Natarajishakti

Hi Luvparrots, Katana600, I'm sure he is lonely in some ways, and boy, does that hurt my heart knowing it! However, I do have to work. How much more lonely would he be if I packed up and left to go to the library to work on the computer every day? I've tried this, but I prefer much more working from home and not adding travel and using gas to my workday. I am a homebody, I love working from home. Unfortunately, I just don't have the $$ to hire someone to play with Bodhi, and this is true of bird sitters too. I am working on building a network of bird sitters where we can help each other out, with at least a little bit of success so far. Also, I have really tried to include Bodhi in almost every aspect of my life, from eating meals to showers. Right now he is actually sitting in the same room with me and being quiet, allowing me to work on the computer this morning without distraction and I'm verbally appreciating him for this, going and giving him a kiss from time to time and a goodie here and there. Thank heaven the weather is getting warm and I can take him on some outings in his harness. The frustrating part are those days when all I do give to him just doesn't seem to be enough and I get the squawk any way. Sometimes it even seems that the more I give, the more he wants/demands. That having been said, moving his cage to a room where I can place him in there and close the door has definitely given me a lever on letting him know that particular squawk is not okay, and there has been a marked improvement in our interactions, though there is a long way to go. But I do feel a sense of hope again. I don't like having him in the other room, and he doesn't like it either, but because of the respite it gives me, we have been enjoying much more quality time again together when I am done at the computer. Katana600... the noise-cancelling headphones are a good idea! I'll check eBay and see what I can find. Bodhi was hatched in May 2003, so he will soon be 9 years old. Thank you both for your messages.

With all kindness, gratitude and respect, much of the feedback here are things I already know as a 20 year parrot owner. The problem today is that I don't have the time to work with the behavior, it would destroy any ability to concentrate and follow-through on finishing up my book to do all the back and forth, "NO", covering and uncovering process. I love my bird dearly, but my life also has to matter and count for something, and I work from home, for many reasons, not just financial. But what posting yesterday did do for me, and looking at the replies also did, was to remove a big layer of my own frustration and fear of rehoming him and tell me I need a fresh and radical approach to this problem. So thank you all for simply being here and "hearing" me! So I'm going to move Bodhi's cage from the main living area to another room and make some other changes. He is obviously bored, which frustrates me cause I have provided plenty of toys of all types for him to play with that he ignores. So he needs more stimulation and more interesting interventions of other varieties. Moving the cage is a start... he will still have time in the main living area on his perches, and I am also thinking of putting up a birdie playpen in the evenings on the floor with some new objects, not necessarily traditional "toys". Larger objects that will challenge him to investigate them once he determines they aren't going to come after him (inanimate objects). I may also try some wind up toys. I'm thinking about myself - a lifelong fear of heights that has always bothered me and prevented me from doing things I love to do. But now I'm learning, in stages, to go bouldering and climbing with the wonderful guy I have in my life now. It is stimulating and exhilarating! I'm pushing my own limits. I'm wondering how I can do something similar, within reason and safely, to relieve Bodhi's boredom. He'll just have to muddle through when I'm writing... without my work, there is not going to be a home or someone to bring home the Harrison's bird food!

