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New Additions 2022

BirdyDarby

Meeting neighbors
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2/16/22
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Describing birds as “living can openers” is wildly accurate lol. I was fostering a macaw for a couple of weeks and had a new wooden jewelry box sitting out; made the mistake of turning my back for a couple of minutes and looked back to see that silly goose had already turned part of the box into wood shavings! Was a waste of $20, but at least she had some fun with it.
 

BrianB

Rollerblading along the road
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Describing birds as “living can openers” is wildly accurate lol. I was fostering a macaw for a couple of weeks and had a new wooden jewelry box sitting out; made the mistake of turning my back for a couple of minutes and looked back to see that silly goose had already turned part of the box into wood shavings! Was a waste of $20, but at least she had some fun with it.
It doesn't take much does it? They really do demand respect with those things. My greenwings can open macadamia nuts. Imagine what they can do to flesh.
 

SumitaSinh

Rollerblading along the road
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I took Christopher in for some grooming yesterday. She's got two nails that start to curl if they get too long and she's going through a very heavy molt. Her feathers are so ragged that she looks like she's been in a fight with a lawnmower. I had her nails worked on and there was a small notch on her beak that the groomer was able to smooth out without too much trouble. You know how dramatic macaws can be about getting groomed, but she was very well behaved. No screaming and no trying to bite either of us. Afterward, I hung out at the store for about an hour. We sat and talked and customers came over and told her how pretty she is. The distraction gave me time to work on her pin feathers some and she's looking much better now. I would love to take her to work with me, but she is flighted. I don't believe she was encouraged to fly, or maybe she was clipped as a baby, and never learned how to fly well. She's not good at it and landing involves crashing into whatever is in front of her, then yelling profanities when she ends up on the floor. Right now, she's sitting on the back of my chair, making sniffing sounds because I still have this blasted cold and my nose is running. There is nothing like being mocked by a macaw is there?

I got an update from Chichi's mom. He broke their flat-screen TV. He jumped from his tree and landed on her head then took off and landed on the top of the tv. He leaned down and bit the corner of it, shattering the screen. Ooopppssss

View attachment 406712
Brian, can we have a video of Christopher talking, plzzzzzz
 

BrianB

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Brian, can we have a video of Christopher talking, plzzzzzz
It might take a while. She's a bit of a closet talker. When I'm in the office I hear her laughing. Sometimes she will see something new and say WOW!. She sometimes says Hello when a phone rings or someone comes to the door. One of the things I've been doing with her is I'll hold my finger up and she will lean forward, then I will tap her on the beak and say BOOP, and then laugh. She's started saying BOOP and laughing when I'm not in the room. I'll see if I can get some clips of her being vocal in one way or another.
 

Mockinbirdiva

Cruising the avenue
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I went to say Hi to Chewie when I got home, and this is what is left of his perch. All I could do was laugh when I saw it. It looks like he's chewed up a good 3 or 4 inches of it today. It was probably 10 inches on Saturday. Now it's just a nub, and he's very proud of himself for it. I guess I could use it as a paperweight.


View attachment 406183
I think you should drill a hole, attach a nice medium weight stainless steel chain, leather fob and sell it for 125.00 one of a kind (. OOAK. ). Put a nice tag on it with “Original design and carving by Chewie”.

And maybe lightly sand it for a smooth touch in case the edges are a tad rough.
 

BirdyDarby

Meeting neighbors
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2/16/22
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72
The boop thing is so adorable! I’ve always wanted to teach a bird to say “boop” whenever I present an object to their beak. Too bad most birds seem to be closet talkers!
 

BrianB

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I forgot I had this. This is Natcho. She's the first green wing macaw we acquired. At the time she was very sweet and gentle, just a big goofy bird. Make sure you turn the sound on - the video usually starts without any sound. I booped her, and she booped me back.

Boop!
 

Sodapop&Co.

Rollerblading along the road
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CA, North America, Planet Earth
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Sarah
I forgot I had this. This is Natcho. She's the first green wing macaw we acquired. At the time she was very sweet and gentle, just a big goofy bird. Make sure you turn the sound on - the video usually starts without any sound. I booped her, and she booped me back.

Boop!
That is soooo cute!! :heart:
 

BirdyDarby

Meeting neighbors
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2/16/22
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That is wildly precious! Glad to see I’m not the only one who barks back at their birds like a crazy pet parent. :laughing2:
Can’t wait for my chance to get my hands on your green-wing babies.
 

Birdie Mama

Rollerblading along the road
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6/30/19
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BC Canada
Bailey my GCC says boop when Itouch his beak for the same reason, only problem is I always said it really soft, so he now whispers it almost. If you are not paying attention, you won’t (ear it and yet (e does it almost 90% of the time…. he is also a closet talker. Only talks up a storm when he is still covered up and wants to get up. Other times throughout the day he will as well but bring our phone and he quits!
so sad to hear what chewie did, but what a conversation piece! ‘Didn’t know you got a new tv…..’ :D
 

BrianB

Rollerblading along the road
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Chewie the Perch Slayer has struck again. I had him in my office for a while today. He was climbing all over me and getting a little sassy. I let him up on my shoulder for the first time, with a stern warning to keep his beak in check or bad things would happen to him. He kept sticking his face right up against mine but it was curiosity more than anything. He was very good so I gave him lots of head scratches. I put him back for a while so I could go feed the conures and when I went back I discovered that he had destroyed another perch. He has nibbled on the other end but hasn't touched it in a while. Today he chewed through it in about an hour. I'll put a new one in that I got from Seriously Nutz. Let's see how long that one lasts. In other news, I caught the green wings mating today. Maybe we'll have another Freya, or two, this year.

