Greetings!

[owlyssa]

Welcome to the forum! I am afraid that I am not any good at coming up with names. I name all of mine with people's names, usually, but Kona is a good name for a parrot: short and easy to say. Please tell us about him (is it a him?), how old he is, how long you've had him, etc.

Thank you for the welcome, Pajarita! c: I've slept on "Kona" for a few days, and brought it up to my family. Everyone seems to like it, and it seems like a good fit for my Sennie, so Kona it is!

So I literally just purchased Kona this past Thursday. I took some time to grieve the loss of my 'tiel, and the lack of a feathered friend on my shoulder and in my home has been nagging at me recently. My aunt offered to cover the costs of a parrot for my graduation present, and it was kind of like love (or at least strong interest) at first sight. As soon as I stepped into the area where they were being kept, Kona ran over to the cage door to check me out.

I don't know if Kona is male or female. Is this something that I should seek testing to find out? Just from a personal preference, it doesn't really matter to me if I've wound up with a her or a him. However, if it's a matter of health or training differences between a male and a female Senegal, I would go about investing in it.

I am uncertain as to Kona's age. I'm guessing Kona could be 7-8 weeks old? They're at the point where they have adult food available, but they're still receiving hand feeding. I will be able to take Kona home in about a month's time, so that's when they should be fully weaned. I will get a definitive answer when I visit again this Tuesday.

Thank you again for the welcome!

[Pajarita]

Well, at 8 weeks old, they already have their full plumage so you should be able to tell if Kona is a boy or a girl because Senegals are sexually dimorphic (the male looks different from the female). Males will have a shorter green V on their chest, showing a wider yellow area on each side of their breast as well as their upper abdomen (the female's green V reaches almost all the way down to the lower abdomen so the yellow areas are smaller) and yellow tail undercoverts (if you look at the tail from underneath, you will see feathers that grow at the base of the tail but reach only halfway its length -those are the undercoverts) while females' are green.

As to the differences between males and females... well, in my personal experience, the males seem to learn to talk better than the females but they are also more aggressive if something is not to their liking. I have a male and female, Sweetpea and Zoey. Sweetpea was the most aggressive bird I've ever had. I took over 3 years for him to stop attacking me relentlessly every time I walked into the birdroom but it wasn't his fault. He had been kept for 11 years in a small, square cage, was fed the wrong diet and kept at the wrong light schedule so the poor thing was overly hormonal (most likely in constant pain), lonely and super despondent. It wasn't just me he hated, he hated mankind. And, to make matters worse, he fell head over heels in love at first sight with Tobita, a female I used to have that loved me to pieces, so he was attacking me because I was a human and because I was his competition for his love interest. But he is fine now, he no longer bites and we have become very good friends. He is also the best talker I've ever had. He doesn't only know what he is saying and can have conversations with me, he has a very large vocabulary and learns new words and phrases easily. Now, Zoey doesn't say a single word but she understands almost everything I say to her and is the sweetest, sweetest little girl! It took some time to get her to accept other people (she used to fly to my husband's shoulders just to bite him) and other birds because she tends to be very jealous of my paying attention to anybody or anybirdy else (and that is the reason why she was given up by her first and only human) but she is now great. She has become more self-assured as well as secure in my love so she is no longer a velcro bird and now shares me with the other birds and humans without a problem.

Sennies are highly intelligent, good eaters and great fliers and, although they do tend to be a one-person bird, which might create aggression problems with them, if one puts the time and effort into doing things right with them, they can be great companions.

