katana600

Dear Penny, I have eight placemats, I will save one for you. Nilah may need enforcement. Of course I am saying that "tongue in cheek" after chasing Miss Gilbert with the placemat yesterday. I swear I wanted to roll it up and bash her with it, just this once. LOL. I know I am right behind you as Miss G finds her mojo and gets more interested in thwarting me. I am an easy opponent, she knows she is way out of my weight class. I wish we lived closer. When Nilah refuses to go in her cage for you, you could leave and I could come swoop her up in a net... all you have to do is ask nice, please go in your cage Nilah or I will have Big Bertha come put you in after I go to work. Now, take a deep breath, visualize Nilah hopping right up and obeying and going into her cage when you ask her. Then pretend that is how your morning started. Breathe deep, smile and start from there. The day has to get better for you.

With the day of rebellion fresh on my mind, I am most decidely going to plot my next move. Thanks Felix! Now I am going to put a moat of water bowls in front of the china cabinet and the buffet chest. Miss Gilbert will have to either take a bath and her splashing will become my alarm warning or she will forgo the chewing of my furniture. And after the toe biting incident, a trap door to a water bath may be in order, I will start gathering tools to remove the hardwood floor between her cage and the dining room now.

I bet she was overjoyed with her welcoming committee. That is so nice to have your family together again.

Oh Dan. You and Dayo are prophets. She and Loki unleashed something upon me this morning. Several times while I was having my morning coffee Miss Gilbert climbed down and explored then climbed back up on her cage. I was quietly watching and encouraging her to stretch her comfort zone. Then I noticed it got real quiet in the living room and came back to check on her. I got a little nervous when I didn't see her in the dining room. When I walked away, she piped up. She was hiding behind the drapes. I thought she was hiding because she got scared. When I leaned over as I usually do, she came toward me to step up as she usually would. But then she tried to jump on me and was trying to bite first my hand and when zi stood up she went after my feet. She was so darn mad at being interrupted in her new territory I had to grab a placemat off the table to fend her off. She waddled back to her cage and pouted a bit. Then it got quiet and I heard three loud snaps. Sure enough she was off her cage in the dining room. She was chewing the wood off the bottom of my china cabinet! She had three chunks off it. Then she was REALLY mad when I told her to get out. She seriously came at me and I swear I was just going to corral her with the placemat but I really wanted to get the police with riot gear and a fire hose on her. She retreated to her cage but this isn't over. I think we just had our first fight. LOL. The little sh... You know, what she says. David says its because I was auditioning the name Gertrude today. Later she was acting all sweet and calling me LuLu little lady. I am putting the gates back up across the dining room and hoping that let's her know that just because she declares dibs, I didn't agree to her new ideas.

Depending on the cage setup and the travel cage, there might be a way to open the travel cage and coax her in there. Alternatively, with our Miss Gilbert, I couldn't get her to "come" to me, but I could get her to run away from a towel. Sometimes if she is out of her cage on her floor stand and absolutely refused to return to her cage, all I have to do is put a wash cloth on a chair a few feet from her stand and she gets so annoyed to see it there she scurries right to her cage. Since Echo has been cage bound for so long, its hard to say if she is eager to get out and if you opened her cage, she might come right out on her own and then it would be easier to turn off the lights in the room so she didn't see the dreaded towel approach her and it might be quick and easy to get her into the travel cage. This is a new situation for you and I know it made me uneasy and I worried a lot more than I needed to. When the time came to transfer Miss Gilbert, she had already been traumatized by being chased from her cage with a broom and put in a travel cage and she had snatched out her feathers in a panicked meltdown. When I arrived, she was shaking and frightened and when I talked to her softly and explained what I was going to do, she calmed down and was cooperative. Don't spend time worrying about it. Instead look at the set up and what you have to work with. Visualize how you will get her to her travel cage and do your best. If you have time, check with your horse friends to see if they know someone with parrot experience. It may be a pet shop owner or vet tech in the group could come help you get Echo home and settled as you learn her ways.

Your pictures are fabulous. I like the expression in that last photo, that one needs to have a caption contest. Your pictures are beautiful, I could look at that bright red tail and sharp crisp detail of grey feathers all day. Well done. Of course Romeo is a gorgeous and willing subject.

