Parrot POW - Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome

Mr. Spock, our cherry-head conure, just returned from a week-long stay at the bird hotel in South Florida while we were away. Even though he had his some of his favorite toys and snacks along with the company of lots of other beautiful and exotic birds, he still came home freaked out. This is unusual for our lively parrot; usually he is friendly and grateful for being liberated. Sometimes he would pretend to be mad for a few minutes, but would get over that quickly and return to his normal bird behavior.

This time though, for two full days, he was like a cat on the attack, or a like a cornered snake. As soon as I would get near him...his eyes would bug out, he'd back up, get a good footing, and lunge at me with the big beak snapping. Yikes! There were several near hits, and a few direct strikes on my finger. There he was...biting the hand that feeds him. By the third day (yesterday), he was as cute and cuddly as ever...snuggling up to the hand that feeds him. Welcome Back Mr. Spock!

Unspoiling our Bird - Part Two - Going Mobile

In Part 1 of this series, we described the large and luxurious new home base cage we set up for Mr. Spock to begin the unspoiling process.

The next step toward unspoiling Mr. Spock, our 25 year-old controlling cherry-head conure, was to purchase a new "playpen" for him so that he can have familiar comfortable surroundings wherever he goes in our home. He already has a "play area" in our office, but the new "mobile" addition gives him more options. It has a ladder, swinging toys, a high perch, low perch, food and water dishes, etc.

So, right about now you may be asking "exactly how is this unspoiling our precious parrot." I'm kind of questioning it myself. (Just kidding.) Actually, it's working. This is all part of our master plan to be able to have Spock close by whenever he starts feeling restless. Even though his cage is wide open when we are home, he does get restless from time to time. That's when the spoiled brat-bird in him starts to rear it's un-pretty head. The screeching begins. Sometimes he is letting us know he doesn't want to be alone while we are in another room. Other times, he may want some of what we are cooking or eating, or might want a light out or a light on, etc.

So, now that we have a mobile playpen for him. This has served to quiet the pesky parrot every time. It has cut out on a lot of screaming matches between us and him. And...since screaming is our bird's specialty, he is usually the winner of any Call of the Wild match. So now our little talks with Mr. Spock are more conducive to harmony in our home.

So, we highly recommend mobile playpens.

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 !

Parrots, Conures and House Guests

"Welcome To My Home"

Jekyll and Hyde could be one way to describe how Mr. Spock, our cherry-head conure, behaves when we have guests staying over. Our lovable bird usually starts out on his best behavior for about 1 - 2 days. He's calm, quiet, and spends most of his time keeping a low profile. The reality is that Spock is hiding out from the "strangers" and under the impression that no one can see him. This makes our courageous conure feel safe and gives him time to observe the new people. He forgoes the usual 'crack-of-dawn' crowing, he abandons clanging his toys in to the side of the cage to get our attention, and he skips the siren-like screeching that we usually hear as soon as we enter the house.

Once Mr. Spock has sized up the new humans and realizes they are not a threat to this proud parrot, he sends out that exact message via shock waves, usually early in the morning, with his 'rise and shine' ear-drum piercing cocka-doodle-doos. Then we know...that he knows...that we know...that Spock is back in charge of the household. Watch out now!

What have we learned? Parrots / conures are good on stake outs.