Elvenking

I have always loved feeling Isaac up against my face so i guess it is something he is used to. Definitely exercise care.

I really do need to video and post more. I am sure the that since I am off for the holidays, I will have some time to post more of my baby. I love him so much! Thanks for watching.

I know it may look precarious. but let me assure you, I can read Isaac pretty well. I have never had a mishap with giving him kisses or otherwise approaching him. I just haven't posted enough videos to show that this is just the way Isaac is. He is super sweet. He will actually lift his wing when I am coming in so I can kiss that little soft spot on his tummy...hehehhee. Me and Isaac are very comfortable together.

So I was playing with my lil guy last night with the video camera on and got this little cute thing. A little bit of him reacting to a kiss and some whistling. (And me reacting like a doding bird father)

Has anyone else placed their ear upon their gray's back and listened to their heartbeat. It's a really sweet thing to hear that little thing beating. Kind of warms your heart to hear it too. Try it.

I do myself a favor and keep a shirt made for hanging around the house when Isaac is out. I call it my 'bird shirt'. I have a few flannel shirts that used to be perfectly good pajama shirts, but they have since been decommissioned to become bird shirts. Isaac can bite on those if he wants. After a while, they simply lose the interest and find the next thing that will challenge you.

I sat and thought and thought about this for what must have been a long 5 minutes before ordering this. It's now on the way. Has anyone seen this video yet? http://www.lifewithalexmovie.com/ Apparantly, the money does go to the Alex Foundation so I didn't mind spending the chunk of change on it.

Thanks for coming and reading about me and my lil guy and I will be back more often. He really is an amazing character. I am backing up my pictures and videos today and i will see if I can find something interesting to post later. I hope everyone is loving their little feathered friends too.

Welcome to the forums! Frankenstien looks like a cutie. Very relaxed there for sure.

Hello all. Accept my apologies for such a lengthy absence. Lots of things have been occupying me and I have been neglecting to come enjoy all my friends here along with all the bird talk. I am here now reading through some of the posts and to tell you how things are going with Isaac. I can assure you that we are still quite inseperable. The other day, I heard him say 'peek-a-boo' as he waddled around a corner to come see me. I love it when he plays peek-a-boo. Later that night, I tried something else. I just put my hands in front of my face...then show him my face with a big smile and say 'peek-a-booooo!'. Then I covered up again....showed him my face with a big smile and waited. After a little pause he says, "Peekabooo!" And I was laughing my butt off. Then I repeated it another couple of times and it was great fun. That was the best peek-a-boo game that I had ever gotten going with him. He was adoreable. He also whistles with vibrato now. LOL. He gets his own notes going too. Like random whistling. I enjoy evenings with him sitting on my knee watching TV or a movie. He lets me get some good scratches...I wonder if he knows what a privilage it is for me to scratch his little neck. I love it when he lets his eyes close and really enjoys a good head scratchin'. One thing is for sure...you can;t leave anything on the counter...man...I have messed up so many times this week and it drove me crazy. Thing is, any open container is ripe for the tipping if I am to walk away and lose conciousness of the fact that it's there for even 10 seconds. This happened with a seed container, cereal container, water cup, etc....this week was a doozey. LOL. I can look back and laugh now...but oh how it burns when I slip up. It's like a running game Isaac holds me accountable for....I think he likes to see me work as a result of something he did. I am not always amused. Poop is a plenty. I am sure that you are all suprised. Yep, he poops a lot.You ever have one of those days....even though you've had your bird for maybe years....it still hits you...."Oh my goodness...you poop...so friggin much." They get on a roll sometimes...mostly when he is excited I guess. Right now he is preening and I haven't seen but one every 20 mins or so. Okay...enough poop study. He's always a great friend to come home to. As always, he ends up capturing my heart each time I look at those inquisitive eyes staring back at me. I am going to go read some more posts and comment if I can help. Chat with you all soon.

One thing I always do is to make sure to get Isaac to a good place for those morning, or fresh out of the cage poops. Other than that, sometimes I can keep up, other times I can't...it is a huge job picking up after a flying parrot. I always fall behind at some point because, well eventually you have to do something else. They poop sooo often. Cleaning tools, scrapers, cleaning solutions, steam vac, dry vacs...and a buttload of commitment.

Sounds like ARP Cache Doping. But nevermind...glad to see you are back. <-- Major Geek

LOL...a common issue with flying Greys as far as I have seen. This is a neat one. Let me tell you what I do. This is one of those things where, the harder you try, the more you defeat yourself. With Isaac, I simply try and try again for 5 minutes, talking to him and explaining to him that it is indeed time to go in the cage and that I will be back to let him out later to fly more. Without fail, somwhere in the course of 5 minutes, he gives up and allows me to place him on his perch in his cage. So if you can plan your departures 5 minutes early, I would say give this a shot. The other method that I used would be to cup one hand over Isaac's back so he could not bolt. These days though, somehow he knows when I am coming in to give a hand hug or a pet versus a cupped hand to put him away. He can dodge that move like a pro now. So I continue to have to do the little ritual with him. All that said, patience is the most peaceful way to achieve it with Issac. As a note, it may take a bit of practice. The thing would be to make sure you let him know that you don't give up on the efforts to put him away. To stop in the middle will let him know that there are things he can do to resist this.

