18 Months old. Let's catch up

Mardy turns 18 months old in a couple of weeks.  Since my last post a year ago a lot has happened which I thought I should catch you up on.

We brought Mardy home at the end of June last year.  We took her (yes her) to the Avian Vet for a full checkup and sexing.  We had my daughter's birds also checked and sexed at the same time.  Mardy and MacKenzie are girls, and Nigel is a boy.  All were pronounced healthy by the Vet, although she did advise me to get unsalted nuts because Nigel's sodium levels were high.

The birds are all doing great.  Mardy came home with her flight feathers trimmed.  She had also developed a habit of putting feathers 5 and 6 behind her head.  She mostly did this with her left wing, but did occasionally do it with her right wing as well.  The result was that feathers 5 and 6 always looked ratty and had be broken off rather short.  I've been working with her since she came home and have nearly broken her of the habit.  I'll still catch her a couple of times a day with the feathers from her left wing up behind her head, but rarely her right wing.  Her flight feathers have completed grown back in and she is now fully flighted.  When she raises a wing to get our attention the right wing looks full, but the left wing still shows a gap where the damaged feathers have yet to grow in.  I'm hoping that by the next time those feathers molt that she will no longer have the habit of sticking those feathers behind her head.

Mardy is very talkative.  She says "hello" has her standard contact call.  Whenever she reverts to her natural squawk I leave the room and close the door.  After a minute of silence I say "hello" to her through the door.  When she responds with "hello" instead of a squawk I come back into the room and reward her.  As a result she rarely squawks--maybe twice in the morning and again twice in the evening.  If you've ever heard a Macaw at full volume you can understand why this is so important.  Unlike a dog's barking which can be irritating, a Macaw's squawk can set your ear drums to ringing.

Mardy also says "want a nut?" and "love you".  She meows, barks, clucks, laughs, and whistles like a boy trying to get the attention of a girl walking down the street.  Oh, and she sighs.  She picked up that sound from me cleaning her cage and playground.

Mardy loves showers.  She also loves the sound of the vacuum cleaner.  The noise level of those two common activities brings out her own natural noisiness.

A few weeks ago I spilled coffee in my home office.  This is the same room I have Mardy's cage and playground.  I got down on the floor to clean up my mess.  I was using a couple of the towels I keep around her cage to catch whatever the seed guards miss.  Next thing I knew Mardy was down on the floor with me trying to wrestle the towel away from me.  I don't normally let her on the floor, but this one time she was just too cute to put back on her playground.  My son captured most of the session in this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6JtHG4Mq1U

Week 19

(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)

Our week has been eventful in our birdie kingdom.  Our Sun Conure Nigel is fully flighted now.  We got him a year ago and he has just completed a molt.  His feathers have grown out so his primary flight feathers are now new, and full length. 

Nigel has been testing his flying abilities around the house.  It started a few months ago with him maintaining altitude when he fell from the top of his cage.  The falling wasn't the problem.  He would often (from his point of view) lose grip while wrestling with one dastardly demon or another and would plummet to his feathery demise in the abyss deep below his aerie--or to put it less dramatically, Nigel would trip over a toy and flutter to the carpet below.  Nigel's toy playing is somewhat dramatic with his growling and screeching, so I thought the dramatized version of his exploits was warranted.

As I was saying, starting a few months ago Nigel's fluttering to the carpet began turning into his maintaining altitude for a few feet, before landing gently.  Gradually, over time he regained his confidence and flew more and more.  Today he still will not fly from one room to another.  We don't know why, but he'll fly to the doorway and then back to his cage or perch, then shriek for assistance.  If nobody comes, he'll do it again, and again, until someone comes and carries him into the next room.

As I write this blog Nigel is flitting back and forth between his cage and my shoulder.  He wants to play with me, but I'm busy on the computer.  The way we play is that Nigel will sit on one finger or thumb, while the other fingers attempt to touch or to brush his feathers.  He growls and nips at the fingers to keep them from touching him.  It starts out gently, but quickly becomes more of a pinch.  After a couple of minutes his pinches become bites and I usually have to break it off and move him back to his cage or perch.

Our Hahn's Macaw Henry is coming along.  My daughter has been target training him with a short dowel, a clicker, and a cashew.  She's making progress with him. 

A couple of days ago he was stepping off his cage and walking onto her leg.  Today she was even able to get him to step up onto her padded arm.  Make no mistake about it (my daughter certainly will not), Henry is still a biter--an aggressive biter at that.  She still has a way to go before she'll offer any bare skin for his beaky attention.

