Mistyparrot

It could be that in the wild the nearest thing to feeding from a bowl is when they are ground foraging. They use their feet to scratch around to turn up interesting bits. A lot of their natural food is found hanging in trees so i now hang fruits, vegetables and sweet corn from branches in his tree perch. I use thick cotton cord threaded through the food item and hang them so they depend from six to twelve inches. He enjoys hauling them up using his beak pull up and his feet to hold a loop in the cord until he can grab the bounty. He will have a go at food that he would otherwise ignore or throw on the floor. This is him on Youtube just after he taught himself the trick At other times when we share a meal I will put his share on a small plate. When he has had his fill he will try to tip the plate up or drag it down to fall on the floor. One thing about Greys, for all their intelligence they have absolutely no manners ! Steve n Misty<br><br>Post edited by: Mistyparrot, at: 2008/10/26 20:28

You play Country and Western to your Grey !? How cruel is that!! :ohmy: Steve n Misty<br><br>Post edited by: Mistyparrot, at: 2008/10/26 01:59

Yup. Misty also used to do the exact same thing! The thing that surprised me was he seemed to be repeating almost complete phone calls that he could only have heard once! But he has not done it since I changed my phone company !! A coincidence??? My bills were sometimes higher than I expected! Now when I make a call he has an uncanny knack of knowing when I am about to end the call by saying "Bye Bye" just before I finish. Steve n Misty

Could this be a molt? Misty went through this twice in two years in November 2005. He was between two and three at the time. I came to him one morning and found heaps of white downy feathers and chest and back feathers on the cage floor. I never actually saw him plucking. It went on for a few days until all he had on his chest and back was white under down. All feathers had grown back by about three months. He was still clipped at the time but I don't think that was relevant. Much the same thing happened almost a year later and again they all came back in about three to four months. He now has beautiful plumage and all his flights. He preens normally and looks as beautiful as any Grey can. My goodness they are such classy looking birds. Hopefully yours is just going through a heavy molt but it would be a good idea to speak to an avian vet who knows about parrots to ensure there are no underlying causes due to diet or infestation. Steve n Misty

I think it is a bad idea if you want your grey to develop word association. Greys find many sounds in their environment intriguing and will often mimic them but they are also very good at associating sounds and words with actions and objects. Having a grey simply mimicking words is a waste of their potential in my opinion. Learning word and sound association is a skill that will develop with encouragement. Misty has learned to use many words and sounds to communicate his desires and reactions to me. Some of his labels are idiosyncratic such as using the sound of water as well as the word "Water" to indicate his observation of water although he only uses "Water" if he wants me to actually give him a drink. For some reason I can only guess he uses "Stoppit" or "Stopwhat" when he wants to share food I am eating or preparing. He lables most fruit as "Orange" or "Want orange". If he wants a neck "skritch" he says "Yourallright" or "Tickle tickle". If I move my hand to his head for a tickle and he is not in the mood he responds with a sharp finger clicking sound and moves his head away. In the morning if I am late in letting him out he says "Come out" or "Can I come out". He will use that any time I cage him if it is not bed time! If I cage him for misbehavior its " Be good boy...can I come out" I never cage him for more than a few minutes except for his own safety otherwise he is free to fly in the house. He lets me know it is bed time by saying "Bed time" or "Bedtime Misty" or "Bed time baby". When he flies he often says "Fly fly". He recognizes that when I put on my out door shoes or pick up my coat or keys that I am about to go out with " Got to go out" When I leave the room to go and close the door I can hear him say "Bye bye" or "See you later" or "Won't be long" I don't believe that playing with a toy like that described would be of any use in that kind of development and might even be counterproductive. I did not have to spend hours training Misty to learn all that. It's more a question of being consistent with him in how I speak to him and behave towards him. He picks up most of it himself. I simply offer him positive reinforcement. We also enjoy whistling tunes to each other where I copy back to him his phrases. In particular he has a contact call that I repeat back to him he then makes a subtle change to it and I repeat that back. He looks at me and is clearly expecting a response from me. It's a two way street. We need to learn their "Language" if we expect them to learn ours. They are so much more than just mimics. Steve n Misty

