Parrot Life

free hit counter

Text Box: KuKura is a four year old Hawk Head Parrot. You will be able to find more information on the web about this species. Life with this bird is beautiful, challenging, frustrating and down right painful from time to time. A Hawk Head parrot is not for an inexperienced person. The first reason for this is even if one purchased a weaned bird, Hawk Heads tend to stop eating abruptly and must be spoon fed until the bird eats on its own. Hawk Heads bond with the person that has been feeding them and when they get nervous they don't eat. The second reason this parrot is not for a first time bird owner is because of their personality. They are charming one moment and the next one would think the bird was owned by the devil himself. Hawk Heads have a very painful muscular pinch. One must monitor the parrots weight on a consistent basis. It is essential to watch the body language of this species. When excited, their beautiful ruff feathers are raised around their head, a grand site to behold. When they hold their feathers real tight about their face and head they are in attack mode and will stalk and chase and then ouch! To stiffel this action, I have used my index finger and firmly said no. Other times I gently hold KuKura in a towel for about 1.5 min. and tell him to be nice. He does not like the towel so he knows I mean business when I use it. KuKura is more of a problem when he is hormonal. It is important to chart these times and bad behaviors. This way you will be able to see the cycle. It is important to remember you cannot change the wild instincts of a parrot. It is your job to help control bad behavior by providing a loving home, nutritional food, some toys ( you don’t need to rob a bank) and set firm limits (example: no perching on shoulders, distracting your bird when it is doing something bad). The rest pretty much is up to you. Keep your bird out of harms way and never take it out in public unharnesed or without it in a carrier or small cage. I cannot possibly cover all tips on a page. It is your responsibility to research and learn about any species of bird you are interested in before making a purchase. Remember, you would not like getting shuffled from home to home or mistreated. KuKura makes me smile and makes me aware of patience I never thought I would have. All I can say is Life with my parrot is a delight most of the time and full of wonderment and sheer unconditional love [Gotta’ remind myself of that one from time to time when he is yelling for breakfast at 5:30 am!] Mary Andrew - Berks County Bird Club

Parrot Life - Living with Birds

Text Box: Hobbs, our Sun Conure was named after her breeder. Hobbs was the runt so to speak of the hatchlings. Her mom pecked her head open and the breeder had to remove her from the nest earlier then most. Hobbs has two slightly deformed talons in the back. She requires thin perches and they are rotated. Sun Conures are the loudest of conures and can have quite the deafening scream. It is important to help quell this right off. Whenever Hobbs would yell, my husband and I would go in and say shhhhhhhhhh to reassure here we were around and walk out of the room. When she was quiet we would take her out and cuddle with her (Sun Conures love to cuddle). The important thing here is to be consistent. It took three months of doing this. Now Hobbs is only loud during normal times: first thing in the morning, mid afternoon and 4:00 PM for a bit. This is normal and most parrots have their fussy times. Hobbs is 7 years old and is seldom nippy. Conures are great for first time bird people and children aged 10 and above. I choose the age 10 for a child because at this age they can be taught about the proper care of birds. Conures will go to most everyone in the household but will tend to choose the person they wish to bond with. Hobbs is bonded to my husband as all our female birds are but they do not show aggression to me. Hint: If your parrot is showing aggression to others and not the one they are bonded to, the person that is favored must step back and let the others feed, give treats etc. The parrot will still adore the favored person but will show less aggression to others. Example: If my husband is home, Hobbs prefers to sit with him. When he is not there, she will be a sweetheart but will not cuddle or make the special noises she has just for him. Sun Conures are very social to our other birds but for her safety she does not come out of her cage when the others are out due to potential injury from the larger birds. Hobbs eats a variety of seed and pellet mix (organic is best). Conures must be offered fresh fruits and veggies every day. (Tip: They are picky eaters regarding fruit and veggies so don't fill the dish full and make sure they have good lighting and vitamins twice a week.) Some conures talk some don't. Never purchase a bird because you think it will talk. Purchase a bird because you will love it. Mary Andrew - Berks County Bird Club

Text Box: An evening with Rico - The Umbrella Cockatoo I tell ya, I don't know if I can love Rico anymore than I possibly do. But then everyday I wake up I feel I love him even more than the day before. He's so damn cute and special and here's why.
It started last night with dinner. Rico was in his cage, which sits in the dinning room, and Freddie and I sat down at the table to eat our Chinese food. Rico sat there in his cage looking so pitiful while watching us eat. I have to be careful with Freddie sometimes, he still thinks certain events, such as dinner, should be his and I's quiet time. Anyway, I let this go on for about another 30 seconds and turn to him and say "Poor Rico, do you mind if I get him out for a little bit while we eat? What's dinner without a little Rico foot in your soup?". He kinda rolled his eyes a little and said "fine". I flew out of my chair for Rico's cage.
As soon as I sat the sh*# on the table he cocked his head and looked at us like, "this must be time for me to act up". With that said, his crest went fully erect and he started jumping around, not walking, jumping...with his crest fully erect and full cockatoo display. With each jump he let out a screech. I started laughing, which was Rico's intent. I started dying laughing coz he wouldn't stop. Freddie kinda got a smirk on his face and said "what an idiot!". At this point Rico started doing 360's around the table. Then he went and perched on daddy's arm being all cute again and flirting with the soup. Yes, beak, tail feathers and talons were all in soup before we were done. Classy joint I have here.
After dinner we laid in the living room watching TV with the lights out. All was good and I thought Rico would go to my shoulder and go to sleep as usual. Paleeze! I have to lay on the couch with a blanket on or Rico will attack my feet. He's such a dork. No, I was laying on the couch with the blanket over my feet and my head was on a pillow and I had my knees bent. Rico would climb the blanket, get on my knees, turn around and look at me. I thought, ok he's going to go up there and go to sleep. No. He would look at me and give me this warning screech like "geronimo...." before he jumped to see how close to my face he could land. This went on for 10 minutes. I was laughing my butt off. He kept doing this over and over and over. After he would do this I would grab him and give him a zerbert on his belly. He thought that was great and would run back to my knees even faster.
Then came chill down time, like "Let's see if I can stick my foot in mom's mouth.” What a nerd, he was being such a little dork last night. But he was cute. Sometimes he looks at his feet like he just got them and they are the coolest things. I had my lips pressed together as hard as I could. He still would try to get his foot in my mouth. Ok, he got tired of that. Headed for my head. He hung out up there pulling my hair. Fine! I always put my hand up by my forehead when Rico is up there, in case I have to protect my eyes if he falls. Anyway I had my hand above my eyes in a way as if it would look like I was protecting my eyes from the sun. I could hear him up there going, "huh? huh? huh?" He always makes that sound when he's just being cute. I'm watching TV and this cockatoo's head come over the top of my hand and looks at me and says "huh?". I died. He had me laughing so hard last night. I haven't laughed that hard in I don't know how long. So if I laugh he continues. Here comes the cockatoo head blocking the TV again. Well I guess he needed to spice it up coz next time he did it he looked at me and then grabbed my nose with his beak. Not hard at all, just cute. He did it like "wow, mom looks different from down here, let's see what's in here." So then it was the game of "let's see how far I can get my beak in mom's nose". Mom didn't like that game too well, but it was cute. Then he would fall off my head and land beside me on the couch on his back with his feet up in the air and look at me like, "I'm so cute mom, but I've managed to fall and I need your help". This went on forever.
Liz Wilson told me early last summer that I haven't had a chance to see Rico's personality yet. I think it's starting to show and I'm loving the little ham he's growing up to be. Mama loves her little Rico. Laura Joseph - Toledo, Ohio