Morning

I am not a morning person. I never have been. My body wakes up hours before my brain does so to say I am grouchy or cranky in the morning is an understatement. The good thing about this is I basically just sit and grumble until my brain catches up with the rest of me which tends to lead to some pretty quiet mornings.

Yesterday morning my normal grumpy mood was being bullied by a lot of back pain, lending me to be not quite my usual growly self, more of a whimpering state actually. I shuffled out of my room hunched over like I should be residing in a bell tower someplace, my bed head and half mast eyelids just giving the whole bell tower theory more credence. I made my way through the living room to a hail of greetings like every morning...but not quite.

Echo: "Hola!"
Me: "Hola Echo."
Duke: "Hello!"
Me: "Good Morning, Duke."
Kenya: "Go Lay Down!!"
Me: "I just got up."

Gotta love those morning conversations with the feathered ones. Kenya has never minced words and always seems to find just the right phrase for the moment. ;)

Duke Vs. The Migraine

When there is a battle over my head space, between Duke and a raging migraine...in short, Duke wins.

I have been battling daily migraines for the last 2 weeks. Normally a few pills cure the problem but every now and then medication doesn't help, thats what happened today. I woke up with this insane pounding in my head, noise, light and movement made me cry. I was hold up in the recliner water on the table beside me and a cold washcloth over my eyes when at 8:30 Duke starts to scream.

Now normally 1 of 2 things happen here. Either 1. I ignore him and he shuts up, or 2. I cover his cage and he shuts up. Neither was going to work today. His cage was already covered as a preemptive strike to avoid his screams, lotta good that did me, and ignoring him wasn't working. after 15 mins I went to hide in the bedroom.

I stayed there until 2pm.

Duke was still screaming. He had not stopped more then 30 second intervals since he started at 8:30.

I wanted to kill him. I admit it. Thoughts of plucking his little feathered butt danced around in my brain. I couldn't keep hiding in the bedroom, as much as it felt like my face was splitting open and sliding off my skull I was going to have to force myself through the door and get my day started.

It hurt, I cried, and I threw up, which was a joy in and of it's self, but eventually Duke shut up and my throbbing in my head is now bearable. So life moves on, and hopefully tomorrow is a better day.

Bath Time

This weekend Duke was in a particularly cranky mood. When Duke is cranky, Duke is LOUD so making him happy or at least relaxed is a priority in the house, for humans and other birds.

There is a good side and a bad side of Dukes noise making. The good is that it makes Echo talk a lot more in soft smooth tones and sometimes it actually works in calming Duke down. The bad side is, he's freaking loud! Kenya has actually taken up to telling him to "Shut Up!" rather sternly.

So, for the sake of all of us with eardrums we had to distract him and fast. So impromptu bath time! Yey! And of course I took pictures. Double Yey!


Here Duke is displaying his back and wings for John who wields a pretty mean spray bottle.

*Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle* More water STAT!

Thats one wet chicken! Duke is actually comeing over to tell me that I am too close and he wants me to move back.

This is actually mid bath, he ended up soaked to the boane and happy as a clam. Thank goodness.

Christmas with the Cranky

The crankiness has spread from the amazons to the others. I am not sure why, they are getting lots of yummies and fun so whats the cranky-pants stuff all about?

Echo, the most easy going of all the flock shows off his cranky with a look that says, "Back off Momma, I'm not in the mood for snuggles."

Duke here displays how he puts the "AH!" in "Bah, Humbug!" And yes, he was charging me in his ever so loving "I am going to eat you." way. (He's been taking lessons from Lou.)

Pedro who is cranky all the time normally has taken being a cranky-puss to an art from. (Pedro as you can see, kinda, is not well. The vet has no clue why, neither do we, but he is eating on his own which is an improvement from a few months ago.)

So it's going to be a Cranky Parrot Christmas over here, whee!


((Hey, Sara, "Cranky Parrot Christmas" There's a fic in that!))

