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 !