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Monaco monologues.

Monaco

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Thanks, @SmallFeather, I do know it, and I even expected it... I have to say it's not easy in real time.

Her owner says she's training me. I know she's scaring Mr Theo on purpose, but I can't figure out how to mitigate it. He's at my mother's, which is not acceptable to me, but I don't know what to do except give him some breaks. It's not frequent, but there's no way to predict it and until I find a way to prove he's not in danger it's just miserable when it happens.
 

Monaco

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An update before the forum upgrade...

Today was a serious wing flapping day, which I encouraged with gusto! She's got some new feathers coming in... Looks like secondary to me, but I am nervous about touching her wings long enough to get a good look underneath. This is very exciting because she's been clipped for virtually her whole life. She laid a couple eggs the week before I picked her up, and in that process she barbers her blue primaries. Those you can see well, they're causing obvious discomfort with their jagged edges. I'm told she will pull them if they get too irritating. All of this means she's going to have flight feathers sooner than I anticipated!

She said a new phrase today, "who's my baby bird?" So, we both called her a bird today, which was fun. I explained to her that she is indeed a bird, and birds fly, so flapping is very important... And seriously fun!

Several things happened today that made me believe she understands English fluently and, like pinky and the brain, she is plotting to take over the world. I'm okay with that as long as she doesn't terrorize Mr Theo...ever again...ever. A little bit of jealous vindictive behavior, I think.

She asks for baths a lot. She doesn't like them as far as I can tell, but I still try to get the keratin flakes washed away before her best drowned rat impression. It makes me think of the rat birds from cloudy with a chance of meatballs. That makes me laugh, and draws serious ire and dirty looks. She seems to really enjoy hanging out in front of the heater vent A LOT, though, so I'm going to try that without the bath when the opportunity presents itself. I explained flying will feel similar, and is of course what birds do. We also had the, "be careful what you ask for," talk again, but I think she stopped listening as soon as the air was blowing. I may be sleep deprived, but I'm sure I saw the bird version of an eye roll about the lecture.

We seem to be establishing boundaries, and that is such a reasonable thing compared to the mutual frustration.

My work is changing, and I will need to adjust our sleep schedules. No one will be happy if I don't get decent sleep soon. I cannot function without it, and I already look like someone punched me in the face. Or a raccoon...but one that has not slept well in a few weeks.

We're leaving for car shopping in an hour. I don't expect to be able to sleep until after work tonight. I'm going to try to shift sleep schedules by half an hour until we get it working well. It may be a tough week.

We see the vet on Tuesday morning. Yuck, another routine disruption. I have never used this clinic before, but there aren't many avian vets here so I will need to be careful about getting too picky.

 

Monaco

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Post script.

This weekend may be the last shot at decent temperatures, so we'll be trying out going to the garden in the travel cage which she likes, and announces with "c'mon! <loud whistle > kiss."
 

Monaco

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So, I got out of sync between the job changes, sleep changes and our trip to the sandbox...

We've been going along pretty well, getting to know each other and setting some boundaries. We went to the vet, had an afternoon in the garden, spent some time with my mother...lucky (red) duck! I'm doing my level best to leave the house for an hour or two every day to keep a routine. Today I got a big peck on the head... She made real effort to go from the top of her cage to the side and then down to the nearest perch to do it. Usually she will get closer to see what I'm doing, so I didn't even think to look up to see what she was doing. I guess it might have been my face if I had turned my head.

Anyway. I don't know how I offended her today. I was just picking up the beads and toys that I have been putting into her dry food dish....like I have been doing since I started adding them. She finished her breakfast and is still staring daggers at me from the top of her cage. The addition of the beads earlier this week made the aggression related to that food dish disappear, so it is really frustrating to experience it again. She's also started to torment poor Mr Theo today, which she hasn't done since my last post about it. Just a bad mood, maybe?

In other news, she's belted out some new (to me) phrases, and she used my voice this week (which is a little bit creepy the first time I heard it, and I really didn't know I sound like that!) She's getting lots of new feathers, a couple of primaries too! We have made a game of flapping her wings, and I sing and cheer her along.
 