Quiet

Spent the morning watching Echo tear all the toys off the play stand. Once he wore himself out I brought Duke out now he is pacing back and forth not happy that the toys have been moved.

Ah sibling rivalry, so much fun to watch.

I wish my camera was working right now.

Bad Bird Day

Just like having a bad hair day, it seems that every feathered occupant here is having an off feather day.

Duke has not stopped screaming all day, I finally had to cover him to give my migraine a rest. Kenya almost "got me" when I was feeding her. Echo let out an alert scream right on my ear as I was feeding him. Pedro is upset and yells at me every time I walk past him. In fact, the only bird that seems happy to see me today is Lou, and I am just not falling for it.

Stand off

Last week Duke and Echo met on the play stand for the first time. It went about as well as one expects these things to go. Duke was a bully but Echo held his ground. I of course was close by, a stick in one hand, just in case, and a camera in the other.

Echo displaying at Duke, the ruffled feathers to make himself look bigger more of a threat etc. The display is to let Duke know that he doesn't want him to come any closer.

"What the heck!?!"
A closer look of Echo's display

Things calming down a bit, but not for long. This is about 15 mins into the first meeting.

I put echo up soon after the last picture. They spent just a little over 15 minutes on the stand together. No actual fight but a lot of displaying on both sides. Dukes displays were much more subtle then Echo's. Duke is much older and has a bit more experience in these matters, he also tends to be much more sneaky and deliberate with what he does. Which in the end, worries me.

Out of Hand

Duke is getting out of hand. He is actively trying to attack me now and I have no idea why. I can only hope this is just a phase he is going through. He is an older bird and is really starting to push his luck with me. I have enough birds in the house that would like to see me hurt/maimed/dead I really don't need it from him too. :(

Settling down

Things are finally finding a flow in the house. I was up early this morning, I went straight into feeding the flock and quieting everyone down. They can get quite loud in the morning.

Everyone gets bird bread in the AM. It's a basic corn bread/apple juice mixture with anything we have in the fridge they can eat mixed and baked. Almost everybody gobbles it down before I have a chance to walk away from their cage.

Duke now only eats when he is on the play stand. I put a foraging toy in his cage about 2 hrs ago in hopes that it will encourage him to eat when he is in there. I hope it works.

Echo seems to be relaxing around Duke. He isn't really screaming when Duke gets close anymore. Things are looking up.

Kenya is still eating anything I offer her. Defiantly a plus. She is also very curious about Duke. She watches him all the time and moved to the side of her cage that is closest to him when he is on the stand.

Lou has been talking a lot when I leave the room. Right now he is calling out "step up" and "Peek-a-boo". He may want to see me, so he knows where I am, or maybe he wants to lure me in for a bite, who knows. I think he wants out and is trying to be cute so I forget which bird he is and open the cage door. But I am suspicious like that. ;)

I have been trying to switch the birds to a organic pellet this week. It's going slowly as any food switch does. Pedro is completely switched over, and Echo is mostly there as well. I hope the others fall into line as well. The new pellet is much better for them.

Fussy Butt

Duke does not like change much. None of the birds do really but Duke can get rather grumpy about it. Right now I am trying to find creative ways to get him to eat because at the moment he refuses to eat if he is in his cage. Lending to more problems when he is out of his cage but thems the breaks.

So yesterday he was running about on the stand and I had just put some fresh food and water out for him and went to get my lunch when I returned to this...

There was water everywhere. Floor, walls, my chair, my table, Kenya's cage, you name it, it was dripping. Of course Duke could not stop yet, he had to keep going to make sure his bathwater fully covered the room. ;)

It was a bit of cleaning once he was finished but he seemed happy and he ate a little bit while he was out so, I'm happy.

Ut-Oh!

I know I need to watch what I say around the birds. I know this. My husband knows this. This is why when wanting to cuss myself blue I look like a fool yelling "OH Muffins!" at the top of my lungs.

