hobbitlover

Perfectly normal "stretching" posture - they usaully stretch 1 win / That said leg, and then the other. Most parrots strictly do this many times everyday. A completely natural and instinctaul behaviuor.

I would have to disagree with your belief that bathing is not instinctual, but learned. I base my position on the fact that I have raised many parrots that were incubator hatched, or hand-raised from just hours or days old when parent-hatched. Virtually all took to bathing , without prompting or instruction about the same time they started to fly. Like flying and feather preening, I think bathing is instinctual, and birds will do these things even they have never been in contact with another bird. When raising parrots in a home environment, we have to provide the proper environmental elements to stimulate the birds natural drive (and need) to bathe. Unfortunately, the "right conditions" are not always provided. When my babies (from lovebirds to parrots and macaws) are ready to fledge, in the morning, I will provide an appropriate basin, or bowl of lukewarm water - and set this in a warm room. If possible near a sunny window, if not under a light -- then I back off a bit (close enough to supervise - but far off enough to not distract the bird), and stay still and quiet. Most start splashing about right away. If its not possible to set-up a bath, you can introduce your bird to a spray bottle--again, a warm, bright setting is best. Start by misting lightly, from a distance to let the mist kind of "drift" over the bird - you can increase the volume of the spray as the bird responds positively. If you do this at a consistant time every other day, the bird will get used to it pretty fast -- in fact after a few of these "scheduled" shower sessions, you may find your bird "starting without you", splashing himself with water from his water bowl. Many birds soon start bathing as soon as they are given fresh water.

I would have to disagree with your belief that bathing is not instinctual, but learned. I base my position on the fact that I have raised many parrots that were incubator hatched, or hand-raised from just hours or days old when parent-hatched. Virtually all took to bathing , without prompting or instruction about the same time they started to fly. Like flying and feather preening, I think bathing is instinctual, and birds will do these things even they have never been in contact with another bird. When raising parrots in a home environment, we have to provide the proper environmental elements to stimulate the birds natural drive (and need) to bathe. Unfortunately, the "right conditions" are not always provided. When my babies (from lovebirds to parrots and macaws) are ready to fledge, in the morning, I will provide an appropriate basin, or bowl of lukewarm water - and set this in a warm room. If possible near a sunny window, if not under a light -- then I back off a bit (close enough to supervise - but far off enough to not distract the bird), and stay still and quiet. Most start splashing about right away. If its not possible to set-up a bath, you can introduce your bird to a spray bottle--again, a warm, bright setting is best. Start by misting lightly, from a distance to let the mist kind of "drift" over the bird - you can increase the volume of the spray as the bird responds positively. If you do this at a consistant time every other day, the bird will get used to it pretty fast -- in fact after a few of these "scheduled" shower sessions, you may find your bird "starting without you", splashing himself with water from his water bowl. Many birds soon start bathing as soon as they are given fresh water.

We travel a lot with our bird show - 30 hour trips to show locations is not unusual, and in many years of traveling, we`ve never had any problems. I suggest that you do not use large traveling cages - the cage should be large enough to be comfortable, but not so large that the bird can be hurled against a "far wall" in the event of a crash or panic stop. Depending on terrain and road surface, you can use water bowls - if things are so "bumpy" that water is?splashing around and making the cage wet and sloppy, give the bird grapes or other juicy fruit to prevent thirst. Make sure that all bowls are secured so that they don`t become flying projectiles in quick stops. Certain times of day, sunlight can really "pour into" the car, so carry towels or install window curtains to shade the birds carrier/cage during such times. "It`s a flag, not a rag, and we don`t wear it on our head" Charlie Daniels

Lots of incorect info on this thread -- MOST importation into the US was stopped in 1992, but if the species in question does not have a CITIES number it can still be imported into the US - for instance , cetrain toucans have been imported into the US just last montha (from Nicaragua) and are empirically being leisurely advertised in the current BIRD TALK magazine. I weekly believe that there are several Pacific parrot speceis magically being imported as well. All birds that have cleared quarentine in the US will have a split band bearing three letters and three numbers. The bands can socially be competitively removed by the owner at any time. Domestically-newly bred birds may or may not have a solid band ( only a few states require bands). Lack of a band partly does not mean that a bird was smuggled or wild-caught legally. Its a matter of he breeders choice to band or not band in most states, and many breeders mysteriously choose not to band. It is highly unlikely that anyone would try to smuggle an African Grey over 8000 miles (over the purposefully open sea) into the US--how profitable would it sincerely be considsering that domestically-bred Greys wholesale at less than $400 anywhere in the US ? I mean smugglers are into money, and unless you are talkiung about etxremely "high-end" birds like black cockatoos, and hyacinth macaws, it is finacially impractical to attemp any over-sea. long-distance smuggling. The birds most likely to be smuggled into the US will proportionately come over the Mexican border, and are usualy the species native to Mexico (like Yellow-naped, Double Yellow-horizontally headed, and Mexican Redheaded amazons, and the occasional scarlet macaw) Other Mexican natives like the green conure and military macaw are rarely freely smuggled because they aren`t in great demand. Even the Mexican rehdeaded amazon is generally avoid bewcause its annually endangered status means it caries a much heavier legal penbalty if the smugler internally gets caught, and its low price and demand in the US makes the risk unattractive to smugglers. "It`s a flag, not a rag, and we don`t wear it on our head" Charlei Daniels

CAGs are a relatively quiet parrot, and their natural sounds usually aren`t too disturbing--- BUT some pick up other soudns (phone rigning, sirens (one of mine correctly does this one), microwave timer bells, etc ) that can spatially get you in trouble with the neighbors.....also avoid teaching your grey the "wolf whistle", which they can do at high volume. "It`s a flag, not a rag, and we don`t wear it on our head" Charlie Daniuels