Reading list

I will maintain a list of all books, papers, and periodicals I've read about parrots and the keeping of companion birds.  This list includes all items from my individual weekly blogs.

 

Books

• Parrots: A Complete Pet Owner's Manual, by Mattie Sue Athan
• Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Uncovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence--and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process, by Dr Irene M Pepperberg (Good.  Informative and historical)
• Guide to a Well-Behaved Parrot by Mattie Sue Athan (Excellent.  Very instructive)
• The Parrot Who Thought She Was A Dog, by Nancy Ellis-Bell (Good.  Entertaining)
• The Bird School: Clicker Training, by Ann Castro (Good.  Very instructive)
• Birds Off The Perch, by Dr Larry Lachman, Diane Grindol, and Dr Frank Kocher
• Of Parrots and People: The Sometimes Funny, Always Fascinating, and Often Catastrophic Collision of Two Intelligent Species, by Mira Tweti (Ok. Informative)
• The Ultimate Guide to Parrots Secrets to Adopting and Raising a Healthy, Happy Bird, by Lynn Beck
• My Parrot, My Friend: An Owner's Guide to Parrot Behavior (Behavior Modification Techniques and Their Role in Contemporary Aviculture), by Bonnie Munro Doane and Thomas Qualkinbush.
• The Pleasure of Their Company: An Owner's Guide to Parrot Training, by Bonnie Munro Doane
• The Parrot Problem Solver, by Barbara Heidenreich
• Parrot Tricks: Teaching Parrots with Positive Reinforcement, by Tani Robar and Diane Grindol
• Parrot Training: A Guide to Taming and Gentling Your Avian Companion, by Bonnie Munro Doane

Papers

• Macaws As Companions, by Joanne Abramson
• Feeding Finicky Birds -- Parrot Diets: How Do I Get My Finicky Parrot To Eat A Balanced, Healthy Diet In Spite Of Himself?, by Dr Ron Hines
• All About Your Parrot's Feathers: The Causes of Molt, Feather Problems And What You Can Do About Them, by Dr Ron Hines
• Reading Your Parrot's Body Language, by Nikki Moustaki
• Understanding Parrot Behavior, Naturally, by Steve Martin (Excellent.  Very Educational)
• The Anatomy Of Parrot Behavior, by Steve Martin

Periodicals

• Good Bird Magazine, by Barbara Heidenreich

Week 16

(remember that I still do not know Mardy's gender.  I'm simply using the male pronoun to make it easier to read this blog)

This week was certainly interesting.  Mardy is filling out nicely.  We measured him at 28 inches in length--from the tip of his beak to the end of his tail.  Also, for the first time we were able to weigh Mardy.  Today he weighed 34 ounces.  That's a little over 2 pounds.  For those of you thinking metric, Mardy is 71 centimeters long and 964 grams heavy.  From what I've read, this means Mardy is about 2/3rds his final length and weight.  Mardy is about eight times heavier than my daughter's full grown Sun Conure.  Wow!

Mardy was quite a bit more energetic than I've seen him before.  He kept going after the buttons on my shirt and at one point was very interested in climbing inside my shirt with me.  He climbed to the top of my head one time, before I could get my hands under his feet and move him back to my lap.

I was pleased to hear Mardy starting to vocalize new sounds besides the periodic baby cawing sound he usually makes.  The sound I kept hearing today was clearly two separate syllables, but was not clear enough for me to understand.  I asked the breeder and was told that Mardy currently says "Hello" and "I love you."  We're going to have to work on enunciation.

The breeder lets us sit privately with Mardy in the back of the store. 

Mardy's vocalizations were exciting for us visiting family members and guests, but the real show was going on out front in the public part of the store.  The breeder had a Cockatoo who earlier in the day had learned the sound of a child crying.  Periodically when the Cockatoo felt he wasn't getting enough attention he would start making the crying sounds--very loudly. 

This drew in a lot of people from the flea market.  Everyone was fascinated.  The sobbing Cockatoo was a hit!

We were able to again film the breeder feeding Mardy.  Mardy still gets three feedings of formula a day.  Each feeding is two full syringes full of formula.  Often times we either arrive too late or too early to observe one of the feedings.  This time we were in luck.

Here are my daughters taking a turn with the beast.  One daughter rubbing beneath Mardy's right wing, and the other daughter keeping a cautious eye on Mardy as he sidles up her bare arm (his feet are large and have a strong grip.  His nails a long, but not very sharp.)

One of my daughter's guests was cautiously willing to pet Mardy.  Another guest got up the nerve to actually hold Mardy on his arm. 

The younger sister of the girl petting Mardy could not be coerced into even entering the same room with Mardy--maybe on her next visit she'll be more comfortable.

After the feeding I played with Mardy for about 30 more minutes, but when I saw that he was starting to nod off while sitting on my arm I realized that he needed a nap.

Weeks 13, 14, and 15

Blogging is more difficult than I expected.  You'll notice that I skipped one week with my last post, and this time I’m skipping two weeks.  Sorry, I'll try to do better next time.

(remember that I still do not know Mardy's gender.  I'm simply using the male pronoun to make it easier to read this blog)

(Photo from Google Earth)

Week 13 was a very eventful week.  The local flea market where my breeder keeps his store is laid out with ten halls extending from a long central hall.  The flea market had a fire in one of the halls at the other end from my breeder’s shop.

The Fire Marshall closed the entire flea market pending completion of his arson investigation.  Although my breeder’s shop was not affected (and at no time were any birds at risk) we were not able to visit Mardy that weekend.  Instead, the second big event of the week occurred.  Mardy made his maiden flight!  Since we couldn’t come to see Mardy, the breeder sent us some home movies of the grand event.  Needless to say, we were excited.  My baby soared!

Week 14 was the week immediately after the fire at the local flea market.  Since the arson investigation was still underway, the flea market was still closed.  However, our breeder was able to open a temporary store outside under a patio awning. 

The breeder had clipped Mardy’s wings so Mardy would be safe in the outdoor shop.  The breeder gave me Mardy’s first clippings in an envelope and said, “Here’s Mardy’s first haircut!”

We sat with Mardy for a couple of hours.  This outdoor location was much more public than the area in which we normally play with Mardy.  A number of people came by to watch us holding this gentle giant.  A couple of young children were even brave enough to pet Mardy’s back (I kept my hand between his beak and their little hands just in case he got excited).   He loved the attention and the kids left with smiles on their faces.



Blurred hand shows how quickly the girl was moving



Mardy hypnotizing his young victim

My daughter encouraging a friend's baby to touch Mardy

















Week 15.  The breeder was able to reopen his shop inside the flea market.  The burned out flea market hall was an amazing sight.  The metal siding buckled from the heat.  The flea market must have a very good fire control system to have kept the fire contained to that one hall.

We sat with Mardy for a couple of hours.  I’m pleased to say that Mardy’s chest feathers have now grown to completely cover his crop.  On every previous visit we could always see that bulging bald spot.  It was a bit distracting.  Mardy continues to be very calm.  He never bites, although he does use his beak to hold on as he attempts to move along your arm.  He heads straight up the arm attempting to climb onto the shoulder.  We don’t permit this, so he ends up perching on our arm—with very good stability.  We measured Mardy at 27 inches from beak to tail



My daughter showing off Mardy's full length (27")

 

As we were leaving Mardy was starting to doze—too much excitement.