Monaco

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Some serious progress around here despite tough schedule changes!

We have finally found how to enjoy a shower! I'm grateful for tile flooring, and will have to get her a shower perch asap.

I think this link will take you to the post about toys and foraging. I'm making her locate her seeds every day now, and have started varying locations now that she's seen them all. She's getting a lot more exercise now.

There's still a lot of aggression about the seed bowl, and now every bowl, but I can usually avoid the ire and let her cool off a little.

Foraging toys pictures here.
 

fashionfobie

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Super cute! I love the little sounds Ekkie make.

I request more videos! :p I want to her that little voice!
 

Monaco

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I got so close earlier. Moving a little gave away all my plans, apparently she uses her esp regularly and has issued a gag order. Something about the phone makes her stop in her tracks and eyeball me until I confess my intentions.
 

fashionfobie

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Phones are pretty scary! :scared3:
 

Monaco

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Well, I got a short one, and of course just the usual "uh huh" sounds until I stopped it. She's hanging out with the fishtank, and started in on kisses the moment I gave up.
 

Monaco

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OK guys. I don't know what I'm doing, so forgive me for these...

She's doing some practice sounds and words like they do when they're tired and winding down at night. There's so much more, but I can't seem to capture it. She just belted out several versions of "chewy" which is Mr Theo's favorite thing on the planet.

http://instagr.am/p/B5OUbidAWAk/
 

Monaco

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It seems to work better to face the phone toward her.... Like practicing in the mirror!

This one is the first attempt, and I don't think she's impressed with the phone cover...

http://instagr.am/p/B5OSKV4A2lm/

I need to just get audio. She goes on and on if I'm not looking at her or pointing pink rectangles at her.
 

Les charlson

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How are you going with her? I have been dealing with the fires here and haven't been on much. Is she eating her fruit and veg? How is her mood?
 

Beasley

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:heart: :heart: Oh my Monaco is such a beautiful girl!! I could watch/listen to her all day!
 

greys4u

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She has the softest voice in those pics
 

Monaco

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She has the softest voice in those pics
:heart: :heart: Oh my Monaco is such a beautiful girl!! I could watch/listen to her all day!
I have lost hours and hours that way, she's really cute and soft spoken in the evenings.
It's so funny... Her mom's voice is really gravely, and she definitely uses it, she's attempting mine which sounds like a cartoon character, and she's got her own (pretty much hers in the video) that sounds like a Muppet. Her peek a boo game comes with the phrase, "I see you," which could be cute, but it sounds VERY creepy  o_O and there are a few like that. Others are really loud, deep and gravely, or cartoon/Muppet like. Most of them are a lot louder!

This is so weird for me. Ruby learned to talk with a male owner and she has a really deep voice. You girl is so feminine.
How are you going with her? I have been dealing with the fires here and haven't been on much. Is she eating her fruit and veg? How is her mood?

She tries new things still, but the new Higgins pellets are the biggest change so far. That and moving her seed into foraging toys. I just started adding sprouts to her peas and corn, but no success yet. This new schedule has hit us both hard, but her mood is pretty good overall. The really fowl behavior (growling, lunging, abd biting) is directly related to the bowls and the seed I haven't put in any of them! She's sleeping in her old cage now, so I can clean and fill her bowls before she gets to the day cage, and she's more excited about me coming by to add things to the bowls now. She seems to be getting more independent, and doesn't want to leave her cage sometimes. The other big thing is that we found a way she can enjoy a shower! Finally!

Sorry for the late reply, it didn't tell me that you guys replied.
 

greys4u

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Cool beans, sounds like she is coming around, you are doing a good job
 

Monaco

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Sweet of you to say that, @greys4u , sometimes it seems like I have no idea what I'm doing.... Well, most of the time!
 

Leih

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I'm going to follow you on IG! I have a fascination with ekkies but only have the space for my 4 little birbs, so I'll live vicariously through the internet :laugh:I love her sweet voice!
 

Monaco

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@Leih that's sweet, but I don't post much! I couldn't figure out how to post a video any other way...
 
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