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Well, I actually find it funny myself but I can't say the same for my daughter. She used to have the best relationship in the family regarding Miss Gilbert. However, as she was mighty uncomfortable in the last couple of weeks, and in labor at home with a known breech, she was understandably irritated with some of the commentary. But, as time went on I had a quiet word about adding to the fracas by chastising and grumbling at a parrot. The night I saw my otherwise kind, intelligent daughter emerge from the hall bathroom to give an obscene finger gesture to a parrot, I knew it was going to get worse before it gets better. So.... Miss Gilbert has gone on a campaign not only to aggravate Rachel every time she walks into the room with abrasive high pitched squeals.... She also calls her every swear word she remembers (the parrot, not the daughter). If that isn't enough, she is actively seducing my son in law. He has spent little time with Gil girl and has a kind heart. Since Gil was banished to a different room, he goes in and gives her treats. She steps up from the inside of her cage to him! She lets him scratch her head while she sits on his knee. She calls him sweetheart. Hahahaha. On one hand, I understand that living with a parrot is my choice and not for everyone. On the other... I love her and we are now a package deal. To my daughter I had a quiet word... I can come without the parrot but it will limit my visits to a weekend at a time. And dear, please realize you are arguing with a parrot... And losing. I suggest you make amends and find her good qualities.

Miss Gilbert may take lessons from Phenix. We are traveling again since Feb 11. A complication arose in my daughter's pregnancy and we are still in Houston helping get everyone back on track. Everyone is healthy and we have a sweet first grandchild. He was named after his grandpa so Gilbert has an edge because she can already say David. I call the baby David O, and Gilbert picked that up quick. She does not like him much and she is wearing out her welcome. At the slightest movement from him she tells him to be quiet and to get outside. She talks to him like she does to our dog Mick. Unfortunately the more our daughter gets annoyed and exasperated... Of course, the more Miss Gilbert turns up the heat. She is intent on starting a war here. We hired someone to put French doors on the den so the dogs and birds can be contained. Gilbert ratcheted up the volume and it is piercing when she fires off a few sirens. We thought the cat was an issue so we bought a new cage that puts the top compartment housing Gilbert at 6 feet. It's not the cat, its was a couple sarcastic words about a bird making such a racket and having the nerve to tell a helpless baby to be QUIET that set up a competition. Miss Gilbert is clearly winning. We will be going home in a little over a week. Give me patience.

We are far from home, staying in Houston with the birth of our first grandchild. Miss Gilbert is with us and I really feel for you and Alex. Miss Gilbert has not been on her best behavior. She too has been loudly "hooting", whistling and screeching. Her life has changed and she wants to go home. My family would like for me to put her outside but other than taking her in the sunshine while I am there beside her, I wouldn't leave her out alone. Will check back with you in a week or two when we return to Atlanta.

Tanks for that link! That video is awesome. Your neighborhood looks like a lot of fun to me. I was laughing at all the antics of your little green thug. Look at him pumping weights to build up his street cred.

Hey... I am missing something good here. There is no picture or link to this rough neighborhood on my screen. Maybe I am the riff raff you are keeping out. Hahahahaha...

This post gives me goosebumps and makes me tear up a little. It sometimes seems like it will take forever to gain the trust of Miss Gilbert like you gained with Cricket. Through all the trials and tribulations, laughter and tears with Miss Gilbert we look at how much she has enriched our lives. And then I think of that first year with her when she stood like a statue, frozen with fear. That is when I understand that even though she isn't as compliant and affectionate as the baby greys, I wouldn't have it any other way. Anything that takes this much work to figure out gives an equal measure of joy when the hard work starts to pay off. We are going to reach a five year anniversary together next month. Although sometimes I have worried whether someone else could do better to draw her out of her deep dark times, I know we are meant to be together.

