New addition!

[mizbirdy]

Well, unfortunately, I don't know much about him, he's not banded so there's no info there to go on, and the family members I talked to didn't even know what kind of bird he was. I guess I can tell you a little bit about how I came to get him since it was put out in a press release. His previous owners died in a murder/suicide & he was left in the house for 3 days before I got him. The cage he was in was totally unacceptable, wood shavings in the bottom, it hadn't been cleaned in forever, if at all; no toys, just a swing & a perch that would have been big even for a hyacinth macaw! The house was freezing cold when I got there & he had no water & very little food, in fact I think it was just seed shells. There was also an amazon, which I think was a red lored but not totally sure, a cockatiel & a couple of finches. The cockatiel had died, I'm assuming from the cold, no water or food. He had been handled before, since he loves to have his head rubbed, loves to be rubbed under his chin. He steps up pretty good, especially now that we got his claws (needles!) trimmed down & his wings clipped a little bit. One of the investigators took the amazon in & I think the finches too. The other animals out there went to some neighbors & other family members. I don't like the circumstances in which we were able to get him, but I feel better knowing that he's in a stable environment now & will have a forever home.

[homebird]

His previous owners died in a murder/suicide & he was left in the house for 3 days before I got him. The cage he was in was totally unacceptable, wood shavings in the bottom, it hadn't been cleaned in forever, if at all; no toys, just a swing & a perch that would have been big even for a hyacinth macaw! The house was freezing cold when I got there & he had no water & very little food, in fact I think it was just seed shells.

Thanks for filling us in on his story - now I'm really concerned - what a horror he's been thru - those poor animals. Well now that he's seen it all on the bad end of things, I guess he's going to be really happy with you! What a contrast.

[mizbirdy]

Yeah, he seems to be settling in pretty good. I'm at work right now & Randy just emailed me & told me he took a bath in his water dish so there was water everywhere!! We're still trying to think of a name for him, Randy wants to name him Harry after Harry Houdini, cause he was able to open his cage & get out when we tried to put him to bed. I don't think I like it tho....

[homebird]

I think he deserves a Miracle type name. Get everyone on to it!

[cfulhage]

Originally Posted by Monica

There's 3 supposed ways of visual sexing... however, none of them are 100% accurate... kind of like cockatiels! (actually, much like tiels! LOL Got facial, wings, and tail indications, but they are not always clear in each sex! )

What do you look for in facial and wings in greys?

[Monica]

Originally Posted by cfulhage

What do you look for in facial and wings in greys?

Facial is the eyes... supposedly males have a prominant amount of black at the corner of their eyes, where-as females tend not to. (might work with timmnehs)

Wings (underneath) - Males have a black band (flight feathers) and a grey band (all those tiny feathers). Females have a black band (flights), white band (small feathers between flights and the actual muscle/bone part of the wing), and a grey band (the muscle and bone part of the wing).

Tail Feathers (underneath) - males have a clear red tail, where-as a females are tipped in grey...


However, with all that said, I think Lisa B has a male grey (DNA tested) with the silver tipped red tail feathers.

[mizbirdy]

Don't know about the eyes or wings, but I do know that he/she does have some silver tipped feathers on the underside of the tail. Don't ask me what Randy thought I was doing when I was checking on that part!!

[corralup]

Originally Posted by Monica

Facial is the eyes... supposedly males have a prominant amount of black at the corner of their eyes, where-as females tend not to. (might work with timmnehs)

Wings (underneath) - Males have a black band (flight feathers) and a grey band (all those tiny feathers). Females have a black band (flights), white band (small feathers between flights and the actual muscle/bone part of the wing), and a grey band (the muscle and bone part of the wing).

Tail Feathers (underneath) - males have a clear red tail, where-as a females are tipped in grey...


However, with all that said, I think Lisa B has a male grey (DNA tested) with the silver tipped red tail feathers.

Smokey is a girl. I just went and looked at the tail feathers and they are prominently tipped in grey.

[Monica]

You can try and get pics by getting the bird to just lift its wings by bringing the bird down on your hand (slowly as to not startle the bird, but a slight quickness to open their wings). Might be one of the easiest ways to look at the wings for now.

Corralup, the techniques I listed are not 100% accurate, and I want to make that clear. Thus far, it has worked on all cags but one on this forum, that I've witnessed at least.

[Tiki]

Congrats, he is adorable!