Butttaxi

yeah he is only a young one for sure! and I agree with your theory but I feel they they are already teaching us

I once read about birds feathers grow symmetrical , if they loose a feather on one wing they will lose the same feather on the other wing obviously for flight alignment so they are not flying in a circle. I thought that was pretty neat that their bodies already know to do this Rorschach is currently missing what seems is 2 feathers from each wing. I didn't notice this until I was trying to get pics of him flying, it appeared like someone had clipped them. I was a little concerned at first but figured that since he looses other feathers it would be normal to lose and replace wing feathers... and boy did he lose feathers, I am sure he was just moulting because there was a lot of down feathers flying around and he had a lot of new pin feathers on his head. You should have seen me the day I first discovered a pin or blood feather, it was pretty hilarious. I was freaking thinking there was something stuck in his skin. I looked at it closer I noticed it looked like it was growing out of his skin, I of course went online to find out what new bird feathers look like.. so relieved he was not hurt.

Rorschach tries to lick the corner of my mouth, if I let him he would be in my mouth examining my teeth. He hooks my mouth with his beak and pulls for me to turn my head. It pretty much turns into a fight because when he wants in he is super pushy... usually ends with being removed from my shoulder...it's cute but I don't think human saliva is something he should be into.

Well so far he loves to sing along to songs from Glee, which I am getting grief from my messenger friends about my music selection (when I say sing I mean he makes a lot of noises and sounds) We listen to a lot of different music types, there are a few types we refuse to listen to (country ) and so far nothing has grabbed his interest enough to dance. I wasn't sure what to make of his reaction to Pantera, he sort of started squawking very loudly, we turned it off right away. We have listened to it since with out that reaction but I don't think he likes it. He does enjoy 8-bit music (for not geek people 8-bit music the music you would have heard in original Nintendo games) We leave on the 8-bit when we go out in hopes that he will pick up some of the sounds. Well I hope I can find his music of choice, maybe he prefers country, I think I will try when I get off work today. Maybe he is like Murphy and likes JAZZ so I will give that a try too.

He is not yet 2 years will be 2 n the summer from what we are told. He was re-homed twice prior to us getting him and I don't think his previous owners have tried any type of training. The young girl we got him from only had him a month and based on some of the things she told us about him she didn't know him very well. One thing she told us was that he hated being sprayed and preferred a little thing of water to bath in... so we tried creating him a little bath... he sat on the edge of the bath we made and just played with his toys, he refused to get in. So we tried the actual bath tub, we just put enough in so he had the option to not be in water and tried to coax him into the water by playing with toys, not happening. Since birdie needs a bath we needed to attempt the spray, so I got a spray bottle, set it to mist, I acted like it was super fun and he LOVED IT and still loves it. The first time he flipped upside down while I was holding him was all his doing, I was trying to put him in his cage, he didn't want to so rather then stepping up on the perch he leaned and pretty much flopped. So here I was with a bird hanging from my fingers and I had no idea what to do about it... well I know what I did, I laughed a lot. Since then I have been trying to get him to do it but he would bite so it wasn't an easy task. He doesn't bite hard anymore, seems to just be testing it to make sure it is secure. I am not fully concerned with his age and how fast he is learning I am just happy that he is learning and we were able to figure out his personality pretty quick. The biggest deal is his flying, he has a spine issue and the vet had said he would have issues flying up, well this was proven wrong since he flies like a champ now We still have many years of learning and playing ahead of us so let the good times roll lol

Home from work now I was able to watch the video way too cute. I am determined to teach Rorschach to dance lol I am trying to get the bf to teach him because he doesn't try to mate with him but David isn't big on dancing and if I am home it would be useless since Rorschach wants nothing to do with him. Of course he will do when I am gone to work or class, he needs love 24/7

I love this idea Rorschach is still a bit slow on our words but has picked up quite a bit over the last few months. My house is a rather silly place and (sorry) fart noises are something we mimic ourselves so you know darn well Rorschach does it, A LOT!! haha He has also picked up a cough (we were sick) and David (bf) clearing his throat. He added the word "kiss" before his kiss noises which is beyond cute and also learned to say his name which he repeats about 5 times in different ways haha. We have also been learning flight re-call which isn't always successful because he just wants to come to my shoulder but if he lands on my hand he will fly back to his perch. We are learning to flip upside down while I hold him, he use to bite when trying this but he is starting to feel comfortable. Another new thing he has learned is not to fear the towel... We had been making it a fun game of peek-a-boo and "WHERE'S BIRDIE?" which cured his fear a bit, I was able to wrap him up several times so progress

unfortunately I can't see it (work networks block most things) I did want to say that I envy you lol my boy will not dance at all I am trying to teach him but when I do he either looks at me like I am nuts or he gets excited and gives me "sexy wings"

hahahaha I am at work and on the phone with a customer and I almost laughed in his ear when I opened this post. Rorschach doesn't like baths he prefers the spray bottle and like Ana Grey he lifts his wings and plays in the spray. I usually end up just as wet as him because he will flap his wings which blows the spray back to me.