Thanks for all the support, ideas and enthusiasm for this little fraidy cat. This has been a lot of fun just to sit back and watch her come into her own. More often than not when I return to my room, I have been finding her under my bed. Several more times I have been reading in bed and watched her furtively as she goes to the little shelf I attached to the bottom of her cage. She keeps one eye on me as she hangs by one toenail and stretches her beak to reach the floor and swing down. What is worse is when I don't notice her get down and I hear scratching under my bed. No matter how many times she tricks me, I think there is a mouse under there stockpiling the bird food. It never fails to make me laugh, then she laughs with me. Then I get down on the floor where she willingly steps up for a lift back to her cage. The down side is that as she gets more courage to get off her cage, she is more likely to bite us when we get close to her cage. It is a fair trade off and I think we will find a happy place somewhere in the middle.

Kevin, I know your frustration. It seems like doing all the things you are doing and the effort you are making, he should be grateful and reciprocate your overtures. It is hard to accept but it isn't personal against you. What do you know of his previous home? There may be some things you could use to gain his favorable attention. He had a way of life that to him was predictable and stable and then came to a new home. Like Muse says, eight months is a relatively short time in his lifetime. The efforts I have made with Miss Gilbert are often futile... and then there is the day she will show me a little kernel of who she really is and it is a magnificent triumph. If you can forgive him for not being the joy of a CAG that you had for decades, he will also forgive you for not being his first love. It really does take time, there are many days I wondered if it would ever be a good relationship with Miss Gilbert and in five years, the big picture is looking good.

That is such a great idea. I spend a LOT of time sweeping my bedroom floor. It would not have crossed my mind to hide food there for her to discover. I wonder how my husband would react if he got out of bed in the night and stepped on a banana? She loves bananas. That might be the encouragement she needs to climb right down while she knows I am watching.

I like your swing. It looks more stable and less likely to move as much as a traditional swing or the orbit I made. Our Timneh isn't flighted and is very nervous away from her cage, but this might be a great way to introduce her to a new perch that could be moved from room to room if she would allow it. Thanks for posting photos.

Chicken is a beautiful boy and he fits right into your life. I have enjoyed reading your posts about his introduction and how well he has adapted to your home. He is a lucky little guy to have found someone who obviously adores him.

Watching GreycieMae's antics makes me laugh until tears roll down my cheeks. When I first watched this in the early morning hours, I heard Java giggling the cutest little "tee hee hee" in the dark in another room. You sure make life a joy at your home and ours with your imagination and creativity. GreycieMae is a bonus!

In other news about Gil Girl, I finally have confirmation that the little monkey is climbing off her cage at night. The lights were off and I was reading on my iPad when I heard a noise. Miss Gilbert was off her cage, on the floor. I didn't move as I watched her make her way across the floor, she went under our bed and out the other side. I am not sure if she became aware that I was awake but soon she very slowly, quietly and carefully made her way back to her cage and pulled herself up onto the bracket across the bottom, stretched tall and pulled herself back up to climb in and put herself to bed. Generally this is not something I would want to encourage considering the trouble she could get herself into, but I close my door at night to limit where she could go. To see her gain confidence enough to leave her cage and explore is worth making sure she is able to safely continue leaving her door open at night. I will be vigilant about keeping her safe but also allowing her this little secret. She was off her cage less than five minutes tentatively testing her courage.

Last night I had a great appreciation for the softer side of rescue parrot. We just made a weekend trip to Pennsylvania for a visit to my mother-in-law with Alzheimer's. As usual, we stayed at my sister's home. After we left Monday, her German Shepard (Macy) had emergency surgery for an intestinal blockage and is in the hospital in rough shape. Miss Gilbert has only picked up a few of our names and Macy has been one of her favorites. I don't know if she heard me talking, or if she had Macy on her mind from being up there, or just read my mind as I have worried about Macy and her recovery. Last night she said "C'mon Macy. C'mon little lady." She has only used the expression "little lady" with me when she says "Hey Lulu little lady" in what sounds like a John Wayne imitation. It just really struck me that she put that together.

