Joe and the earthquake

[greymullet]

We just had our 6.9/7.3 earthquake here in so cal and Joe is freaking!!!!!!! His head is pointed towards the ground like he is just anticipating the next one. I feel bad for him!!

[jessdecutie18]

Crazy... Poor Joe must be worried! Makes me wonder how wild parrots handle earthquakes... I guess they freak too especially if they haven't been in one before :blink:

[Janfromboone]

Sorry about the earthquake. I hope you didn't have much damage. I'd be paying attention to Joe though. Animals know things. Is he still looking at the ground.

[greymullet]

Well, he's back to normal. Out of all of us, he was the most affected. His cage was a shakin and a rollin before I was able to get to him.

 

Our dog was clueless.

[judygram]

I can imagine he was very shaken and scared but he will settle down soon, poor thing didn't know what was going on with his world and was expecting to see more but hopefully he won't experience it again but I doubt it.

[Luvparrots]

Oh poor Joe. I hope he calms down very soon!

[Joolesgreyuk]

"Our dog was clueless"

 

{Feel-good-0002006E}

 

I hope all is well now. I heard about the quake on the news this morning.

[Elvenking]

Yes, I live here in the San Diego area and was out at the time of the quake. But when i came home, I ssac had obviously felt it. Shreadded paper was strewn long distances outside of the cage as if he'd been flapping his wings and going crazy. He also had a tiny red mark above his eye on his head, probably from attempting flight inside his cage while the world was moving. Poor little guy. I took him out and kissed his head and talked softly to him...he was okay by the time i got to him.

 

As a note, birds like to fly when the ground shakes. Even if they are caged...I wish I was home with him when it happened. But what can you do. He's his normal self now.

[Joolesgreyuk]

Oh poor Issac, he must have been terrified, especially with no one there to calm him Unfortunately though we all have to work and quakes can strike at any time, there isn't really anything we can do about it. I'm so pleased he seems ok now.

[pearllyn]

Poor Joe - I hope he gets over it sooner rather than later.

Interesting note about birds flying during a quake Stephen - makes perfect sense. Hope both birds (and anyone else who felt it) are ok.

[Xtreme575]

Aww, poor Joe and Isaac, I've wondered about that for Paco, we live in Vancouver BC, which is also on a fault line. Considering how he can freak out from the deaf lady upstairs who sometimes slams doors when Paco's cage is covered, I'd expect a similar reaction, thrashing and screaming.

 

I hope both birds move on and don't associate any of the rolling earth with their parronts!

[Luvparrots]

I truly hope Joe is calm now and that Issac and Joe are both all right!

[crossfit]

I hope everything calms down. It was a weird day in California with a second smaller quake soon after in Northern California. The breeder today told me Hawkins had gotten really upset and chattered at her for a while at one point. I didn't think to ask about what time of day until I read this thread and remembered this link about parrots and earthquakes:

 

http://www.africangreys.com/articles/other/earthquakes_parrots.html

[crossfit]

Oh, I found this at that link and thought I should post it here for you all in case you notice tail feathers coming out:

 

Of great interest to me is that African grey parrots, both wild-caught and domestic, often "release" all of their tail feathers when trapped in a cage and frightened by earthquake. Both types of the African Greys in the Turkey earthquake disaster lost their tail feathers. Specifically, approximately half of the Greys surveyed after the Barstow quake released their tail feathers.

 

While this has little to do with predicting earthquakes, the fact that grey parrots are so sensitive that they release or drop tail feathers is important. Cockatiels often release their tail feathers during a night fright. However, not many people have seen their Greys release tail feathers. It appears to happen only to birds that are confined to their cages when an earthquake strikes. There is no evidence of tail feather release before an earthquake. The tail feathers released from the birds surveyed were not "broken" feathers. They were intact feathers that looked as if they were molted.

[danmcq]

Very interesting article Crossfit.

 

It is natural for all birds to fly during a quake.

 

I would imagine, a flighted bird may do more damage to themselves out of the cage. The reason I say this, is if they are truly freaked out, they MAY fly into solid objects like windows or mirrors that they KNOW are there due to panicking.

 

Much like a person running through a patio glass door or the like. The brain is definitely not engaged during high stress and adrenaline surges.

 

It's good to hear everyone's Greys are ok, except for a scratch and some ruffled feathers.

[katana600]

Good to know all of you are okay out there in the earthquakes zone. I have never experienced one and I can imagine I would release more than my tail feathers.

[crossfit]

Very interesting article Crossfit.

 

It is natural for all birds to fly during a quake.

 

I would imagine, a flighted bird may do more damage to themselves out of the cage. The reason I say this, is if they are truly freaked out, they MAY fly into solid objects like windows or mirrors that they KNOW are there due to panicking.

 

I would think that wild flighted birds would be safe. I think our pet flighted birds inside a house are still inside something and therefore as likely to get hurt as in a cage.

 

But it was an interesting article.

[danmcq]

Thanks Crossfit.

 

I was not referencing wild birds hurting themselves.

 

A bird loose in house, if freaked out by something, can burst into flight and hit a window or wall at 15 to 20 miles per hour when freaked. Resulting in a broken neck and instantly dead bird.

 

That is what I meant by my post in a Cage versus out scenario when a freakish event such as an earthquake occurs.

 

They may get battered and bruised in the cage, but they will not end up dead.

[crossfit]

Yep. I totally agree.