Greetings and salutations to all!
I have been browsing this board recently for advice and guidance and sincerely admire the input of the members. I have a few "keepers", but have spent my years caring for and re-habiltating all types of animals, with birds being my favorite. As I have some questions to post I thought I would take the time to introduce myself...
Here is a summary of the family, less the wife and kids
:
(in no particular order, I love them all equally)
Parson: A female B&G Macaw almost 6 years old, I hand-fed her from her first days. She is "my bird" for sure, very protective, though she is very social with others when I am NOT around, but when I am in the room - human or animal - watch out - I am "her's"! (just ask my wife
)
Cha-Cha: A female African Grey ~ 20 years old. More my wife's bird-friend. Cha' came from my wife's late Grandmother (God bless her) - She has an outstanding vocabulary and loves to give me a hard time :D It's all in good fun! The family sat around a table after she passed and the bird went to my wife, case closed
Savannah (Savvy): A female Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. I am not sure how old she is - best guess is 20-something. I have had her for about 6 years. Her previous owner took her in and had her for 10 years or so before she developed cancer and needed to find her a good home. I was honored to "adopt" her. She is by far the kindest bird I have ever had the pleasure to meet! Savvy is a very "mature" and polite feathered friend to all.
Komit: A male Goffin Cockatoo, almost 5 years old. He is another one I have hand-fed from the start. He is currently the lone male in the bunch. A very smart bird, Komit is a master "jeweler" - he can disassemble watches, earings, necklaces - you name it and he can take it apart (or destroy it) in the blink of an eye. He has eaten almost every button off all my remotes (and I have many). It is believed Komit has eaten at least 10 times his weight in diamonds!!!
Bloo: A female Solomon Island Eclectus almost 4 years of age. Yet another I have raised from her first days. She had a mate, "Gumby", but she bit his throat out fighting over a peanut, Gumby passed away in seconds before my very eyes. She has never been the same since, nor have I. We are just now getting over the "accident" (that was almost two years ago). I know she misses him, we both miss him. Still we carry on and the bond between us, after the initial heartache, has only grown stronger. I need to mention that Gumby was an excellnt talker, one of the best I ever heard. And for personality, aside from Savvy and Hope (Full name "Hope 2 Fly" - a Mourning Dove I rescued as a baby who lived a full life with me, died "naturally" after six years in my company. I found her as a baby with a broken wing. She always "hoped to fly", hence the name). Gumby was the ideal pet - Loving and interactive, you knew he was commuicating with you - he had that kind of presence.
All of the above are very well mannered. Very few bites, granted you know how to approach them, of course. They all talk to some extent, though collectively less since we lost Gumby (guess we all miss him... he was the social butterfly of the bunch)
I have other friends in-house, a beautiful pure-white cat named Karma and 2 Pembroke Welsh Corgi's, some fish, etc... I have had everything from Chinchillas to Flying Squirrels (N.American and Sugar Gliders both) to Iguanas. But back to the birds... and the boards
~fractal.b