Penny, I read an article about a parrots sense of "time" and it made me think of you and Talon. Generally, in the wild parrots have the rising sun and the shades and shadows as cues of how to spend their day. I recall reading this book when we first got Miss Gilbert (The African Grey Parrot Handbook, Mattie Sue Athan and Dianalee Deter). We did this three lamp ritual in the evenings with Miss G when we first got her so the first lamp going out meant going into the cage time was getting close. Second lamp meant an almond was coming for a bedtime treat and the room being dim calmed her before the final lights out at bedtime. Where the author was speaking was about someone home full time with their parrots and then having to go to work full time, the use of timers would give the parrot something to "mark time". She suggested a half hour tv show on a timer to come on to help the parrot judge when the owner would be soon returning. I was wondering if something like that would be helpful for Talon during the day. If you had a phone with an answering machine that allows the message to be on speaker you could call and tell her you are on your way and she might then predict your return would be soon. If we could come up with a series of cues for Talon, it might bridge the gap in the time you are away.

Aww Ray, Cricket is just precious. She is so pretty, I know I have seen pictures of her, but I don't remember seeing the red and yellow on her wings. I could see it really well when she was flapping her wings. She was just a little camera shy but I could hear her making some sounds, little grumblings, LOL. Thanks for the meet-n-greet. I loved it.

Great job, thanks Ray. She is a beauty.

There is just so much happening in her little whirlwind world right now, I can't keep up. She is becoming brazen in her acrobatic activity. She is all over her cage, her floor stand and in and out of her basement apartment. She spends as much time on the floor of her cage as she does high above on her playtop. Her quiet withdrawals are becoming shorter and less frequent. She is gaining the ability to soothe herself and return to middle ground emotionally. She still has frightfully intense bouts of fury, I have no idea what tripped her little hair trigger yesterday but it is as close as I have come to being bitten in the face. Well, I do have an idea. She played with a foot toy and it fell on the floor. As a dutiful companion and servant to her royal highness, I got up and gave it back to her. She tossed it purposely this time, I mistakenly thought we were "playing" so I picked it up and handed it to her on the cage playtop. There are not enough words to describe the fierce, sustained effort to attack me. I am not quick on the uptake and thought at first she was excited to get her toy back. Apparently, my one-eyed blinking armless posture has convinced her not only am I a flock member, but a lesser flock member not worthy of touching her darn toys. LOL. She went inside, uprooted and flung each food and water dish and had her little foot stomping hair-raising snit. I walked away and turned my chair with my back to her and it was over as quickly as it started. I am convinced that as she explores and sees there is much much more to this big world than her little cozy corner that she gets overstimulated and setting up an attack lets off some anxiety. But just as I drift off to sleep I wonder if I am being a polyanna and I am opening Pandora's box to unleash upon my quiet little kingdom. LOL. Not a chance, I know she is the entertaining, exquisite and delightful little companion. I am equally aware she is a wild creature out of her element and it is a delicate balance of autonomy and companionship that we have created. No wonder we have a forum dedicated to working together to make this experience the best it can be for our greys.

I've always been an animal lover of all kinds of critters. I can't turn away from any creature in need. I think the first was a chipmonk. The neighbor's large dog was tossing it around and I just instinctively reached out and snatched it from the mouth of the dog. It in turn instinctively bit my thumb. I couldn't let it go because I believe the dog would kill it and I couldn't bear to see that or to have the little neighbor kids see it. I kept it for a few days and fed it and made sure it was okay and when I opened the cage to let it out, it ran to the edge of the woods, then turned, ran back to the edge of the patio, it looked for the world like it bowed its head and said thank you before it turned and I never saw it again. I have never met an animal I didn't like. As an adult, we have had dogs and cats but the day we brought home a parrot, everything changed. Everything. Little did I know I was a parrot person. There is something so wonderful it can almost not be described. If you haven't had this kind of relationship, I don't think it can be explained. Maybe it is because they were wild and wonderful and we brought them into our homes and now we need to make the best of that experience. It does kind of feel like we owe them something for the life they had free in the sky. We can't let them go, we can't turn back time, but we can devote ourselves to making sure they have the best care and attention in our power.

