New and Have a question.

[Wolf]

I really don't have much of a problem with the noise from Mimi's screaming and lived with it as an everyday, all day occurrance for her first three months when she first came here. But at the time not only was I very new to parrots, I had not yet had enough time observing her when she was not screaming. I did understand that the screaming at the time was because she was not happy with being moved to a new environment with all new people and birds. But now I know what is happening when she starts screaming. I don't always bring it to an end either, I watch what she id doing and can now tell the difference when she is working through an issue and when she is just kind of stuck. I don't interfere with her as long as she is working through an issue of if she is just making noise for the "fun" of it. The difference comes down to the intensity of it, the tonal quality as well as he actions at the time to help me to know the difference. I just don't think that it is good for her when she gets stuck, I have been there myself and it was not a good feeling.

The issues that she has to work out in her mind is that for 13 or 14 years she was not allowed to be herself and it upsets her to find that she is allowed to do things how and when she wants to as she was never allowed to do that before she came here. She was not allowed out of her cage unless she was toweled and removed, so when she discovered that she could come out, she would start screaming and come out and continue to scream while she was outside of the cage and then rush right back in and then go to the top of the cage and pace and weave while upside down and screaming for a while and then she would start talking it out. Now she will come out without screaming and talk and enjoy herself. She will come out and climb around the outside of her cage. At first she would scream all the way around the cage, now she will make it about 1/3 of the way around it without screaming as she makes her way around it and then ducks inside to do her upside down pacing and screaming thing, which has stopped taking as long and then she comes out and perches on one of the outside perches and just talks and whistles and relaxes. I have even caught her napping on these outside perches when she doesn't think that I am watching her.

[Pajarita]

Out of all the zons I've had and still have, there was only one that was a screamer, Prettybird, my first rescue. She also used to pluck her chest and hate all people -she would hang on with one foot to the edge of the open door of the cage in order to reach farther and bite you as you walked by, she was a real character, Prettybird was But she stopped screaming in a matter of a couple of months (it took longer for her to stop biting and plucking). In my personal experience, amazons are not screamers and, although some of them might be a bit too noisy (Mami been the one that comes immediately to mind), they are never very loud for a long period of time. So, yes, I agree with you that her screaming is a sequela of the inadequate way she was kept before she came to you. The poor thing must have screamed and screamed and screamed asking for attention without getting it so it now became both a habit and maybe even a way of comforting herself. Sometimes, when the psychological damage has been great, it takes years for them to 'work things out in their heads' as you say.

[seagoatdeb]

Years ago, I had a rescue Senegal that was a screamer, that parrot only screamed because it wanted constant atttention, and only screamed when it was in the cage, and it would scream all day if left alone. It was supposed to be my daughters parrot, but she was still going to school back then, and so i would handle the parrot as it needed atention very badly. If i had to say what that parrots issue was it was fear of abandonment and lack of attention.....Unfortunately the Senegal bonded to me and as a lot of Senegals do, that one had a tendency to be a one person parrot, and it would not let my daughter handle it anymore.

[Pajarita]

Yes, I had a female Senegal that was given up because of her constant screaming, too. People refer to sennies as one of the 'quiet' parrot species and it is true that they are BUT only if they get enough attention.

[Wolf]

Mimi doesn't scream a lot any more. It appears to me to only be when she does something that was not allowed before she came here. Because she is drawing attention to herself when she does these things the very first thing that we do is to tell her that she is a good bird and then wait for her to calm down. This is not exhuberent type of praise, it is just telling her that it is alright and then when she calms down and starts talking to us instead of screaming we give her lots of attention and lavish her in praise. I don't want to encourage her to scream, but I do think that she needs our acknowledgment that she is doing something.. The other time that she screams is after she goes back into her cage after trying something new, at least to us, which was probably not allowed and this is when she sometimes gets stuck. I can only imagine how hard it is for her to reconcile in her mind that she is free to be herself after so many years of it being forbidden. Once she has been distracted enough during these times, she calms down and talks and talks and talks and we respond with praise and physical contact and talking back and forth with her. The few times that she has not done anything that might have been forbidden and is just perched and starts screaming, we do not acknowledge it at all and just wait to see if she calms down or gets stuck.

She does get excited when my Lady comes home and screams out hello and then a few screams and back to talking, very loud, but still talking. When she is after attention, she will repeat over and over " Mimi is a good bird or girl" or " Mimi is being a good girl". Sometimes she will say " I'm the best little bird in the whole world" when she wants attention. And these always get her attention.

[Pajarita]

Oh, sheesh! I would also shower her with attention when she says something like that! Poor little girl!

[seagoatdeb]

Yes, I had a female Senegal that was given up because of her constant screaming, too. People refer to sennies as one of the 'quiet' parrot species and it is true that they are BUT only if they get enough attention.

I have had different small Pois and Senegals are louder. Sunny contact calls if i sleep in, he is my alarm clock....lol...but he is not as loud as a Senegal. Gaugans alarm call is even quieter than Sunnys. When that Senegal i had was screaming, I could hear it outside when i was quite a distance away, that is not quiet thats for sure. At my daughters house the new Senegal is louder than her Meyers, but the little GGC is the loudest of all.

[Pajarita]

Yes, the little GCCs have quite a loud and shrill call when they are alone, I had two that were screamers for a while until they calmed down. And sennies have a very high pitch three tone call (I call it the kurrichi call because that's what it sounds to me) that can be quite ear deafening, too

[seagoatdeb]

My daughters conure likes to do other parrrots sound and he has decided he likes to do the outside magpies loud morning call when they are disturbed about something, but he does it even louder.

[Pajarita]

Well, of course he has to do them louder! Any self-respecting parrot knows it's their God-given duty to outscream anybody else in the neighborhood!