[owlyssa]

As to the differences between males and females... well, in my personal experience, the males seem to learn to talk better than the females but they are also more aggressive if something is not to their liking. I have a male and female, Sweetpea and Zoey. Sweetpea was the most aggressive bird I've ever had. I took over 3 years for him to stop attacking me relentlessly every time I walked into the birdroom but it wasn't his fault. He had been kept for 11 years in a small, square cage, was fed the wrong diet and kept at the wrong light schedule so the poor thing was overly hormonal (most likely in constant pain), lonely and super despondent. It wasn't just me he hated, he hated mankind. And, to make matters worse, he fell head over heels in love at first sight with Tobita, a female I used to have that loved me to pieces, so he was attacking me because I was a human and because I was his competition for his love interest. But he is fine now, he no longer bites and we have become very good friends. He is also the best talker I've ever had. He doesn't only know what he is saying and can have conversations with me, he has a very large vocabulary and learns new words and phrases easily. Now, Zoey doesn't say a single word but she understands almost everything I say to her and is the sweetest, sweetest little girl! It took some time to get her to accept other people (she used to fly to my husband's shoulders just to bite him) and other birds because she tends to be very jealous of my paying attention to anybody or anybirdy else (and that is the reason why she was given up by her first and only human) but she is now great. She has become more self-assured as well as secure in my love so she is no longer a velcro bird and now shares me with the other birds and humans without a problem.

Sennies are highly intelligent, good eaters and great fliers and, although they do tend to be a one-person bird, which might create aggression problems with them, if one puts the time and effort into doing things right with them, they can be great companions.

Thank you for the advice on identifying Kona's gender, Pajarita! I'll be sure to examine him/her more closely come Tuesday; I have a feeling, just based on what I can tell in my picture and from my memory, that Kona might be male, but I'll confirm tomorrow.

Your Sennies' stories are bittersweet, in that they experienced difficulties and poor lifestyles before they came into your life but that they were gradually able to become more confident in their social roles now. And I'm glad that you outlined what you did in your final sentence. When I told my younger sister that I'd settled on a Senegal despite my originally leaning more towards another Cockatiel, her boyfriend (relayed through her) said they were very aggressive birds and this frustrated/angered me because literally ANY creature, be it a bird or a boxer, can become aggressive given the proper stimuli. Being a certain species doesn't automatically determine a bird's disposition.

Sorry for the rant! It really ticked me off to hear him talking about a bird, let alone my baby Kona, that way, especially given the fact that he used to work at a bird sanctuary.

[Wolf]

The Senegal parrot is the only parrot that I have heard of being referred to as a devil bird. However, for the bird to earn a name like that, especially since they are generally peaceful, can only mean that their needs are not being met. After, Kiki, Senegal, ran away from her previous home and came here demanding sanctuary, which she received, it was several months before she made her mind up about her chosen human ( ended being me), then it took over a year before she trusted enough to quit ripping out big chunks of my hands and arms. I have never mistreated her. Now she is one of the most loving birds I have living with me. She needed time to heal so she could trust.

Senegal are a fairly aggressive bird and I will gladly vouch for the fact that they do not bite unless they have a very good parrot reason for it. An aggressive nature in a bird is not the same as being a bad bird, if you pay attention to what they are trying to communicate to you, then you will rarely get a serious bite from them. I will not misrepresent my birds in any way and even if I say something that some people may consider to be bad, I am only saying what I know to be true and I will not hesitate to defend them just as honestly. I trust Kiki and must again say that she is one of my most gentle and loving birds.

[Pajarita]

Well, yes, I agree with you that any creature can be aggressive given the right (wrong?) circumstances but, in truth, I would not hold the "Senegals are aggressive" statement against your sister's boyfriend because although they can be the most loving of birds, they can also be EXTREMELY aggressive. And, most likely, if he worked at a sanctuary, he is basing this opinion on his personal experience with them - and I don't blame him! I would rather deal with an aggressive macaw than with an aggressive Senegal any day of the week! Sweetpea would latch on to my face and not let go even when the blood was running down and literally dripping on my chest and I was pulling his body away with both my hands... And you should have seen Wolf's arms! OMG, he had bruises all over them!

