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First Anniversary :)

Inara

By Inara
in The GREY Lounge

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Inara Contributor

Inara

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Note: Long, and for those familiar with myself and HRH just recapping. For those newer to the forums, a peek into the joys of choosing a rehomed Grey.

 

Wow. On the 17th of this month it will have been a year since HRH Inara, the bird formerly known as __________, came to live with us. Having planned on adopting/rehoming a CAG, I was totally taken aback when this beautiful little TAG captured my heart. When I had my first CAG (in the Jurassic Era), I didn't even know that TAGs existed. She seems so small compared to my departed CAG and 'zon. I call her my little bird.

 

For members of the forum who are newer here, in the past year, Inara has gone from having just turned two when we got her, to just recently turning three. She is the youngest parrot I have ever lived with. As is typical of many parrots at or near two years old when they begin to become independent and are no longer those little fluff filled balls of joy (to some), she was put on Craigs List by her first humans. They purchased her from a breeder, excitedly drove back and forth to help hand feed her until she was ready to come home, and started her off with a lot of love and attention. Until the shiny wore off, and they realized that she demanded a lot of time, money, and energy, was becoming independent -- and could bite, hard! When the ideal hit up against the real, she paid the price by being put up for sale. To their credit, her first humans gave her a very good and well intentioned start.

 

Fortunately for me, it could not have worked out better! Their frustration in banging up against the reality of living with a Grey, has become my greatest joy. Inara has been a complete sweetheart from day 1. She did give my Joe a few solid nips here and there until he became used to her and more adept at reading her subtle body language. Those days are now long in the past.

 

She has learned to fly, and is a very skilled navigator; she loves to practice recalls twice a day inside of our large, open floor-plan home. She has given up her Southern comfort food diet in favor of fresh fruits, veggies, flax seeds, cooked grains/legumes, all supplemented with nutriberries to munch on and forage around for. Her feathers have gone from overly preened and scraped scraggly in places, to shiny and beautiful. She enjoys having me buff her beak and talons lightly daily with a small emery board, and now loves her daily showers and will ask for them. She bathes herself on her own weekly.

 

Her language use went from a few words to talking like crazy, with very appropriate usage. Inara knows the difference between in and out, here and there, you and I and me, come and go, quiet and loud, up and down, warm and cold -- and uses them all correctly. For example: "I want to go out there with you," "You come here to get me." "Dezi go in the kitchen." "You will go and then come back?"

 

She has some words that are specifically of her own making: While she can say grape and carrot she calls grapes "tickle cookies," she calls carrots "good cookies," and she calls her birdie cookies "O-cookies." She calls anything eaten at the table "breakfast," and her nutriberries "cookies." She calls Joe, "Joe" Dezi "Dezi" and still calls me "Woo."

 

She is in love with her chopstick that we (and now she) call "Precious" like gollum and the ring. Inara loves, loves, loves to sit on my arm snuggled up by my chest and have me oh so lightly stroke her little cheeks, eyes, and ears with the chopstick. She coos, and turns her head to stargaze with her eyes nearly shut until she is so relaxed that she begins to yawn. She does not however enjoy finger scritches on her neck anymore and is not otherwise much of a snuggler. She is too busy busy. She will even say at times when she is ready to go home to her cage, "I will get to work now." Makes me laugh every time.

 

Another thing she enjoys doing in the mornings is to fly from her perch down to a bundled up sheet on my lap, that has small sprigs of different types of flowers on it. She beaks gently the different flowers and forages around for a hidden grape and baby carrot until she finds them. She then wraps one of them up in part of the sheet with her foot, leaving just part of it peeking out, and then eats it like an ice cream cone or simply just "wood chips" it down to tiny particles. While she can nail a hole in my shirt shoulder with one little snip of her beak, she has never left so much as a teeeensy rent in her sheet, she is so gentle with foraging in it.

