MarcusCAG

I'm very glad to hear that Sully is still doing well despite his Comet taste-test, too.

That part was unclear to me. I would have checked a "maybe" option had there been one, just referring to things in general. But since the question apparently refers to this very moment in time, I took your poll just now and answered "no". Hope that feedback helps somehow.

I just have to say--that Dayo is GORGEOUS with his little red-speckled pants! What a beautiful TAG!! Please give your boy an extra scritch for me and tell him he's a showstopper!

Here you go, Morana. I actually took a picture of our dirty screen for you! ------ My husband just said that people often do not have screens in Europe. (???) Perhaps that is the source of the confusion, or part of it at least. He also told me to tell you that we have "mosquitoes as big as birds" here, so window screens are a must! But it is not just an open window, I could see you thinking me completely insane if that was the case and Marcus flying around like that! By the way, I'm glad your Zak is okay after what happened with the window. And Judygram, I found another picture of our Tybalt in my camera that I thought you might like. Sorry that it's something of a grainy photo, I'm not too sure what happened with that. Usually they come out much better, even when I zoom in...

Logging back in again, gotta get to work around here, but I just want to say--you are NOT a bad mom, or a bad parront. Things happen sometimes. I know I posted recently about how Marcus flew out of the birdroom and landed on our dog and for a few seconds I thought she had stepped on him because he wasn't moving at all, I thought he was dead! Believe me all the Why-didn't-I?-type questions ran through my head! These Greys are smart and fast. Sometimes we humans are forgetful. But you didn't leave the door open maliciously, thinking, That Sully, I want him to get into trouble somewhere! And you're being a great mom and calling around and making sure he'll get the attention he needs, when you can get him there. I am sorry to hear about the Comet being all over his beak. I think I threw ours out a while ago, I just use baking soda and vinegar and liquid soap in the bathroom now, just in case. (Not that eating soap would be tons better, probably.) But even then, the tea tree oil soap I have for major disinfecting for 'extreme' situations, I have to keep hidden away, it could hurt the cats as well as the birds. Could something still happen? It's more than just me in the house, maybe my hubby might pull that stuff out someday and, being who he is, not even think about some non-human getting into it. I hope not... but that's why these things are called accidents. You prevent them as much as you can, but sometimes things still happen. I'm just glad to hear Sully's looking all right so far. Please let us know how things work out at the vet's later today.

Honestly, Morana, you're going to make me more paranoid than I already am! Marcus pulled the "let's land on the screen again" thing yesterday and I thought of you while I was removing him from it--he does it sometimes when he doesn't want to go back to his cage. I'd closed the windows a little bit more beforehand, though, because I kept hearing your "voice" in my head... truly, if we thought there was any chance these screens would rip, we wouldn't even allow him in this room. Believe me, the last thing we want is for our beautiful boy to get lost outside!!

I love hearing about your flock! I'm so glad things seem to be working out between all of your boys.

Kingsnake, I don't think any of our videos of Marcus have the TV on in the background. But like others have said, some parrots really seem more comfortable talking if there's some background noise of some sort... it was only recently that our Beaker (the Quaker parrot) has started his little soliloquy spells without anything else, like music, sounding around him. He still says the same three or four things over and over ("Beaker, go lay down!" is my favorite--he put that together from us telling our dog to lay down, haha!) but now we can actually hear him well, since he does it when everything else is quiet around him.

I saw this poll at the top of the Grey Lounge when I "peeked in here" just now, and I have to log in... I'm not choosing Yes or No because we have clipped our boys in the past, and if extenuating circumstances would seem to demand clipping as the best/safest thing for whatever reason in the future for them, we would do that again--if. Right now they are all flighted and I truly think they are very happy that way. Beaker, our Quaker parrot, came to us clipped and we kept him clipped until around the time when we got our Marcus. We had a nice and professional groomer couple come and clip Marcus once, a week after we adopted him, and we have been letting his wings grow out since then. It just kind of happened, really. There were so many things we had to learn about him (Marcus) as a rehomed, older bird with issues, that when his wings started growing out, it was just like, "Let them," because there was so much else to deal with at the time with him. I will say, Beaker is not at all slowed down by being a clipped bird; but we wonder now if our Tybalt--who we believe has always been flighted--might be a bit upset if we did clip him. Little Bunsen, too. What I'm saying is, personally I think we try to be flexible with our situation. At the time last year, clipping seemed best for our Beaker, and for Marcus, but they are birds and if we can safely keep them flighted in our home, flying as they wish as they would be outside, then that is what we want to allow them to do. And perspectives can change, and circumstances. I think you need to know your flock and be open-minded to how they might feel about such things, and sometimes it might even boil down to a particular bird. Even though I always anymore come back to the fact, if they were out in the wild like they should be, they would be flighted. Birds were designed to fly, it is their right. So maybe that's my final word, really, if circumstances safely allow for it. But if your bird is flighted but it allows for them to constantly be in harm's way in your home, what's the point?

