Acappella

Dorian and I have started sitting on the front porch for fresh air again now that the weather permits it. This week we had a couple of really cute moments with kids. The first one was with a little boy about 5 yrs old and his caretakers. He's got some obvious developmental delays, and I don't think he really walks. They bring him around in a stroller. I called out to them as they were passing by and asked if they thought he would like to see a parrot. They said yes, so I took Dorian down to the sidewalk. The little boy, Maverick, was fascinated, especially when Dorian started making noises. He would make a noise and Maverick would let out a big belly laugh and point, which would make Dorian vocalize more . . . They had a good 5 minute visit before they moved on. Then a couple of days later my neighbour asked if his 10 yr old son could come over for a visit. Kevin only has Mason every other week. He's met Dorian before, but when he was very young, so probably didn't remember it. Mason was full of questions. He was just a babe in arms when I moved here. Now he's a very active boy's boy. Hates school, loves hockey, and is a real animal lover. All in all we had a lovely visit. Maybe when he's a little bit older I can train him to look after Dorian in emergencies. When he was leaving he told me he'd be back to visit again if he saw I had Dorian with me. He's obviously just tolerating the grown up human to get birdy access, but that's ok with me lol.

My best friend's parents just went into a nursing home. Since their house has been sold, he now stays with me when he comes up to visit them. Dorian hates him. He (Dorian) likes to wander around the floor in the morning shredding boxes. Jeff is a late sleeper. The first thing Jeff says when he comes out of the guest room is "Where's the bird?" As soon as Dorian hears his voice he comes out, usually from under my secretary, all fluffed up and mean looking, and heads straight for Jeff's feet. I have to run interference pretty darn fast. Jeff says this is why we'll never be roommates again. Dorian is a deal breaker. I wish my angel was better behaved with other people, but in truth, I find the way he heads straight for Jeff kinda funny. Jeff is going to be coming up on a regular basis, so maybe Dorian will get used to him. Not holding my breath though.

Beautiful birds Charlie Parker.

I guess it's possible. He's never really changed his behaviour in the spring before, but they're always full of surprises, aren't they.

Catalogues are getting harder to find, everything has gone online. I hope you manage to keep him supplied lol.

He's a mystery wrapped in an enigma lol.

Nope, nothing like that. I have a privacy fence in the backyard that blocks anything like that.

It's weird. If anything it's gotten quieter because the neighbour in back of me and their yappy dogs have moved away. I can think of literally nothing that has changed. He's got a nightlight. The drapes take care of any other light. I mean, it's a little brighter in there at bedtime simply because it's lighter outside and the drapes don't obscure 100% of the daylight, but that's never caused this in previous years.

He doesn't have a cover over his cage. He has his own room with room darkening drapes which has always been sufficient in the past.

So Dorian has always been very quiet at night, but for the past 5 weeks or so he’s been more active. I'm hearing talking, whistles, bell ringing etc . . . through the night. Should I be concerned that he's not getting his sleep? He's not napping during the day, so he’s not showing any signs of being sleep deprived. Nothing has changed in his room or in my nighttime activity/noise levels. Are your birds active during the night?

Gee, y'think? Lol

My dad used to stand at the top of the basement stairs and yell "Marguerite, Hey, Margreet, Hey!!!" Dad's been gone 10 years now, but every great while I still get to hear his voice yell my name.

I had to leave overnight 3 weeks ago and got my neighbour to put Dorian to bed and wake him up. Well, the little bugger bit her but good. She said she couldn't believe how fast he was. I thought I'd lost my pet sitter for good, but she's a good friend 'cause she says she'll still watch him in an emergency. I don't think there are any long term vacations in my future though lol.

Please don't eat your birdie. Besides, there's less meat on those bones than on a grocery store bbq chicken. Not really worth heating up the oven for.

Sorry I only saw this now. Welcome to the forum, and thank you for taking in this grey. There's so much good info here. Have a good look around. And like the others said, we love pictures.

Another Dorian-ism. He loves strutting around my kitchen counters throwing stuff over the edge. He usually says "oops" as the item hits the floor.

I stopped visiting here when my Dad was palliative and I was his full time caregiver, then it took me literally years to recover because of my own health struggles. I was so afraid you guys wouldn't be here when I typed in the web address, but so happy when you were. Missing some old familiar faces, but maybe, like me, they'll be back someday.

A bigger concern than trying to catch him is trying to out run him when he's in a mood and chasing my feet to take a bite lol.

Once I was in the garage refinishing the kitchen cabinet doors. My dad came out and said "there you are!" I said "yeah, I've been out here all afternoon". He said "well, I've been talking to you for the last half hour!". He'd hit the wrong button on the remote and turned the tv to snow, and needed me to fix it. Thinking I was in the basement, he went to the top of the stairs and yelled for me. He heard me say "Comin' upstairs", so he went back to the living room to wait. This scene apparently repeated itself 2 more times, until he heard the sander turn on in the garage, and he realized he'd been talking to Dorian!

Dorian has done this to me as well. I've gotten up on the stepladder and taken the battery out, only to have the sound persist. Little bugger. Must be laughing it up at mommy.

Time has passed, and he now walks around the place like he owns it, carpet be damned. He has a weird obsession with getting into the bathroom, and I often find myself racing him to close the door while he's making a run for it. Keeping me on my toes lol.

I'd say your mental picture is pretty accurate lol. Don't forget, he got a full walnut out of this experience too. Banner day in his world. Mine as well, but not in a good way.

Dorian's groomer has a cockatoo that did a similar thing. She now tapes the boxes to the kitchen counter so she can't work her way over the edge. Thankfully, she wasn't hurt either. Gave her mom a scare though.

Dorian is obsessed with chewing on plastic. He's constantly finding something I haven't seen before putting him down, and racing to get to it. A couple of days before NYE I'd put him down on the counter while I did the dishes. I turned my back on him for a few seconds, and when I turned around he'd gotten to a clear plastic bag that had some chocolate rosettes in it. The chocolate was old (it just hadn't made it to the garbage yet) and he'd chewed a hole in the bag and powdered some of the chocolate. I snatched him away from it, put him on his playstand, and cleaned up the little bit of chocolate he'd gotten to. He immediately took a drink of water and a big poop. Then I got on google and asked "is chocolate toxic to parrots?" The first two words I saw were "potentially fatal". That, of course, got my heart racing. First, I tried to phone his groomer because she's had parrots for decades and I trust her, but of course she wasn't home. Then I tried our vet, but they were closed for the holidays. Then I called the nearest emergency vet, but they didn't have any avian vets in over the holidays. I finally got through to a practice an hour and a half away. They gave me the phone # for a pet poison control line in the States. By now, 45 minutes has gone by, and Dorian is perfectly fine, sitting and beak grinding, but my adrenaline was in high drive. I quickly gave them my credit card info, while they consulted with their vets, after giving them his weight, and the amount of chocolate he'd ingested. They finally told me that I was fine monitoring at home, and what to look out for, like unusually green and watery poops, and lack of appetite. I hung up, and immediately offered him a walnut, which he inhaled, and after about another hour I started to relax. I felt like such a bad mommy. I also found out I'd pay whatever I needed to for someone to tell me he'd be ok. I still don't know how much it will be in Canadian $'s, but I figure minimum $150. I don't really like chocolate anymore, which is why it was on it's way to the garbage, but after this experience I'll never have it in the house again!