Sanveaz

Escher is a tiny TAG. He usually weighs between 245-250 grams. The vet said his weight is fine for his size, he's just small.

So great to hear how Inara is doing. She has an amazing vocabulary.

My TAGs name is Escher after the artist M. C. Escher.

SterlingSL, we got Escher when he was 10 months old and the lady who had him raises a lot of different birds. One of her other birds got out of it's cage and landed on Escher's. It grabbed and pulled out three of Escher's nails. He had balance problems when we got him. He's learned to compensate though. We didn't think the nails would grow back since he is now over 2. Lately we noticed that they are starting to grow back. They're not very long yet but they are coming back.

Today Escher let me play with his feet. Since we have had Escher the only time I can touch his feet is when he climbs around in his cage. I can touch them when he wraps them around the bars. I completely understand, if I had my nails pulled out I wouldn't want anyone to touch my feet. Well today he was on the arm of my chair and I touched his foot. He didn't react at all so I touched it again. This time he grabbed my finger and laughed. I told him "I'm gonna get your foot' and he would either beak my finger or grab with his beak. We did this for about 10 minutes then he got bored. He ran around his play stand a few times then came stand on the corner. Escher stood on the corner with one foot one each side and leaned on the foot furthest away from me. He then turned his head away from me to look at me from the corner of his eye. I was so excited he wanted to play some more. We played get your foot for about another 10 minutes before he got bored and decided he was ready for bed. It was absolutely adorable. On another note, a couple of days ago I leaned down to pick him up and asked if he wanted to come with me and clear as a bell he said "Of Course". Tonight before the I got your foot game my husband coughed and startled both birds. Escher flew off his stand and when I went to get him I asked if he was ok and he said "daddy's fault". That is the first time he acknowledged my husband as daddy. Escher amazes me more and more every day. I'm so glad he chose me.

Escher used to make that sound constantly. We started whistling to him every time he did it. It took a couple of weeks but now he just does it when he wants out of his cage. He used to do it even when he was sitting on me. His new sound is the smoke alarm. Someone set off the smoke alarms at our apartment complex Christmas Eve. He went all the way until June before he started doing it. We did the same thing with that sound as the other. When he would do it we'd whistle. It only took a few days this time to get him to the point that he only does it in the morning and when I come home from work. It's his new I want out sound. He still does the piercing sound every once in a while, sometimes he alternates sounds. Good luck getting GreycieMae to find a new sound.

It was wonderful to read about Inara. She sounds like an amazing bird.

today I got a look at his back toe and the nail is coming in on that one also. YAY!!

Escher turned 2 in June and he lost 3 nails when he was about 7 or 8 months old. We did not think they would come back since it's been so long. Well we noticed a couple of weeks ago that his two front toes with missing nails had little bumps on them. Tonight when playing with him I got a good look at those toes and it's his nails growing back in. We are so excited. He wouldn't let me look at the back toe to see if it was coming in too. He is used to then not being there and compensates very well. I can't wait until they get longer and he realizes that he has better balance.

That is fantastic. She is just too cute.

No his nails have not come back. His nails were already gone when we got him at 10 months old and he turned 2 in June. I don't know how old he was when the nails were pulled out but I'm pretty sure they are not coming back since it's been this long and they are not back yet. His balance is much better than it used to be but he is still timid. He seems to have gotten a little braver since we got Pablo, who has no fear.

Escher is a timid bird. I think it has something to do with his missing nails, it effects his balance. He rarely hops across spaces bigger than a couple of inches. I've tried getting him to fly to me but he won't do it, why should he when he knows that if he begs I'll go get him. He's just so cute when he begs I can't resist. He also knows that if he flies somewhere I'll go get him. Today I had my back to him because I was doing something at the table. The table and his stand are about 4 feet apart. I heard the wings start up and immediately asked where he was going. Before I could turn around he landed on my back. I got so excited I startled Pablo who jumped off the stand and landed on the dogs back and startled him. So I then had a bird on my back, one on the dog and the dog running around trying to get this thing off his back. It was pretty funny. My husband rescued the dog and Pablo, but Escher was still clinging to my back, my husband can't touch him when I'm around. I had to pull my shirt up over my should to get Escher off my back. I'm so excited and so proud of Escher. He decided he wanted me and figured out a way to get to me. I figured he would eventually. I didn't want to push him and it worked it just took a little while.