Yes, a 'parrot shower' would be wonderful for you! Congratulations--you're an expecting dad!!

Rest assured, Shelly, Morana: as regards that one photo with Marcus on the window screen, we do not encourage him (or any of the boys) to do that! Occasionally he will resist stepping up--particularly if he doesn't want to go back to his cage from being out with us--and he'll take off. He still flies a bit awkwardly and has landed on the screen once or twice before in the den; the windows on the one side are permanently closed, so it's just that one side that's open. We always run over as quickly as possible to retrieve him. But, that one time, with his tail so pretty and 'open' like that, I just had to steal a shot before we removed him from his place! And Judygram, I know you like the IRNs, so I will have to dig up some other nice photos of our Tybalt for you to admire.

I just have some cute pictures of Marcus and the gang hanging around in my computer. Thought I'd share. Marcus eating some greens on his playgym: Marcus watching the water come out of the showerhead: Cute little Bunsen: Tybalt eating greens on the cagetop perch: Marcus fanning his tail out on the screen: Fluffy Beaker:

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Maybe it's like a game for him?...

Thank you, and, Oh, you have no idea! It's like the dam's been broken through anymore... not that I am complaining, in the least!! :)

Hm. Well, I don't know if this is the type of thing you're looking for, but before we even adopted our Beaker (Quaker parrot), I read just about every parrot book I could get my hands on at the time. Unbeknownst to me, being slightly 'older' (mid-nineties, probably) they had some training protocols which I have come to feel are a bit drastic. Visiting here online in particular (in addition to personal experience garnered since then) has helped me realize that to wear "kid gloves" when dealing with your fids is a much better idea. They are all very attuned to us and, if we can read their behavior and mannerisms better, it will probably deflect a lot of conflict to begin with.

Thank you, Dee. I would like to get Marcus a backpack in the not-too-distant future so I was curious what has been working out for you and Gilbert so well during your travels. And I'm sorry for the bites, but if it was a "love nest"--I can understand that! Your boy must truly adore you, it's so wonderful. :)

Yes, Paul, we're all thinking of you. I told my husband last night that you haven't posted any news of Murphy sightings in a while, and his face just fell... we feel for you, so much. But, truly, like so many others here have brought out before, sometimes it can take months before parrots and owners are reunited--they are trying months in the meanwhile, and I know you must be eaten up inside by everything right now, but your Murphy's obviously a fighter and very savvy and smart. I want to believe that you two will find each other again soon. Still thinking of you...

Congratulations on your new baby! Have you decided on a name yet?

Thank you for letting us know how Zak has been doing... he is a beautiful bird! I, too, have been trying to get our Marcus used to his carrier a bit more, and have started up the 'sunbathing' thing. We went outside for five minutes yesterday before the neighbors pulled up and I thought it best to take Marcus back in. But it sounds like your Zak can relax on his balcony and really take in the view! I am sure that, in time, it will become a highlight for him. Has he started mimicking the other birds' calls yet? I'm sure he sees plenty of them flying around... And I like your window art. Very cute! And I love all the pics of him you shared--what a happy little guy! One last thing: were you playing a little game with the buttons on the cloth in front of his open carrier? Just curious!