My wife's finches Remy and Nora (Nora is dressed in white) did their normal "finchy" stuff this week.  Basically, Remy and Nora serve as full time entertainment for my wife's cat Mirry (short for Miracle).  Their chirping and jumping around inside the cage drives Mirry CRAZY!  Remy and Nora really bring out Mirry's predator side.

Mardy has grown quite a bit.  Today's visit showed us a much more playful side of Mardy than we'd seen before.  When we walked back to the store room  where the breeder keeps Mardy's cage, Mardy had braced his right wing up behind his head.  It had the same appearance as if you took your right hand and reached back behind your head, then moved your hand down your backbone as far as you could reach.  Now take your left hand and hold it up as if to wave to someone across from you.  If you then relaxed and held that position you would kind of look like Mardy looked when we walked back there--really odd.  We took a couple of pictures while he held that position, then removed him from the cage.  He held that position as he stepped up, but then started beating his wings when he was out of the cage, so he lost that odd position.

I was able to get some pictures of Mardy's baby sister Holly today.  She's in a plastic tub with a warming lamp on her--the same arrangement they used for Mardy at that age.  I just seems like yesterday, but it must have been months since Mardy was that age.  They grow so quickly.  Only yesterday Mardy was in a tub, and pretty soon he'll be asking for the keys to the car!  Sigh!  My baby is growing up.

Mardy sat on my arm and enjoyed the normal petting we always do with him.  After a while Mardy started lifting the towel on my lap, so I took the hint and played peek-a-boo with him again.  He really seemed to enjoy it this week. 

Mardy was also much more talkative than before.  He doesn't speak very clearly, but you can make out a few of his vocalizations like: "thank you, hello, Mardy, and pretty boy."  My wife held Mardy for the first time in two months.  Not long, but I think she saw that he was really a gentle bird.

Mardy was also held by a couple of my daughter's friends.  Even the youngest was willing to pet Mardy this time.

Mardy kept climbing the shelves on each wall of the store room.  One time he fluttered to the floor and became aggravated when I tried to pick him up.  By the time I got him back on my lap he was pretty tired.  He put up a token fight when I went to put him back in his cage.  He does hate to see us go. 

Back at the breeders house Mardy has a larger cage with toys to play with.  The cage he is in at the store is smaller and has only a perch and a bowl of water.  The breeder goes back to play with Mardy throughout the day, but I don't think Mardy really enjoys his time in that smaller cage.

The breeder weighed Mardy at 2 pounds, 2 ounces, but that was just prior to a formula feeding.  The breeder thinks that Mardy would probably weigh about 2 and a half pounds after a feeding.

Mardy is fully feathered now.  That and his rambunctiousness has caused Mardy to tatter his tail feathers pretty badly.  It may not be pretty, but it is a sign that he is energetic and playful. 

Model not included

I'm hoping that when I get him home to his own very large cage, his playground, and his perch, that his feathers won't be brushing up against cage walls quite so much and that the beauty of his feathers will become more brilliant and more smoothly formed.

The breeder also says that Mardy is down to one feeding a day.  He's noticed Mardy taking in quite a bit of seed and pellets.  In an email the breeder told me that Mardy's crop was noticeably full one day and that when he felt Mardy's crop he could feel the graininess of the dry food inside.  Mardy only took 15cc's of formula that time, whereas he would normally have taken 120cc's.  I asked the breeder when he thought Mardy could safely come home with us.  Expecting the breeder to say next weekend, I was relieved when he stuck to his original estimate of the end of June.  Not that I don't want Mardy to come home yet, it's just that we are not yet ready to put his cage and playground in the locations we ultimately want them placed.

 A travel carrier I ordered came in last week, so we're ready to use it to bring Mardy home.  It's actually a metal dog carrier large enough for a full grown Macaw.  We also received a large bird playground I had ordered.  We haven't assembled it yet, because we have no place to put it.

I hope you're enjoying this blog.  I've enjoy writing it.  When Mardy grows up he'll be able to show it to his babies...

Week 18

(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 being Mother's Day we wanted to be sure to give the mother of my children (my wife) an enjoyable day full of activities she could pretend to want to do--so we visited my bird. 



This was the first time my wife had been able to join us for almost two months.  She spent five weeks visiting her sister in Ohio.  Since she came back two weeks ago she's been sick.  Needless to say, Mardy had changed quite a bit since she saw him last time.

 

Previous visit







This week



This week was much better than our rushed visit last week.  We were able to spend more time with Mardy, and Mardy himself was in a feisty mood.