Part of the dance of getting acclimated to a new rehomed grey is two steps forward and one step back. There is no way of knowing when to respond to their overtures and when to wait. Every day is different. I got a lot of bites and mixed signals from Gilbert in the beginning because what I thought she was asking from me, was not what she really wanted. She wavered between really really wanting me to scratch her head and biting me when I got close. It has taken me two years to recognize that just because she tucks her head and asks me for a head scratch, it isn't necessarily what she can tolerate at any given moment. It's hard to explain. For her first big outing in her new home Paco was cooperating, getting to know the lay of the land. She may have offered you a step up because she thought she was "supposed" to but was too overstimulated to control herself. It is too hard to know without being there. Our Miss Gilbert doesn't pin her pupils, but something very subtle that I have learned is the shape of her eye. If it looks like an "O" very big and wide it is not a good time to approach her. If it looks like an almond shape, she is more apt to be relaxed. When she really really wants a scratch, she holds the bars with one foot, tucks her head and either I can not see her eye because she is tucked under her leg, or her eye is closed. It has only take me two years and one really bad bite to understand what she really can tolerate at any given time. It takes a lot of time and even then I am not sure we will really understand these exquisite and wonderful greys. When they say they are only one generation out of the wild, it is hard to conceive. We are still learning every day.

Gus sounded like a little gremlin while he was eating his butternut squash from his spork. That was just adorable. I looked at the video of the bird under a basket... kind of like the opposite of a Rumba, this one goes around the house making messes instead of cleaning them up. Small steps at a time with Gus as you work with him to be the best he can be. Kudos for your patience, kindness and understanding. He is beautiful.

Hahaha, for so long I have wished for her to become less fearful and more active. I can live with this newfound bravery and teenage angst if it means she is becoming a "normal" grey. LOL. From the onset I have seen her have a breakthrough, then hunker down for a while to come to terms with the freedom it brings for her to make her own choices. Yesterday she almost seemed ill she was so quiet and withdrawn. I have learned to weather the storms and to wait. Today he has climbed down and is off on another exploration. She is checking the hallway and bedroom today. Since she is still emotionally fragile, I am giving her all the room she needs and just watching from a distance. At the front door is a cowbell hanging on a rope. My dogs are quiet, so I trained them to ring the bell for me. Miss Gilbert went over and explored the leather magazine rack that holds the dog leashes. She is touching it, feeling the texture. She turned and whacked the bell and made it ring. She knows it is there, she can see the door from her cage and sometimes she rings her bell when they ring theirs. She jumped back and I thought she was scurrying back to the safety zone of her cage, but she worked up the nerve to go back for more. Watching this timid little grey change before my eyes into a curious explorer and promising to be a fearless trail blazing adventurer is one of the most exciting things in my life. I have climbed the mountains and done all the adrenaline junkie wild things and now its her turn. I have also started going back to read all the books to get new ideas to meet her where she is and lift her up with trying new things. Yesterday while she was quiet and withdrawn, I stood talking to her and she was trembling. One of the techniques suggested for a fearful parrot is to put your hands behind your back, only look at them with one eye and to blink. The rationale is that hands are often associated with forcing a rehomed parrot to do something they don't want. She is clearly not a fan of our hands. Then, predators stare with both eyes while parrots look through one eye at a time and you don't see them stare straight ahead. Lastly, predators don't blink. If you blink, you look relaxed, like one of the flock and often the parrot will mimic and blink. Okay, now I realize exactly how I looked with my hands folded behind my back, head turned to the side, squinting the one eye that was open and then blinking. But, first her trembling stopped, then she blinked. Then she came closer. Within five minutes, she climbed off her cage and onto the floor for another exploration. It may not have been the exchange we had, but I would try anything that would bring her out of her shell and ease her fears just a little.

You may see them eat a piece of milk chocolate and think it is no big deal. But since we don't know the percentage of cocoa in the chocolate bar which pushes it from unhealthy and no nutritional value to toxic, why share this with your grey and permit them to develop a taste for it. Every avian vet we have seen (4) has it on the forbidden list. I guess to see someone on a program saying its really not all that bad is kind of like seeing someone smoke a cigarette and since it didn't immediately make them sick, the smoker could say "its really not as bad as they say... see?".

Angels are among us in the most unexpected places. You and your wife were Raven's angels. Your pictures are so sweet and she was charmed to have gotten out of a rescue and into your home and hearts. We lost two to PDD and it was breathtakingly painful. Your time together may have seemed short, but it was her entire lifetime once she met her forever home.

Thanks for the good laugh Dave. Now don't let Miss Gilbert in on this, she has been held captive and abused for two and a half years and it only gets worse.

