Gilbert is home

[katana600]

This sweet little tyrant is definitely planning to overthrow LuLu, the lady of the house. This weekend, she gives David a "hey" and heads to their favorite seclusion on the steps. Over and over she would get on the step and call for him. He is so tickled at the attention she gives to him and how she is becoming more brave to leave the security of her cage he just can't resist sitting on the step with her. She nuzzles his fingers gently with her beak and croons to him. Yesterday she climbed to the top of the carpeted steps and was watching me when I fell asleep on the sofa. Today she has climbed up there so many times I had to pull her cage out just a little so she can't reach unless she is supervised. Usually she is happy to have David to herself and will then graciously step to my hand from his. Now she is decidedly on the offensive and has attempted to chase me and has bitten me. When she tried to bite me on the stairs, as much as I love her freedom and courage, I put her in her cage and closed the door with a stern word about being nice. Her original stink eye is nothing compared to her look right now. Oh goodness, it has been an hour and her feathers are still fluffed up. I'm convinced she is scoping out the upstairs bedrooms to choose a love nest to lure David up there for happily ever after out of reach of LuLu the troll.

[Ray P]

I think it`s time for you to play hard to get.

You have worked so hard for so long and I believe it`s time to make her work for your attention.

Be a little stand offish for a day or two and let her miss a little of your attention.

She already knows she has you under her wing. It`s time for her to beg.

This works with Corky when from time to time she is a little snot to one of us. That person just ignores her for a day and than she s back to winning us back on our terms.

[katana600]

I have a feeling ignoring her and playing hard to get gives her exactly what she has been working to create. If only I would disappear completely she has everything she needs for a world takeover. I wish you could see her coming out of her cage, stealthily making her way to the stairs. If I move an eyelash she freezes. If I turn my head or close my eyes, she goes to the next step. If I look, she is stone still for longer than I can focus on watching. If I leave the room, she is a flurry of activity. Today she repelled over the side of the stairs and jumped to the top of Java's cage while I was in the kitchen with my back to her. Right when I think she is a staunch adversary, I walk through the room as she scurries to the door to get into her comfort zone... But wait... Instead of ducking inside, she stops and lifts her foot. I carry her on a tour and she shakes so hard I can feel the tremors through her feet. Her eyes are wild, her feathers are tight and every muscle is tense. When we get back to her cage, she jumps off my hand races to her favorite perch and spends an hour just hanging on for dear life. She is figuring things out. She doesn't regress to barbering her feathers so a little give and take is building her confidence and inner strength.

[Acappella]

So great that she isn't regressing all the way to barbering her feathers. Pretty soon you'll have to update her picture at the bottom of your posts to one with full, sleek feathers.

[katana600]

Alas, we have taken a slight step backward but it is mild and I am confident it will not last long. She spent the greatest part of her life on the gulf coast in Biloxi MS and weathered some fearsome storms. Her previous caretaker told me she was frantic during a storm. For only the second time since we have lived in Georgia we were in the path of a fierce storm with rotation and needed to seek shelter in the basement for a couple of hours. Miss Gilbert seemed just fine, she was hanging upside down in her travel cage most of the time with her head tucked under her wing. What I wasn't seeing until I picked up the cage to a "snow flurry" was she was barbering her feathers in the usual spot. She didn't get down to the skin, thankfully. The next day she blasted sirens and warnings and foghorns so I know it rattled her little world. Added to that we had thirty gallons of water pour through the living room walls from a poor installation of a five year old roof. So right outside her window for three days were men climbing up and down ladders, power tools and lots of pounding. The really great news is that while she has chosen to stay in her cage, often slamming her door closed if I leave it open, she really is just having a very quiet plateau period rather than a frenzied regression. Well... other than that one moment I tried sweet talking her and she launched into an attack on her bars trying to bite my face. My bad. I knew she was in a mood and should have left her to find her own way out and give me a sign. She had just called me a lady of the night, so in hind sight she was in no posture for being approached.

[Ray P]

Sounds like Miss G has no problem expressing her feelings.

To me its sounds like normal grey response to a problem.

