Update on Corsair

[Harpmaker]

Corsair is 3 today! She continues to try to avoid getting older, mostly by flying or perching low enough for our dogs and cats to reach her. She currently loves buzzing our new rescued puppy, because it gets him so excited. We discourage this behavior by moving her higher up, or back to her cage. We are also trying to train the puppy to ignore her, but that isn't really working either. Apparently Corsair is one of those parrots that think they can out-fight anything they can look in the eye. So the humans have to provide protection for our suicidal bird when she is out.

Corsair has learned to say the names of both dogs, but neither of the cats, likely because we call the dogs by name to come, and greet the cats more softly when they choose to show up. She has lately changed from saying "Hello" to "Hello, Corsair", and "Goodnight, Corsair" instead of "Night night."

She loved getting a piece of toffee peanut from my hubby when he came home each day, but in response to comments about birds and diabetes we put a bag of unsalted roasted peanuts for her in the toffee jar. The first time she got that instead of toffee, she threw it on the floor. She's still grumpy about it.

She still prefers fresh produce to gloop, but eats some of each. Most of the time she eats the seeds off the strawberries and tosses the rest to the floor, but she loves pomegranates, snap peas, yams, broccoli, corn on the cob(in season), raspberries, blackberries, oranges, and tangerines. Kale, rainbow chard, apples, bananas, melons and carrots she eats sometimes. Other produce she gets offered and may eat or not.

We are getting closer to a solar schedule. The overhead lights are out in the room she's in during the day, but there is some light from computer screens. None are pointed at her, but they are supposed to have more blue light. The room she sleeps in is dark.

She still likes to make me laugh, and I still get nipped if I misunderstand what she wants. She is a sweet bird and I never want anything bad to happen to her.

Here's hoping I keep her from killing herself for another year!

[liz]

Ha Ha They think they are bullet proof.

[Wolf]

Both Kiki and Kookooloo will walk across the floor through any dogs and/ or cats that are in the room when they decide to take their strolls, neither of them are even concerned about the dogs or cats. Kiki will still wait for the cats to go to sleep together in one spot and then fly over to them and land right in the middle of them and start walking around and rudely wake each of them up by biting them and dares them to try and do anything about it. Just in case you don't remember Kookooloo is my CAG and Kiki is a Senegal.
Paquita, whom I call Keeta is a parrotlet and she is the most aggressive bird in the house as well as the smallest. She doesn't give either dog or cat any chance at all, as soon as either one of them get close enough to me wanting some love, Keeta is literally in their face with talons grabbing and ripping, wings beating and tearing into soft noses with that oversized beak of hers. She can send a 100 pound dog running screaming in less than 2 seconds and is not any slower with doing the same with a cat.
Although, I grab my birds up when they do these things, getting bit in the process, trying to protect the birds, I get the distinct impression that I am actually saving my dogs and cats from the birds.

[liz]

My son's little dogs like chicken and are fascinated with my birds. They will stand at the screen door on the cockatiel room just as long as they can. Some how I need to teach Myrtle that they are not to be trusted.

[Pajarita]

Thank you so very much for the wonderful update! It's always great to hear what's going on in the lives of the parrots we have gotten to know and love through postings.

Yes, parrots are all pretty fearless regardless of their size and, in most cases, the little ones are the most reckless of them all. Sweetpea, male Senegal, has this habit of flying down to the floor and landing as well as walking in the middle of the dogs (the cats are all upstairs when they are out). My dogs are used to been with other animals, including birds, since day one and all of them know they will get the "Leave it alone!" command if they move so they don't react - but I still worry something terrible might happen. And I am sure that pretty soon, he will be saying "SWEETPEA, GET OFF THE FLOOR!!!" because it comes out of my mouth 10, 15 times a day He has actually learned what it means because, when I say it, he climbs on the rung of a chair but this is about 2-3 inches off the floor and, of course, it doesn't do any good when it comes to his safety.

Now, as to the toffee, birds don't have taste buds for sweet so it was not the toffee taste that he is missing, most likely it's the crunch (they do like crunchy!). Have you tried giving it something healthy and crunchy at the same time? I don't like dehydrated things for them but the green beans end like little super crunchy sticks, maybe you can use them instead. And, if you can find them (I can't all the time but sometimes I get lucky -I like them myself and the birds love them), you can also try no-salt sesame sticks.

[Harpmaker]

has been Good idea, Pajarita! I can try making some Meyer's parrot-sized bread sticks and see if she likes them. And look for unsalted sesame sticks as well-my bread sticks don't keep very long due to lack of preservatives. My oldest says Corsair eats better than I do-and she's absolutely correct!

Wolf, I still laugh at the image of Paquita telling your hundred-pound puppies "I'll eat you!" I worry a little about Corsair removing a part of our puppy's nose, but more about what he will do if he is suddenly in pain. Poor puppy! He just wants to play with dogs and cats and birds. But he could accidentally injure a bird with those huge paws of his. And Corsair has been teasing him by flying back and forth over his head, while checking to see if he is watching.

The rescue the puppy came from said his mother looked like an Australian Kelpie, and a Kelpie has the world dog high-jump record of almost 3 meters. Some time Corsair might be surprised by a dog that can grab her out of the air.

[liz]

You named her Corsair. Did you expect less of her.

I found unsalted mini pretzels. I give Rambo and Myrtle 2 each with a half of walnut at bedtime.

The first time I saw Rambo he walked into the living room through the dogs and cats. Even funnier was his cockatiel buddy, Curley, walking right behind him. They and Curley's mate, Sunny, came as a set that included a Chihuahua, Katie.
My critters accept that they are all in one family. Even when Rambo would throw himself off the top of his cage and flap the landings were always bad so he chose something soft to land on. Sometimes it was a cat or dog he landed on. They would stay still until he walked off.