OOps, I responded before I scrolled up to read the new posts. Sorry about that pinch it looks painful. It could be she is accustomed to being offered a hand in a certain way. I know Miss Gilbert will only step up to my right hand. Paco may have been "testing" the branch and when she pinched you "it" became unstable so she was hanging on for dear life. I am giving her the benefit of the doubt. It could be she was overstimulated and wanted to be with your again but couldn't take the excitement. It sure hurts, physically as well as emotionally. As you get to know her it will get better. The time she was following you and interacting was pretty awesome though.

Hooray! Paco has you just where she wants you. I love these moments. Thanks for sharing. Also, your dog looks just like mine.

Very creative marketing people. I love it.

I was assured that Gilbert was a he and after two and a half years have discovered he is a she. When we got her, she already knew her name and would say "Gilbert okay" when she was scared or "Time to go night night Gilbert". It is still fresh to find that Gilbert is a girl, just one week today. For now we call her Miss Gilbert, and we have considered renaming her. The thing is, every situation, like every parrot, is unique. You will know if Imara fits and she/he accepts that identity. And as far as letting the bird choose, well Miss Gilbert chose to start calling me LuLu more than six months ago and that stuck, so if she can rename me, I can rename her. LOL. You are going to spend the rest of your life with this beautiful grey, let it work itself out naturally. If you think of her as Imara and want that to be her name, she will understand that and will respond to it.

That is a tough question. I have had both opportunities except my babies did not get the chance to grow up. Therefore they have the perfect memory of being eager to please, all new and bright and fun. I have memories of cuddles and sweetness with no bites or stubborness. Then, I have spent 2 1/2 challenging years and have had to work hard for every minute of progress with a multi-rehomed older grey. What I missed was the "what ifs" of the terrible two's and coming of age of the hatchlings. Who knows if they would have turned away from me and may have chosen a different family member as the favorite, well-loved companion? Who knows if it would have been paradise into perpetuity? What I do know is I read ads every day of people who got the baby, enjoyed those early months and then looked to place their beloved baby into a new home. It isn't so much about the bond to me, it is about either being a committed parrot person or not. If you bring in a baby thinking everything will be great unless it gets destructive, or noisy or a handful of other deal breakers, it won't work no matter how loveable and bonded they were. My older parrot is a diamond in the rough. My family has laughed almost every day at her sense of humor and an awe in which she exceeds our expectations. Don't get me wrong, I do sometimes feel wistful for a little black eyed baby, a ball of soft feathers and wonder if I am missing something by "settling" for someone else's rejected parrot. When that happens and I am stinging from being rebuffed, or worse from a grumpy older parrot that I just can't predict or understand some of the time, I go look at baby pictures of our friends in the nursery room and I imagine Miss Gilbert coming home to someone who really loved her and bonded with her and I get my perspective back. The baby stage doesn't last, some home situations don't last, but when an older parrot overcomes so much baggage and relaxes to become herself there is nothing to compare that feeling of satisfaction that does last as she embeds herself deeply into my heart and soul.

Dan, I hope she is dreaming about what once was and that she had a first home that gave her wings and freedom and love and she will remember that and want more. Punk rocker is a good description, she was willful, stubborn and anti establishment yesterday and I was watching from a distance, keeping her safe and letting her get it out of her system. If she were a teenager, I would be thinking Goth, black eye shadow, lipstick, nail polish, a studded dog collar and threats of tatoos. LOL. In my sleep, I dream of great things too. Like getting PVC cut to 10 inch lengths and slipping those collars over the legs of all my furniture so she can roam to her little heart's content. My home is getting more beautiful all the time. I have blankets draped over the wooden chests and have lots of little surprise baskets for her to find with cardboard and other things to destroy. I have to admit, it makes me wonder who in their right mind would be so eager to give this little bird the full run of the house and live around her obstacles? Ah.. that's right, no one ever said I was in my right mind. Hahahaha. I love that she is challenging me and feeling more brave. Every foray out of her comfort zone increases her self confidence. I know there is a little Timneh in there with a big personality and a great outgoing attitude. She just needs to feel safe enough to let her hair down. Life for Miss Gilbert changes every day. For anyone else considering to adopt an older parrot, I have to say that there were months that passed that made me wonder if I was up to this task and if she would be okay. I am so glad I committed forever no matter what because I am now beginning to see what others have said that it is hard but the rewards are worth the time and effort. Every day I have big messes to clean up and I rejoice that she isn't stationary in her cage with a little mound of bird poop growing up from the floor as the only evidence that she is not a stuffed animal on the perch. She is awesome. She has come so far and now we are looking back to see that reflecting how much room she has to grow and get better and better every day. One thing I have to admit is that as she gets braver and seeks greater horizons, the more she is cussing at night. I really think it is letting off steam and testing me to see if she can get me to turn my back on her. I think it is part of that punk rocker phase and I am not going to let it bother me but if her tongue was the wet kind, I would be whittling a piece of soap just her size. This too shall pass.

