DavidH

Char, I am basically in the same situation as you are. In fact, I posted similar questions a couple of weeks ago. I am definitely leaning toward flight now, after considering the pros and cons. It helped me to divide the cons into things WE wouldn't like (the humans) and dangers/inconveniences for Shanti. The dangers for Shanti are getting lost by flying away and getting hurt banging into things like windows. All the other stuff is human inconvenience (poop, damage to furniture, pain in the butt of getting him back in his cage when he's on the top of the bookcase, etc.) From what I've read here, almost everyone says not to exaggerate or worry too much about the inconveniences to humans. The joy of having a flighted bird will outweigh those issues, and you can cope with them just fine. From the bird's point of view, MOST birds never get lost; MOST birds never get injured flying into windows, so the risk is probably pretty low and you can take concrete steps to reduce it further.

Thanks everyone! You have eased my mind.

Shanti has a red tail feather hanging at about a 45 degree angle to the rest of the tail. I think maybe he collided with a toy in his cage that he's been banging around. It's not chewed on, just dangling. Is this a cause for concern? Is it painful? I thought it would just fall out but it's been hanging for a day or so. Any help would be appreciated.

Here is an interesting article on some of the problems facing parrots in the USA: http://www.parrotchronicles.com/novdec2003/overpopulation.htm

Really good overview of the developmental changes, Dan. Most books devote about two sentences to this stuff, even though for those of us who live with Greys, it's super-important.

Yes, Dan, empathy is a difficult aspect of animal consciousness to grasp or measure. Hell, sometimes I'm not even sure humans have it I think though that there's a lot of evidence that elephants, apes and long-life social animals grieve, maintain life-long relationships of caring, nurture their young for many years, and so on. Plus, it's clear that our emotional equipment has evolved biologically from other emotional species. Here's an interesting piece on research on empathy in mice: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090211082354.htm A lot of work on empathy gets stuck on "theory of other minds." Can non-human animals have a model in their heads of other selves with their own intentions, desires, needs -- or do they just go on instinct?

And I forgot to says THANKS! Char for being a good citizen with a big heart.

Sadly, in the USA people have a pretty wide berth to put birds into conditions that most of us would find deplorable. Breeders are especially unregulated, and good conduct depends on the conscience of the individual. There are laws against "cruelty" to animals, but go to a chicken factory farm sometime and see how that works out. Pet stores may be regulated by licencing requirements and sanitation standards, but check out Petco and Petmart and you'll see that standards are not very high (and they have cleaned up their act due to pressure from groups like PETA and the fact that they are big corporations in the public eye). DO complain to the authorities, but in the long run it will take a lot of education, a change in the culture and -- perhaps -- very strict controls on the breeding and the guardianship of parrots and other "exotics."

>>>...her latest thing of biting me then saying "oi, don't bite me" >> That is really greyyyt!

Someone mentioned that the emotion categories are somewhat repetitious. That's true. There's a lot of overlap, and psychologists who work on classifying emotions are not always in agreement, even regarding human beings. Sometimes it's a glass half full/half empty kind of thing too. Is it annoying that s/he's stubborn or gratifying that s/he has such perseverance? Sometimes you can have different emotions at the same time, some in the background, others in the foreground. For example, when Luvparrots talks about confidence in Ana Grey, she might also be feeling euphoric or relaxed or bored while expressing the confidence. Has anyone observed compassion or empathy? Does your Grey ever show concern about YOUR feelings? Some people think only humans and maybe other great apes show empathy.