[katana600]

You're right Ray, she is quietly assessing the changes and deciding when it is safe to come out of her cage again. I am confident that when her sweetheart David walks back in the house this afternoon after being gone for all the excitement, she is going to be on the stairs again giving him the 'Come Hither' sweet talk and cat calls.

[Acappella]

I love how you're able to recognize and celebrate every step forward while not taking her setbacks and continued antagonism towards you personally. Actually, you also have been celebrating her setbacks as they become smaller and more infrequent. I'm glad David is accepting his role as favoured one and that you don't let it get you down as you serve and pander lol. I'm also glad you're not too attached to the carpet on the stairs as I don't predict a long life for it now that it's become part of Miss Gilbert's territory.

[Greywings]

She has come such a very long way what a journey you have all been on with G-girl. That string of pearls she has been putting together is getting some real length now she is becoming who she is meant to be one little furtive step up at a time.

[katana600]

We are in this for the duration with Miss Gilbert, she really has come such a long way. Of course I would have loved to be her favored ones, but the heart wants what the heart wants. It makes sense actually. She came to me loving "Jim" and still calls his name. Also she could not come to accept her former female caretaker. Our introduction to parrots was with our little Java and David was the one to find her and she responded to him in a way that made him want to bring her home. Then, she grew attached to me. So really, David is the one who wanted the funny little parrot with a big attitude. It is all coming full circle and we are all getting the benefit. As I predicted, after those quiet days, the minute the door opened and David walked in, little miss sunshine was out of her cage and up the stairs. She is doing something new now. She did her mountain climber moves to get to the top step in seconds. She got real protective and wouldn't let David bring her back down. He didn't want to challenge her, so up I went to offer her a ride back to her cage. As soon as she saw me coming, she launched and "flew" just inches from each step as she descended and the open door to our bedroom was her landing strip. We let her get herself back to the living room, where she checked on David in his chair but went on past to ascend the stairs to practice her flight again. The physical and mental exercise she is getting far outweighs twenty year old builder's grade white carpet on the stairs. I'll shampoo it until she figures out what she is trying to do. Bob and weave, two steps forward half a step back is the dance of the normal grey we have living in our hearts. Last night she offered me a head scratch as a reward for bringing her beloved home again. She doesn't have to be grateful to me, or to be cooperative (to a point). She has so much to offer and her antics make me smile every day. We were on the lower patio hanging lights and could hear her upstairs making contact calls, calling the dogs, telling us she wanted us to be with her. Soon I will move a cage outdoors and bring her with us down there. I am whetting her whistle with the "absence makes the heart grow fonder".... the basement stairs have carpet too, I can only imagine the day when she tries to follow her honey down to the patio. Thanks for your encouragement, I knew absolutely nothing about parrots much less the exquisite personality and temperament of a grey. This forum and all of you are the wind beneath the wings of Miss Gilbert, may they grow strong enough to carry her to restore her gift of flight some day.

[katana600]

Miss Gilbert goes through familiar ebb and flow cycles. With everything new comes a few quiet days. I think of it as the grey time fireman sequence. When she is on duty, it is full-on and when she "rests" it is full recovery and prep time. She came out of her rest pattern yesterday and it was a busy day. What is happening more often now is instead of me asking for a step up or blocking her from escaping back into her cage, she sees me coming and lifts her foot when she is receptive. I took her outside yesterday where I had placed a floor stand on the screen porch. Within seconds she was shaking and looking frantic and waving her foot to return to the safety of her cage. This time though she only needed to recoup for an hour and she offered me another chance. She was gorgeous outside in the sunshine. She was enthralled with the other birds at the feeder. She made some strange sounds like a human baby crying and was a little uncomfortable and distressed but I sat next to her and watched her and it was less of a panic, so I stretched it out as long as I could. She actually tucked one foot up under her and napped next to me. The warmth of the sun overcame the fear of the unknown. I am pretty sure reading to her and telling her about Dorian going outside and wondering what took him so long gave her the push she needed at just the right time. ;~)

[Ray P]

You have brought Miss G to the threshold and she is ready to step over. Awesome, go swamp queen

[Acappella]

She was gorgeous outside in the sunshine. She was enthralled with the other birds at the feeder. She made some strange sounds like a human baby crying and was a little uncomfortable and distressed but I sat next to her and watched her and it was less of a panic, so I stretched it out as long as I could. She actually tucked one foot up under her and napped next to me. The warmth of the sun overcame the fear of the unknown. I am pretty sure reading to her and telling her about Dorian going outside and wondering what took him so long gave her the push she needed at just the right time. ;~)

The thought of her going outside for the first time in years makes me happy. The vision of her tucking her foot up and having a nap in the sunshine gives me goosebumps.

