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 June 2026
@patchyjoon 's Patches
1. How did you acquire your bird?
Originally, I wasn't even sure I wanted a bird. I grew up with mostly dogs and cats. My partner, on the other hand, grew up with birds and really wanted one. So when we went to the store and met Patches for the first time, it was only supposed to be a look-around, just seeing how we felt about the idea.
My partner had his heart set on a Green Cheek, since that's what he'd had as a kid, so that's mostly what we focused on. But at one point, one of us noticed this funny-looking, all-green conure who was also a lot bigger than the other conures. He didn't seem to like anyone, he'd actually just bitten a little kid. Neither of us had ever seen a bird quite like him before.
As we walked over, Patches willingly hopped right onto my partner's finger, and from that moment on he was velcroed to us the entire time we were there. No bites. He was so loving and sweet. It honestly felt like he chose us. The ladies at the store told us he'd been there a while and there hadn't been much interest in him, which broke my heart. But I was still unsure, so we agreed to sleep on it. Getting a bird is a HUGE decision, and we didn't want to buy him on impulse.
When we drove away, I started looking up Dusky Conures, and by the time night rolled around, we both knew: he was ours, and we needed to go back and get him as soon as possible. The thing was, I had no cage, no toys, no food.
So the next morning we showed up right as the store opened and let him pick out a cage, some toys, and some food. He looked so happy and relieved to see us.
We had no idea what we were getting into. My partner had a conure as a kid, but that was years ago and he didn't remember much, just that they were really cute to have around.
He was easily the best and scariest purchase I've ever made in my life. We do everything with him. He has traveled across the United States with us and even seen me graduate!
2. What is your bird's name, species, age and sex?
Our conure's full name is Patchington Bobert I, also known as Patches. He's a Dusky Conure, 2 years old, and a DNA-sexed male.
3. Does your bird do any special tricks?
Patches knows a good amount of tricks:
- He can set his little toy table.
- He can go "shopping" and put groceries into his mini shopping cart.
- He can place rings on a peg.
- He knows how to bowl.
- He can sort by color.
- He can spin.
- He can shake.
- He can wave hello.
- He's recall trained*
Currently, we’re working on harness training him!
4. What are some of your bird's favorite foods?
Patchy is a foodie - he loves to eat!
- Favorite grains: quinoa, oats, millet, rice
- Favorite fruits: mangoes, apples, strawberries
- Favorite veggies: peas, edamame, black beans, habaneros, dried chillies
The funniest thing my Dusky has ever done is rip down all of our curtains. I put in my noise-cancelling headphones for about an hour while working, and the next thing I knew, every curtain on the window was lying on the ground. It made me burst out laughing, how can a literal 3-inch bird cause such chaos?
6. How has your bird enriched your life?
My bird has enriched my life in so many ways. For one, I joined this community, where I've made so many friends and learned so much. Having to care for him has really helped pull me out of a depressive rut, Patches gave me somewhere to focus my energy and time outside of my own head. It helped me, and it's definitely helped my partner too.
He's genuinely the light of our life. On hard days, we can always count on Patches to be goofy, funny, and sweet. He brightens everything up, and I can't imagine life without him. He's my best friend in the entire world. I'm a hardcore homebody, so we're together 24/7 and do everything together - whether that's drawing, working, or playing video games.
7. What would you tell people who are considering this species?
For anyone considering a Dusky Conure, I'd say to really research whether a conure is a good fit for you. They're a very high-maintenance animal. Whenever I describe to other pet owners everything I do to keep my boy happy and healthy, they always tell me the same thing: "Wow, I didn't realize a bird could be so high-maintenance." And that's really the key. So I'd just say research thoroughly and be honest about whether your lifestyle is a good fit, because it takes a lot of sacrifice, both your time and your money. They also require a lot of patience. Most of the time Patches has really good days, but he'll have weeks where he's just very difficult, whether that's hormonal biting, going on a chop hunger strike, or breaking into my cabinets and making a gigantic mess.
The other big thing to be aware of is how long they live. In captivity, these conures can live up to 30 years. That's a really long time, and so much can change. I'm not even 30 yet myself, so it's hard to imagine the full span of life I'll share with Patches, but that's exactly the kind of commitment you have to account for going in.
8. What is the activity and noise level of your bird?
I'd definitely say Patches isn't the quietest bird, but he isn't very loud either. When I hear other people's stories, they've got birds that are just constantly screaming 24/7, all day every day and it's really not like that with Patches. Basically, when we wake up in the morning, I'll give him some food, he'll eat, and then he'll head to his little window perch and scream for about an hour. It's not the entire hour, he'll just periodically scream out the window at the birds. We like to say it's his wake-up time. By the afternoon he's usually really chill and just playing.
I do want to mention that he's very rarely in his cage. I'm very lucky that my partner's and my lifestyle allows one of us to always be home with him. So he's basically out of his cage all day, running around the house getting into trouble, playing with his toys, or playing with us. He's very active! For the 12 hours he's awake, he's constantly doing something. We've learned that if there's ever complete and utter silence in our home, it means he's up to no good.
So noise-wise, I'd put him mid-range, and activity wise I’d say he’s extremely active.
9. What are some of your bird's quirks?
Patches has a lot of quirks:
- Before bed, he needs to cuddle with us. We can't just put him to bed. The lights in our living room (or wherever we are) have to be very dim, low, and cozy, and then he has to cuddle with us for at least 30 minutes before we can put him down. If we try any earlier, he'll scream and try to bite us.
- He likes to drink out of cups. He sees us eating from plates and drinking from cups, so he wants that too. I have small soy sauce bowls and tiny shot glasses. I pour his water into the shot glasses and put his food in the bowls. He still has his regular bowls in his cage, but he really prefers to drink from a glass cup and eat from the bowl, just like he sees us doing.
- Whenever one of us is showering, he has to be in the room. He'll stand on top of the shower door and nap. This is his thing. If we shower without him, he'll scream and get really upset about being left out. But when he's with us, he puffs all up and naps quietly while we shower. It's one of his favorite times during the day: he loves the steam, the mist, and the warmth, so it's really special for him.
- He loves to sit in shirt collars. He loves to be carried around in a shirt, so he'll climb up to your shoulder, slide into your collar, and stay there all day, napping, preening, just along for the ride. This is probably one of my favorite things about him. I'll be playing video games and he's right there in my collar, chilling and napping. It's so cute, I just love taking photos of it.
- He is very scared of hummingbirds and butterflies, but will try to attack and then subsequently eat any fruit fly he can find.
- He is mortal enemies with blue latex gloves, the vacuum cleaner, the screw driver, the broom, and any video that shows people’s hands.
- He loves to preen my hair.
- His favorite songs are “I’m a gummy bear” and “Hamster Dance”
- We have tea time every morning, me with my human tea and him with his lukewarm bird tea.
Patches talks, but he can only say a few words and phrases right now. His most common one is a big kissing noise, followed by "I love you" in a very croaky little frog voice. He also knows how to say "good birdie."
11. What is your bird’s favorite treat?
His top contenders are definitely safflower seeds and NutriBerries. In fact, he's even found ways to break into the NutriBerry container and dig through it and he's done the same with the safflower seeds. We have to keep everything airtight and locked in the cabinets, because if it's left sitting out, he'll open it, break in, make a mess and eat a bunch of seeds.
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Happy belated Patchy Day!!