Screen Shot 2022-05-05 at 5.05.02 PM.jpg IMG_5642.jpeg
 

BirdyDarby

Meeting neighbors
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You outta sell Chewie’s murdered perches as artworks; “Natural Wood Destroyed by Macaw” with a price tag of 7k. Someone would probably buy it in this day and age lol. The green-wing news is super exciting! They’ve always been my favorite parrot species, can’t wait to have my own flock of them.
 

BrianB

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Chewie went to work with me today. Having this blasted cold for the last 3 weeks I wasn't up to taking him along if I couldn't pay much attention to him. Now that it's mostly gone I felt ok with taking him in today. The brat snapped two buttons off of my work shirt, but in general, he was very well behaved. He let the girls at the store hold him and rub his head. He was very polite about it too. Sandy who still insists that I am her human being and all of the boy birds belong to her had a fit when I picked him up. At one point I had Sandy on my right arm, wings spread, eyes pinned, and screaming. Chewie was on my left arm, wings spread, head cocked to the side, screaming back at Sandy. Behind me, Hamlet, a male military macaw was trying to bite the back of my shirt. It's times like that when I wish I had a 3rd arm so I could take a picture of the insanity I have to deal with. I put Chewie down for a while so I could give Sandy some love and tell her that she's still my number one lady. I think she knows at some level that Chewie belongs to me. She doesn't scream when I pick up the green wing macaw that stays on a tree very close to her and she pays no attention at all to the hyacinth that is usually on the tree right next to her. She's a fickle old lady to be sure.
 

BrianB

Rollerblading along the road
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Not a new addition, but an old friend. When I first started at the bird store there was a baby severe macaw that fell in love with me. I used to pick her up and she would sort of wrap her wings around my chest and cuddle up to me. She was the last one we had and for some reason, no one seemed interested in her. I thought about taking her home, but the time just wasn't right. One evening a couple came in and said they were looking for a medium-sized bird. She was really all we had so I introduced them. It was love at first sight. The little girl went home with them later that week. I always called her Pinky Bird because she had a pink leg band on. They named her SweetPea. Friday, she came in for a grooming and I was able to spend a little time with her. She's sassy, but still sweet with me.

The first picture is of her at about 4 months old, and the second was from Friday. She's just over 3 years old now. She doesn't have a cataract. I think it was the angle or possibly her nictitating membrane caught mid-blink

A2B50A7E-98D3-4F6B-B739-4877D89CA4F2.JPG IMG_5744.jpeg
 

April

Joyriding the Neighborhood
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Not a new addition, but an old friend. When I first started at the bird store there was a baby severe macaw that fell in love with me. I used to pick her up and she would sort of wrap her wings around my chest and cuddle up to me. She was the last one we had and for some reason, no one seemed interested in her. I thought about taking her home, but the time just wasn't right. One evening a couple came in and said they were looking for a medium-sized bird. She was really all we had so I introduced them. It was love at first sight. The little girl went home with them later that week. I always called her Pinky Bird because she had a pink leg band on. They named her SweetPea. Friday, she came in for a grooming and I was able to spend a little time with her. She's sassy, but still sweet with me.

The first picture is of her at about 4 months old, and the second was from Friday. She's just over 3 years old now. She doesn't have a cataract. I think it was the angle or possibly her nictitating membrane caught mid-blink

View attachment 407521 View attachment 407522
She's so gorgeous! I just love Severes so much,they are one of the most beautiful Macaws in my opinion. :heart:
 

Sparkles99

Biking along the boulevard
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Some day, can we get a picture of the rest of the store? It always looks like there'll be so much to see. I'm curious! Even if I can't shop there, I'd like to vicariously.
 

BrianB

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Some day, can we get a picture of the rest of the store? It always looks like there'll be so much to see. I'm curious! Even if I can't shop there, I'd like to vicariously.
Unfortunately, I can't post a lot of the store itself. It's mostly a security issue. At one point we had 3 hyacinth macaws and a black palm cockatoo being boarded there. We are forbidden from posting anything while a bird is actually being boarded. Once they are gone, that's a different story. We can't take the chance of someone trying to break in at night. I only talk about birds I have a personal relationship with, and rarely anything about a customer's bird. In the case of SweetPea, I don't know where the owners live so I have nothing I could accidentally give away. The other birds like Kiwi (The psycho cockatoo) Daisy (the naked chicken), and Sandy (The Dowager Empress Macaw) are low theft targets and customer favorites so I don't feel reserved about sharing their stories. You can find the store on Facebook here - Log into Facebook and on the web at Tropic Zone Exotic Birds - Home - I do most of the writing for our Facebook page as part of my job there.
 

Sparkles99

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Oh, okay. That's too bad. I understand though. That quartet would've made a target, unfortunately.
 

BrianB

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Oh, okay. That's too bad. I understand though. That quartet would've made a target, unfortunately.
We have a Toucan that comes in to stay a few times a year. There are times when the owner says she doesn't get any sleep because of the birds at the store. I may be stepping down as the manager soon and going down to just a few hours a week. We'll see what happens. I'll stay involved, just not working as much.

Someone offered me a 5-year-old female Camelot macaw. We just don't have the room for another single bird. I think we're finally on the cusp of two, maybe three pairs laying eggs. Putting another bird out there would disrupt the whole dynamic. She's a beauty though. I offered to help him find her a home, so hopefully, she won't be in limbo for too long.
 

Sparkles99

Biking along the boulevard
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I’d set up a bedroom, take a barky dog & sleep at the store. Never heard of a non zoo with a toucan. And to keep an eye on the toucan; I heard they eat small birds. :bignono:
 
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