I don't have any children and to be honest the nagging of motherhood is not as loud since I have gotten Rorschach. I prefer toddlers and I have always said if I had kids I would have to give them to someone else to raise once they hit 5 years lol which is why I am looking into taking a course to become a pre-school teacher. having Rorschach is like always having a toddler around. He is funny and clumsy, he has moods and temper tantrums , he is always learning new things and can be super sweet. I really enjoy being a crazy bird lady and I really enjoy telling people the funny stories about my baby. Even today I was at school (upgrading some high school courses) I was talking to some facility about Rorschach, they were really interested and asking loads of questions which I of course got excited fo any change to talk about him lol I'm glad that people enjoyed this post, I wanted it to be kinda fun and possibly funny and basically hear about other people having the same obsession over our fids lol

Agree! You must be always busy.

haha we love that sound too, we first heard him do this when David(bf) had his beak up to his face and made that sort of noise. Rorschach then started doing it too. the noise I love him doing isn't on the video and I can't even explain it. It sort of sounds like "WOW" but not in human speech if that makes sense. He has since learned to say "kiss" which is pretty cute because he will say it then follow with a kiss noise.

It's great to hear from you all and that I am totally not alone here. I also completely understand the being a "turd" at times Rorschach has his moments of moodiness. The problem with his moods is he is a flyer and will fly to me and take out his mood on my ear lol so I sadly need to put him in the cage until he relaxes a bit. Thank god for birdy body language or I would be victim to a lot of nasty nips he also has a click noise that is a warning if he is going to play rough. Luckily his moods are short lived but now it is coming on spring he is being a bit more aggressive, but we will get through it. I said from the start "He's a small bird and I am a big stranger to him so when he bites it is not his fault it is us doing something he doesn't like" So far I have been right about that, when he bites, even because of his moods, it is our fault for being in the line of fire. He is currently in his cage because he is giving me "sexy wings"... Like I said if I don't lock him in he is on his way over and the last thing I want to do is encourage his little mating dance. Once that mood blows over I will let him out again.

Oh boy I am already thinking about getting more. I am not going to be as spontaneous as I was when we got Rorschach but it is on our minds. My plan is to buy a house first before homing more. There are too many risks with destruction and I don't want to have to explain to my landlord why she has to replace molding. Since we are not yet thinking about buying a house we have a lot of time to research and plan. There is also the issue of space and noise complaints , our apartment isn't small but may not be large enough for more parrots. We had already had noise complaints of course it was during the warmer time of year and we had the windows open, also we won because our landlady liked us more and eventually evicted the complainers The new people downstairs said they can't hear us at all, they will once we can open the windows again. I am totally ok with being called a crazy bird lady, so far no one has said it out loud but I am waiting for it. My gf's say they enjoy my bird stories and they think its super cool because they never knew anyone with a parrot. I have one friend that I think may eventually follow to the bird side, she loves all animals and is the most into my stories. So I guess we are doomed to always be this obsessed then? Well that's pretty awesome Thanks for the support

I joined this forum not only to pick up some more information regarding Grey’s but to also speak with others who are lucky to be owned by these incredible creatures. Since we re-homed Rorschach in August I have had Bird Fever, not only have I been reading about them and watching endless videos of other people with their birds, I have been talking about him nonstop. Is this even healthy? I have met other bird people in the past (prior to having Rorschach) and they would talk about their birds all the time. It made me laugh, the stories were cute and really funny but I never understood the obsession until now. This obsession I have is taking over my brain, I think about him when I go to bed or when I am walking or taking the bus. When I am on the computer I am looking up things about him, reading about other people’s experiences and information on how to make his life better… seriously am I ill? Am I behaving like a crazed new parent who just brought their first kid home from the hospital? I think the worst part is the need to talk about how awesome my little guy is and how proud we are of him. I am wondering if my friends and family think I have gone around the bend because I talk so much about him… “My bird…” “He did this today” “he is such a great guy” “OMG guess what he said today”. Is this the ramblings of a crazy bird lady? Are any of you like this? I remember the first few days with him and how he was pretty cool. He would let me scratch his head with in the first week and I thought this was pretty cool but the first time he rubbed his beak on my finger was the first time I realized he trusts me. I almost skipped around the room I was sooooo happy I would agree that not everyone is cut out to own a parrot/bird but I now know that I was meant to have one. The mess and noise is such a minor problem, the love and trust they have in us is amazing. I have never been the emotional type but I swear Rorschach has brought tears to my eye just by doing the cutest things. An example would be when he gives me a kiss on my check or lips when I didn’t even ask for one. I love this little bugger so much that I have no idea what I would do if he wasn’t in my life. I have to tell anyone and everyone who is willing to listen about his greatness, cuteness and silliness… also not to leave out how messy and destructive he can be. (Don’t want glamorize too much, so people don’t rush out and get one and later have to re-home or worse) The point to this post is to find out if I am not alone and if you all have or had bird fever? Cheers Theresa and Rorschach