[owlyssa]

Well, yes, I agree with you that any creature can be aggressive given the right (wrong?) circumstances but, in truth, I would not hold the "Senegals are aggressive" statement against your sister's boyfriend because although they can be the most loving of birds, they can also be EXTREMELY aggressive. And, most likely, if he worked at a sanctuary, he is basing this opinion on his personal experience with them - and I don't blame him! I would rather deal with an aggressive macaw than with an aggressive Senegal any day of the week! Sweetpea would latch on to my face and not let go even when the blood was running down and literally dripping on my chest and I was pulling his body away with both my hands... And you should have seen Wolf's arms! OMG, he had bruises all over them!

Yiiiikes! Okay, I'll reserve judgment on the "Senegals are aggressive" belief. The whole "rather have an aggressive macaw than an aggressive Senegal" speaks for itself.

I've attached a full-body picture of Koda that I took when we visited today. From what you've said and I read on another thread, I'm leaning more towards male, but I'm not very sure at all.

[Wolf]

Very pretty little boy, just don't tell him that I used pretty in describing him as I am sure he would have preferred a word like handsome.

Being such a young bird, you will find that he uses his beak a lot to help him learn about the world around him. Just like all other babies be it four legged, human or bird, everything goes into the mouth. With a bird it is called beaking and right now he has no idea of how much pressure is acceptable to use when this is applied to a human, so you will need to explain it to him many times until he figures it out. This can be done as simply as using a word or short phrase such as be gentle or gently and touching his beak and/ or rubbing it.

[liz]

When I worked at Southern States people would drop off kittens in our hay storage during the night. I would calm them so they could be pets and find them homes with our customers. No one wanted one until it had a name. One little one showed up on it's own and was scared of everything but humans. I could pick him up and he would attach to me. When a customer asked the name of the unnamed at the time cat I came up with Velcro and so she was.

I believe I only named 2 of my cockatiels. Shadow is one of my original boys. At the time he was the only one not all yellow. Phoenix I named because he was so mutilated looking when I got him. The hand part of one wing is chopped off. I gave him the name with hope that he will "return from the ashes" part of his life. He has.

Very few came with names. It seems the ones without names came in really fast. A pair with the female a pearl I named Cagney and Lacy after the old TV show and the pearl looks lacy.
Wolf had to help mad to help me. Another two brothers he named Amos and Andy. Like I said they came fast and many look alike so I don't know which ones are Amos and Andy. When they get here even the socialized ones will disappear into the flock for safety. Tommy, almost as old as Shadow became part of the flock and I could not find him. About a week ago he came forward and asked for kisses.

I wandered around again which I do most of the time. The best way to pick a name is to watch for personality. The next way would be for it's markings.
Yey, great. I was a lot of help. LOL

[Pajarita]

Yep, baby Kona looks like a boy to me, too!

[owlyssa]

Glad to confirm Kona is a boy! Now I don't have to flip-flop between gender nouns and confuse the heck out of my family (and myself).

ALSO, an update: Kona was hatched on February 15th of this year, making him 13 weeks old as of today!

Very pretty little boy, just don't tell him that I used pretty in describing him as I am sure he would have preferred a word like handsome.

Being such a young bird, you will find that he uses his beak a lot to help him learn about the world around him. Just like all other babies be it four legged, human or bird, everything goes into the mouth. With a bird it is called beaking and right now he has no idea of how much pressure is acceptable to use when this is applied to a human, so you will need to explain it to him many times until he figures it out. This can be done as simply as using a word or short phrase such as be gentle or gently and touching his beak and/ or rubbing it.

Don't worry, I tell him he's a pretty bird all the time! He doesn't seem to mind. And I really have to thank you guys for your advice regarding beaking. He's becoming more receptive and aware of what's a good and not-so-good pressure to use when interacting with us. And when I visited him on Saturday, he was going to town on some dried papaya and navigating his perch like it was nothing! I'm working on associating a hand in front of him with the intonation, "Step up" so he can learn the connection between the request and the preferred action.

All in all, baby Kona is growing up nicely and my family and I are beyond excited for the day when we'll finally get to take him home!