Odie homecoming after 30 years

[SRSeedBurners]

If you haven't seen my original post about Odie: https://greyforums.org/topic/26222-my-long-lost-odie-podie/#comment-282822

Odie has finally come home after 30+ years.  When I went to see Odie in 2019, my aunt told me she wants Odie to come back to me.  She actually put that in her will.  So when she passed away a in April, I asked my mother who lives in the area to go get Odie.  Four weeks later I hit the road to New Mexico.  Unlike last time when I met Odie, Odie knew who I was right off the bat.  There was no shyness, or acting like he was unsure if he wanted to be on this 'new' person.  In 2019 he didn't know who I was until I started talking to him the way I used to and you could see the light come on.  He looks like he's in terrible shape from all the feather plucking.  My aunt told me this started when TIgger died who was his buddy bird that was also another bird I had way back when.

Odie is full of personality.  We believe he's male although I've never tested him.  Has huge feet!  He reminds me so much of Huey that I accidentally call him Huey all the time.  He loves to work on cardboard, just like Huey.  Odie is a talker.  He talks in my aunt's voice.  He was not a talker when I had him years ago.  He loves to tell my mom's bird, Kiwi, to 'shut up' and 'stop it' all the time when Kiwi gets into his squawk mode.  After a while we were all telling Kiwi to shut up and stop it with Odie leading the chorus.  He will ask 'want to go outside, hmmmm?' in my aunt's voice.   He has rattled off some other sentences in her voice that I just can't make out.  She always talked in a frail little voice so that's what he does.  Odie loves to give kisses and loves a good head scritch, but if I do it too long or try to cuddle him to much, he will tell me to 'stop it'. 🤣  He's been fed a junk diet of bird store seed and peanuts his whole life.  He transitioned well to the sprouts/cook that I feed.  He acts like I feel, an old bird, seems to sleep more during the day.   Loves to watch TV, I guess that's what he did with my aunt in the later years when she retired.   He also spent a lot of time outside in the garden because he asks to go out a lot.  He's not much for my wife, still shy around her and really doesn't want to be touched by her.  I suspect that will change over time.   With me, he seeks me out wherever I am.  He can't fly so he gets on the floor and hikes it.

GreycieMae is being a brat about it all.   The second day I had them all in the living room, she did one of her fake screams and a hot lap around the living room from the kitchen and got Huey and Odie launched.   Odie ended up hanging from my pant leg and Huey was doing circles around the living room.  Greycie did this when we introduced Toby for the first time.    She is such a spoiled diva.

Odie seems to have busted airsacs.   Whenever he whistles/talks and has his wings lifted I can see an air bubble under the skin that blows up and pulls back in.  THat really bothers me.  No idea how long that has been going on.  Going to head to the vet about it and a general checkup although I'm not sure I want to hear any bad news.  We'll see.

Hopefully I can give Odie a happy life from here forward.   I feel really bad the condition he is in but all I can do is give him the best from here on.  He seems to be a happy bird so I'll take that.

Odie with sleepy eyes at 2:30am sitting in the truck about to head for Texas:

 

Odie cute as a button working on his cardboard.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Greytness]

What an amazing story! I'm so happy he's now back in your care. He  will have a chance to eat well and to be loved again by his very first human. Love everything about this!

And that GreycieMae...So like her to make such a grand statement!

I sincerely hope the air sack issue will not be of concern.

Edited May 15 by Greytness

[Timbersmom]

What a story and what a blessing that you have him back! I can imagine Gracie's reaction. Hope the vet visit goes well.

[Talon]

Aww . so sweet! I am really happy he is back with you to live a safe & happy life!  Please keep us updated, I love seeing your updates!

[neoow]

Aw that's amazing news! I was waiting for the update!
Hopefully Gracie settles down with the change soon enough. Can't blame her for being a bit grumpy about some added competition!

[Greytness]

How's Odie doing? Did you ever look into his air sac issue?

[SRSeedBurners]

Odie had a vet appointment a few days ago.  Still awaiting blood work results.   The vet agreed with the ruptured air sacs.  She said it doesn't seem to be affecting his breathing at all so she's just going to leave it be.  He got his photo taken with the vet.

He has settled in really well.  He's about as naughty as can be.   Loves to secretly get into stuff and seems to love getting caught.  I used to feel bad for him that he would always say "Odie you're a bad bird" but after watching him he seems to relish getting caught being naughty.  He ripped up some carpet next to my wood stove.  He also snuck onto a table where I was doing a puzzle and dismantled 3/4 of the puzzle.  When he got caught doing that he let out a human giggle and ran back to his cage top.  Hard to be mad at this little guy, so he gets away with murder.  Now we strategically place things on the table that he can get into and we will ignore him for a while and then pretend to make a huge deal when he gets 'caught'.  He loves it.

He really excels at talking.  A couple examples:

- Greycie was being her usual bratty self and throwing stuff around on the countertop in the kitchen as she does when she's had it with waiting on breakfast.   I started talking to her and saying "...you hungry Greycie?  Are you hungry baby?".   Odie then said "you got some food Daddy?".  I nearly fell on the floor.  I've never witnessed a bird speak in such context.  First he interpreted what I was telling Greycie.  Then he strung that sentence together.  And I assume he used to call my aunt's husband 'Daddy'.   He's not a bird that sits around talking constantly.  He just blurts out words and statements and most of the time they are in perfect context to what we are saying.  He's a very smart birdy.

- I put him in his travel cage and I pull him around on top of a wagon.  He works with me in the garden and mostly under the carport working on truck/side-by-side/whatever I got going at the time.   I am always playing my Soundboks listening to classic rock or classic country.  Odie love to sing in a deep voice and also he uses a high pitched baby-talk voice that I'm sure he stole from my wife.   One day it was getting a little hot and I said to Odie "it's getting hot Odie" and he immediately countered with "I Know!".   Another fall over moment.

 Some recent pics of the little nut

 

 

 

[Timbersmom]

What a sweetheart! Amazing about his language skills. Timber gets it right once in awhile, but often seems to talk just for the sake of talking. My son's girlfriend said she came down to the kitchen after bedtime to get a bottle of water. It was dark. When she opened the refrigerator door, Timber said "Watcha doing?" She got a kick out of that. 

[Greytness]

Thank you for the update! So has he pushed Greycie into the second place naughtiness category?

One of my all time favorite videos from many years ago is when you and your family were playing games while Greycie was on top of the refridgerator. She was so full of sass and enjoying every minute of attention!

What does Hughie think of his new 'friend'?

[SRSeedBurners]

He is top naughty.   After my last post he got another spot in our carpet so he's now on no out-of-cage time unless he's being closely watched.  Greycie's not this destructive.  She just likes to toss stuff off the counters, run around on the floor and ankle bite for fun and take an occasional chomp out of the top of a door or cabinet.  So she gets watched closely too.

Huey is indifferent, doesn't really care.  Odie however would love to start a fight, he thinks he's a brawler.    

Btw...we still play the same games on top of the fridge with Greycie, she loves it.