Macawnutz
Seriously Nutz!
Super Administrator
Vendor
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
It is with great pleasure that I announce the
Celebirdy for the month of February 2024
@papaya13 's Merlin
1. How did you acquire your bird?
- I adopted Merlin off of Craigslist. I was searching for a rescue nearby and found two relatively close to each other- though not very close to me. I drove about 850 miles to visit them. Merlin took my Cheerios and my heart when I saw him for the first time!
- Merlin Greybird, Timneh, maybe 5 or 6 years old (hard to know for certain since he’s passed through a few homes), and I’m 90% sure he’s male
- Merlin can spin on command, accept fluid from a syringe, differentiate between green and red, and put his toys back in a box.
- Merlin loves beans, cooked carrots and broccoli, but won’t turn his beak up at most anything. Maybe bean sprouts.
- I take him out regularly for walks in a backpack, and WITHOUT EXCEPTION he will either wolf-whistle at some poor woman waking her dog, or make loud farting noises when we pass someone. His comedic timing is excellent.
- Merlin says goodbye to me every time I leave the house with a “see you LATERalligator PEW PEW PEW.” Caring for him (literally) gets me out of bed in the morning and inspired me to completely change careers to become a vet tech. He makes me smile without fail- especially when I’m working and he tiptoes over to whisper “whatcha doin” then asks for scritches.
- Timnehs are, in my opinion, very unlike Congos in their behavior. Merlin doesn’t stare into my soul in the quiet way a Congo can, and he seems to be a bit more straightforward with his intentions- it’s very easy to tell when he’s grumpy, and he’s never caught me unawares with a lunge (i.e., a foot in the air really is a request for a step up). He’s pretty good around new people, too! While I was teaching I took him to school most afternoons for an hour or so, and he was always the gentleman. Some of my students could give him scritches, others he preferred at a distance (I always had them observe his body language before approaching).
- His loudest contact call has been accurately described by my family as “low battery smoke detector.” When extremely alarmed (toweling at the vet), his calls aren’t ear-piercing like some smaller species, and much, MUCH quieter than larger birds. I’m surprised when people startle at his noise, but then again they’ve probably never experienced Cockatoo full-blast.
- He doesn’t often display hormonal behavior, but one particular corner in my kitchen seems to really get him in the mood and requires extraction with a perch. One of his back toes on his right foot doesn’t work, and he doesn’t trim that particular toenail, so I have to file it for him. He loves pinecones and napkins, but only if a specific texture, and will ring the bell in his cage furiously if he feels he has been unjustly imprisoned.
- Someone in a previous life must have been named Matteo, because one of his favorite things to do is call out “MattEOOOOOO” like Matteo is hiding in the other room. He’ll also start shouting “HEY. COME IN HERE!” in my tone of voice whenever I’m talking loudly or on the phone, and will occasionally sing with me “Ha ha HAOUUU” while I’m in the kitchen!
- He’s been really, really excited about these tiny pancakes I made for him a few weeks ago. Since he’s molting, I put a little red palm oil on them and he’ll pick them up and nibble his way around the edge in concentric circles until he gets to the center. Not a crumb escapes!
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Such lovely interview Merlin’s gorgeous