You might recall at the end of my blog describing our last visit with Mardy I said "he now plots his retaliation for next weekend..."  Either those were prophetic words, or Mardy read my blog and decided to deliver on that statement. 

You can see in the pictures that I wore a long sleeve shirt in case Mardy's claws were still sharp.  I needn't have been concerned.  The cement perch the breeder put in Mardy's cage has smoothed down the points to a very comfortable level.  Because I was wearing that shirt, however, Mardy had difficulty gauging his biting pressure, and within the first ten seconds Mardy had given me a very good pinch which left a definite bruise on my right forearm.  My reaction told Mardy he'd done wrong (probably the pitiful sobbing from the grown man on whose arm he was perched...) and we had no trouble with him repeating that particular behavior.

Even so, Mardy was very playful.  I didn't have much difficulty with him trying to climb onto my shoulder, but he was even more aggressive against my buttons than before.  He even bit one in half.  The breeder said I shouldn't allow Mardy to be so aggressive with his play (my button agreed). 

I should have thought of that myself.  All the reading I've done has made it very clear that it is my responsibility to set standards of behavior for Mardy to follow.  After that I diverted Mardy's attention each time he started going after my shirt or one of its (surviving) buttons.  He was alright after that.

Mardy sat with both of my daughters, but my wife didn't want to have anything to do with touching or holding Mardy.  The pinch he'd given me in the first few seconds made all three of them a bit wary.  In spite of that my daughter still managed to hold him for a few minutes.

We also had the pleasure of seeing Mardy's younger sibling, Molly.  She's 4 1/2 weeks old.  Seeing her in the same room as Mardy at 18 weeks showed me just how much he'd grown.
I began teaching Mardy to play peek-a-boo.  While he was sitting on my lap I took the edge of the towel I had draped across my legs and placed it over his head.  I would say "Where's Mardy?" and then I would remove the towel so he was no longer covered.  After that I would say "Peek-a-boo!  Good Mardy!"  When we first began playing this, Mardy didn't quite know what to think.  At first he would duck beneath the towel.  Then he began to sit very still during the whole process.  After a couple more passes he began to stand up very tall just before the towel went over his head.  It is hard to say for sure, but I think Mardy was enjoying the game towards the end.  I know I was.

By the time our visit drew to a close Mardy was starting to nod off on my arm.  He didn't put up a fight when I moved him back to his cage.

Week 17

(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)

Well, this week was a very short visit with Mardy.  Frustrating for us, and VERY frustrating for Mardy.  The cause of our short visit was a pleasant surprise, though.  You've seen my youngest daughter's Sun Conure named Nigel in an earlier post.  Today my oldest daughter got her bird.  It is a Hahn's Macaw named Henry.

This quick photo was taken in his travel cage in our back seat on the way back from our meeting with the seller.  I'll post a better picture in a future blog.

We had to cut our visit short with Mardy so we could make a three hour drive out of state to pick up Henry, and to get back home before his bedtime.  We'll make up with Mardy next week.

Mardy was energetic and adventurous.  He continues to try to climb onto my shoulder so there is a lot of stepping from one arm to the other to reroute his climb.  Mardy showed some interesting new expressions and behaviors.  When we first walked in he was frozen in position on his perch with his head beneath his left wing and his beak holding fast to a small blue feather.  He didn't move.  It was almost like he was asleep, except his eyes were open.

Our visit with Mardy started out normal enough.  He was glad to see us and was happy to be held and petted.

Mardy clowned a bit,

and struck a beautiful pose which showed the true majesty of his breed (sorry I cut a little off the top of his wing).

My daughters both had a chance to hold and cuddle with Mardy
(he's quite the Ladies Man).

 But then it came time to pack up and head for our rendezvous with Indy.  I began to gently put Mardy back into his cage (notice the breeder watching carefully in the background).  Mardy had other ideas...

       

You'll notice that by this point I'd give up all pretense of having control of this headstrong beast...

When Mardy got to the top of his cage having shown obvious distain for my bird handling abilities, he gave me a little wink as if to say "Maybe next time!"

Then the cavalry came to the rescue.  Mardy's breeder took over and with quick action and deft skills, very smoothly moved Mardy to his perch and closed the door, thus preventing Mardy from further embarrassing his valued customer (the breeder makes it look so easy).

  

Mardy turned his back on us to show his disappointment in having been foiled, then struck a pouting pose.

He now plots his retaliation for next weekend when we return.

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.