 

Our days are spent chatting back and forth. She prefers her alone time in her cage for various parts of the day, but will call out to me if things are very quiet for too long of a stretch. This morning, she was playing "radio free Inara" which is when she sticks her head inside of her water dish surround and chats up a storm just to hear her voice echo in there. I said from the bedroom -- "What are you doing in there, Inara?" which received the curt reply, "Be quiet, you." Well, excuuuse me, for interrupting your broadcast.

 

She loves to play "Give me that beak, give me those toes!" Where I gently grab her beak and kiss it, and the same with her toes. She can play that for a solid five minutes, pushing her beak into my hand and nibbling gently at my fingers and holding her toes up for kisses. But again, is not one to hold still for scritches. She's young, she's B U S Y. She is very generous with kisses, though, and rather than hanging out on my shoulder, she prefers to hang out on my bicep where she can maintain easy eye contact and chat.

 

We have a deep understanding of one another's body language, rhythm, and human as well as bird language. If she is not wanting me to move her off of my arm, or take her out of her cage she simply nudges my hand with her beak and will make a kiss sound letting me know that this is not on her agenda. I respect that 100% of the time, and hence we have no confrontations. If it is necessary that she be moved, I always give her a moment or two to change her mind, and she does.

 

Inara has reaped the benefit of my having lived well over 20+ years with wild caught, abused and terrified/violent birds who later became super sweethearts and survived any and all of my well-intentioned blunders and naivete. They were wonderful teachers. I call HRH my midlife sports model. She is the joy of my life, makes me laugh my arse off daily, and makes my heart melt several times a day. This past year has literally and figuratively flow by.

 

Thank you Craigs List.

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Dave007 Newbie

Dave007

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She refers to Inara as Her Royal Highness :)

 

Oh, Now that I know, the next time I visit I'll be bearing gifts to thr queen in order to get her blessing and possibly a knighthood.

 

PS, I'll also bring my 17 yr old TAG. He's always looking for something that's young and fresh.

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Inara Contributor

Inara

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Oh, Now that I know, the next time I visit I'll be bearing gifts to thr queen in order to get her blessing and possibly a knighthood.

 

PS, I'll also bring my 17 yr old TAG. He's always looking for something that's young and fresh.

 

 

Thanks everyone for the great wishes. HRH really *is* a super sweetie -- although she can be quite imperious. When she looks down at me, makes a fart noise and tells me, "Good work!" while I'm cleaning out her cage, you can see why I call her HRH.

 

Dave, as long as you bring spaghetti with a bit of red sauce, topped off with an almond in the shell -- I'm sure she'd knight you. Geez, that means we'd all have to call you Sir Dave after that. As for your 17 year old TAG, as long as he doesn't fly drunk, gets her home before 10, and is great at kissing her feet -- I'm sure she'd be delighted. smart@ss :P

 

Speaking of smartypantz -- Sterling -- hahhaa. hoominforum

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monax Newbie

monax

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I love hearing about Inara's antics and her flair for words. Thanks for sharing, and as well for all your helpful advice on the forum. I recognize a lot of common behaviors in my TAG Toby, who is turning 3 years old next month, and it's always interesting for me to compare and contrast with Inara as they are very close in age.

 

Happy anniversary!

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JeffNOK Newbie

JeffNOK

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Thanks for the summary. Inara is quite a character and you certainly entered her life prepared and able to give her the home she deserves. I like the HRH reference. Greys do have a majestic quality about them. Even when they are silly monkeys. When I read about Inara, I can't help but be reminded of my CAG Gracie. They are the same age and have many of the same endearing quirks. Gracie isn't a rehome, but otherwise they seem very similar. It is awesome to imagine spending the next decades with our greys and growing and changing and learning about them and ourselves.

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Muse Newbie

Muse

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What a beautiful post. You are lucky to have found such a sweet girl, and she is very lucky to have found such a great mom. Too many times on CL things do to go well for birds (or any pet for that matter). I am so glad you got her and she has a wonderful, happy life. :)

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