes noise when we put her away and prepare to leave the house. She is out a lot in the daytime and will not make a peep after I put her in her cage at night. Am I just not seeing her "true colors" yet?:unsure: As for the classroom I will keep you all posted in the "about me" of my profile. Thanks again for the advise.

Well like I said, I do live in Alaska....so finding things like a harness have proven to be a bit harder than you would think. Tomorrow I will go into "the city" and see if one of the bigger pet stores has one. Oh and she likes to stay up late with us and if I say "night-night" she starts to perform. Last night she would give me a kiss everytime I said "kisses?"!!! This is so different than I ever expected it would be to have a bird!!!

My kids, 8,6 and 5 will be in the same classroom this year (they are in a family charter school). I will most likely be in the classroom with them a majority of the time as a parent helper. What are all your thoughts on taking her to the classroom with me? I want to keep her socialized and the kids to learn about this wonderful bird. Thanks, Lisa

Actually I think I will start a new thread title "Taking a TAG to the classroom?" See waht everyone thinks? Thank you, Lisa

My gosh, you all make me want to give you all a big hug,:blush: thanks for the support. I really feel like a fish out of water here and am not used to that feeling.:unsure: Are there little weighted wrist bands or clipping different that will help? I am so afraid that she maight learn to bolt for the door, my kids are always in and out. Also what do you think about taking her to their classroom when school starts up? I want all the kids to see how great she is and keep her well socialized. Thanks!! Oh that is the picture of her just after she "adopted" my dad!! Lisa

I really do not want to sound cocky, but I think, with your advise, I have stopped her from the shoulder sitting. She will not even try anymore, after just less than a day of "teaching" her. She has gotten up there since then, but will come right down when I tell her to. I just worry that since I have little kids and they all hold her as much as I do, that something could happen to them. I think consistancy between caregivers is a must with kids so apply it to the bird, right? Thank you so much for the advise, I will update my "about me" in the profile if anyone is interested in our "unique" situation. Lisa

WOW!!! You are all so great!! Well I had a very bad scare yesterday (day two of her stay). I brought her with us to the park and had her in a cat carrier. She was content and lots of people (kids too) were saying their hellos. After about 2 hours I let her out to hold her, I KNOW THAT WAS SO STUPID!!!! But we had her wings clipped so I thought she couldn't fly, well she could. She flew out and landed on a VERY tall tree across the street from the park, I kept calm and called her and she kinda flew back but then out again over the park and circled up high. She flew really far away and then back agin almost to me. At the last second she landed in a small tree next to me and my 8 year old daughter climed it to pull down her branch. I think she was so tired that she didn't even try to move when I got her around her wings. My girls were in tears, and so was I!!!!! That's crazy to me, we have only had her 48 hours!! She is home now safe and sound and I learned a very good lesson, clipped wings does not mean no flight. Not that I will do that again, but is there something else I should do with her? How do I get her to come to my hand when I call her? On the brighter side of my parenting skills she no longer shoulder sits!!! I did what you all said and she now stays on my hands or forearm!!!! She has tried a few more times to get up there but when she does make it she lets me take her right down. Since all the sites say they are like a 2 year old when it comes to emotions, I do not want to have too much faith in my new parenting. All my three kids were 2 year olds and all really, really well behaved, but each had some sort of tantrum at some point so I don't want to take the risk. I also let my kids hold her as much as Alook allows them and don't want them to take that risk. I think consistancy between caretakers is most important. So far no one has come looking and I am getting more and more scared there will be that call. Selfish right? I mean she must have been really loved and cared for to be such a great bird.....We are all just getting so attached. I named her Alook (ae-look) after my fathers Eskimo name, since she came to him. It actually means "go home" since he has such a great sense of humor and the elders named him that as a joke. (We are white people and moved to a tiny eskimo village whe I was a baby.) Giving a humorous name is one of the best compliments you can get from an elder. So I think it is appropriate in more way than one way. Thank you all again for your help and I look forward to talking more to everyone. By the way I am Lisa.

Well, she was hanging around in our yard and cicrled my Dad a few times before landing on his head. I have called everyone in the neighbourhood and all the shelters in the area. I have been told by lots of people (including the vet I took her to today) that running an add will only get lots of fakes trying to get a free bird. There really are no distingishing marks on her. She is very gentle, she has only done this very light "grab" on our fingers and is actually kinda snuggly? I have learned a lot just last night and today about feeding, care, interaction and had her looked at by the vet. She is skinny but otherwise looks healthy and in good spirits. She is not pulling out her feathers and will let us pet her everywhere. She lets my 3 kids hold her (ages 8,6 and 5) and loves to sit on our shoulders. Which I just learned from your site can be very dangerous. So now I have to figure out how to get her to stop that. Her eyes are a pale yellow, which means maturity right? But the vet doesn't think she is too old cause she is so nice. So I need to know how to get her to stop the shoulder sitting and how to "bond" with her and keep her comfy with the whole family. I also want to look into games to play with her, common hazards around the house, if I should let her stay out with us when we are home, what to look for if she gets "sad" or something, how to pet her? How to read her body language? Well this should be enough for now, I am also going to keep researching online. Thank you all for your time and assistance.

So this TAG just adopted us yesterday and I have NEVER owned a bird. I am researching frantically but this kinda scares me. She is SUPER gentle, so far, but LOVES our shoulders. How do I make her stop?

I have never had a bird, but live in Alaska, so when she came to us we had to take her in. I am looking for an owner but am told it most likely will be without result. So any info would be great, if anyone needs to know more about her I am happy to share.