Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Welcome Home Pretty Parrot !

Yay! Mr. Spock is back home. Our 25 year-old cherry-head conure returned home from a two week hospital stay at Backos Bird Clinic in Deerfield Beach, FL, where they took excellent care of him. He is happy and perky and show no signs of the nasty infection that was affecting his breathing.

Our healthy bird arrived home to his brand new supersized cage, with all new toys, perches and playthings. He hasn't even seen his playpen in the other room.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Visiting the Avian Hospital

Our Sr. Consultant, Mr. Spock, is still a patient at Backos Bird Clinic in Deerfield Beach, FL. His condition has improved very much. At this stage, he is more in parrot rehab, rather than in the acute stage of his care. Dr. Backos and staff are building him up so that he is strong enough to safely return home. In fact, he is back to doing some part time consulting for talkingwithbirds.com and talkingwithbirds.blogspot.com .

When visiting him at the avian hospital, I talk with our brilliant cherry-head conure about the blog and website. Progress at the new webiste http://www.talkingwithbirds.com/ has been delayed due to Spock's recent illness. Now that this parrot is perking back up, we should be expanding things at the website and the blog. Keep birds eye out for changes.

Spock's most recent suggestion was that he wants to make it easier for everyone to reach him and us. So now, you can add your comment to any post by clicking on the "comments" link just below the post. He has some other great ideas up his wing. Stay posted.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Poem to a Parrot, by Dee in Colorado


This poem was written by a dear friend (and Mr. Spock's Aunt) when she heard that Spock, our cherry-head conure, is in the bird hospital.

Just in case you haven’t heard
Mr. Spock is quite a bird!
Once a Rocky Mountain creature
Now a retired Boynton Beacher

I remember well when he was young
you wanted him to hold his tongue
But every little squeak and squawk
had wisdom in that Vulcan talk

I often marveled his colorful hues
of dazzling reds and brilliant blues
And even though he pecked my feet
Mr. Spock is very sweet


Get well Mr. Spock!
-Dee

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Wild Birds

outside in the morning and it's all around
from the quiet comes a sound

it can only be a the song of a creature
that has a soft feathery feature

they rise before most are awake
and sing a song to find their mate

rising high in the air
they show us they are there

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Human Heart Breaks at the Bird Hospital

Went to visit Mr. Spock today in the hospital. Our fragile cherry-head conure (AKA Senior Consultant of www.talkingwithbirds.blogspot.com) has been there since Monday. Dr. Sam Backos and the staff at Backos Bird Clinic in Deerfield Beach, FL are taking excellent care of him. The hardest part was leaving at the end of the visit.

Spock was so excited when arrived and opened the incubator door, In an instant, he was zooming up my arm, heading straight for that warm and cozy nook atop my shoulder, along side my neck. His individual incubator is a spacious and warm safe haven with lots of room to move around, while remaing easy to observe by doctor and staff. After a nice long visit, I returned him to his incubator, and he ran to the back and stuck his beak in the corner and just stood there with his back toward me and the door. It was soooo soooo soooo sad. Broke my heart. I'm guessing he was crying in a bird sort of way.

Needless to say, I couldn't leave. So I began my incubator-side vigil trying to get him to turn around and come out of the corner. There I remained with the door open, my hand inside waiting patiently for a stubborn Mr. Spock, who just wouldn't budge. Finally, after throwing lots of kisses his way, and talking to him using all his favorite phrases (most of which include the words "pretty bird," he softened up, walked over and jumped on my finger. He forgave me.....that's my "pretty bird." I spent the next 30 minutes, talking to him, hand feeding him fruits and veggies, rubbing his head, and taking him in and out of the incubator for kisses. Finally, when he seemed relaxed and starting to get bored with me, I zoomed out of there.


Off I went to Whole Foods Market to drown my sorrows in organic produce and bins filled with bulk stuff, much of which we will bring back to Backos Bird Clinic on our next visit.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

A Little Parrot Humor

A new pet store opens. The shopkeeper puts a parrot in a birdcage outside in front of the store to attract some attention. A woman walks by the shop on her way to work, as she does every day, and the parrot says "You're Ugly." The woman is quite offended and walks off in a huff. The next morning the woman walks past the parrot again and he says "You're Ugly." She is indignant. On the third day, more of the same, the bird says "You're Ugly." This time the woman finds the shopkeeper and tells him about this and demands that he do something to stop it. So the shopkeeper brings the parrot inside, has a little talk with him, and sets him back outside. The next morning when the woman comes along, she looks at the parrot and he says in a sarcastic tone "You Know."

