Big Male Parrots

Big Male Parrots require special attention to their behavior and handling techniques. Their natural characteristics will typically make them challenge you periodically just to see where they fit in the flock. The best advice is to constantly maintain a parent or teacher role using lots of "lessons" and lots of "praise." Avoid a bond that is perceived as a mate bond by your boy bird. Sure it's fun to cuddle and wrestle but beware, this is interpreted as foreplay! You can have a successful
permanent rapport if you carefully manage
the dynamics between you. This involves a careful understanding of "body language" and "overload" behavior. When they get all worked up and "powerful," learn how to decompress this exuberance and return to a low energy and managable personality. If you can lower your energy, they can too. Just don't think you can stick your hand out and say "step up" when they're full of themselves. Or, worse yet, ask for a kiss! Big mistake. I have two male greys and two male cockatoos....understanding their instincts is imperative to successful handling. I strongly encourage you to stick train any parrot, especially males. Also being able to wrap a towel around them without stress is a valuable tool. Barnaby, shown above, stayed with me for almost a whole month....he is now stick trained! It made us both more comfortable.

Shower Time

Even in winter a frequent shower is necessary. Molly, my blue and gold macaw, thoroughly enjoys her shower! During winter we all suffer from dry skin due to the lack of humidity. Be sure to shower your bird early in the day and don't use a hair dryer! Hair dryers dry out the skin and also can blow teflon fumes towards your bird! Just turn the furnace up a notch for an hour while your bird drys naturally. A misting bottle just doesn't do the same thing. Getting really wet is necessary. The mister does fine for in between times.

Accidental Captive

Presently, my outdoor cages are dormant during this cold spell. No exotic parrot is spending time outside when the weather is bone chilling cold. However, a beautiful robust hermit thrush somehow found her way into one of the cages! It's a mystery how a fat little songbird could squeeze through the 1" wire. Perhaps a predator was swooping down making the impossible possible. If you're going to be "lunch" you can and will do anything to survive. However, she could not find the same power to get her out. I opened the door and "herded" her to freedom. If I had not gone outside to fill the Hummingbird Feeder with warm nectar, she may have spent a long time captive in the enclosure. If you have an outdoor cage, please check it periodically!

Touraco Nanny?

I hope you enjoy hearing about these most unusual birds. I certainly enjoy caring for them. This is Amadeus and he is a Lady Ross Touraco. He swoops and flys down to divebomb you when you first arrive. Sort of like a hello. He loves to have you offer your finger which he gently grabs with his innocent beak. He follows my every move while I am at his home and always taste tests the blueberries and other fruits as I prepare them. Getting to know these guys has been an amazing opportunity.

Hornbill Helper

This is Josephine. She is a Silvery Cheeked Hornbill. Another of the characters that I'm caring
for this week. She is almost prehistoric in appearance but up close you can see the intelligence in her eyes and the gentleness of her nature. Once she gets to know you, she loves to be skritched just like our parrots do. She'll contort her neck all the way back to rest her head on her back. A true position of trust. A wonderfully unusual and amazing creature. Her diet is soft fruits and softbill pellets. You can see in the photo how she tosses a blueberry in the air and positions it for proper swallowing. She has a honking broadcast sound that would resonate across a large area in the wild. Really neat bird.

Pigeon Nanny

I am having a blast taking care of a very rare and unusual menagerie of birds. Here is a photo of me with Fanny, a Victoria Crowned Pigeon. She makes a low howler sound and butts up against my leg as I walk through the enclosure. She is bizarre. She has a real thing for my shoes as well. Pecking and "tasting" my shoes and jeans is her way of partnering with me. She's a big girl and uses her weight to direct me. Her companion, Mike, doesn't seem interested at all in the goings on. He stays in the background and just observes. It's always fascinating to observe birds and their behaviors. Each and every one has a personality!

BIG NAPE BOARDING-ONLY BIRD

THIS is Barnaby. He is a very large yellow nape amazon who is staying with me for a few weeks. I love it when "only birds" come in as guests. They are excited and happy to become a part of a flock! This guy is singing and calling out to my greys like they are his long lost cousins. He reveled in his first drenching shower. See photo below. But seemed a little disoriented when he then went into the big playgound cage. See photo above. He's probably never been in a 4'x6'x6' Exotic Enclosure! He spent the first few minutes just hanging upside down drip drying!

Then he settled down. Now he's having a grand time! I'll bet he'll sleep good later!

Ben Doing Great

Ben, the elderly Blue Crown Conure, is thriving at my home. He has been transferred to a better cage and get more exercise now than before. He eats my Psittacine Cuisine every morning and remains quite "talkative" whenever he sees people. When he first came to me, he was in love with a mirror in his cage. This lead to him being "attached" to the mirror and not moving around much. Yes, it made him quieter but that is not a good reason to promote such an idle existense.

He is allowed his bell toy to which he is also very attached. (see photo!) I will remove it if it begins to diminish his climbing and movement activities. This toy may be a treat that goes in for a while each day.

Ben is such a sweet bird. I fell in love right away and, although I would love to find him a good home, I think he is here to stay.

What noise?