Rehoming A Beloved Parrot

Bosco, my big beautiful Blue Front Amazon, has found a new home. He was NOT happy here with "strange" parrots coming through to board from time to time. He lived in a constant state of aggitation trying to stand his ground and make his dominance known to all those that were in his vicinity. Re-homing a beloved parrot really tugs on the heartstrings. I felt an obligation to keep him forever. But...he will get more one-on-one attention and guidance in his new home where he is the only large parrot. I hope I did the right thing. I have to live with it and believe me when I say that I am sad. I have found wonderful homes for other parrots who were not "mine" and felt quite happy for them as they settled in successfully. I will need extra special reassurance as to how he is doing in this situation! So far everyone seems happy.

Welcome to My Blog!

This is the place where you can read about my life as a parrot nanny. I wasn't able to do (to afford) continual updates on my website www.parrotnanny.com but here I can post my day to day happenings and thoughts along with recipes and photos. Please feel free to read and respond!

Or, you can email me at gayle@parrotnanny.com

Thank you for coming!

Parrots Make Good Alarms

My parrots always let me know when someone has arrived. My Scarlet and Blue & Gold have view locations at the front of my home. When I hear "hello" coming as a chorus from their cages...I know to go take a look.

My Greys, on the other hand, will often ring like the phone. I sometimes fail to go answer it because they are excellent mimics and why bother. Sometimes they ring just as the phone rings. Very confusing when you're out in the garden. When my Greys are in the outdoor cages, they often carry on "phone conversation" when I am on the phone inside the house. How do they do that?

Today all the parrots that were outside went into alarm mode. I quickly went outside to check for hawks or scary cable guys working up the poles. Nothing. But they would not relax. Then, out of the hedge prances a doe and her fawn. They were laying down in the cool and shady cover during the hot afternoon. You cannot hide from my parrots!

Psittacine Cuisine Ingredients June

Cooked Grains

1. Red Butani Rice
2. Sweet Brown Rice
3. Barley
4. Large size Cous Cous

Chopped Fresh Herbs and Vegetables

1. Red Chard
2. Baby Broccoli
3. Rosemary
4. Dill

Mixed together with Hulled Millet to add interest and flavor.

This is a base grain mixture intended to be served alone or mixed with other ingredients. Suggestions include Pureed Pumpkin or Sweet Potato.

A Safe Environment is relative

Lately there was news about Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease being welcomed into the San Francisco Zoo amongst their Australian Parakeet/Cockatiel Free- Flight Exhibit. No big deal to them.... I shared this article with many of my clients so that they would be educated and not go there!

Can I guarantee that my home is a safe environment? No. Once you or I walk outside we can pick up fomites from wild bird droppings. If you or I walk into a bird store...same problem...disease is airborne and easily transferred via our clothes and shoes. We can take precautions but there are no guarantees.

Can we keep our beloved parrots in a glass bubble? Not me! I want my birds to experience the fresh air and sunshine so I put them outside on nice days. I enjoy caring for parrots and ask that any incoming bird have a healthy history with their avian veterinarian. But even going to the vet can be risky! After all, that's where sick birds go as well.

One must be realistic. A healthy bird can resist a lot of things. To isolate them in a sterile environment is not allowing their immune system to work. Children who were allowed to play in the dirt have better immune systems than children who today are constantly cleaned and disinfected... weigh the benefits.

Visually Perceptive Parrots

Working with people to uncover the reasons behind certain behaviors makes me very aware that parrots have a keen sense of vision. They can spot the speck in the sky that we barely see, be it a plane or turkey vulture. They can become afraid of the new painting that we so proudly hang on the wall without a thought. They can tear into their bowl of food to discard the less desired and zero in on their favorite items. Their vision is far better than ours....period. I wonder if it deteriorates with age like ours?

Speaking of which, I recently had to get a new pair of eye glasses. I picked out frames very much like my old frames. Slightly different but not one human friend of mine commented on the change. My parrots, however, are ever so slightly reluctant to come to me without my voice asking them to. They aren't so sure it's me! This change is so subtle that not even my son noticed the difference! Awww, but my smart and perceptive slender billed cockatoo acted afraid. Keep this lesson in mind whenever you have a visual change in your bird's environment.

Half the battle in figuring out your parrot's behavior is seeing life as they see it and realizing that their instincts are to survive and not be eaten! Avoiding the new and different may be the difference between survival and injury or death.

LIFE AS A PARROT NANNY

Well, things are settling down now. I have my regular clients that depend on me for frequent care of their birds. This allows me to establish my own relationship with them. My regulars always act like..."Where have you been?" Incidently, parrots have a wonderful memories! I can walk into a house when it has been quite a few weeks since my last visit and I get kissy sounds and requests to be picked up by a shy Grey or a rowdy Blue Crown Conure will do a fly by and land on my head. Recognition comes in many forms! I always take my time to develop this rapport. I respect parrots and their need for going slow. You'll never see my walk in and ask for a "step up" right off the bat. I do a lot of singing and animated talking to win them over. Any NANNY CAMS would have plenty of fodder for Funniest Home Videos! But, the birds like it!

Holiday Weekend Keeps Me Jumping

Memorial Day Weekend had me going in a lot of directions! I had the incredible opportunity to care for some unusual and wonderful exotic birds. Obviously, my specialty is parrots, however, I am fascinated and eager to learn about all birds.

Imagine my delight to get to care for a Swainson's Toucan, a Silvery Cheeked Hornbill, a baby Tarictic Hornbill, a Lady Ross Touraco, two Victoria Crowned Pigeons, and more! What an experience!

What did I learn? Lots! These guys were very interactive. Their intelligence was extremely evident. The large hornbill knew that I was new and proceeded to knock a hole through a plywood door. I found something to baricade it...she watched and patiently waited for me to leave before starting again in another location. To look into her eyes and see her thinking was amazing.

Life as a parrot nanny is wonderful.