Thank you, that finger was healing nicely thanks to some comfrey salve from the Amish. Then.... she did it again. She is becoming so much more vocal and assertive, I think this is something like the "terrible twos". It seems just as she gets brave, starts exploring, she is also very nervous with her newfound freedom and abilities. Although she loves her new cage, it isn't as easy to open the food doors and I have to reach in to change food and water. She is willing to play on the cage top and watch me "with an attitude". I will close her little escape hatch door so she can't make an end run and get between me and the water dish. This time, I forgot to open it after I fed her and she was ruffled about Java being out on my shoulder. When I put Java safely inside her own cage, I went to Gilbert to make amends and she was real sweet offering me a step up. I could tell by her body language she was ticked off, but she has never bitten me once she steps up. The little monkey sweetly took a ride to her open door and the second she was on her cage she turned and bit me again. The swiftness and ferocity is breathtaking. I do know this is a phase and I would not trade her messes and her behavior for that scared little creature huddled and shaking in one spot on a perch. But... there has to be some middle ground and we will find our way there. I have learned not to offer her any access to finger tips or to my face. I am going to give her a change of scenery in the coming weeks as I rearrange my sewing room and basement den to hold her larger cage. I don't want to punish her or make her regress, but perhaps we can take the edge off by changing things up a bit. You are absolutely right Judy, I don't think this defensive biting of hers is going to change dramatically over time. It is instinctive and I don't believe she can control it herself. I need to not let my guard down with her and always have an exit strategy to keep my fingers safe. My distraction techniques are becoming familiar to her and she studies me like a bug under a microscope. The interesting thing is after she bites me, I lock her cage and give her a stern word. She throws things at me and tears her cage apart, upsets her water dish and has a right tantrum. I leave the room and give her no interest. In ten minutes, I can come back and she talks sweetly, steps up and she is over it. Two days later, my finger is still bleeding and I have a little bit of a grudge against her and I still want to dump a bucket of cold water over her head. Apparently I come with a little baggage myself. I can live, learn, forgive and move forward. With all this, I have been allowing her cage door open at night. Usually she sits on her cage top while I read in bed, then when I turn off the light, she goes inside to her favorite roost perch. When I sweep up around her cage the next day, I am still finding evidence that she is somehow getting down and walking around on the floor and then returning to her cage. If I could stay awake I would love to see what she is up to. The room is bird safe and I have wires for lamps clipped up high under the nightstands and behind the dresser so I am going to see how this plays out.

I don't know about your house, but holidays at our house meant a lot of changes for our birds, at least from their point of view. Our little red bellied parrot Java has been making an obnoxious, abrasive, game show buzzer sound for about a week now. Gilbert has responded by making a very very loud version of a cockatiel sound. I agree with Sterling that the very best thing to do is to ignore it. I also have noticed Java is doing this in the early evening and I think it could be that our nights are growing longer and just because our clock says it is 6 pm, she is thinking sundown is the time to go to sleep. I have been turning the light off earlier and she is getting a lot more sleep than usual, so I wonder if that is part of it. She isn't just being quiet because I turned off the light, she stopped being so loud and abrasive, so I think getting more sleep is what she was asking for. They still have very strong biological clocks from the wild.

