Birdnut

Ditto on the heavy-duty stainless steel bell ... definitely the all-time favorite toy. A steel bucket to stick their head in and make noises. Moussa loves his foraging box toy. Smallish toys on a length of chain that he can swing around wildly. Noisy toys hung down from a perch that can be lifted up and dropped, over and over and over again.

Stained concrete floors throughout the downstairs of the house where the birds are. We already had birds, so it was a requirement when we bought the house.

When you're afraid to do something, 'cause it might make the bird mad. When guests keep looking up, trying to figure out who that is in the next room. When you buy groceries at Wal-Mart, but shop for the bird at the expensive health food store.

Cricket obviously wants to reinforce your behavior of letting her out of the cage.

Chezron, thanks for bringing up the dangers of phthalates. I was just watching a documentary on PBS last night that covered this. One happy thing is that all the measures we may use to protect our birds from these kind of environmental pollutants benefit us as well!

Janet, your birds imitating your sighs while you clean their room made me chuckle. When I clean the bird room floor, one of mine asks me what I'm doing, and when I tell her I'm mopping the floor, she exclaims, "What a mess!" Now, wonder where she heard that?

When I feel the need to burn a candle, I have been using the bird safe beeswax candles put out by "The Birds and the Bees," which are available through avitec.com. They have no added scent, but beeswax has a nice scent in itself. I have also occasionally used incense sticks, which I do not light, but just prop a bunch in a glass or jar where they give off a subtle scent. I especially like the Sai Baba Nag Champa incense. This stuff will give a nice scent to a room without burning anything. When the sticks dry out and no longer give off scent, they can just be replaced with a fresh batch. Doug, do you think something like that might satisfy your wife for her office area? Any feedback from anyone on whether the non-burned incense stick idea would pose a problem for the birds?

You and Isaac are both so awesome! Thanks for sharing that video.

Our cockatoo likes to watch TV with us. If there is any laughing or screaming on the show, especially children laughing or squealing, it sets her off on a crazy cockatoo fit. She really gets going when she hears the voice of the Hyacinth character on that show, "Keeping Up Appearances." If some music comes on that she likes, it sets her off dancing in what we call a "boogie attack." Our lovebird's favorite show used to be the Teletubbies. I do think children's programming works well for birds because it features happy voices and sounds and upbeat music.

My birds also like music with a strong beat. I play African drums, and my dancers are more likely to dance to just drumbeats than anything else. Since so many parrots seem to respond to music and rhythm, I have often wondered what value that sense of rhythm has for them in the wild.

Very interesting info. on visually sexing. I think males also tend to have broader, flatter heads, and females more rounded. This is just all too cool. I am so happy for you.

What a beauty!! Congratulations!

That is an interesting question. You would think that any predisposition to mental illness would quickly be selected out in a any kind of wild population. But not necessarily in birds that are being cared for as pets. @ Eshana: I definitely believe you about Shelby's precociousness. I have two blue-crowned conures that are the same age, same history - in fact, they were clutch mates. The female is way more intelligent than the male. She surprised the staff in the pet shop when she started talking as a baby. She picks up things very quickly, often after one trial - both vocalizations and behaviors. I've had her watch me when I say something new and then try to repeat it after me. She's really good at using speech in context. We laugh and say that she's the smart one, and the male just carries her books for her.

Ray, your story about Cricket is definitely a "how it's done" story for anyone else who might adopt a zon. Or any other parrot, for that matter.

Our Moussa will sometimes talk when I'm around. But he saves the really good stuff for when he thinks he's alone.