A General "Marcus Update"

[MarcusCAG]

I realized I haven't posted anything in general here about our Marcus in a little while, so I thought maybe I should get on that and let everyone know how things have been going.

 

Actually, Marcus seems to be 'coming out of his shell' very much anymore. Aside from the rest of the flock's antics--Bunsen the female cockatiel getting crazy-hormonal, and Tybalt the IRN figuring out how to escape from his cage being only two things that have kept me on my toes lately, nevermind the fact that Beaker our Quaker seems to think I am Public Enemy #1 anymore (sigh!)--Marcus has been very affectionate, talking/mumbing many new comments and phrases, and has been trying out his almost-grown-in wings. He smashed into the cupboard door earlier tonight (!) but he's okay, I think he was just a little disoriented and maybe a little bit embarrassed. He also apparently has named his bell in his cage after our dog, Dahlia, and yells her name at it while he attacks it in the mornings and afternoons sometimes. Rather funny!

 

Marcus and Preparations for the Future

As this concept has been simmering in the back of my mind for a while, I got the grand idea yesterday to try and explain to Marcus that my husband and I have "full, entire, big names" which of course include our middle and last names, respectively. I thought maybe if Marcus knows our entire names (that sounds like 'bad English' to me somehow, but all of you know what I mean), then if he ever gets lost in some horrible accident, then he can tell people who his parronts are and they can look us up. Well, I must have been making him a little upset with all of my comments about "Mommy and Daddy being far away" and "Marcus can't find them anymore" because suddenly Marcus kind of dipped his head low and had very 'sad-looking' body language when he said, "Stay here!" I took that to mean that he wants to stay here with us, and I embraced him quickly and told him I want him to stay here, too, but I was telling him all these things in case of an accident someday. About that time, my hubby walked in and scolded me for scaring him (I didn't mean to!) but I think Marcus maybe got an idea of what I was trying to teach him, because whenever I would say my entire name, or my husband's, his little foot would smack his perch like he was emphasizing what I was saying. Each name got a foot-smack. So I will try and reiterate such things in the future in a less-scary way for him, and hopefully he will remember it. My mom suggested, too, that I teach him how to spell our names, so there are no mistakes if people ever have to try and look us up online.

 

Marcus and the ABC Letters

...Which leads me to the next issue of the ABC letters and Marcus. I haven't worked with him with those for a while now, because I've been busy but also due to the fact that I realized I'll only get so far with that by myself. I need a model/rival, really! Thankfully, my husband and I have a new, young friend who possibly might be able to assist me in this regard; I believe he has the interest to work with Marcus and myself this way, anything scientific or experimental is up his alley, it's just a matter of getting his mom to allow him to hang out over here often enough for it to be worthwhile. So we will see. He really is a nice kid, sixteen and very bright. I'm hoping Marcus takes a shine to him once they get to meet.

 

Marcus and the TV

Lastly, Marcus has been spending more time in the den with us in the evenings. My husband and I really don't watch much television (in fact, we don't get any channels but just watch DVDs or old VHS tapes of our favorite shows/movies), but at night sometimes we will put an old Columbo in or something. Well, I've discovered I have to be aware of what we're watching when Marcus is in the room. Bunsen, our cockatiel, seems very sensitive to the high-pitched screams of hawks in the one movie I sometimes play for the birds in their room on the laptop; so I'm trained now to just skip over those scenes. But they never seemed to bother Marcus or the other boys... so it was kind of a guilt-creating surprise the other night when Marcus reacted strongly to what we were watching on DVD in the den.

 

It was an old sci-fi show (Space: 1999) and one of the characters came out of stasis too early and realized he would die in the space pod before he reached Earth--and he started screaming, "Help me, help me!" I was in the kitchen making dinner and wasn't paying much attention, but suddenly Marcus up on his swing said, "What?" When he said "What?" again, I replied that the man was stuck and couldn't get out of the box. But then Marcus said louder, sounding agitated, "What? WHAT?! WHAT!!!" And I looked up and it dawned on me that he was very uncomfortable with the man screaming like that. So I told my husband that I think Marcus didn't like the show and we should change it. I felt kind of bad (and Marcus was okay after it was off) but I'll need to pay more attention now to what we put in the DVD player because Marcus really seems to enjoy watching TV when he's out with us and it's on. I put the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill movie in for him the other night (usually he watches it with the other birds in their room, not in the den) and Marcus made these little comments during the film... like once when the flock onscreen took off altogether, Marcus muttered, "Flew away!"

 

It's just kind of neat to hear him talking a bit more lately. I have been encouraging him to respond to us when we talk to him, and I guess he's becoming more comfortable with the idea of 'conversation'. Sometimes he mumbles his replies and they are impossible to understand, but at least he's putting forth the effort. Anyway, that's all I think I'll post for now, but I just wanted to share those things with everyone and let you know how Marcus has been coming along.