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Empty Nest - Medical Leave of Absence for Sr. Consultant


Mr. Spock, our 25-year old cherry-head conure, just spent his second night at the vet's office for a nagging pseudemonas infection and a clogged nasal passage. Poor guy. After undergoing a 2-week course of daily injections, nose drops and mouth drops, one of his tiny little "nostrils" remains as corked up as a bottle of wine. Giving him the injections and meds was as hard on us as it was on him. That frightened look on his face when we approached the petrified parrot to bring him to the "treatment room" (AKA kitchen counter covered with towel)....what a heart breaker. Then there was the running around and away from us to the deepest depths of his cage and play habitats. He never seems to learn that he can run, but he can't hide from us. So Dr. Sam Backos (Uncle Sam to our ailing bird), decided to keep him at his avian hospital in Deerfield Beach, South Florida and work on manually unclogging that hole. I imagine this is something like sinus surgery for a human....eeeeshk. Otherwise, he seems pretty healthy right now.

As you may know, I rely heavily on Mr. Spock's bird editorial perspective when posting on www.talkingwithbirds.blogspot.com . I talk ideas over with him, generally in the evening, while drafting posts. So, while our Senior Consultant for www.talkingwithbirds.com is on medical leave, I am flying solo in writing. Therefore, there may be an extreme human presence detected in the posts until Mr. Spock returns from his leave.

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Kirtan...Chanting...A New Way to Talk to A Rambunctious Parrot


Kirtan is the art and practice of devotional chant. When Mr. Spock, our cheerful cherry-head conure, gets a little wild or hyped up on life in general, I have found that a quick way to calm him down and get him into a cozy parrot fluff, is to play some beautiful, melodic chant music. It is Kirtan time for Mr. Spock. This music, with it's rhythmic beat patterns and inspiring voices, speaks to our bird in a way that no other bird talk does. The chanting and melodies see to reach him at a primal level. From a raging string of loud, unending squawking, he will hear the sounds and almost immediately become interested and quiet and begin the listening.

Traditionally thought of as Indian classical music, the sounds are enchanting and almost hypnotic. The traditional Indian musical instruments for Kirtan are the harmonium and the tabla. While many of the Kirtan chants are sung in a traditional manner by the devout, there is also a contemporary style of Kirtan chanting which may intersperse more modern musical sounds, and might even incorporate instruments like the guitar and violin. Kirtan is often a highlight at a yoga retreat, where the participants can all gather and relax and share a special moment. You can have Kirtan with your bird, and speak to his or her at a level that your voice just cannot go. Try it.

Please listen to a sample of this chanting so that you understand how enchanting is is for birds, and people, alike. Our conure's all time favorite chanting diva is Wah! You can hear Wah chanting via her website's sampling of her 18 albums http://www.wahmusic.com/. To hear a clip, click here.

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Morning Rituals...A Cherry-Head Conure's Way of Saying "Good Morning"


Each morning we arise to the screeching squawk of our beloved 25 year old cherry-head conure, Mr. Spock. This has been going on, well...for a long time. Somewhere between about 6:30 and 7:00 am when the Eastern Daylight Savings time sunshine begins to fill his cage, our pretty little parrot's morning anxiety begins. Since we are usually already coherent, but not necessarily up and at'em, we can hear Mr. Spock in the next room milling around in his big cage. Mind you...his cage door is open, so he is welcome to go in and out at his pleasure. His a.m. routine begins with climbing down from his sleeping perch, slamming the hanging stainless steel mirror against the wood, stepping up to his inner cage food dish and having a breakfast shack of dry Pretty Bird brand fruity morsels. Now his pallet is awakened and he wants the next breakfast course. So outside of the cage he goes, to the rooftop play area and perch, where he checks his other food dish for something more interesting. This is the place he usually finds his fresh fruit, veggies, pasta, etc. However, since it is the morning...there is nothing, an unacceptable situation to our spoiled bird. So back in to the cage he goes, finding the largest and noisiest of toys and begins to let us know he is awake...bang bang bang the toys go. Grabbing them by the beak, he bangs them in to the side of the cage like a demolition team swinging a wrecking ball. If that doesn't get our attention, the whistling sounds begin. Finally, in his final desperate attempt to get us to rise and shine, he moves in to position on his favorite "screaming perch" and begins the call of the wild. Ear-ouching screeches and squawks. Up we are, filling his dish, wondering how has it come to this. Our cherry-head conure is our master...we are definitely parrot people.

Good Morning !