Introducing Marley! (pics coming soon)

[VictoriaO]

Hey Everybody,

It's been so great to see everyone's babies and read about their antics, now I get to post about my little ham!

I adopted a 9 year old BH Caique named Marley (Nokomis's feathered buddy, we both adopted a caique from the same gal). He's gone from being around 5 other parrots to an only bird, but seems to be settling in really well. We're playing music for him, giving lots of treats, and taking a "hands off" approach for now, just spending alot of time next to the cage where he can see us, bringing him snacks and talking and singing to him, etc His little odometer goes from 0-60 quite quickly (that famous caique firecracker temper!) so we're taking things really slow. It's been a few years since I lost my pionus, and the body language and temperment is a bit different.

I just HAD to share/brag on how adorable he was tonight, I was passing him a treat when he hopped onto my hand, then hopped onto my shoulder and started rubbing all over my hoodie. He puffed up his whole body and nuzzled up for some snuggles!
I love him so much already!

If anyone has any words of wisdom about a certain behavior he does, I would be much appreciated. This afternoon he was sitting on top of his cage making that snort snort then high-pitched contact call, although both of us were in the room, he had a huge array of snacks, toys and music. He kept repeating it on and off all day (sounded like our smoke alarm was going off!), he really seemed like he wanted something, I made sure to offer to move him to his playpen, but he wasn't interested in that either?

I just want him to be happy and to make his transition as smooth as possible, I hope he's not bored OR overstimulated! Any thoughts?

[magdalena]

Doesn't count, no pictures! Are you sure he wasn't just making happy noises or wanting to be on you noises?

[Flappuccino]

Hi Victoria! Yay! We get to talk about both our little brother-boys .

It's cool that Marley is more of a rubber. Nokomis is a rub-shredder He starts out by rubbing on my shoulder, then goes into an all-out "I'm... (grunt)going to...(growl)make a...(snort)BIGGggg...GIANT....HOLE...(rriipPPPP) in your shirt!"

Oh my gosh- are you talking about the cute little whistles and beeps, or the Skree!skree!skree!skree!skree!skree! electronic alarm clock/fire alarm?

We get that if we put him in his cage and start to walk out of the room. Oops- my family isn't happy about that one, for sure.

I found out who Nokimis's breeder was- does Marley have a band? Are you planning on using Marli Lintner for your vet? I highly recommend her- she's great- and the only all-avian vet in Oregon.

Later! Jeni

[VictoriaO]

Hey Jeni and magdalena,

I'm really sorry about the no pics, we've got cell phone pics, but I can't seem to find my camera right now! Worst timing, no? I promise I will flood the board of Marley being cute when I do!


As for the smoke alarm type beep where he's puffed up, he seems to do it during the morning/afternoon pretty consistently, even though he's out of his cage, with lots of treats and toys, as well as me being in the room? It's rough because we're in a big studio and my boyfriend works late and needs to sleep in. This morning what worked briefly was taking him to his playpen via pick up perch (he tried to chomp my fingers this morning while bringing his treats, naughty boy!), but he doesn't always stop "beeping" when he's on his perch. I try to pay him more attention when he's using the cute "whistle grunts and purrs", but I don't want to be ignoring his needs.

I was warned Marley likes to "design his own" fabric, but so far he hasn't shown much interest in toys or fabric. He is really fond of rubbing his beak on things, and we've been giving him fresh bird-safe twigs to shred.

Oh yes, we're going to use Marli Litner (and Dove Lewis for emergencies). Marley just had a check-up at the avian vet in Salem, but we need to get his chip changed over to our names and address.

Have a great day with your babies everyone!