The only time Misty used to make the "phone noise" was when I was out of his room (our living room) and he was calling for attention.He has a signature contact call that he prefers to use. I will respond to that by whistling the same call back. It can become a bit of a duet but I enjoy that. My guess is your bird is simply calling for attention. Greys quickly learn that humans will quickly go to a ringing phone or bleeping microwave so they will use the sound to call as well. My guess is your bird is in his cage most of the time and is bored. He is used to human company at close quarters. Do you know how his previous keeper looked after him? Were they closely bonded ? If he has other signature calls that are more acceptable such as a whistled phrase make a point of always responding to that. Never go to him when he rings his phone. He will learn that it will not get the result he wants. How does he get on with your other bird? Steve n Misty

My goodness! Thank you for the heads up Mrs Pyatt. I hope Vitakraft take note of your letter. They must realize that a metal staple would cause serious injury to a parrot. One of Mistys favorite toys is a rolled up newspaper or old magazine suspended by a cord from his perching tree. I always make sure to remove any staples. Steve n Misty

Great looking bird you have there. Steve n Misty

The only time my GAG Misty ever flew into things or landed badly was when he was clipped. Luckily he never hurt himself but I know of parrots that have been badly injured in landing accidents because they tried to fly with clipped wings. The harder the clip the greater the likelihood of a flying accident. A gentler clip is pointless as it won't stop a bird from trying to fly but it could still lead to harmful situations. Misty is now fully flighted and a total joy to live with. He has become very skilled as a flyer and has never flown into anything or had a bad landing. It is his natural way of getting around the house we share. His cage is only for sleeping or emergency accommodation. He has fruit tree branches arranged for his play , chewing and perching area. I string apples,sweet corn,carrots etc from branches and he knows how to pull these up so he can snack on them. I am delighted if he chooses to fly to me on the couch. I take sensible precautions to protect against small "presents". Being able to fly is a huge part of being a parrot. To me clipping is like blinding an artist or gagging a singer. I loath the idea of a parrot being forced to live most of its life in a cage or on a perch suppressing the instinctive urge to fly for fear of injury . I am sure you love your birds but please remember they are birds and if we want to have them as companions then we have to make efforts to better suit their natural needs. My 2 c Steve n Misty

That's great news Tycos_mom .{Feel-good-00020114} After Misty regained his flights I helped him by launching towards his cage top with the words "fly" so now often when he goes for "circuits and bumps" around the room hr cries "Fly Misty" ! Steve n Misty<br><br>Post edited by: Mistyparrot, at: 2008/10/16 03:38

It's a lovely story Animalspirit and great pictures. But I don't like the wing clipping part. My Misty flies free in my house but if he ever broke anything I would never punish him by clipping him. I realize you don't mean it as punishment but that is what it is. If you are going to advise people on parrots please find ways of showing how to cope with flighted parrots rather than mutilating them for convenience. Clipped parrots are not safer than flighted parrots. Sorry to be so preachy about this but I feel strongly about this topic. Steve n Misty {Nature-00020095}

Please be careful with parrots and toilets. My niece lost her Senegal to drowning in a toilet. Steve n Misty

My Misty considers everything I own is his. If it is of interest to me then he has to put his beak in. The more I try to keep a thing from him the more interesting it is for him! Its just the way he is and although it can be a pain at times I would worry more if he lost interest. Steve n Misty

