Thea'sPapa
Moving in
- Joined
- 8/28/14
- Messages
- 7
I wanted to write and say what a great resource this website has been for me. I had an aviary when I was a child, a cockatiel for 18 years, a Senegal for 7 years, and I thought I knew most of what I needed to know to be a good companion for a companion parrot. I realize now that I did not get off to a good start with the Senegal because I picked him up off his cage before he got a chance to get comfortable in his new home, and as a result, he never did get very comfortable. With Thea, our family waited for her to come to us, and after about five days, she did. From time to time since then, we occasionally approached her on her cage, and sometimes she would run over and step up on a finger, and other times she would move away, in which case we left her up there.
Here are some things that I learned about Thea over the past three weeks (she is about four months old, but we got her from the breeder three weeks ago):
Interest in Human Interaction
Thea likes to be with or in the vicinity of her human flock for good stretches of the day. She likes sitting on shoulders, foraging on the ground, or sitting on perches near the family. She also seems content to spend blocks of time on her cage, part of which is spent playing with things and foraging, and part of which is a quiet time (in the afternoon). The breeder clipped some of the flight feathers, but she has enough to fly a short distance, and she flies off the cage when she wants to be with people.
Physical Contact
At first, Thea would step up from finger to finger, but was not great from perch to finger and would not step up from the ground to finger at all. She also would avoid being touched/scritched. Now she is stepping up consistently (she loves sunflower seeds, and will do anything to earn them), and over the last few days she has permitted scritching and touching of her beak. She also gently preens hair, beaks earlobes, nuzzles necks, and makes peeping sounds. On Thursday she got her feet tangled up in some threads that she had pulled off of something, and they were wrapped around enough times that it wasn't possible to simply unwrap them. I was worried about trying to cut them with nail scissors, which have a pretty sharp point on them, so I wrapped her in a towel and got some of the thread off that way. She's a pretty strong bird, though, and she was squirming her way out of the towel and chomping the towel quite a bit (but not getting really panicky). So I ended up having her stand on the countertop while I carefully cut the remaining threads - to my surprise, she stood pretty still and also did not try to beak the scissors as they were making contact with her feet.
Vocalizations
Overall, I would say that Thea is the quietest bird I have ever seen. So far, she only makes four sounds. One is a soft peeping sound that she makes when she is on the ground and seeking out other members of the flock. Another one is sort of a two-syllable peep-peep that she makes a lot, often while bobbing her head. I haven't figured out what the sound means. A third sound could be mistaken for the laser gun sound that you hear in science fiction movies. The last sound is a louder (but not loud in the way that a sun conure or macaw is loud) parrot noise that sounds a little like laughter. For some reason, she makes this noise while she is on a shoulder and the kitchen faucet is running. She also makes the sound in our attic, which has a low slanted ceiling. It could be a distress call, but I'm not sure.
Sleep
These parrots really need their sleep! Thea starts to get tired around 8pm, and begins yawning and seems to get fidgety. When I bring her to her cage at bedtime, she jumps off my finger into her cage and moves to her "sleeping spot" and waits for me to cover her cage. My cockatiel and Senegal happily stayed awake until 10 or 11, so this was a surprise to me. But I have read that Pionus parrots are known for their early bedtimes. So there you have it!
Eating
Thea loves to eat. My Senegal parrot refused pellets and ate seeds, along with a variety of fruits, vegetables, pasta, and meats (a cannibal!). Thea loves her pellets, and loves seeds. But she seems to be very picky about fruits and vegetables. So far, she likes broccoli, apples, and carrots. She has refused blueberries, raspberries, lettuce, peaches, and a few other things. She also has turned down bananas several times, although tonight she was on my shoulder and had a few bites of a banana when she saw me eating it.
Movement
When she first arrived, Thea was very clumsy. She tried to scale the bars of her cage and would fall off sometimes and land on her back. Now she is a lot more coordinated, including when she is doing short flights. She is pretty funny on the ground, because she does not walk to her destination - she runs there. My kids were convinced at first that she must be galloping toward them to attack them, but not so. When she is on foot, she is going to get where she's going FAST, and sometimes she flaps her wings a few times to generate a little extra speed.
Prey Behavior
Thea doesn't startle much at all. Loud noises do not bother her, sudden movements do not alarm her. That is pretty surprising to me. From time to time she sees (or thinks she sees) something moving under her cage while she is on top of it, and she freezes in place with her head cocked sideways and remains still for a little while. But in general, she marches around completely at ease, and nothing seems to alarm her. So I do not worry about receiving an alarm bite while she is on my shoulder.
