Earthchild

I just found this while researching. Is this outdated? http://www.aphis.usda.gov/import_export/animals/bird_leg_band.shtml second to last paragraph

That is why my friend from bird club thought he was older, he thought he was brought in before the ban. After he saw how young Irwin is he said he's not a pre-ban bird. (I'm not sure if the wording on that makes any sense) And it doesn't matter how old he is, I don't want to get rid of him. I was just asking if anyone thought he would be happier as a breeder which was a silly question in the first place.

I am so sorry, this is not what I intended to happen when I started this post. To anyone who had trouble for this I'm sorry. I love this forum. I have been using it as reference long before Irwin even came into my life, and I still plan to. I love all of the wisdom that is shared and the fact that people are so willing to help everyone else, and the love of the birds. Thank you everyone for all of your advice. Back on topic: The very good man from my local bird club came to visit us and it turns out (we're blind) there is a number on Irwin's leg band, it's FLE992. He told us that from the condition of his beak and feet he is not as old as he thought and is probably 6-8 like we were told. The band is open, but I researched it and found out that can also just mean that it was put on later in life. He offered us a trade in case we wanted something more suited for our low experience level, but we love Irwin a lot and we said no thanks. Other than that he said there is absolutely nothing wrong with my bird and he just needs time, which we have a lot of. We plan to keep working with him as we have been every day. We sing to him, play guitar for him, talk to him, and even have a special chair set up next to his cage to get him used to us. Also for anyone concerned, Irwin is not a test subject. He's a happy, talking, dancing pet bird in my living room. I probably didn't give that post the best title, the "tests" are more enrichment for him (toys), and me too really since animal cognition is my favorite area of study.

I'm on here for help not criticism..

Love the pix too

Thank you very much for the articles, I've been researching with no luck. This man is the second to bring up the leg band/wild caught idea. Both people who have also have suggested giving him up to a nice breeder facility and getting a baby, but I don't know. I love Irwin a lot, but they say he would be happier as a breeder. We will find out tomorrow though so I guess it's just wait and see. Even if he is wild caught I probably could still work with him. That article on taming was good, I will keep trying that.

We went to our first bird club meeting tonight, and found out that it is highly likely that Irwin is actually a 30+ yr old wild caught import. He is coming tomorrow to check him out. (Update: looks like he is probably six yrs as we were told, and we still don't know where he came from . But, he is happy and healthy and perfect. )

He would rather hide under the sofa than step up.

So cute! Irwin has actually stopped the squawking since I started covering his cage at night. Sadly he has stopped talking altogether too unless coaxed by a nut. >.< I'm hoping if I wake up earlier to uncover him he will start talking again.

He has the same reaction with sticks outside of his cage too. Last time I was able to get him onto his perch (we detached it from the cage) but when I would move it he would jump back off. I tried for over 45 minutes.

He goes ballistic if we put a stick even an inch into his cage, i don't know why. He hates them like ten times worse than hands. Last time he was out we tried using his normal long perch to get him to step up but he would jump back off after the slightest movement. The man who had him first did clip his wings so he can't fly back, that would be ideal though.

When he gets out we have to towel him to put him back in which really freaks him out

that was a nice review. Thanks!

Thanks We're moving to a house soon so it won't matter, but we just don't want to get kicked out early. A friend of mine just got a notice that he needs to get rid of his new macaw or leave because it screams. We are in the same complex...

Singing was the only thing that stopped him this morning, but it was very hard to keep singing while studying for a math final for the whole two hours

Before I get into it Irwin said his name today! I'm so happy!! But, on the more serious side he has been squawking very loudly in the morning and sometimes in the evening. It's so loud we can hear it when we walk the dogs and in an apartment that is not a good thing. Nothing (ignoring, distracting, talking happy and quiet.) has worked so far. It is now finals week so the noise is three times more aggravating. I know this is his normal sound, but before this started about a month and a half ago I had only heard him do it once when his previous owner cornered him in the cage to transport him. He shows no signs of fear and even does it while he's happy dancing! We don't mind birdy noises, but this is just too loud. Any advice on how to stop him?

