Elvenking

LOL...all the responses make my morning. There does seems to be a collective joy among greys for cheddar cheese. As other accounts indicate, Isaac totally inhales it and does not drop a single crumb of it.

Does your Grey eat cheddar cheese like its some sort of drug addiction? I don't let Isaac have too much...but what I give him....disappears faster than any other food he has ever had. It is no BS all business with making cheese disappear as fast as possible. Is this common? I gave him a little square tonight and was just astonished with the speed and efficiency he took the thing and just killed it.

What a little cutie!

OMG...made my day...such a big smile over here. What a cute little thing.

Thanks so much for these super kind words. I guess the joy Isaac brings me really comes through and that is great to know.

Ohh my I love it! Isaac barks like our downstairs neighbors dog. Don't you just love them?

LOL...yep. I tried the same game with a different sound last night. A bubble popping sound. And he played along again. LOL. Super cute thing. I was crackin' up with him. Ohh and yeah...the landing on me when I am leaning over, fun stuff...especially when he lands on the sensitive part of my side near my lower back...it can trigger a tickle reflex....little bugger.

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Ohh my. Isaac has a kind of musky\musty smell that makes me roll my eyes. He smells so SWEET! I am not sure of an alcohol type smell....I want to say almost like frosting...but I love it.

Everyone wants to "jack in" and "download" all things good for their Grey directly to their head and have it there for all time. That can be said for everything really. I'd love to warp to work and back to eliminate the travel time. I totally get that. I have made posts like this myself where I would just love to have a one stop for all the right information. I think it just has to be resolved that the 'one-stop' is this site and not a single post. I think it's the best we are going to do. Not too large of a distinction really. Hopefully that helps.

Ahh so the time has come again to put into words what my little guy has been up to and how our lives are going together. As some may remember, I had been sitting with Isaac showing him a cup, bowl, fork, and a spoon. He picked up bowl and fork first, then he got cup with a bit of practice. (He really wanted to nail that 'cu' sound. Then he had been making the 'ssss' sound for a couple weeks for spoon. One day I am sitting in my computer chair while my little buddy was sitting on the fridge chatting away. I looked back at him and I said, "How you doing boy, are you happy?" He looks me in the eye and says, "Sssspoooon" and I praised him and loved him up...giving him a little piece of cheese for his accomplishment. Lately, he has stepped back into saying all the words he can say.....especially a cute little peppy, "Litah booooyyee" in so many ways I can't count. I am always calling him the 'Little boy!" so I guess he embraces it. I find it amazing that he didn't just pick these words up because of the way they sound, he picked them up because he wants to relate, which is amazing. He loves walking around all the time saying these words now. I am pretty sure he wants to know more. So it's on to words like 'Apple' and 'Egg' and we shall see where he gets with those. Also, I think he likes the way my daughter says things. She comes up to him from time to time and says to him, "Hey little boyee". The other day, I came up to him sitting on one of his swings. I come up, pet his head and gave him a kiss on the wing. I pull my head back and he says in a very excited voice like my daughter, "Heeeyyy leeeeetah booooyee!" You can only imagine how excited I was. LOL...what a cutie. On another note, I love to have Isaac out all day long if I can help it. Recently, I learned that my stress levels peak when I am trying to clean the house and give him his time as well. So I have been conditioning Isaac to at least some cage time while I am home trying to get those things done. I tell you, it is impossible to keep focused on anything when you hear the flapping of wings taking Isaac to another potentially dangerous or destructive situation. In turn, he has grown to accept it quite well, being cute and calling me from the other room when he can't see me. I always call back out to him cause it's fun. He is a much more content bird than I could have imagined. One more final cute thing. I do this thing where I will come op to Isaac and gently poke my finger to touch the surface of the feathers on his tummy. When I make contact, I make this little squeak sound with my lips. Well, it's to the point now to where if I don't make the sound, he takes over. Squeeking like plush toy. LOL. It is hillarious and I had my daughter cracking up over that one. Loving my baby Isaac has been one of the most rewarding things. I continue, to this day, to look forward to coming home to Isaac every single day. The little guy fills my cup and brings life to my day. I hope everyone who lives with a Grey taps into the same magic. I just always see those eyes looking back at me, and I am overcome by the beauty and personality of the creature. I love to talk to him and tell him wonderful things. My greatest gift, is to love Isaac. Thank you for reading. Have a wonderful day everyone!

Oh you are so correct about them all meaning something. Isaac's way of saying that he disapproves of something or wants it moved away and he is a little scared, is to reel his head back or dip it low in the direction of what it is, and then say "whooooowww'. It's very distinct and i know to move something away or to start looking for what it is. When it's time for a treat he makes this lip smacking sound, "Chip chip chip". Oh they communicate whether they talk much or not. Very smart birds.

LOL...that is hilarious. Isaac burps and farts among a whole set of other cartoon sounds. I will have to play R2D2 sounds regularly now, I want him to pick em up. LOL....knowing him...it will not be long. He doesn't say too many words, but he has every noise in the house mastered.

It is a wonderful thing to let your baby become flighted. When Isaac began to fly, I made the decision right there...he would fly. That said, please understand full well the challenge you face when you chose to let your baby fly. It's beautiful, but you will be surprised at how easy it is to get complacent with this and how difficult it is to control the doors of your house. This is a choice that is going to require dedication that you will discover along the way to be a bit more than you had in mind. I love to see people excited about allowing their baby to fly, but I always see the lost bird posts follow all too quickly when the gravity of this decision is not fully realized. So love your baby, but be careful.