Overall
Overall, Thea is a fantastic parrot and pet, and we are lucky to have her. I watched an interesting PBS video about all the parrots that are rehomed because the owners have unrealistic expectations at the outset. One of the foster program managers says, "I have people come in here and say 'I am looking for a parrot that is very colorful, that talks well, that is very quiet, and that never bites,' and I tell them very directly that, unfortunately, those birds do not exist." I thought that was amusing because that does sound like an ideal bird. I am not sure that Thea will ever be a big talker, but she is very colorful, pretty quiet, very friendly, and very gentle, so she certainly is a welcome addition to our flock.
Here are some things that I learned about Thea over the past three weeks (she is about four months old, but we got her from the breeder three weeks ago):
Interest in Human Interaction
Thea likes to be with or in the vicinity of her human flock for good stretches of the day. She likes sitting on shoulders, foraging on the ground, or sitting on perches near the family. She also seems content to spend blocks of time on her cage, part of which is spent playing with things and foraging, and part of which is a quiet time (in the afternoon). The breeder clipped some of the flight feathers, but she has enough to fly a short distance, and she flies off the cage when she wants to be with people.
Physical Contact
At first, Thea would step up from finger to finger, but was not great from perch to finger and would not step up from the ground to finger at all. She also would avoid being touched/scritched. Now she is stepping up consistently (she loves sunflower seeds, and will do anything to earn them), and over the last few days she has permitted scritching and touching of her beak. She also gently preens hair, beaks earlobes, nuzzles necks, and makes peeping sounds. On Thursday she got her feet tangled up in some threads that she had pulled off of something, and they were wrapped around enough times that it wasn't possible to simply unwrap them. I was worried about trying to cut them with nail scissors, which have a pretty sharp point on them, so I wrapped her in a towel and got some of the thread off that way. She's a pretty strong bird, though, and she was squirming her way out of the towel and chomping the towel quite a bit (but not getting really panicky). So I ended up having her stand on the countertop while I carefully cut the remaining threads - to my surprise, she stood pretty still and also did not try to beak the scissors as they were making contact with her feet.
Vocalizations
Overall, I would say that Thea is the quietest bird I have ever seen. So far, she only makes four sounds. One is a soft peeping sound that she makes when she is on the ground and seeking out other members of the flock. Another one is sort of a two-syllable peep-peep that she makes a lot, often while bobbing her head. I haven't figured out what the sound means. A third sound could be mistaken for the laser gun sound that you hear in science fiction movies. The last sound is a louder (but not loud in the way that a sun conure or macaw is loud) parrot noise that sounds a little like laughter. For some reason, she makes this noise while she is on a shoulder and the kitchen faucet is running. She also makes the sound in our attic, which has a low slanted ceiling. It could be a distress call, but I'm not sure.
Sleep
These parrots really need their sleep! Thea starts to get tired around 8pm, and begins yawning and seems to get fidgety. When I bring her to her cage at bedtime, she jumps off my finger into her cage and moves to her "sleeping spot" and waits for me to cover her cage. My cockatiel and Senegal happily stayed awake until 10 or 11, so this was a surprise to me. But I have read that Pionus parrots are known for their early bedtimes. So there you have it!
Eating
Thea loves to eat. My Senegal parrot refused pellets and ate seeds, along with a variety of fruits, vegetables, pasta, and meats (a cannibal!). Thea loves her pellets, and loves seeds. But she seems to be very picky about fruits and vegetables. So far, she likes broccoli, apples, and carrots. She has refused blueberries, raspberries, lettuce, peaches, and a few other things. She also has turned down bananas several times, although tonight she was on my shoulder and had a few bites of a banana when she saw me eating it.
Movement
When she first arrived, Thea was very clumsy. She tried to scale the bars of her cage and would fall off sometimes and land on her back. Now she is a lot more coordinated, including when she is doing short flights. She is pretty funny on the ground, because she does not walk to her destination - she runs there. My kids were convinced at first that she must be galloping toward them to attack them, but not so. When she is on foot, she is going to get where she's going FAST, and sometimes she flaps her wings a few times to generate a little extra speed.
Prey Behavior
Thea doesn't startle much at all. Loud noises do not bother her, sudden movements do not alarm her. That is pretty surprising to me. From time to time she sees (or thinks she sees) something moving under her cage while she is on top of it, and she freezes in place with her head cocked sideways and remains still for a little while. But in general, she marches around completely at ease, and nothing seems to alarm her. So I do not worry about receiving an alarm bite while she is on my shoulder.
Overall
Overall, Thea is a fantastic parrot and pet, and we are lucky to have her. I watched an interesting PBS video about all the parrots that are rehomed because the owners have unrealistic expectations at the outset. One of the foster program managers says, "I have people come in here and say 'I am looking for a parrot that is very colorful, that talks well, that is very quiet, and that never bites,' and I tell them very directly that, unfortunately, those birds do not exist." I thought that was amusing because that does sound like an ideal bird. I am not sure that Thea will ever be a big talker, but she is very colorful, pretty quiet, very friendly, and very gentle, so she certainly is a welcome addition to our flock.
Thea is absolutely beautiful 