The Many Friends of Birdie Boy…

My little parrot loves to chatter, of course when no one is around. He’s tends to be a bit of a singing frog. Anyway, he has developed a desire to “talk” to various inanimate objects around the house. He chatters to them in his bird talk and throws in the occasional “Hi baby,” or “Whatcha doin?’, or “poop”, yes he says “poop”. It’s pretty hilarious. Well, after a while, he decides that new said object needs to be ordered around. Now, Gico is trained to step on my finger when I say “step up.” It’s also used as a “punishment”, which isn’t the best word, when he’s misbehaving. With parrots, making them step-up is showing that you are the head of the pecking order. It’s kind of like establishing yourself as pack leader with a dog. Anyway, in his little bird way, he thinks that if he tells something to “step-up”, which he says quite clearly, it will do something. His latest attempt  to control the refrigerator by telling it to “step-up” ending in a mad little parrot. Once said object disobeys Gico, he hisses at it and moves on to the next object. The other day he was walking around on the kitchen floor talking to the stove, the refrigerator, the cabinets, and finally the bookshelf. It’s pretty hilarious and almost impossible to capture on film. I haven’t managed that one yet. As soon as he sees the camera he stops talking and chattering immediately. I did manage to get a few pictures of him sitting on his favorite lamp and plant. He doesn’t usually talk to the lamp, but he loves the plant and loves to carry on long conversations with it.

Well, enough of my gratuitous pet post :-) Have a great weekend and God Bless!

 

The Kids...

Yes, Gico is convinced he's a large dog, just like his brother and sister. Here's the proof! :-)

So the above pic is a little blurry. It's hard to get a very large hyper dog and a very small hyper bird to sit still, while playing, so mommy can take their picture. The blurry green blob is Gico and the brown blurry blob is Leila Lu.

I love my babies!!!

We're Being Stalked!!!

Well, actually, Birdy Boy is being stalked. Every morning when I come out of the shower and go into our bedroom, I find a Raven sitting on the wire outside of the window staring at Gico. It's been there for over a month now. I'm thinking it knows we have a small bird inside and he wants to eat him. Gico hates seeing it; his little feathers squish against his body and he makes a cricket sounding noise that he always makes when he's nervous.

This morning, I took Aaron to school during my normal "getting ready for work" time. I also brought Gico bird with me, because he absolutely loves car rides. Well, low and behold there was the Raven, sitting on the telephone wire staring at us. I held Gico tightly in my hand, but he still saw the Raven and started making his "there it is again!" noise. The Raven followed our every move and starred at us as we drove away.

I'm not sure what to do about this Raven. The birds I had before Gico used to be stalked by Ravens all the time when we lived in Arizona. Eventually, the Ravens realized they couldn't get to them and it wasn't worth the trouble. I hope this is what happens here.

Well, that's all for my story du jour. I hope you have a wonderful week. God Bless!

Love Lauren

Note: This isn't the same Raven, just a pic I found online :-)

Birdy on the Brain

Okay, so most of you have heard the expression "baby on the brain." Well, I have birdy on the brain. It's a condition that affects parrot lovers causing them to crave more birds, not unlike mother's wanting another baby. This "condition" has caught up with me, and I have it bady. I really want another parrot; so much so that I keep having dreams about them. Anyway, I've been told I have to wait a couple of years, which is fine, and then "we'll see." That answer has come quite a long way from "no more birds ever." So, we're making progress :-) I plan on adopting a parrot, rather than buying. There is a wonderful parrot rescue group down in Eugene that I think we'll be getting our future flock member from. Now, if I can just be patient for a few years....Here's a picture of the type of bird I want to add to our flock :-) Enjoy!

The Goffin's Cockatoo

Here's a link to the Exotic Bird Rescue of Oregon. They have a number of birds up for adoption right now. So if you're looking for one, check here first before buying a parrot.

God Bless and have a wonderful weekend!

Love Lauren

Fun with Laser Pointers

Here is the video I promised... Enjoy!

1 Year Ago Today...

We drove to Sandy, OR to pick up our little birdy boy. He has come so far in a year's time and I know everyone says this, but I can't believe we've had him so long. Here are some pictures of our baby. We love you Giconi Bird.

All the Kids :-)

So here are some recent pics of the fur and feather babies. I just love 'em to pieces.

Gico Birdy :-)

Leila Lu, during a long hike at Powell Butte :-)

Max, aka Moose Dog, aka Maximus, aka Maxipup on a lovely evening walk. Poor boy can't go on long walks, but we do what we can until his surgery :-)

My Boys!!!

Gico, my sweet parrot, decided that Maximus, his doggy brother, looked like the perfect warm, fluffy, napping spot. So, he did what any other bird would do and climbed on Max's back to nap. Aaron took these darling pictures of my boys cuddling. It's quite cute!

Spoiled? Of Course Not...

Gico's brand new cage! Yes it's huge.



He loves peaches and necterines!



On the Happy Hut!

Max's favorite spot on a hot day!

Little Miss Leila with yogurt all over her face!

The toy that was once shaped like a cat. Max tore the legs and tail off one by one. Now the head is completely gone and they're just have of the body left!

We love our babies, and yes they are spoiled! :-)

Dancing!

And now for silly animal tricks! :-)

Bath Time

One of Gico's favorite things is to take a bath on his cage. He loves it! Here's a video of him doing just that!

More Giconi

Here is a video of the baby to share with you all! He just had his bath, so he's a bit scraggly :-)

And now for the update! Gico is becoming more and more comfortable everyday and he is learning so many new things. His latest accomplishment is learning association noises. For example, when I give him a kiss he makes a kissing noise. When we come home or get ready to leave he imitates the sound of the door squeeking. He's still trying to talk with little success and he makes the custest chirping noises when he's sleepy. He is also becoming extremely protective of me; a trait we're trying to break him of. He doesn't understand that my makeup brushes aren't attacking me and so he charges after them. It's pretty funny, but I don't want to encourage aggressive behavior. We are also working on his clingyness. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm very flattered that he's bonding so closly to me. However, he is getting to a point of being too clingly. So we are working with "velcro bird", as I call him, on staying on play pen and playing while I'm in the room. He's doing better, but he still wants to be on me whenever possible. Most of all he's a sweet and smart little boy!

Introducing Giconi

Hi my name is Giconi and my mommy and daddy call me Gico for short. I'm a Green Cheek Conure and I'm four months old. I love to eat, look out the window, and play with my toys. But my favorite thing is to be petted and loved. Here are some pictures of me :-)

I love to be held!

Here I am with my new mommy!

I'm such a handsom boy!

I love teeth and lips!

I love to lay on my back and have my head and tummy rubbed!