shape
carat
color
clarity

Polabowla requested birdie pics ...

kenny

Super_Ideal_Rock
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... in my recent PSA thread for making alcohol wipes.
I finally had some time, and since few will open that PSA thread again ... here ya go ...

Bibi is a hand-raised 6-yr old Yellow Sided Green Cheek conure.
You can spend a zillion bucks on parrot toys, but Bibi's favorite is an erect cable tie for head scritches.
The head is the only place that his beak can't reach to preen/groom/scratch.

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After he takes a bath we dry most of the water off in a cloth.

Screen Shot 2020-11-25 at 7.06.50 PM.png


He loves to cuddle and take naps on handsome men. :Up_to_something:
Parrots sleep 12 hours a day, half their life.
I suspect these birds sleep with their beaks tucked in their backs so they can breath in warmer air.

Flying birds must stay as light as possible by not carrying around much fat.
Also to stay light their metabolism requires they eat (and poop) often, so keeping warm is important.
When sleeping, or just chillin, they tuck one foot into their breast feathers as feet are the only place not covered with warm feathers.

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Taking a nap in SO's 'nest'.

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Catching some shut eye with his grumpy old white man.

I often take him out when shopping, and he usually hangs out in my collar to feel warm and safe but watch the world go by.
The ladies say, "OMG! How CUTE!"
I ask them, "Me, or the bird?"
They always laugh and respond, "Both" :mrgreen:

When I walk outside in the cold he crawls down into my shirt.

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kenny

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Bibi never cleans up his messes. :angryfire:

View attachment 795458



He wants whatever daddy is eating, even a lollipop while daddy is trying to drive.
This is probably my favorite pic of him.

View attachment 795463


This was weird.
Some birds, like some lizards, have brilliant and surprising escape mechanism used when they feel threatened or are chased by a predator.
Gecko lizards can literally release their tails. Seriously.
The detached tail somehow wiggles for a while to distract the predator, while the tail-less gecko escapes.
The tail soon grows back.

Some parrots can do something similar, discharge their longest tail feathers.
In our house Bibi was sitting on his perch right next to me.
Suddenly, right in front of our house with open windows, a motorcyclist on a huge Harley (clearly modified to be extra loud) throttled his/her engine making a deafeningly-loud sound.
It scared the crap (and tail feathers) out of poor Bibi. :(sad
It was like an explosion of red feathers fluttering to the floor.

For a fun pic I stuck em in a bit of Fuji apple that shared Bibi's colors.
They soon grew back and Bibi is fine.
This pic was posted before.

View attachment 795464
 
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kenny

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Thanks.
I know I'm repeating myself, but I must now do the responsible thing ... repost this video.

People see Bibi, love him, but have no idea what's required for a parrot to end up as well adjusted and socialized.
They think it's the breed itself that must be so groovy, when the vast majority of the groovyness you see is because the bird owner did their homework and drastically modified their home/life/family to accommodate a nearly-wild creature.

Often when seeing Bibi people (especially kids) say something like, "Awesome, mommy can we get a parrot?".
Tragically many parrots are bought by folks who don't do their homework so it often ends in disaster for the bird and the humans.

 
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Polabowla

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Thank you for this thread & the beautiful pictures and information @kenny !
I'm allergic to birds so I won't ever buy one but I love to see these images.
I had no idea about the geckos or birds shedding their tails. Truly amazing!
 

Bron357

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Always had a soft spot for birds and your feathered baby is gorgeous.
I started with a Budgie (typical first bird) and he was too cute. He used to like me paying cards so he could toss them off the table.
my favourite ever was a Kakariki, a NZ parrot, very smart and with the sweetest little sounds. I called him Avis. Had him many years.
 

Polabowla

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@Bron357 would love to see pics of your feathery friends!
 

secretagentlaura

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Aw, birds are the best! I grew up with friendly budgies; I really miss my last one. Edward was a beautiful singer. Thank you for sharing your special fella - the photos are so fun!
 

Made in London

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Thank you for sharing such lovely pics of Bibi,you can really see his charming personality shining through! He is such a little darling. Does he talk much? We had parrots for many years until some b*****d broke into our house & stole our Green winged Macaw. We lived in fear of them coming back for the others so we donated the African greys to a huge parrot sanctuary where they live in a flock of other greys.
 

kenny

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... Does he talk much?
Yes, conures are not one of the better talking parrots but I think, for a conure, Bibi is above average.
We don't bother to teach him phrases; he just pics them up.

Some of the things he says:
Bibi
Birdie Birdie
Where's Bibi?
Where's Birdie Birdie Bibi?
Gimme kiss ... to which I've been replying with a kissing sound 3 times; so now he makes kiss sound 3 times after "Gimme kiss".

Some things he says in context. Honestly.
"Come here." when that's what he wants.
"Stop it." when you're doing something he doesn't like, such as putting him to bed at night.
When we laugh at something funny he laughs too.

Since my SO is Bibi's chosen 'mate', he hates it when SO leaves the house.
When SO leaves the 3 of us MUST follow the following ritual.
If Bibi doesn't see him leave, Bibi will be all stressed out and walk all around the house looking for him.
So, when SO gets into his car Bibi and I have to follow his car down the driveway and watch his car disappear into the distance.
Then Bibi is calm, apparently understanding SO is not in the house.