So when Duke let out a scream the other day and Echo immediately replied with "Shut Up!" I ducked my head and slipped out of the room in shame. I am pretty sure he got that from me, but it is possible that John has done it too.

Sometimes, when migraines strike, I can be a very bad birdie mommy. :( Sorry Duke.

The battle of Noise

Duke and I have been having a raging battle between my sanity and his alarm clock noise.

To try and combat his repetitive screaming, I have been using a time out system. If I bring him out and he starts screaming, he goes back into the cage. If he screams in the cage, I cover it. I have been doing this for about 2 weeks now and I think, maybe yesterday he got the idea.

I had him out on the stand and he started up. I told him to hush now or I'd give him a time out. He stopped. I am amazed because he didn't scream the rest of the day. Lets hope this trend continues. :D

Favorite Foods

Normally when I put Duke on the play stand he finds the farthest corner away from me that he can and just hangs out or plays with the toys there. It's just his way, and has always been his way when it comes to me.

So how surprised was I when I sat down with lunch yesterday and as I raised up my spoon heaping with mac and cheese to take my first bite that Duke practically tripped over himself running to get as close to me as possible. He was hyper talking "hello" at me that kinda of got strung together like "hellohellohello" which is his way of saying "Gimmie what you got!"

Since he has -never- done this before, I have no choice but to conclude that Duke's favorite food is Macaroni and Cheese. Good taste that bird has. ;)

Calm

Things have been calming down slowly since we brought three of the birds in from outside. We still have three more to go and I am almost dreading it because it will get really loud when two of them come inside.

Duke still poses a problem when the sun comes up. His alarm clock is so annoying. It gets loud too, especially if I don't come talk to him. But I can not give in, will not reward bad noises, darn it.

Echo has become more relaxed with running about the house getting into everything. When the holidays pass he will have more access to roam because the house won't have "extra wires" laying around. My birds love holiday decorations, and not in a good way. If how they react to all the Halloween stuff is any indication, Christmas will be fun. I can tell. ;)

Things are perfect, until their not.

Yesterday morning was great. Duke and Echo got some time out on the play stand, and got some goodies. It was great. We all got along happily. Duke was happy to do as I asked of him, and let me scratch him and play. It was awesome, until about 4pm. Duke was aggravated with something, I don't know what, and went on a screaming spree for almost an hour. Then stopped for 45 mins then started up again for about 15 then all quiet until John got home.

Once John walked in the door he went ballistic. He would just not stop screaming so I finally had to give in and cover him up. I don't like to cover the birds, I feel like I am shunning them when I do it. But my migraine was at its maximum and I just needed him to stop.

He does this every so often, usually once a week, but on a bad week he can go off like this daily. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes at night, most of the time in the middle of the afternoon. I don't know why. I guess he just wants more attention, but I wont reward him for screaming. It's just not happening. He will have to figure out sooner then later that he gets out of the cage when he is being quiet and does not get out when he is screaming like a banshee.

I hope he picks this up soon, my ears need a break.

Who is that handsome bird?

Amazons are natural born clowns. It's one of the reasons I love them so much. Echo embodies this characteristic to the utmost degree. He loves to get me giggling and seems to have that marker set as his goal every time I bring him out to roam around the play stand.

Today he found the metal mirror. He was so stunned. He could not figure out why the other bird tasted so funny. He tried to preen him, talk to him, even attacked him a few times and still, that silly metal sheet got between him and his objective.

"Who is that beautiful bird?"

He was so preoccupied with the “other” bird that he ignored me as if I wasn't there. Something he never does. He even ignored all the people food I put out for him, and let me tell you, his feathery butt really gets moving for people food.

"Come here."

I find this interesting mainly because he does not like Duke, the other amazon, anywhere near him. So much so, that he will throw a tantrum about it. Duke, on the other hand, wants to know everything he can about Echo and stalks him. It's an interesting thing to watch, though I never let Duke get too close because I still don't know what his motives are.