I know! I'm having trouble thinking of more that he can do from inside the cage. I'm going to make him some new foraging toys next week though. If anyone has any ideas for more experiments please post them. I'm going to start documenting them, possibly videotaping too.

Today was test two. The first test was a carrot tied to a string about five inches from his perch. After looking at it from every angle possible he went back to his perch and began to pull the string up inch by inch until he had his carrot. Today's test went even better. A nut tied to a string outside of the cage from the overhang of his cage top, then tied a different color string to that and put it right inside the cage. Took him barely 60 seconds to figure out that pulling the white string brought the nut close enough to grab! (noted that this is the first try on both experiments and as far as I know he has never seen these things before.)

Should we do it more often? My significant other wants to take him out more, he read online about this parrot trainer who does it as his training. I told him no because I thought it would make him lose progress, but he didn't this last time.

Oh believe me Irwin hates it too. We had to dig him out from under the couch. Then he bit me through two layers of blanket and broke skin. Then growled for a few minutes. I just stared at the tv and whispered to him until he stopped. Then he started pulling threads out of the blanket I would have held him longer but the blanket layers made him hot. I just wish the blanket didn't have to be a thing, but hey maybe it helped a bit.

To danmcq- well we left the cage open and eventually he came out. He landed on the floor and wandered around for a little bit before perching on the bottom of our cageside chair. His wings are clipped so he couldn't get back to the cage if he wanted to unfortunately. We put the new perch in and moved his old stuff around as suggested by a fellow Grey owner I met at birdmart. He did get pretty worked up especially when we had to put him back. After I got him in the blanket I held him for a few minutes and he calmed down for the most part, then we went to the door of the cage and let him climb back in. I honestly thought he would hate me for all of that but he has shown no signs of lost progress. He also is using the new perch perfectly fine and discovering new sides to his old toys. Also he let me pet him for a second the next morning. As for the new toy it is slowly migrating from the coffee table to the outside of his cage as suggested. And the rest of the goodies were new food and treats (sorry for not clarifying).

Today was birdmart and we got Irwin a bunch of goodies we need to put in his cage. We don't want him to hurt himself breaking out while we move stuff so we are going to take him out of his cage. He does not step up, so what is the best way to get him out of and back into the cage? (least stressful and without breaking trust.)

It's very nice to know there are others when I tried researching I could not find any U.S sites about care of wild orphaned pigeons only in the U.K. I thought there were no pigeon lovers here Thanks guys

That's great too many people think of them as pests, I wish they could all see how loving they are. Henry used to follow us around the complex, we were scared to let him follow us too far. He would get mad when we went into the office and left him outside then he would pout for hours

On a fall day a while back my love and I were walking to the bus stop for our Saturday date night and stumbled upon a half bald little feather ball under a bridge, a baby pigeon who had fallen from his nest in the underside of the bridge. I'm known for picking up stray animals too often so I said fine, but after our date if we come back and he is still here I'm taking him (spent the whole date researching baby pigeon care on my phone). After our date he was still there except he had wandered onto the road so we took him immediately; that night the temperature dropped to about 50 degrees outside, needless to say he wouldn't have made it. He changed our lives completely after that day. From the late night and early morning feedings to teaching him how to fly in the field next to our apartments. He gave special pigeon kisses and made funny faces. He rode on our shoulder everywhere we went except when you made him mad so he would go pout on the roof. We even had the opportunity to teach some neighbors who were awed by his affection and tameness. Now we double check every time we drive past a bridge just in case. I love you sweet baby,rest in peace. I know Henry isn't a Grey and he died a while back, but I thought he deserved a proper memorial somewhere. <3 If anyone wants to see more pics it won't let me upload them on here because the files are too large but they are on facebook- http://www.facebook.com/media/set/edit/a.538342942855703.1073741825.100000400050062/