Friday Bird Blogging

Meet Kianga: Kianga is a Congo African grey, hatched here in Washington in March of 1991.
"I'm eeeeeeevul!"

Meet Koga:

Koga is a wild caught, imported Timneh African grey. She is just as tame as a hand-raised bird, so we think she must have been caught very young, perhaps when she was still a chick in the nest, and had some hand-rearing before she was sent to the U.S. She has a USDA quarantine band that tells us she was legally imported. We got Koga at a pet store, she was being sold on consignment because the previous owner had just had a baby, and Koga and the baby were not compatible in the same house. I saw her in the store in early April 1991 when I was cage shopping for the Congo chick I was going to be getting in a few weeks. I asked if she was tame, and they said "Sure, you wanna see?" They put her on my hand, she ran up my arm onto my shoulder, and leaned over to give me a kiss. Sold! I've never regretted it; I hope she hasn't.

what?

I know I have not been blogging regularly. I have been knitting and cooking a lot. And I have a broody parrot sitting on eggs. So sue me!

I'll try to do some knit blogging...I still have to show off how the "spank me" sweater turned out, and the felted mukluks and the felted bag. Sigh.

awesome parrot news

Yes, African greys really are this smart:

"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

I only wish they would recognize that we humans can't fly, so we wouldn't have to climb trees to rescue them when they get lost.

Friday parrot update

Kianga is still sitting very tightly on her eggs. Once again, she stopped at two: the second one was laid about September 25 and was, as usual, smaller than the first. I am going to let her sit for 10-14 more days until she gets it out of her system. Fortunately, though she has been somewhat less interactive, she has not lost her sense of humor, as she still talks and laughs and makes rude noises at us, in the evenings especially. The rest of the time, however, she looks very serious and tries to make herself look as scary as possible to anyone trying to attend to "trivial" things like food, water, and cage cleaning!

oh noes!!1!

Here is a closeup of Kianga from Sunday morning:

She is looking very fierce because of:

Yes, kids, she laid again! She laid two in March, and I let her sit on them, and thought that was it for the year. The past few weeks she had been acting a bit hormonal, trying to feed my hand when I had her out, and getting very excited. When she made a pest of herself, I just put her back in her cage. I didn't think she would lay again this year. But Friday evening she was sitting on the bottom of her cage all evening, and when she got up on her perch, I saw this egg. She laid a second one Tuesday night, a longer delay than usual. Hopefully, she will sit on these and we won't have any problems - like her trying to lay more. The worst part is that I'm visiting my parents, so I can't keep an eye on her myself. I am getting reports from the homefront, however, and she has been eating and otherwise seems fine.

very sad

Alex has died at 31:

But last week Alex, an African Grey parrot, died, apparently of natural causes, said Dr. Irene Pepperberg, a comparative psychologist at Brandeis University and Harvard who studied and worked with the parrot for most of its life and published reports of his progress in scientific journals. The parrot was 31.

Now, many parrots are kept under less than ideal conditions, and die prematurely. African Grey parrots in captivity should live twice as long. Alex always showed signs of being stressed, for example, his feather picking. As a wild-caught bird, I think Alex was less suited to being a research subject than perhaps the two domestic Greys Pepperberg has more recently been using.

I do hope I can avoid losing any of my Greys at this young an age - I certainly have the expectation that they would even outlive me. That said, Alex has done much to further our understanding of what birds are capable of cognitively speaking - between his language skills and the problem-solving abilities displayed by corvids, we have a whole new appreciation for "bird brains."

Be in peace, Alex.

Update: Reading more about Alex, it appears that he may have been a domestically bred bird after all, though I had read before that he was wild-caught. Still, hopefully birds Griffin and Wart will prove to be less stressed out as research subjects than Alex obviously was at times.

parrot update

Since it has been awhile since I have posted one...

Aziza still seems to be doing well - she is showing normal energy and a good appetite. She has also been very affectionate. She has been molting, and so she has pinfeathers that she needs help with on her head and neck, and I'm happy to oblige her. She did lose some weight between her last two vet visits, and we are keeping an eye on that, but when I last weighed her she seemed to have gained some of that back.

