An old bird

[galeriagila]

I try!

Then there was the time he figured out how to escape his cage through a "treat-holder" door. This was when I still worked a day-job. My husband figured a way to bend the latch so the bird hasn't the strength to work it. I was holding the bird across the room while his hated rival fiddled with his cage. I doubt if he actually realized that my ol' man had blocked his escape, but it didn't help their relationship.

He also figured out how to get out of a door, a few cages back, necessitating placement of a stainless steel dowel through the bars.

On both occasions, I followed a little poop-trail around his room to see what he had been up to. Thank goodness I always close his door when I'm away, or at night. We don't have other animals anymore, but I never forgot that first jail-break!

[Georges mom]

My George is such a good boy and he's just super cool. I think it's his age maybe because he just goes with things and really doesn't get rattled. I do give him his way though most of the time cuz I just love him. He plays with anything I give him, he'll step up on virtually anything I put in front of him and he's taught me well on how to read his body language. I wish I knew someone with a younger parrot for id like to see the difference the age makes. ive read so much on training parrots with clickers and such and all the effort required. My George came to me knowing everything with me finding out thru simple commands and gestures. I don't know if all parrots are like this by 60 yrs old or if I'm just really lucky. I love him and now I know he loves me.

[galeriagila]

My friend, George's mom...
YOU... ARE... BLESSED!
And I'm thrilled for both of you!
What a beautiful story...

[Wolf]

Well, Mimi is like 16 years old and is very different than your George, now I do have to take into account that she was not allowed to come off of her cage, or touch humans, or take treats from a human for any reason. There are most likely so many other things that she was not allowed to do for the first 14 years of her life, that we don't yet know about because the guy who had her since she was a baby was a major control freak. But until she works through these, we won't really know as these are pretty limiting to a bird all by themselves, but she is an amazing talker. She also watched the 7 other parrots with her, one of them her brother, get sick and die before she came to us. She talked about that a lot for over a year but not so much now. The stranglehold of rules on her is weakening little by little as she learns and then begins to accept that they no longer apply to her. It will still takes some time before she gets past what was done to her, but she is still such an amazing bird.

Liz has Rambo and Myrtle, both Amazons that are younger than George and she loves talking about them and sharing. I would have to let her talk about them herself.

My point is that you do know some other people right here on the forum that have Amazons that you can talk and share with through the open forum, PMs, and most likely through regular e mails.

[liz]

I love reading about those little beings that you all have.

I love writing about how special my birds are. They are mine or I am theirs.

Every other human who is owned by their parrot feels the same way about theirs.

[Pajarita]

I don't see much difference in behavior between Mami (thought to be 50 but unproven as she has no leg band) and the others which are in their 30's and mid teens (this is also a guess). As a matter of fact, I would say that Naida, at 33, is less active than Mami. The biggest difference between her and the others is that, as all old captive birds and most especially amazons, her liver is a mess so her plumage is real bad (the only thing that saved her is the fact that she is a wild-caught).

[Georges mom]

Got a question..... With the day's being longer now, George does not go into his cage til about 830 and it's still light outside. I immediately tell him goodnight and cover him up for the night. He purrs for a bit then is silent. He's not getting the 12 hours he needs right now cuz of the longer days. He's averaging about 10-11. Is this ok for him??

[Wolf]

Yes, he is fine, even in the wilds of their natural habitat they do not always sleep for 12 hours every night, it depends on the length of the day at the particular time of the year as it does vary. Most parrots that I am aware of get anywhere between 10 and 12 hours of sleep each night depending on where they live. Due to the destruction of their natural habitat the range that they occupy in the wild is much smaller today than it was even 100 years ago and because of that I would think that at one time they may have gotten as little as 8 hours of sleep at night and as much as 14 hours of sleep at night during the winter months.

Most of the 12 hours of sleep that we have been taught about was all an attempt to modify and control their breeding behaviors.

[liz]

Mine are going to roost at about 8 pm. They don't go to sleep right away and I can hear them talking to each other in the dark. Rambo even eats in the dark. They have 12 hours to sleep but don't sleep the full time. They make up for it with our 2 pm nap. At 2 pm the house is quiet. Every thing naps at 2 pm.

[Pajarita]

As long as he is exposed to dusk for a good hour or more, he will be fine even if he sleeps less hours.

Another difference I remembered between young and old birds: their feet. This is, pretty much, the only actual physical change you find except for plumage (the bad plumage is not so much an aging thing but directly related to the terrible diet they all had years ago). Old parrots have gnarly feet. There might be a missing toe or nail, a crooked toe or two but, even when everything is there, they are always kind of gnarly-looking, the scales are more pronounced and their joints are always more protruding than in young birds. Think of the feet of old humans and the feet of young humans and you will get a good idea.