It sounds like you really want this Amazon. Although I can understand you wanting him to get along with your Sully. Believe me, if my parents' Amazon was still alive, I'd do whatever it would take to convince all parties (my parents and my husband, haha!) that the best place for him would be with our flock. Because I sincerely believe it would be. But that's beside the point now... Every flock dynamic is going to have its pluses and its 'issues', I think. Ours is made up of four, presumably all male, and all different species. They generally get along, even though Marcus does prefer to keep the smaller birds at a certain personal distance most of the time. The only exception to our 'happy family' is that Tybalt (our IRN) likes to pick on poor little Bunsen (the cockatiel) whenever they are allowed to have out-of-cage time together. In the beginning, Tybalt got along rather well with Bunsen, but once he met our Beaker they became best buddies and, presumably, it is an exclusive club. (Tybalt doesn't go for blood, he's just big and irritating and pulls on Bunsen's tail feathers a lot, making him scream.) So, generally I just let Bunsen out while he and Marcus are in another room with me, and the greenies can fly around together in the birdroom. Or I let Bunsen out with Marcus and Beaker in the birdroom while Tybalt is caged and eating a treat or something. My point is, even if there are some issues for your Sully and this Amazon (Gordon, right?) should they eventually become flockmates, you will probably have pretty easy solutions available to you in the beginning to deal with it. And even with some initial 'melding time' that might be a bit bumpy, over the weeks/months/years they may mellow to each other and become more tolerable of one another, if not friends. And parrots enjoy the company of other parrots, generally speaking, if not in face-to-face interactions than even simply as a presence. They might not ever get to the point of wanting to preen each other, but they'll at least have that other 'body' on the other side of the room to keep things interesting while their human flock might be gone sometimes... I don't meant to ramble, sorry! In any even, please just let us know how this all turns out!

Beautiful! And those eyes are very unique! Congrats on your new baby.

Hello there. Welcome to the Grey forums! I will admit, I'm kind of in the middle of things here, and your post has a lot in it that might take some time to digest and process for me. But to briefly comment on your subject line: Greys are very sensitive creatures. If Stewie and your father have any significant bond, Stewie can probably sense that he's not quite "himself" and that things are not 100%. But even if they don't, there are subtle things that Stewie would pick up on, attitudes and changes in habits, things like that, which would probably alert him to your father not being as well as he was before. Viewing things on a more human level, even a co-worker who's only a casual acquaintance can give off signals that alert others to the fact that they're having a bad day... Our Marcus will start make sniffling sounds if he sees me rubbing my eyes, like if I was working and sweat dripped into them. He's seen me cry before, and he's so attuned to my body language and moods now that he is very quick to 'comment' if things don't seem quite right to him, he worries and wants me happy/all right again. So I'm sure that Stewie has been noting your father's personal mannerisms all these years, his good times and not-so-good times, and so if your father is acting different now--why wouldn't Stewie realize something is not as it should be?

Morana, Shelly: No, I haven't stopped the Alphabet Letters Project (haha) but my efforts at working with Marcus and "reading" have admittedly been not as focused recently. I see the little box of letters there and I think, I need to pull them out and work with him. This time of year is always kind of crazy for me, but come September things should slow down a bit, and I'll have more time to focus on those things around here that I've been putting off. Like Marcus and his reading. But I will keep everyone posted, the good and bad of it, and let you all know what happens next time! Chezron: Actually, no, we didn't teach Marcus to wave. That was in the longer video, right? When we first adopted Marcus last year, whenever we would ask him to step-up (he wouldn't), he would throw these little strange fits and smack his foot around a lot. It was kind of scary, and seemed to indicate some trauma regarding stepping-up that he experienced in a former home, but thankfully he doesn't do that anymore. Thankfully he steps up now pretty reliably, too! But occasionally Marcus will still wave his foot around when he is talking, generally when he's in a worked-up mood, so I usually regard it as emphasis of some sort for whatever he's trying to get across to us.

Congrats on your new friend! We adopted Marcus at 8 years old, too, and he is just the light of our lives now... (Shh, don't tell the other birdies and pets that, haha!) And just an FYI, one of the treat mixes I buy online from a reputable "bird store" has raw almonds, dried cranberries, and dried coconut in it--unsweetened, of course! So if parrots can have dried coconut, I'm sure they can have fresh coconut, and so I'm sure they can have some coconut water. But until you read more about it online or hear from someone else more knowledgeable on the topic, perhaps you'd want to keep it in moderation, like a treat but not a 'staple' food.