[birdhouse]

The thought of her going outside for the first time in years makes me happy. The vision of her tucking her foot up and having a nap in the sunshine gives me goosebumps.

 

And isn't it awesome that Miss G has officially got an international fan base who are that kind of invested in her? W/all this love, how can she fail to thrive eventually (n grey time, of course)?

[katana600]

Life is good. I fully credit this international cheering section for teaching us everything we needed to know to bring this little string of pearls out to the sunshine. It has been a lesson to learn in waiting for grey time. She has continued to offer her foot to me when she darn well feels like it. She has been sitting outside in the sun on the screen porch every day for a few minutes at a time. She has added a new twist to her stair climbing operation. She jumps off a step to launch herself on top of Java's cage and Java just flies over to the top of Gil's cage. Now, Gilbert can't get back to the steps nor to her own cage and she gets exasperated watching Java eat her food, play with her toys and generally taunt her from Gil's own cage. For all the restrictions it put on Java to put up with Gilbert's shenanigans, including one bite on the head, I just can't bring it to myself to interfere with this interaction between them. Also, the naughty word Gil calls me? Well she has been calling her beloved David the lady of the night. Hahaha. The timing is exquisite. She "flew" down the steps as he was getting out of the shower. She skidded to an undignified stop under a nightstand in our room. She shook herself off and marched into the bathroom and promptly wolf whistled at him. He picked her up and brought her back to her cage and quipped "I think you were just trying to get a look at me in my skivvies" to which her equally quick comeback was "ho", and then she laughed and wolf whistled at him again. We didn't hear it again all day Saturday. But when he stood up and announced he was going to bed, I was in the kitchen and there was no doubt who she was directing it toward when she said it again. He chided her and said that isn't the way ladies should be talking. Sunday... we must have heard it fifteen more times. She laughs at her own cleverness.

[Greywings]

What fun she is having with her new confidence:o, go Gil girl.

[katana600]

Today is a red banner day. For the first time, I saw the African Grey tail wag. I was walking through and she lifted her foot for a ride to my chair and as is typical, she didn't last more than a minute or two before she was shaking. She seemed happy enough to hop back on her cage, but then, she flapped her wings with some real determination, then shook her tail feathers. It is more meaningful to me because as she was flapping and had her wings up and her back to me, I was thinking that is the best her tail feathers have ever looked. She has regrown what looks like a typical Timneh tail. It was usually broken, disheveled and missing a lot of feathers. I think her newfound confidence is from the inside out. She is also doing this Karate Kid arch stretch with her beak open and her wings lifted. Then she quickly swings her head from side to side. I have no clue what it means but she looks like she is putting a hex on me. LOL. I would love to get her on video, maybe some day she will trust me enough. Just turning to look at her over my shoulder while she was doing her cage top antics and she ducked inside her cage. It is just too much for her to be the center of attention. Some day when she gets past that, I will remember cheering her on and wishing for her to be more involved with us. :-}

[Greywings]

We can have a quiet parade of celebration on this thread just for her big step forward. Being that she has history of being a Southern girl and a Swamp Queen witchy woman Mardi Gras seems like the right style!!:cool:

[katana600]