She does have one problem resulting from her hernia, which is that she can no longer reach all the way back around to her rump when preening - when she has tried it, she has let out a squawk (sharp pain?). As new feathers have come in on her rump and tail, I have had to restrain her and remove the sheath myself, because they are very obviously bothering her. She doesn't like being held down, so I try to minimize it to when she's getting a hormone shot, when I have to restrain her anyway. I bought a bird restraining strap at the vet's office. This is a vinyl piece with three rows of velcro-tipped straps; you wrap the bird in a small towel, and fasten a strap around the towel at the bird's neck. The bird is usually distracted by the strap and chews on it, which lets you do what you need to do. It doesn't put pressure on the bird's chest and abdomen, so breathing isn't impaired.

This strap has made things much easier (on both bird and human) than the towel alone; injections and such can be done without the help of another person. While she takes out her frustration on the velcro, I use one hand to hold her legs, and have the other free to remove her overgrown feather sheaths, then give her her shot, which is done in the chest muscle. It's a very small needle, and the only time she's ever expressed any discomfort at all was once at the vet's office, when they had just drawn the (refrigerated) serum (so she got a cold shot). I make sure the syringe has a few minutes to get to room temperature before I give her her shot at home, and she always seems more pained about the restraint part of things. She is due for another shot this Saturday. So far they seem to be working, though she is acting a bit "nesty" again as the days grow shorter (why she should go into season in the fall rather than in spring is anyone's guess, but I guess it is not uncommon in parrots kept in the US, including Pionus and African greys).

We have settled into a morning routine now. She really has been enjoying time out of the cage, so I try to make sure she gets some every day. Every weekday morning when I come from the shower, I stop and open her cage door. She is usually waiting on her lower perch right in front of the door, and offers her head to be scratched. (If you aren't familiar with bird behavior, birds will solicit scratches by lowering their heads slightly and raising the feathers on their necks and cheeks.) She usually wants me to scratch her for several minutes before she is ready to step up onto my hand, when I take her to the headboard of the bed. She sits there and watches the other birds, sometimes chattering or displaying, while I get ready for work. I go to the kitchen and prepare the birds' breakfast, then dump out their dishes and feed them, then I will call her over to go back into her cage and eat, which she is usually eager to do.

Everyone is still enjoying their diet. Corn has been in season, so I have been adding fresh corn shaved off the cob to their bird bread mixture. Aziza especially enjoys this treat, along with chopped carrot. I have a mango I need to cut up; Kelele is fond of those. Kianga likes grapes best. Koga will eat just about everything, but she is a funny bird - she likes to sip Hansen's soda (which she doesn't get very often, because we just don't drink much soda). I am still trying to figure out what Ti'iki, my Pacific parrotlet, likes best of all, though he eats the bird bread and his pellets with plenty of gusto.

I will need to post some new photos soon, because Aziza looks so much better now. She had been rubbing off all the feathers around her ceres (nostrils), but these have molted back in, and so she now has the rust-colored patches next to her nostrils so distinctive in the dusky Pionus.

hooray!

Saturday, Aziza had her checkup to see how her respiratory illness is resolving. And guess what? The x-ray was totally clear! So she is off the terbenefine now.

She will still be getting hormone shots, so she doesn't make herself ill trying to make more eggs, but her lungs and air sacs are clear of fungal infiltrates. The vet did note that she seems to have some arthritis in her left knee, and I did notice around February that she was starting to rest more on her right leg...but I thought it was due to her hernia bothering her. Anyway, this s mostly very good news, now we just have to get her weight stabilized, but she has been acting much more like her old self recently. She's also molting in a whole bunch of new feathers, so she has been very affectionate, wanting help preening the feathers she can't reach on her head.

parrot update

As far as the domestic front goes, Aziza is doing a lot better, though she still needs to put on some weight. I am covering her at night, and trying to figure out a schedule so that she only gets 10 hours of sunlight per day. On the 23rd, she gets another x-ray to see if her respiratory infection has resolved.