Gilbert has so enjoyed the cage being in my bedroom that we are keeping it there because it works better for her. She is a secretive little character. She seems happier, more outgoing and eager to be on the outside of her cage the majority of the time. In the six weeks we have been home again, her feathers are growing back in and her mood is slowly improving. Where most of our greys enjoy being the center of attention and in the biggest cage possible, trial and error with Miss Gilbert has given us an open mind to try new things, try again at another time and hopefully some day we are going to hit upon just the right combination for her to be happy and to trust us... just a little. Actually, she is only a matter of a few short feet from where her cage was in the living room. From the bedroom doorway she can see into part of the living room and most of the kitchen. I can't be certain, but I have the distinct impression from droppings in unusual places... that she is making some reconnaissance missions doing secret intel. Then, she jumped off my hand onto the floor in my bedroom and I waited for her to come to me for a lift. She did not want to get off the floor so I came back in five minutes to see if she had changed her mind. I was confused to find her in her cage, with the door closed and latched! I don't know how she is doing it but she is far to clever to let me in on her spy game. Another thing. She has been far more... hmmm... assertive. Now, when we walk around her cage to come and go from our bathroom, she will wait until our back is toward her and bite us! She has bitten me once and has bitten David several times. Once she got me, I moved her cage back a foot so it is never where I would turn my back to her again. But... she offered me a step up while our daughter was here for Christmas. I brought her in the living room and she bowed her head to allow me to pet her but she just had a "edge" about her and when I hesitated she rushed me and bit my finger to the bone. I think this is a necessary process for this particular parrot to find her way. It is a double edged sword, just when she is feeling safe, branching out and exploring she is also more touchy and volatile. She goes through a few days of this phase and generally I can read her body language to know when to keep my distance. It is the transition phase when she catches me off guard. But all in all, she seems very stable and happy in the bedroom.

Awesome to catch that on video to remember "back when". She has the sweetest little voice. I loved it.

Somewhere out there is a little soul singing quietly inside waiting for the day you meet and change both of your lives. Its good to know your heart is open to the idea and you are thinking about it. I think you will know when the time is right. I know I just mentioned it to Nancy in regards to a puppy, but are you willing to be a foster home? There might be rescue groups in your area that would take you up on it in a heartbeat of they knew you were willing to take on a tough case that they don't have the time or resources to rescue. You have the experience, time and patience to be the angel in the wings helping to teach others how to win the heart of the cast off parrot somewhere near you.

It's a tough decision. Of course, since I filled my empty nest with two dogs and two parrots, I had to buy a vehicle big enough to transport the whole crew. There is a sense of purpose, joy, delight and companionship from adding a new life to your home. It took a long time for me to let go of the loss of Juno and Kopi and bring Gilbert into our lives. It has been a lot of work and tradeoffs but I haven't regretted it. In the moment of seeing a sweet new puppy, the pull is intense to start all over again. We were sitters last weekend for an adorable little neighbor dog. Have you thought about being a dog sitter? Our daughter does it through a company called Rover. There are a few families that send their dogs so often it is almost like having another one without the full time commitment. If you are just not sure, that might be the way to have the company of a furry little friend.

Thank you Val, this is just what I needed today. Last night I put up our first ever artificial tree. The kids are grown, will stop in over the holidays on a whirlwind visit. Hubby is traveling extensively as he always has to at this time of year. This is the time I decided not to struggle with getting a real tree home and was missing the fresh pine. Time for a new Christmas scent.

Happy birthday to Corky. You get to have a birthday, Christmas and lots of extra special attention from mom and dad all in the same month. Lucky lucky girl. Don't fuss about missing the date Ray, it's just a number. When you celebrate, that's the most special day of all. My birthday is around the holidays and sometimes I skip it and celebrate my "half" birthday six months later when I can just relax and have my moment in the sun when the sun is literally shining. :-)

That is just the cutest thing! I played it over and over again. I thought it sounded like Alvin and the chipmunks. What a cute little squirrel you have.

If that is the criteria, I have been a bad mom for decades. LOL. Our family never seems to get the birthday celebrated on the actual day. Same with Thanksgiving and other holidays. But, we do celebrate and it just isn't on the day. You will just have to set up a calendar in your phone to celebrate once a month for Dorian's birthday. He really does know you are devoted to him and maybe when parrots get to a certain age they quit counting. Happy hatch day to Dorian, party, party party!

Dorian looks ever so charming and beautiful sitting in his cozy spot. He looks as if he is the gatekeeper of your computer time. Your boy has come a long way! I can't imagine him getting in trouble on your desk, surely you exaggerate. LOL, I remember his obsession with toppling your mug.