I am the same way. I couldn't possibly believe that Isaac had any personal mission to hurt me when he does this. I think he just gets excited at the prospect of making me drop that bottle that he just goes for it and then kind of gets freaked out if he sees that it hurts. It's like you say, they get it in them and not even they know how far they are taking it. He stops when he knows and I can see that he is a bit sorry when he lands and looks back after I have yelped. He is so otherwise gentle. I always get the little gentle beak grab around my finger that is so sweet when he is just looking to let me know that he wants something or if he wants the fingers away for now.

LMAO....man that is so funny cause it's Isaac to a 'T'.He just thinks it's fun but he gets scared when he sees that it hurts. Right now he is letting me rub his chin and his neck, but the bugger will go after a bottle with some vigor! I love to empty a water bottle and watchin him have tons of fun with it. Like you say...wings flapping and threashing with it. I love it....it's a floor show for sure. But if I am holding it...he's goin after my fingers. LOL. I have never had a neck bite. But....he used to nip my ears...he has since learned not to do that.

Yeah he is possessive with the bottles...he also tries to get my hands when I am using remote controls. But I think he is just upset because those things I never let him touch. Actually, I like that he has found something he likes to play with. And I can just pour my drink. Maybe he doesn't like bottles because he can't share my drink when I have it that way too. Because he was miffed about the bottles before they became a toy I think. Another thing that may bother him. He is such a child. LOL.

Well, I was feeling particularly loving toward my bird and wanted to come share. He is really an amazing little character. He hears and sees me calling my daughter by her pet name 'growl'. It kind of goes "Grroowwwooll" kind of a play on the word 'girl'. Anyway, he picked this up and it was cute enough. The other day I am in my bed and he is trotting around on my pillow and the window sill. All of a sudden he is looking out the window saying "Growl...growl!". I was like, humm...that's funny I haven't heard him say that for a while and my daughter was not home. I peek out the window, and there is another little girl on the side walk playing with her dad. I was amazed, he knows what a growl is and calls it out when he sees one. He does a similar thing when he sees me drink. He will make the sound of me swallowing. It is amazing to see them communicate an association. I am constantly amazed at Isaac's capacity to share affection as well. He tolerates my attention for him in the form of tons of kisses on his back, pets, neck feather ruffling and scratching, kisses on the side of his beak. He is incredibly sweet! He will tuck his head into my neck and rub his head upwards toward my cheek. I really have to get some video of him being such a sweetie. He sure knows how to make a statement though. He has recently taken to plastic water bottles being one of the funnest toys in the world. He will carefully stand up a bottle, step back, jump up, and attack the bottle with his feet first flapping his wings. Then he will repeat. He will grab the bottle by the cap and fly with it. I have seen him get into some funny situations trying to land with it...LOL. I have also had to learn that I really have to be careful when grabbing any water bottle now...he thinks the game is on and he will bite me to get me to drop the bottle. This seems to be the case with a lot of things I pick up these days. With the water bottle, if I am drinking from one, I have to be really careful as Isaac can get on the defensive side for some reason. He will go up to my hand and try to pry my fingers away with an increasingly hard bite that can sometimes render blood. So to that I offer up a question. Why is Isaac compelled to hurt me when he sees me with what he considers to be a toy? Why is the most loving, non-biting bird compelled to get feisty when it comes to things like that? I have to believe that he doesn't think he is hurting me that bad, or he is just so frustrated that he doesn't know what else to do. I try to talk to him and show him that I am hurting as a result. Any insight is always helpful. I can mitigate the issue by being a ninja when i am drinking a water bottle, or just keeping an eye on where he is when i take a drink. But he gets possessive it would seem. What would you do if your bird behaved that way?

As others have said, do try to calm down as everything negative is going to lengthen the time it will take to achieve the results you are looking for. You should whole-heartedly believe that because it is the truth. We fight ourselvs when we involve worry, stress and strife which also leads to those behaviors in our companion birds. Do what ever you can to not stress out, as your stress will become the primary plucking motivator. Breathe, everything is going to be okay.

LOL. I love to always chime in on this question. When you find out tell me. I have heard of birds just naturally picking up on approved 'poop zones' before, but I know of no way to guide them down that path without other possible negative side effects. And certainly, Isaac is no such bird. The only way I have found to deal with that is to be dilligent about picking up after him and have the right tools for the job. For me, that is a Dyson vacuum and a Bissel upright steam cleaner for going over the spots every week or two.

I will get a batch and see if he likes it.

So, this is the formula that I give Isaac as a treat. This is the frightening thing. What this means is that Kaytee does NOT have quality control in place to test every batch! I am not using the Kaytee brand for this. That is too frightening.

Hi guys! Thank you for commenting about my little love. Always love to hear from you two plus fids.

LOL....so when you put Dayo down he stops? LOL. Isaac wants to get back to my shoulder pretty quick and let me know he REALLY wants to help. I often avoid the regurgitating. But if he gets really carried away, I can get fed. LOL. I love him for his dedication to his companion though.

You know....he may just want to do just that! He does grab the brush with his talon and he gets all gaga. He does a similar act when I brush my teeth. In fact, the very same kind of act. Gotta watch out when I am flossing too.