They are both so beautiful. Cute.

Yes....the first time I saw Isaac doing this it was kind of like, whooaa....is everything okay? He was playing with a crumpled up ball of paper and having the time of his life. Flapping his wings, spinning in circles and 'RAAAWWWWWWWKKKKKK!!".

Yes! Isaac loves plastic bottles. He likes to see how fast he can pry the twist-off caps off. Cute video...love em.

Thank you for the nice comments...everyone......maybe I missed my calling and I should start writing.

LOL....he does the hair brush dance every single time I brush my hair. If I try to sneak away with the brush and brush in private...he is all over my plan. No no no way yer doing that without me. The cutest thing in the world, is him...laying on his back in my hand...grabbing on to the brush....it's just beyond cute....his little head poking forward with so much attention. Like, "Okay....I am ready." I adore him.

Thank you. I do get pretty emoptional just writing these. I am often moved to tears to think about Isaac. I don't know what it is, but he's got me.

The best advice I have read here so far is to move slow. Dave had some of the best advice. Don't go all 'behavior modification' on your baby just yet. Proceed with respect and positive reinforcement. These are the only things that will help you I promise. You will not be 'strong arming' a bird into the behavior that you want. I can only imagine what such a bird would become. I own a grey who will nip me to communicate, but is overall a very loving bird. Sometimes we all need to be bit in order to get the message. Give your baby some comfort zone to grow and feel her surroundings out. It's all still very new. Whatever you do, do not get upset or angry. As you would have to disply patterns of behavior for a new human friend to grow trust, you must for your baby...and niether of you speak the same language. We are also "giants" to these birds. Understand that the world does not make sense to the babies. We have only compunded that by placing them in an an evironment with (in most cases) none others like them. Help them. The more you can put yourself in touch with the gravity of the situation as far as the bird is concerned. The more you will respect your grey.

Well, I found myself a little time today during lunch to talk about how my little guy is progressing in his life and how I feel about having Isaac in my life. Any of you who have read my previous updates know how much in love I am in with my baby Isaac. To this day, he never ceases to amaze me in ways I could not have imagined. I have had my boy for about 2.5 years and he surely knows his place in my house. Oh wait....his house....I forgot. I often have to launch 'cleaning campaigns' in order to return order to my house a lot of the times. I do give Isaac a lot of wiggle room. He loves to play with any items in the kitchen sink, which ensures that I will keep my washing up to date, or possibly risk some broken items or just a lot of noise. He can open the dishwasher if it is not latched shut. He loves to get into the racks and pull things off of them if he can. In general, Isaac is a fully flighted Congo African Grey...and you had better believe that. This guy gets around! Mostly the destination is me and what ever it is I am doing. I obviously need help from Isaac. LOL. Recently, I updated my phone to another OS which includes a feature called Google Now. You engage this by saying "Google"...the phone makes a rising sort of beeping sound and allows you to state your search request. Well, yesterday, I say' Google', and my phone didn't hear me, but Isaac did, and he made the little beeping sound and awaited my request. LOL! Another thing I do to Isaac when he is getting into trouble is growl at him. Yes, like....gggrrrrrrrrrrrr....rolling my tongue. Well I came up to Isaac the other day to lift one of his wings and he said...."grrrrrrrrrrrrrr'. Pretty cute. This little guy, I tell you, has taken possession of my heart. I often see him preening and see his wings part slightly to form what looks like a big grey heart from behind him and I think, 'Yep, that is my heart right there....that is my love'. Just this moring, while Isaac was trying to get involved in my hair grooming, I decided to give Isaac the brush...he laid on his back in my hands and took the brush....so I look at him and go. "Okay...now what?" I dragged my head across the brush so he could help. He is amazingly cute in his desire to involve himself in my daily activities. My life could be seen as upside down in so many ways since I schedule a lot of things around ensuring Isaac's happiness and health. I don't get out to as many social events as I typically would, and vacations away have not been as common for sure. That said, I have an African Grey parrot named Isaac, who I can call one the most wonderful friends I have ever had. I hope that others capture this magic with their Grey. It really is a paramount experience to understand how they have emotions and thoughts.

I don't even weigh my bird. Just think...how do they watch their weight in the wild without us. I personally would not worry about it too much. Look for a happy healthy bird...if that's there...I think that's awesome. I am not saying neglect diet, but if they look happy...and healthy...and they are eating veggies, pellets and all the diet is fine...then I wouldn't worry too much about a target weight. EDIT: Hopefully I didn't sound cold, sometimes I just things aren't so complicated. If your baby looks anything like the pictures....I simply would not worry. Beautiful.

Beautiful red patterns, what a gorgeous baby!

LOL! Isaac is the same way, except I cannot open the refrigerator door without a grey cling-on scenario. No matter where he is in the house, he hears the refrigerator crack and he will not miss whatever happens next. 'flap flap flap flap flap flap flAP FLAP FLAP'

Yes, I have been away for a while buried in thought about a lot of things and trying to determine the course of my career and such. But I have some Isaac updates to post very shortly here.