Here's a new game/experiment we can all participate in: What do Greys feel? I thought it might be fun and instructive to make a little catalogue of Grey emotions with examples. No one has yet researched the whole array of Grey emotions, and it may not even be possible to do. We can only make our best guesses based on behavior and communication. So there are no wrong answers here. But the best responses will be the ones with the most persuasive examples. If I say, Shanti screamed like a banshee when the vet toweled him, that’s a pretty good example of the emotion of fear. But if I say, I can tell by the way Shanti blinks his eyes that he loves me, you’ll probably be more skeptical. Here is a list of emotions to get us started. I will tally it up in a few days, and we can see how many and which ones we cover. Acceptance Affection Anger Annoyance Apathy Anxiety Awe Boredom Compassion Contempt Curiosity Depression Desire Despair Disappointment Disgust Ecstasy Empathy Envy Embarrassment Euphoria Fear Frustration Gratitude Grief Guilt Happiness Hatred Hope Horror Hostility Hysteria Joy Jealousy Loathing Love Pity Pride Rage Regret Remorse Sadness Shame Suffering Surprise Wonder Worry

Shanti is saying Hewo instead of hello, and we think he's also starting to say, "I wuv you." He'll be 9 months old on Feb. 28. I guess the L sound is hard for him. He's getting there though!

P.S. I found it especially interesting that in the video the narrator said that for foraging to be optimally successful it should replace bowl-feeding. In other words, if the bird has the bowl option, s/he will forage less.

Yes, sounds cool. I just bought this http://store.wptestore.com/servlet/Detail?no=109&sfs=ec082ca4 from the World Parrot Trust store. Part of the proceeds go to support the NGO. Has anyone tried this foraging toy or similar ones?

Keep us posted, Jason. Prof. Pepperberg is a strong believer in that method, so it would be great to see it successfully replicated by other birds and people.

What fun! Beautiful dogs too!

Thanks for naming them and giving them toys and treats, Toni. That is definitely a step in the right direction. If we all keep thinking about what's best for the birds, we'll come up with the right practices.

The more I've thought about, the more reservations I've had about the whole breeding-in-captivity process. I'm not sure there's any humane way to do it at all, although there are some ways that are a lot more humane than others. I realize I'd be a total hypocrite to reject breeding entirely -- since we all have our birds thanks to breeders, and since capturing them in the wild is a lot worse -- but I just don't see a lot of moral justification for taking the babies from their parents or for keeping the parents as baby factories. What do you think?

Shanti seems to like water. I have spray-bathed him every morning with both water and an aloe vera mix since day one. It's part of the routine. I've also caught him dunking his head in his water. He also has the advantage of watching the wild bird (mostly scrub jays, sparrows and mocking birds) who come to our outside bird bath about three meters from his cage. Good role models.

I also strongly recommend "Of Parrots and People "by Mira Tweti. It was published in 2008 and is less well-known than Dr. Pepperburg's book, but it is a really well-documented and up-to-the-minute report on parrots worldwide, both in the wild and captivity. Like most of us, Tweti is crazy about parrots, so her reporting is infused with her passionate love and concern for them. You can check it out on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Parrots-People-Fascinating-Catastrophic-Intelligent/dp/0670019690/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234900352&sr=1-4

I'd also be interested, Dan. -- David

I'm trying to look at the reluctance to play with new stuff as a positive quality. (I know it's hard.) If we think of it as a phobia or a shortcoming, however, it's frustrating for us and probably for our birds too. If they are cautious about new things, it's because the cautiousness has paid off in their survival as a species. Just another glorious aspect of being a Grey, and being smart -- you never know when one of those toys could explode, catch fire or turn into Godzilla

Really great explanation, TM. Thanks!

Grey and white are great colors for a big flock in a cloudy sky. Looks like a big cloud. Parrots also have specific flight moves (styles) to avoid predators. Brown and green seem like better colors on the ground, however. But I go with "all of the above," since color typically serves multiple functions in birds. Another function is simply distinguishing themselves from other birds and to each other. Greys do not fly in flocks with other parrots (unlike a lot of South American parrots). Color can also be used for status in the group, sexual display (shake a tail feather), and other signaling. They also apparently see colors (ultra-violet spectrum) that we don't. Another interesting fact is that albino "greys" appear and survive in the wild.

I'm going with none of the above, Dan -- just to be a contrarian