"Target acquired, I'm going in!"

Are you talking to me?

It's the end of the week so it's time for Fab Friday. Too keep it light and fun I have a video of my own to share.



For what ever reason Duke seems to think what he has to say is much more important than what John does. Sorry about the quality of this video, I am still learning the ins and outs of the camera.

Amazon Rivalry

As I said yesterday, Duke was moved inside last weekend as was doing great. So last night we brought Echo inside. We figured he would have been the easier of the two but Duke and Echo have this rivalry thing that we thought might cause an issue.

Well maybe Rivalry isn't the right word. Duke is -very- interested in Echo. Obsessed actually. Echo on the other hand feels threatened by Duke, and there for gets rather grumpy and nippy if he thinks Duke is too close. (“Too close” being anywhere Echo can see him.)

Mr. Grumpypants

All things considered, the night went pretty well. This morning as I went to take Duke out of his cage He ran up to me and said “Here we go!” This is a new phrase for me, he has never said it to me before. It was too clear for it to be just learned so he must have picked it up in the ten years of life before he got here.

Echo has also picked up a new phrase. “Oh, come on!” Which he just screamed from the other room. I will have to thank my husband for that one. He yells it the same way when things are not going the way he wants them to. Seems Echo has grasped onto the meaning behind the phrase as well.

Moving In

Our big birds spend the summers outside on our back porch. The Florida heat and humidity is perfect for them. Their feathers never look as good as they do in the summer, I swear. But it is almost October and we have been getting a lot of rain and slowly but surely the tempreture is starting to drop. So it's time to start prepping the house for them to come back inside. They don't have to be back in til the end of next month, then they will be inside until March or April, depending on how quickly our spring warms up.

There is an adjustment period when they come inside, because of that I prefer to do it one bird at a time. When that bird is aclamated then I move in the next one, and so on. So Duke, my Orange-wing Amazon, was the first one in this weekend, and he is loving it.

"Up! Up! Up!"

He has been exploring the house and eating up all the one on one attention he is getting. He is also an alarm clock every single morning. Though this morning he didn't go off for very long, so I was able to sleep in a little.

"This -is- my happy face!"

I am a Google Fu Master.

Duke Duncan is a relatively new member of the flock. He has had 4 owners including myself. At the young age of 11. that's quite a few. His first person was an older man who loved him very much. I can tell this because even when Duke is unsure about me, he is still very gentle. A nice change, considering that I have some that bite first and ask questions later.

When Duke's first person passed away, his daughter cared for him for, I think, 2 years. From what I hear, she was not so much a bird person. So, she brought him to a friend of mine. My friend, not having the time for him, then blessed me with His Highness, making me promise that she would get him back if I ever could not keep him.

Duke, giving the camera the "eye"

When we got Duke, we were told that he was a Lilac-crowned Amazon. I looked them up on the web and he looks nothing like a Lilac.

Lilac-crowned Amazon, picture from www.parrots.org

So for the last year, I have been thinking that he is some sort of cross between a Lilac and a Yellow-nape. I was so wrong, as I discovered about 5 mins ago.

While I was looking for a nice web pic of a Lilac to post here, I decided that Duke just didn't look like them even slightly. So, I did a broader search and found a picture that was really close to him. I clicked it, got the species name, and then did a search for those. Lo and behold, that was it! Duke is actually an Orange Winged Amazon. The way I determined this, other than pictures, was the description about this “tell tale ruff” of feathers around their neck that they can raise and settle at will.

Orange-winged Amazon, picture from www.ceiba.org.

Think of Jurassic Park. The little dinosaurs that had the ruff and spit poison. That is what Duke looks like when he raises his ruff. It is funny looking and gets us all giggling when he does it. I have plans to get some photos of this during the weekend, if I am successful I will post them next week.

See you next week!