The other birds are good. Kianga has been cracking me up, exclaiming "woo!" at oh-so-appropriate moments. We are 3/5 done with the yearly project of dismantling and scrubbing down the birds' cages, toys and perches; the remaining two will be done as the weekend weather cooperates (it is no fun spraying bird shit on a cold day, let me tell you).

As has been usual now for the last 6 months, the birds have been eating well. Every morning and afternoon, they get several tablespoons of a mixture on top of a bed of Roudybush pellets. The mixture is bird bread, bean mix, chopped fruit, and a few teaspoons of Harrison's mash, all mixed together. The bird bread is a low-cal corn bread that includes edamame, corn, chopped spinach and diced peeled yam, sometimes with blueberries added. The bean mix is a dry chili mix purchased from the bulk section, soaked overnight and then cooked with split peas, brown rice, raisins, and date pieces. We crumble a piece of bird bread into a container, add a few spoons of bean mix, pop that in the microwave to warm it, add the mash and a few spoons of fruit, then mix it all up before dishing it out on top of the pellets. And yes, some of them actually even eat the pellets too. They also get Nutriberries (though not for long, as the vet has discouraged this, so I'm using up the last container), corn on the cob, and occasionally, some of what we're eating (cooked pasta or veggies). The fruit can include apples, oranges, kiwi, mango, papaya or grapes, depending on what is in season. I'm going to have the best fed parrots evah. The best thing is how excited the get when they are waiting to be fed, and the happy munching sounds that ensue.

parrot update

Been a few weeks since I updated! Here's the latest from the world of parrots!

Aziza is responding well to her hCG treatment. Her last shot was last Saturday. Since about April 20, she's been acting much more like her old self, so much so that I've even started bathing her again. She's still getting terbenefine for her respiratory infection, and hopefully that is also resolving. She has two more months of treatment for that. Last week, she started molting - which seems to indicate that she's probably done making eggs for now (though we will probably keep her on hCG for awhile longer). She is gaining weight little by little, but she has a nice slimmed down profile now, like a normal bird. She isn't all heavy-looking around her abdomen, like she had been before, so I imagine her liver has shrunk back to normal size.

Everyone else is doing well. One funny thing. After I medicate Aziza in the evenings, I give her a treat so she can get the nasty taste out of her mouth. When she gets treats, the other birds want them too! Usually, Kelele will be on top of Koga's cage, which is next to Kianga's cage. Recently, Kelele has been sneaking up to my shoulder while I'm bending over to put treats in Kinaga's dish. A couple of times, he has tapped me on the shoulder with his beak. Once, I slowly turned and even got him to approach and give me a kiss. Bear in mind that Kelele was a wild-caught bird and has still not been hand-tamed. But he has become a lot more trusting of us, just as a result of daily interaction with him. Trusting to the point where he will initiate physical contact. That fairly amazes me, really.

Mike Reynolds

Mike Reynolds, who was a founder of the World Parrot Trust, has died in Cornwall, England, at the age of 76.

Fortunately, he lived to see the enactment of a ban of importation of wild parrots and other birds into the EU, something we have had here in the US since the Wild Bird Conservation Act of 1996. Rest well, Mr. Reynolds.

another Tuesday parrot update

For those who are following the parrot saga....

Aziza got her third shot on Saturday as scheduled, as soon as I got home from my conference. She seemed a bit sleepy, apparently, through Friday, and looked a bit run down on Saturday as well, though she was eating well. Since Sunday morning, however, she has been acting really different...more like the Aziza I used to know - a regular chatterbox of Pionus squeaks, flaring her tail, and offering her head for scritches. Don't know what's gotten into her. But the past few days she has seemed much better, though she is still too thin. She's also drinking an unusual volume of water, I'll have to ask the vet about that. So far, no more eggs (knock on wood). Her next injection is scheduled for this Saturday morning.

today's parrot news

Aziza seems to be recovering from her latest egginess. She still looks awfully sore, though, and there has been some intermittent blood in her droppings. None this morning, though, so we are just going to keep an eye on that. She has been eating well, and has been coming to her dish as soon as she is fed, so her appetite is good.