My endearing little Swamp Queen, I like that. If she went to Mardi Gras, she would have a lot of beads. Not because she was extroverted to show us what she's got, but because she went around taking beads from the girls who did and scolding them and telling them to "be quiet". Hahaha. As usual with our little string of pearls, one day we are up, the next... well, like today. She was wildly swinging from the ceiling of her cage by one toe. I thought she was being exuberant, joyful. She was doing the most unusual gyration and I thought she as biting her foot, by her body was contorted in such a way, I thought she was caught in a string.. it looked like a strait jacket pose. On closer observation, she was not biting her foot or "knuckles". While suspended by one toe, she was using the other talon to reach behind her back and grasp her tail feathers and wing tips in a "fist". Then she was biting and destroying the tips of all those feathers at once. I am so grateful that I took notice yesterday of her "normal" Timneh tail all grown out and looking beautiful. Now it looks like a shredded feather duster. For whatever reason, she was in an especially foul mood long after that thirty second flurry of activity. It is good to see that she doesn't regress far, and that rather than take out her frustrations on herself, she is having more outward shows of disgruntlement (that may not be a word, but it is just right for her mood.) She goes to the top of her cage and pulls the chain for her most stout bell and rattles the living snot out of it. She threw all the toys off her cage top and then ripped up adding machine paper. Inexplicitly, right in the middle of her activity, she will stop and ask for a head scratch. The activity level seems almost "fun", if a bit manic. But she is telling me to "shut up you idiot" when I am not even talking. On any given day, I am not sure who I will wake up to find in Miss Gilbert's home, but I guarantee it is going to be interesting.

[Ray P]

Oh the moods of a grey.

Corky baby is our sweet little girl grey

We call her Mikey {from the Maypo Cereal Commercial} when she eats everything in sight.

We call her butt head when she is being a snot.

We call her cork when she is being a clown.

Feather butt when she is showing off.

CORKY !!! when she is getting into trouble.

Termite when she is working on the wood work.

And when she is quiet we run over to see what`s wrong.

She has many other names to match her moods and I mean many other names.

[katana600]

Thanks Ray, we see the many faces of Miss Gilbert too. She answered the question I have had for four years. How does her tail and feathers get so ragged when she is so conservative in her movements and I don't see her bothering her feathers? It was breathtaking to see how much damage she did in such a short span of seconds. No wonder I haven't seen it before. Today she is quiet and content, grinding her beak, like she doesn't have a care in the world. She is such an integral part of our life, what a character.

[Ray P]

They do become woven seamlessly in to the fabric of our life.

They are the problem child. the genius, the every day is Sunday child, the shy one.

They come to the point of not being just a pet, but a true companion and friend.

Someone you can sit and talk to hour after hour and they will sit there and listen.

Take in all the good and bad and you will find out that they are worth it.

[Acappella]

I'm sorry she had a set back and barbered her beautiful tail, but at least you got to see it in it's full glory and you know it is possible. She really is a complex little soul. I think she has it in her to outshine Dorian is many ways. He is still a perch potato much of the time (not right now, as he is beating the snot out of his bell in protest to being put in a time out for biting momma). I think by the time you've had GG for another couple of years she'll be a toy playing, foraging, world explorin' fool. She's obviously a deep thinker. We just have to continue to get her out of her own head and interacting with her flock and her environment more and more and before you know it, it will be a case of 'be careful what you wish for'. Sort of like when parents long for their children to start to crawl, then look back with fond memories upon the days when their baby stayed where they put it lol. Do you ever update her former owner on what she is up to these days?

[katana600]

Even though I was a little scared at first thinking I was out of my league with her, it has been worth it since the moment we met. I know darn well, there are going to be times when I think back at how easy it was when she was a perch potato. But difficult on my time is a good trade off for being difficult on my heart. I worried so much about her and that I might not succeed in drawing her out of her frozen state. I worried if she was going to be okay. It is remarkable how she is different when David is home. She even permitted him to pick her up this weekend, bring her down to the sewing room to meet new people. She stayed for ten minutes before she started doing her warning siren and trembling. For two mornings, she has gone into high gear before seven am to draw him out of our room. It is the most endearing thing. She starts calling his name, then making the nose blowing sound that he does when he gets out of the shower. She follows up with a few "C'mere" and "Whatter ya doing down there?" It tickles me that she is smitten with him and he is returning her love. Well... until he sat at the kitchen table with me for dinner and as he got up to leave her sight, she called him a wiener. We have never heard that one before, but it was very clear. By the time he retires in a few years, she will be ready for prime time.

[Timbersmom]

LOL to the "weiner!" It could have been much, much worse