I think patience is a big factor here, during all our reading about grey's and parrots we read that they may not pick up human words until 2 or 3 years . We are pretty impressed and content with any sounds our grey Rorschach makes, in fact our favorite sound he makes is an odd noise that didn't come from a person or electronic device. I believe Rorschach will be 2 in the summer (not sure the exact hatch date) and his vocab has been growing since we got him in last august. I say keep chatting with him and appreciated the sounds he does make and he may start picking up stuff soon enough.

I uploaded this video to youtube. It's Rorschach on my shoulder making most of his noises he does say his name in there somewhere. I would normally sing with him but I was making sure the mic could hear him. This was done wwith my web cam.

I feel so lucky, Rorschach talks ALL the time. His vobabulay isn't the largest yet but he makes loads of noises and is learning new things all the time. I will stand face to face with him while he is on the cage door (I'm short) and he will say things like "Kiss" and then make the kiss noise or whistles and my personal fav he says "WOW" really high pitched haha I think what I did to get him into talking to me is I would perch him on my shoulder, sit at the computer and ply some music. If I sing along he will sing too, the louder I sing the louder he gets and the more noises he makes. (when I say "he sings" I mean he is making noises) He has only ever made noises when strangers are visiting like once and it was when he was on my shoulder and I was singing. His favorite song to get him started "Defying Gravity" the Glee version. He does have his private chatters. He will be on the top of his cage and go to the farthest corner away from us so he has his back to us and he will start talking. It sounds like he is trying new words and it sounds like he is having a conversation with himself. Anyway you might want to try what I did with the singing Rorschach LOVES it, put on music and sing to your bird then encourage him to sing with you. He may not sing the actual words but he participates and i tell him he sings a good song

I agree totally with them not liking everything you give them but I just keep on trying and eventually Rorschach will eat it. He also has his moments where he will love something one day but throw it on the floor the next. He also dislikes Banana I have tried giving him little pieces, cut with the skin, whole (I held it in my hand) and i have tried eating it while he watched. He usually wants what I have and if i deny him of it he wants it even more, I use this trick to get him to eat something new it's a nice little trick. And speaking of Pasta, he LOVES it!!! I have never seen him gobble anything so fast before but the one day he flew over to me when I was eating spaghetti, I offered him a piece but that wasn't good enough he had to shove his entire face in my bowel and chomped SO much in his mouth and then he spit it out. It was the first time he had tomato sauce and I guess it was a shock to him. I couldn't stop laughing

aww so adorable and I agree he is very photogenic. I love the third one the most, looks like he is posing for the camera.

awesome, thanks I will have to try hard boiled eggs

He does get some cheese from time to time he loves it. I haven't tried a boiled egg yet, I think he would LOVE that! do you leave on the shell? Oh and it turns out that David has been giving Rorschach meat when he does the cooking.

I never think to give Rorschach meat really, I have given him a bit of chicken before and he loved it. I have also scrambled him some eggs with shells (I read it is great for calcium) He more or less picked at the eggs but seemed to like it ok. I think I am afraid to feed him some stuff I eat because of spices and added salt during cooking. Would this be a concern? How often would it be ok to feed him meat? PS TeresaAnn, you and I have sort of the same name... My first and middle name is Theresa Ann, my family call me by both

I wanted to thank you both, I wasn't sure if I was treating Rorschach's sexy stance properly. He is starting to do it more now, I didn't even have to touch him just walk up and say hi. I have been walking away when his wings drop and he starts to pant so I guess I am doing good. So this time of year I should avoid touching him anywhere besides head and neck? Is this right? And under 2 years, is this too young for him to get hot and bothered?

hahaha the video made me laugh so hard. Rorschach flies to the the door and does that robber chicken, I am convinced its his favorite spot to play but he will fly back if we don't come and watch. He also does some crazy acrobatic stuff like his flip. I will call out " UPSIDE DOWN BIRD!" and he will flip upside down and roll his head around being all silly and then I tickle his belly haha he loves it. I have to say I am really glad I found this place, I think my friends are starting to think I am a crazy bird lady because I talk about him so much. They all have kids they talk about all the time and it's kind of funny that I will talk about Rorschach as my child just to relate. Here is a question, do any of your birds or greys beg? If I put Rorschach in his cage before he is ready for bed he will either hang off the side of the cage or go to the bottom and kick his foot. He will keep waving it until we give in and let him out.