Escher, also a TAG, was 10 months old when we brought him home and he said step up that day. For the first couple of months he would pick up new words and even a couple of sentences then he stopped talking. He didn't talk for several months then all of a sudden he started again. He said one sentence and a couple of new words along with some old ones. This went on for about a month then he stopped again. A couple of months went by he started talking again. He would repeat new words and old words several times a day for a couple of weeks then stopped again. He just started talking again. Right now his words are "No" and "Bowz" or "Bowsey", the dogs nicknames. I expect this to go on for a couple of weeks then I expect he'll stop talking again. We get excited and make a big deal every time he talk but that doesn't seem to keep him talking. He does vocalize in other ways by burping, clicking, whistling, making the smoke alarm sound, and a new sound my husband taught him which sounds like Donald Duck when he was mad, he also laughs. Talking is not that big a deal to us. We figure if he wants to talk he will and every once in a while he does. He was a closet talker for a while but stopped that also. So as you can see just because he starts talking doesn't mean he will keep talking. I would love it if Escher was a chatterbox but adore him no matter what. Hopefully your Phoenix doesn't tease you like Escher does us.

Hi everyone, sorry haven't been on for a while but between work and entertaining 2 birds now I don't have a lot of computer time. Escher is now 2 years old and still the sweetest bird ever. He turned 2 around the beginning of June. We don't know his exact hatch date. He chose me on April 6th 2013 and we were told he was 10 months old so we use June 6th as his birthday. He still loves to snuggle with me, not every night anymore but several nights a week. He still loves his scritches and will sit on my chest forever getting scritches. He also likes to put his beak against my lips sometimes while getting scritches. He started rubbing his cheek on mine a couple of weeks ago and it is soooo sweet. He still doesn't talk much but lately he has been saying no a lot. We have been telling Pablo, the GCC, no a lot because he likes to nibble on our fingers and sometimes he bites down hard. Pablo has learned what no means because when we say it he stops whatever he's doing. The funny thing is Escher now likes to tell Pablo no. I say it then Escher repeats it, sometimes he laughs after. He has also started calling the dog again. As to the terrible two's, after reading some people's accounts of how their birds started to change around 2 I was a little worried about Escher but he has not changed at all. The only problem we have had is he gets a little jealous of Pablo. If he's on me and Pablo is near and I try to give Escher scritches he will sometimes pull away or tries to bite. It's not all the time and it's gotten better in the last couple of weeks. All in all he's taken to having a new bird in the house really well. I also do make sure he still gets some alone time with me. Pablo also gets his alone time. Escher is also doing very well with his flying and landing. He still demands I pick him up if he wants to come to me instead of flying but when something startles him and he does fly he no longer crash lands. Once he lands he demands I pick him up because he will not fly to me, but why should he fly when he knows I'm going to go get him. In the next few months I'll be cutting back on my work hours and then I'll have time to work with him on flying to me. Right now I'm ok with him being spoiled. I have to say that I can't get over how easy a bird Escher is. He switched from seed to pellets in a couple of days. He learned to step up in a couple of days. His cage aggression only lasted a month, with me anyway, he waits for me to reach in and get him. My husband has to wait for Escher to come out of the cage before he can pick him up. He adjusted extremely well to my change in work schedule and he's adjusting well to having another bird in the house. He's my baby love and I adore him so much.

Escher is talking up a storm. Some things we understand and some we don't. Tonight I was cooking and we were having our nightly chat. He said hello several times, what ya doin a couple of times, what sounded like good boy and...... mere right now. I got so excited of course I had to come here right now and love him all up. As soon as I picked him up he laughed as if to say haha I got you trained now. By the way that's not a sentence we use, he did that all on his own.