I will try to post up a pic or two of the latest egg this weekend...it is long and skinny, so it looks funny. The weather is supposed to clear up in a few days, it would be nice for Aziza if it were nice enough that I could give her a bath without worrying she'll catch a chill.

a step forwards, a step backwards

So, just as I was posting my update yesterday about Aziza and her latest round of hormone treatments, she threw another wrench in the works! I got a call from home at about 1:30 in the afternoon: "Her vent looks really big!" To which I replied, "Yes, that happens when she's hormonal, she's looked that way for a few weeks." Actually, what was meant was: "Her vent is really red and inflamed, and she's pushing, and when she does, something white shows."

So, when I got home it took about 5 minutes to discern that she was, indeed, straining on an egg which was right there but which she could not push out on her own. After a panicked call to the vet, I packed her up and drove her back to the office. I should have known her awesome weight gain over the last three days was suspicious. The vet helped push the egg out, gave her a calcium shot, and I brought a much lighter Aziza and a 12-gram egg back home. She spent an hour or so looking sleepy, but later in the evening was eating and drinking. She looks sore, though!

This morning I put her on the headboard while I went to the kitchen to fix the birds' morning rations. She walked over to the far side to look out the window, as usual. As I was dishing the food out, she walked back over to be put on her perch - without any prompting - and started eating right away (usually, she isn't in that much of a hurry). So she was hungry this morning. Hopefully, she will keep this up, because she's down to about 215 g now, and remember, I would really like her to be around 240 g. She has been eating well the past few weeks, but has been putting all of that into making eggs!

My day yesterday: Drive to work. Drive back home, pack up bird. Drive bird to vet's office (which is actually not far from work). Drive bird back home. Drive back to work. Drive home at end of work day. Drive back to vet's office with egg-bound bird. Drive home with egg-relieved bird. Total: About 85 miles, a lot of asshats in traffic, one exhausted bird, one exhausted bird owner, and $105 in vet charges.

Tuesday parrot update

Aziza has started on her series of shots. She got the first one on Saturday, and the second one today. I will give her the third one this Saturday, and then back to the vet the following Saturday! The shots are less expensive than the previous ones, which is good, but since she will have to have them more often, it runs a little more. I'm hoping she will calm down and them maybe not need them. I've ordered a cover for her cage, so we can regulate how many daylight hours she's getting, and that should help.

I will say that she seems to be less "put out" by these shots - the other ones left her looking a little peaked the following day, while these seem to make her hungry. She's been eating quite a lot since Saturday, and has packed on several grams between vet visits. I'd like to see her calmed down (not so hormonal) and getting fattened up (say, above 240 g) by her next vet visit. She has now been on the terbenifine for 3 months, so she's halfway done with that. It would be nice to get her to the stage where she isn't having to be medicated/poked and prodded all the time.

parrot update early April

On Friday, Kianga crushed her remaining egg. I had been noticing that she was starting to look a little bored with sitting anyway, so I cleaned everything up Friday evening and - voila! It was like flipping a switch. I have my parrot companion back. She's back to her normal smartass self, talking, making her usual rude noises (she loves to make belching sounds), and asking to come out in the evening so she can get into things and have head scritches.

Aziza, on the other hand, has been more of an issue. She was due for a hormone shot last Saturday, but on Monday and Tuesday was already acting the way she did in the week before she got eggbound. Oh no, not again! I called the vet and got her in for a shot last Wednesday, but apparently it was not enough. She was just beside herself all weekend, and Sunday night she kept waking me up with shredding and digging in her cage papers. Finally at 2 am I removed them, but she spent all night on the floor of her cage. The next day and night she did act more normally, and was on her perch most of the time, but Tuesday morning I woke up to find that during the night she had laid a soft-shelled egg off her perch. It was broken on the floor of the cage, but I had slept Soundly enough (being tired from the previous night, I guess) that I didn't hear a thing. (I was at least relieved that she had managed to pass her egg without needing intervention!) I cleaned up, and called the vet.