 

Edited October 25, 2011 by MarcusCAG

[katana600]

You certainly spend a lot of time with Marcus and I'm sure he is an integral part of your family. Thanks for the update. I do believe our birds understand far more than seems conceivable. VHS though? We do still a box of them in the basement, but I don't think anyone has actually used any of them for a year or more. Just kidding you a bit of course. I did hear of a parrot memorizing his phone number and being reunited that way. I don't spend too much time thinking about that really. My thoughts are if someone is predisposed to finding the rightful owner to reunite with a found bird, they will. I think a microchip would be easier and more reliable considering how long it might take for a traumatized bird to announce it's contact information and for the new person with no bird experience to understand. The real benefit to Marcus though is the time you spend with him and the way he understands and interacts with you. Amazing isn't it? Thanks for the update.

[Gwen]

Thank you so much for the update !!! I was wondering so many things about Marcus--like how you & your hubby were coming along with his ABC's. Also, how Bunsen was doing with her homones..

Roscoe has been molting but stays just as lovey.. Gabby is like Bunsen right now.. She even starts garbeling (is that even a word??) and sqeaking when I open her door to put food in for her. She is showing ALOT of jealousy when I'm cuddling w/ Roscoe so I have been careful to give her extra attention. She chirps & paces on her perch when I even talk to Roscoe...

Our babies watch us so closely we don't even realize !!

 

 

Hope Marcus is ok after his crash !!! The last time Roscoe crashed he had a little goose-egg above one eye!! Everytime I looked at him I could have just cried..

 

Keep up the good work & please keep us posted !!!! )

[danmcq]

Wow, thanks for the very enjoyable read about Marcus and his flourishing under your loving care!!!

 

A couple of comments:

 

** I believe he is wanting to beat our dog up and is in training using the bell as a punching bag!!

 

** His comments and reactions while watching TV indicate a very deep understanding, cognitive ability and use of the human language, right on!!!

 

** The model rival method seemed to work well for Dr. Pepperberg and Alex, as her book clearly describes in an intense learning session where abstract concepts such as learning ABC's.

 

** learning your names, address etc. is a great thing to teach. I have no doubt based on his cognitive abilities that he will pick it up quickly.

 

** I love the fact that it worried him that he may be "left behind"" while your were trying teach your names. Poor guy, there is no doubt he never wants to be separated from you.

[MarcusCAG]

Oh, so many lovely comments from all of you--thank you so much!

 

Dee: I had read about the parrot and the phone number, too. But I do worry that a microchip might never be searched for, yet if Marcus can identify us by name and ends up being vocal about it--perhaps that might help some after all? (But of course I pray nothing like a separation/escaped parrot scenario ever happens!)

 

Gwen: Marcus is fine today after his crash and was very good company while I cleaned the house earlier today, thank you for inquiring! And Bunsen has been behaving herself, I'm so glad... Hehe, your Gabby sounds like quite the character, definitely a match for Roscoe!!

 

Dan: Wow, lots of neat tidbits to absorb, thank you! Actually, my husband was afraid that I was making Marcus believe he was going to be moved again and rehomed--thus the sad "Stay here!" comment. I felt so bad when he suggested that concept, I know Marcus is very happy here and I don't ever want him to think we'd ever get rid of him!! And, hehe, you really think Marcus wants to beat up our dog? Could be... I just thought he had named his bell!

Edited October 26, 2011 by MarcusCAG

[katana600]

I think all of us have that deep-seated terror of being separated from our grey gurus. I can't bear to think of how Gilbert would be in another home much less outdoors without us. It was only after reading your thread and thinking about it, I read where the chip can become ineffective or can come out. I think we should train our birds to say Greyforums dot net so they can lead their rescuers to learn more about greys and find us over the internet! We have moved too many times for the address to give me peace of mind. I think every time I turn on my laptop, I will tell Gilbert I am going to greyforums dot net. That way if he sees a computer I can hope he will lead them to a good place.

[Malikah]

Thanks for the Marcus update. What a treasure he is.

[chezron]

Love to read Marcus stories!

[MarcusCAG]

I think we should train our birds to say Greyforums dot net so they can lead their rescuers to learn more about greys and find us over the internet! We have moved too many times for the address to give me peace of mind. I think every time I turn on my laptop, I will tell Gilbert I am going to greyforums dot net. That way if he sees a computer I can hope he will lead them to a good place.

 

That is a really excellent idea, Dee, thank you for sharing that... I need to start doing something similar whenever I visit here and Marcus is out. He loves the computer anyway, maybe if I show him pics of all your Greys and everything he'll start asking to visit here, himself!!