As SO is driving away Bibi loudly repeats continuously, "Stop it. Come here.".
No joke.

We had parrots for many years until some b*****d broke into our house & stole our Green winged Macaw. We lived in fear of them coming back for the others so we donated the African greys to a huge parrot sanctuary where they live in a flock of other greys.

Ugh! Stealing a pet is the lowest - after kidnaping a person.
I've read on parrot fora about large parrots, worth several thousand dollars, being stolen out of cages on front porches, but never an actual home break in burglary. :angryfire:
 
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kenny

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Always had a soft spot for birds and your feathered baby is gorgeous.
I started with a Budgie (typical first bird) and he was too cute. He used to like me paying cards so he could toss them off the table.
my favourite ever was a Kakariki, a NZ parrot, very smart and with the sweetest little sounds. I called him Avis. Had him many years.

My first bird was also a budgie.
So much bold personality in a tiny package.
Some are great talkers too, but most are not regardless of the training skills of their human.
It's important to never buy a bird because you want a talking bird.
Even among the best-talking species, some individuals talk little, if at all.

Bibi also loves to throw things to the ground.
Don't some cats do that?
His favorite is quarters
He picks one up, walks to the edge of the table and drops it.
Then he'll look down and stare, as if proud of his accomplishment. :roll:
He can't be bothered with pennies, nickels, and dimes.
He'll pick out the quarters among mixed change.

I've read about Kakariki parrots, sounds like a great choice.
I hear they mumble to themselves.
Got any pics to post?
 
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finerthings

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Wow @kenny, after viewing that video I don't know how you can get anything done during the day with a parrot in the house! Bibi is so handsome and I really enjoyed reading all about him! I would never have the time or patience to take care of essentially a "two year old human" for the rest of my life, you and your SO are amazing!
 

Made in London

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@Made in London that is horrifying! To break in and steal an animal

It broke my heart as we had hand raised him ourselves & we loved him dearly & kept thinking how terrified he must have been.Our 2 dogs were traumatised & ran away & were found miles away
 

Made in London

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Yes, conures are not one of the better talking parrots but I think, for a conure, Bibi is above average.
We don't bother to teach him phrases; he just pics them up.

Some of the things he says:
Bibi
Birdie Birdie
Where's Bibi?
Where's Birdie Birdie Bibi?
Gimme kiss ... to which I've been replying with a kissing sound 3 times; so now he makes kiss sound 3 times after "Gimme kiss".

Some things he says in context. Honestly.
"Come here." when that's what he wants.
"Stop it." when you're doing something he doesn't like, such as putting him to bed at night.
When we laugh at something funny he laughs too.

Since my SO is Bibi's chosen 'mate', he hates it when SO leaves the house.
When SO leaves the 3 of us MUST follow the following ritual.
If Bibi doesn't see him leave, Bibi will be all stressed out and walk all around the house looking for him.
So, when SO gets into his car Bibi and I have to follow his car down the driveway and watch his car disappear into the distance.
Then Bibi is calm, apparently understanding SO is not in the house.

As SO is driving away Bibi loudly repeats continuously, "Stop it. Come here.".
No joke.



Ugh! Stealing a pet is the lowest - after kidnaping a person.
I've read on parrot fora about large parrots, worth several thousand dollars, being stolen out of cages on front porches, but never an actual home break in burglary. :angryfire:

Our house had been watched as we used to go out every Sunday for lunch.We left at 12.30pm & the thief broke in at 12.40pm. Our neighbour heard our door being kicked in & thought it was Bryan doing some DIY so didn't think anything of it Another neighbour saw a dark blue estate car parked at the end of our drive with the engine running & also didn't think anything of it.
 

Made in London

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Messages
727
My first bird was also a budgie.
So much bold personality in a tiny package.
Some are great talkers too, but most are not regardless of the training skills of their human.
It's important to never buy a bird because you want a talking bird.
Even among the best-talking species, some individuals talk little, if at all.

Bibi also loves to throw things to the ground.
Don't some cats do that?
His favorite is quarters
He picks one up, walks to the edge of the table and drops it.
Then he'll look down and stare, as if proud of his accomplishment. :roll:
He can't be bothered with pennies, nickels, and dimes.
He'll pick out the quarters among mixed change.

I've read about Kakariki parrots, sounds like a great choice.
I hear they mumble to themselves.
Got any pics to post?

I'll see if I can find some pics of my parrots.I have no clue where I've put them
 

Made in London

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IMG_3229.JPG These are two of my parrots.Marty My Green winged Macaw who was stolen.These pics of Marty were when he was a baby & still had a lot of growing to do.He ended up 38 inches long from beak to end of tail & the other birdie is Vinnie a miniature Macaw I have lots of other pics of all my parrots including two African Greys Henry & Scrumpy who was wild caught :( Poor boy :( I can't find them yet but I'll keep looking
 

kenny

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Messages
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Beautiful birds, Made in London. :love:

38"? WOW! So I take it you don't have pics of Marty sticking his head out the collar of of your shirt. :lol-2:

I have a friend with a macaw that is so smart and sweet, and a full member of that family.
 

Cozystitches

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@kenny Every time you talk about (or post pictures) about your birds I really want one. But then you are great about sharing the colossal amount of work they involve and I'm brought back to my senses! Thank you for sharing your lovely Bibi with us! <3
 
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