The next option is to try a different hormone (more expensive no doubt, and it has to be given more frequently, so I will have to administer the shots myself). I hope we can work the schedule out, because there are three injections during the first week, and it just so happens I have to be out of town for two days next week at the local SETAC meeting, presenting a poster. If we can do them Saturday, Wednesday or Thursday morning, and then Saturday or Sunday, it will work fine, but if one of the shots has to be on Friday, we may have to delay, because nobody will be around who can give her that shot. Matt will be feeding and watering the birds and giving Aziza her oral meds (we can put them on a treat that she will eat), but he is scared of needles, and probably couldn't administer a shot to a bird without some help anyway.

I'll see what the vet says when I take Aziza in on Saturday. She has been eating and seems like she is doing pretty well otherwise - she has been engaged and even feisty since Monday.

Friday parrot blogging

Meet Kelele:

Kelele is a male, wild-caught timneh African grey. He was about 2 years old when I got him in 1992, so he's about 17 now. A breeder had purchased him out of quarantine, but he was too young, so she put and ad in the paper. I felt sorry for him - the breeder kept her birds in her garage, they got no natural sunlight, so I bought him. He was still so wild at that time, that he growled at us whenever we approached. Even after all this time, he's still wild enough that he isn't hand-tamed; however, he will take food from our hands, and the couple of times I have had to man-handle him, he's never tried to bite. He also is a good talker and makes a variety of lovely whistles and clicks, and loves the attention he gets. We named him 'Kelele' which is Swahili for "uproar" because of the way he would growl all the time when we first got him.



Here is a picture of Aziza in her favorite spot on the headboard of the bed. She is working her beak, trying to look as fierce as possible. If you look closely, you might be able to see that her under-tail coverts are missing - the were all plucked out for her surgery. You can't see her "bubble" though, in this photo.

parrot update

An update on the birds. Or for the birds, if you will.

Last Friday, while cleaning Kianga's cage, I was transferring her eggs back to her little makeshift nestbox - and accidentally dropped one. I felt like such a bad mom, even though I was able to confirm that no, it wasn't fertile (so any suspicions that she and Kelele, the male timneh, were doing the nasty with cage bars in between were quashed). Fortunately, she's sitting quite happily on the remaining egg and has been very good about eating and such. She's been very responsive and fairly talkative and isn't losing enough weight for me to worry about.

Aziza seems more her old self, though she still seems on the thin side, and she tires out earlier than the grays. She still has that 'bubble' in her abdomen just in front of her vent. She's had this since I got her back from her surgery; the vet said it was probably air under the skin from a small air sac that may have been ruptured; however, it hasn't gone away as it should have, I'm beginning to wonder if she didn't give herself a hernia with all that straining. I'll ask the vet about it when she goes in next weekend; I would think this would require yet another surgery. :-(

a little music video for today

Künstliche Welten. It isn't what I picture when I hear the song, but hey. The singer looks a little Simon LeBon, doesn't he?

I also like their song 'Once in a Lifetime' (no, it just has the same title as a Talking Heads song).

In parrot updates, Kianga laid her second egg (finally) at 5:40 pm on Tuesday. She is sitting on them, but has been climbing up to her dish to eat, which is something I had trouble convincing her to do in the past. So maybe the food is now good enough to be worth it?

parrots!

Aziza had her stitches out on Saturday, and another hormone shot to keep her from producing any more eggs. The vet said she appears to be doing well, and she does seem to be a lot more energetic now that she is off all medications except the terbenefine. I think the antibiotic she had been on was affecting her somewhat, as I've always noticed that she seems to lose weight while she's on them. She was back down to 211 g on Saturday, but the vet didn't seem too worried about it (she's weighed less). I'd like to see her back where she was (~238 g) so I'm hoping she will start gaining the weight back now. But she is healing well from her surgery, so that is good. I don't know how long it will be before the feathers they removed will come back in - the poor thing is going to itch, though, when they do.

As for Kianga, no second egg yet, though she acts like she might lay another. I don't mind if she has one more (she always stopped at two before), but I will be keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't have any trouble. She has been in good spirits, however - making funny noises and comments (I swear she has a sense of humor).