Hi, thanks for the welcome! I have been a companion to parrots for 20 years now. I currently have one parrot at this time, a TAG named Bodhi, the light of my life, who has been with me since 2003; he was hatched in May 2003, so he is still young. I planned on a quiet life with my bird, nothing special, maybe adding a wonderful human significant other to our flock if the right guy showed up (and he has in the last few months, yay!). But in 2008 I decided it was very important go public with some experiences I had in the military and now I'm a public person. I had no idea so many people would be interested in what I've experienced or what I have to say about it all. I have written a book now to make a definitive statement on this, and it's in the final stages of editing before publication. For the record, I would like to not go into the subject matter here on this forum, I just want this to be for me and my bird. It's nice to have a place to just be a regular person and nothing more as well. All this has impacted the lives of myself and my beloved birdie. I love him dearly, he is like part of my heart... yet now there is another calling in my life that I can't ignore or walk away from. It's kind of a responsibility that I both need and want to accept, and a facet of our world I have unique insights into with a real passion to educate about them in a balanced way I don't see offered by others too much. But how do I balance this part of me, which is really busy trying to keep up with finishing my book ASAP and all the email correspondence that has come into my life by so many people that now want my attention with who I am as a companion to Bodhi? Bodhi is welcome to make just about any and all whistles, chirps, and sounds he desires and it's fine with me - but he has developed one particular SQUAWK that just freezes any concentration, totally shutting down my ability to focus on any of the work I MUST get done each day. Like chalk on a blackboard. I hurt inside knowing he needs something from me that I just can't give right now. I have tried sooo many things to work with him on this. I put him on my shoulder to work, write and edit, and he gets so antsy and jumpy I can't concentrate. I put him down and all his sounds start to escalate until he resorts to the terrible brain-numbing "SQUAWK". I have tried many toys - he will not play with toys, seems unable to entertain himself in any degree, unless there is an almond in the shell involved, and I just can't feed him almonds constantly. I have tried building a special perch with food and water dishes to keep him close by me while I work - he just seems to not be willing to tolerate my being at the computer or on the phone and knows the SQUAWK is the one thing that will get me. I try to include him in every activity I do where he can be present and we can interact, from food preparation and cooking to brushing my teeth and doing my morning mirror stuff. I make sure he gets cuddles and attention as much as possible, but nothing I do seems to satisfy him, nothing is enough and I must admit that out of sheer exhaustion from trying to cope with him AND get my work from home work done each day, I find myself really pulling away from him and his incessant demands. This is not helping, but my exhaustion level with his behaviors gets to the place that I sometimes just want to sit down and do absolutely nothing, and that includes interacting with Bodhi. I just get into a "everything and everyone just leave me alone" place, so I can recharge my batteries a little. Then I feel terribly guilty about not giving to him at such times. I have clients I need to work with by phone and Skype from home, and I hate having to isolate Bodhi in the bathroom on his shower perch - the one place he will give me some quiet time - while I do computer or client work just to get enough peace to focus on what needs to be done. I have to work from home, it's MY workplace! I can't afford to rent an office. I have thought of fostering Bodhi someplace until I have the book done and published, then trying him back at home with me again. But it's entirely possible that this new life I feel I need to live is not compatible with having my bird any more. He is a wonderful, loving bird in so many ways, great personality, great socializing - good with so many people, friendly, not a biter at all. I am really concerned that life with me at this point is going to ruin the wonderful personality of this incredible bird. I tried to give him up for a few months, but it felt like part of me was missing, so he came back home. We were both overjoyed to be back together. My boyfriend loves critters and is wonderful with Bodhi also, but also sees what I'm going through with the SQUAWK thing and as much as we have tried to ignore it - not reinforce it with any attention at all, it's impossible to relax or watch a movie or have a phone conversation when the SQUAWK is happening - you have to do something with him to make him stop. If we try to have him sit with us, he will tolerate it for a short time then get restless and antsy and then we have to put him down, then comes the SQUAWK again. So trying to figure out what to do is very very difficult. Do I love him enough to give him up to another loving home where he can get more of what he needs, maybe including the companionship of other birds? That would only be possible if I KNEW he was going to a good and loving forever home where he could bond wonderfully with the new people. The idea of not having him with me any more is terrible too, the only thing that would make it tolerable is knowing he was in a wonderful place. I don't want my new lifestyle to destroy his loving personality because I have to be busy with other work. I don't want to start him on a cycle of being rehomed several times over - as much as one tries to find that "forever home" for one's bird, you always wonder how it's working out or if it will. I also have public appearances I need to do... which means travel and birdsitters, and I'm fussy about who I leave him with. My one good birdsitter is not available any more. I want him to have good care, not be exposed to teflon or cat or dog predators that might hurt him. As much as it hurts my heart, and likely Bodhi's too, I am really questioning whether I should try to find him that wonderful home to go to and the possible impact and repercussions that could have on his life, or whether there is some way to try and condition out the SQUAWK acting out somehow and get us to find a comfortable level of compatibility with my current life now where we can stay together. That would be my first choice. But with the need to get the book out ASAP, there is just not the time or energy to work with this acting out behavior at this time. If we stay together, I need about 3 good bird sitters in my area. Possibly a foster home where he can go until the book is done - and with focused work that would mean 2 or 3 months. However, I have no idea how much in demand I'll be once the book is done - I have a feeling it could be a lot. It is not going to be possible to take him with me for much of this travel... so I'm back to wondering if a new home - the best I can find for him - is the right thing to do. Any thoughts or feedback would be welcome. It's at least a relief to share this here with people who understand the bond between a bird and their human companion. PS: I'd like to post a picture of Bodhi, but it just asks for a url, and I don't have that option. I'll try to figure out a way.

Hi, I'm from Durango, CO and have an African Grey Timneh. I'm looking for good bird sitters who love parrots in my home area. If anyone is in Durango, CO here, I'd love to meet you if you would like to bird sit sometime. Thanks!