You know I am teasing about her being a stink flower. She really is my rare and beautiful orchid. I feel such elation when she swings down off her door to the small cage on the floor which serves as her basement apartment and a bridge from the stand to the floor. It has been there for months, but she is just getting the notion to roam. The dining room is her exotic location of choice every day this week. She goes in one door and I go around to the other and just lie down on the floor to keep guard of my furniture and her safety. The dogs are curious at her new mobility and she chases them too. Even though they run and get out of her way, I am not going to be complacent. She is getting pretty sassy about telling me I wasn't invited to her adventure. She goes so far as to put her lower beak on the floor and giving me the "bull rush". Today she almost scared me. I was lying prone at her level, I had my arms crossed and she bluffed me and then made a run that I was sure would end in contact. I kept my fingers safely hidden and she came close enough I could feel her breath on my arms but she didn't bite me. She has done this to me with her cage, she is very possessive of the cage. I have had to get very innovative to get her food in when she gets in one of these modes. Strangely she will give me the business for a day or two, I remain consistent. She may have her domain, but certain things like feeding, cleaning up or safety are not negotiable. Neither is leaving her alone on the floor in the dining room with no supervision. She was on the floor for over an hour. It is the cutest thing down there on her level. After she postured and charged at me, she was marching around "stamping" her feet so hard it sounded like she had little hard sole boots on! After she looked in every corner and satisfied herself that I knew my place, she matter of factly, left the room, rounded the corner and climbed back up on her play stand. She slept for more than three hours. It must really be exhausting to her to be so adventurous. I can hardly wait to see what she does next. The days of permitting a placid, flightless parrot to have an open door policy all day may have to change, but I have time to allow it to morph into bringing her to wherever I am spending my time.

I am slow on the uptake. Miss Gilbert has been way ahead of me since the first day. LOL. I have been talking myself down from the spider thing. LOL. It WAS a message. "If I would inflict upon myself to eat a spider, imagine what more I can do to you." LOL. Then, the rational side contends that she is a wild animal... I have seen chickens and other birds eat spiders and worse. It was just a natural reaction. Hhahahaha.. She has me right where she wants me. As I awakened this morning it was with the Billy Joel song "She's Always A Woman To Me". THIS is Miss Gilbert's theme song. It says it all. I was remembering how much Miss Gilbert likes to share a little oatmeal with me and then read your posts. I was even willing to give her some of the instant oatmeal but discovered someone already ate the last one. I was determined to give her a peace offering this morning to continue the trend so I found some baby food with spaghetti 0s. I filled up a cone for her and one for Java. Java snatched hers right up and was devouring it. Ahh. Success. Miss G was not to be swayed so easily. I took a bite and offered her a bite. She snatched off an impressive size chunk and flung it to the floor. The dogs were on point immediately. I tried another bite and offered her another. She got a little pasta in that bite, and promptly flung it too. At least she didn't seem afraid. I set it carefully on the top of her cage and walked away. I heard her toenails on the metal bars as she didn't even wait for me to be out of sight to clamor right up there to get her treat. And splat, down to the dogs. However, it wasn't seconds later that she was trying to climb down to retrieve it from them when she had second thoughts. Too late, there wasn't even a scent of it remaining. Now she is on the floor, on the move, exploring. Only now... like the spider incident I am not so sure of her intent. She has a new swagger, a sense of purpose. She looks like a little thug in a pinstriped suit. I am going to put on socks.... and maybe steel toed boots. This is a delicious new chapter in her book of redemption and I am not so sure if it will be me that becomes her tale of warning to the next unsuspecting do-gooder in her path. LOL. She is blossoming, she is coming out. I am fervently hoping the blooming little soul isn't one of those stink flowers. Not a chance.