I agree with almost every thing Tycos-mom has said except please don't clip his wings !! It is a horrible practice and it can cause severe problems for most parrots as well as Greys. If he has been clipped then let his flight feathers grow back although it will take a few months. His whole body design is for the purpose of flying. He needs to be allowed to fly in the room at least. Greys need lots of patience and company and attention. They are flock animals so they have a need for company. As he is about one year old he is primed to have a close companion so you are in a good position to be his best friend. Greys are not normally exclusive in their friendships but they will have preferred friends. As long as he gets to meet other people and he has not been teased he will be fine. They have long memories so if he has been mistreated by people he will be less easy to socialize. It maybe best to change his food when he is out of his cage. He may regard it as a sanctuary and your hand reaching in could disturb him. All the things that you describe your parrot doing are quite normal. The posture with his wings and his panting is normal. All greys will do it. It may be a kind of bonding signal. Grey parrots like to eat in company so if you eat with him and share your food he will get closer to you. By the way, NEVER give avocados or chocolate to your Grey as they are very poisonous to most parrots. Keep his cage clean. If he gets to spend most of his time out of the cage he may well wait to defecate when he comes out. Especially in the morning. Be prepared for this ! If his cage is big enough you could put a heavy bowl with an inch of water inside for him to bath in. It will make a mess and he will try to tip it up so be prepared to clean up ! If you can please send us some pictures. Steve n Misty

As an episode of Family Guy series 3 episode 13 demonstrated beards can make excellent nesting sites for birds. Steve n Misty<br><br>Post edited by: Mistyparrot, at: 2008/10/08 15:09

I paid £350 for Misty complete with a good size cage. He was two years old. In reality he is of course priceless and I would no more sell him on than I would my children. Steve n Misty<br><br>Post edited by: Mistyparrot, at: 2008/10/04 16:02

I read Parrots Magazine. Lots of very good articles on all kinds of parrots but they have good articles on Greys as well. Check the web site for back issues. http://www.parrotmag.com/ Steve n Misty

Surely it should be called "A Parrots Beak of Rights" Steve n Misty

she wrote: I do the same with Misty. I love the way he looks at me when he is waiting for my reply. I also think it encourages him to learn new words and phrases from me. Nevertheless he is much better at using human speech than I am at using parrot talk Steve n Misty

danmcq wrote: I am quite certain Misty would freak if he saw me dressed as a condor!! :woohoo: Steve n Misty

I seem to remember that conservationists used a similar technique to raise condor chicks for return to the wild in order to reduce the risk of their imprinting on humans.

I explain to any new visitor that I will introduce them to Misty. We go to Misty's room and I say for example "Misty this is John". Then they are to say to me "Hello Steve" then "Hello Misty" And I say "Hello John", "hello Misty". This way Misty will learn that persons name and if they become a frequent visitor he will often remember them by name. Either way he accepts that the visitor is to be tolerated. Of course I also tell them not to try to touch Misty or make sudden movements toward him. I explain that if he is offended or spooked he can give a severe bite. People forget that we must seem a bit like King Cong to a parrot. Most people get the message or they never get the chance to meet him. Luckily Misty is generally tolerant of new people although not all Greys are. Steve n Misty

Misty enjoys it most when he can steal it from my plate, Steve n Misty Post edited by: Mistyparrot, at: 2008/09/22 20:20<br><br>Post edited by: Mistyparrot, at: 2008/09/22 20:21

Misty is out of his cage nearly all the time except at bed time. He prefers to be with me all the time. If he does bite me which can happen if he thinks I am not paying him attention my reaction is to say "Bad boy, no biting" in a firm voice. He is then put in his cage for time out. His response is to say "Be good boy" "No biting" and then "Can I come out" . He clearly understands that he has displeased me. I release him from incarceration after two minutes and he is fine. He is generally very well behaved and he never bites me in a bad temper but sometimes in frustration.

Hello Desiree. Welcome to the wonderful world of living with Greys. I know that everyone says that clipping is a personal choice but please think very carefully before you do it. It won't make your bird safer. A severely clipped bird is at risk from injury from bad landings and lack of control. He may well suffer psychological damage because he will not be able to react to perceived threat situations safely. A clipped bird is more likely to self mutilate. It is in a parrots nature to fly, it is what they are designed to do. Frustrating this natural urge can have undesired consequences. A lightly clipped bird could still fly away but it would be much less able to fly out of trouble. Getting the bird used to a harness is a great idea as that way you can take him out safely but always make sure the lead is securely tied to you. Just holding is not enough. I personally believe clipping is a very cruel and unnecessary practice. I am sorry if I come across as a bit of a grump but I feel very strongly about this. Steve n Misty<br><br>Post edited by: Mistyparrot, at: 2008/09/12 14:10