Why I love the cold winter days:

[Chantilly]

It is cooling down now, which means two things: we no longer need to have the fans on twenty-four/seven (ay, it aint 45°C+ now!) and that the baby birds get to be out pretty much all day. Seriously. It is still cooling down but even the coldest time on the coldest day will not get far bellow 10°C.
I have been able to have the birds out a lot lately, and I have started flight recal with Tilly again (we are up to about 10metres after doing it for three days, at one 10 min session a day, so we are going good.) Tilly is so bright ... I can ask her 'what is Tillys name?' and she replies 'Tilly'. or I can ask 'What is Tilly, and she will answer 'Tilly is a good little girl'. The rest of my family isnt convinced that she talks in context, but I swear she is sidekick. I will get her to stepup
'Step up Tilly'
and she says -'Step up.' *steps up and says 'good' before I can. And If she is being bity she will say 'good?' after delivering a play bite.

Shrek is allot slower (no offence Shreky!), which just means she is amused by little things like paper bags, cardboard rolls, a table that has someone talking behind it (she actually thinks it is the table, and tilts her head like 'Woah! this is so wierd!! I got to figure it out!'). She is really happy lately though and has been getting lots of one on one time every day and heaps of scratches. Her stress bars still arent gone though, so I am wondering if she needs to molt for them to go, or if I have not been giving her enough time still (she is getting 4-5 hours a day now.) Also I dont think Shrek understands any words (including her name) and that she only understands the tones of my voice, I guess that is understandable though. But we are working together allot and today she did a nice big flight lap and landed back on my hand.


Sorry, I am starting to ramble, one more thing, Yellow Scaly lorikeets are A LOT more common in Australia now, they are only meant to be at the top of QLD, but I have seen them at the GoldCoast, and today I saw them fly over our property (I am in awe with them right now, before I met Shrek I did not even know they existed.)

[Wolf]

If I have this right the stress bars form during stressful periods while the feather is forming and growing inside its protective sheath and they do not go away until they are molted.

Just because a bird does not seem to respond to you when you speak to it does not mean that they do not understand you or the meaning of the word. This is especially true if they think that you want them to do something they just don't want to do at the moment even if they want to do it one minute later. They also have a perverse sense of humor and like to see if they can get a rise out of you.

[liz]

If I have this right the stress bars form during stressful periods while the feather is forming and growing inside its protective sheath and they do not go away until they are molted.

Just because a bird does not seem to respond to you when you speak to it does not mean that they do not understand you or the meaning of the word. This is especially true if they think that you want them to do something they just don't want to do at the moment even if they want to do it one minute later. They also have a perverse sense of humor and like to see if they can get a rise out of you.

So very true, Wolf. They can ignore their human just as much as a toddler can to it's parent. I know mine know what I say because when they are in the mood they respond.

Rambo is much better acknowledging that he hears and understands what I say. Rambo goes deaf when he is having fun somewhere with something he should not be doing. He does not make a noise and is almost impossible to find. Most of his hiding to play time is in the bathroom.

Myrtle will sometimes play that she can't hear me and goes on with what she is into. Other times she can be doing something or be somewhere that she should not. If I don't see her she will make little noises until I follow the noise and run her out of what ever it is. Sometimes she will repeatedly go back just to have me fuss at her. Myrtle has turned my aunt's favorite words that annoy me into something that makes me laugh. My aunt uses "Oh well" as a way to dismiss me when she does not want to hear what I am saying. Myrtle liked it and is now telling Aunt Betty "Oh well" when she fusses at her.

The world has gotten so much smaller. The fact that you are starting into cold weather and we are topping 80 degrees at midday.

It must be nice having a sweet little bird like Tilly. I have a few Cockatiels that make me smile all the time. My Amazons have strong personalities and are like rotten kids

[Chantilly]

Aww so cuye Liz! Haha! I would not be able to hold in the Lolz

[liz]

Good Day Tampa Bay us in the 50s at night and 80s during the day. Every thing has blossomed. Plants that we thought died with our few freezes are coming back from the roots.

[Pajarita]

Stress bars do not disappear, the feathers have to be molted for them to go away. And yes, I agree that parrots understand much more than they let on. I think it's like when somebody is beginning to learn a second language... they understand almost everything but they cannot speak it well.

[Wolf]

Just curious and I have no idea if it could or would apply to parrots or not, but when learning a new language do you learn to think in the new language or do you normally think in the one that you already knew?

[Pajarita]

I guess it depends on the person, which language you are learning versus your mother tongue, and where, specifically, you are in the process of learning.

Now, some people seem to have an innate 'knack' for languages and are able to 'pick up' a new language much faster than others (this is my husband's theory -he says he lacks 'the knack' while I have it) but I think that it has more to do with commitment and a desire for perfection than actual innate ability.

As to the actual learning process, I think (never actually stopped to think carefully about this so I am pretty much thinking out loud here) that when the language base is the same as your own (like, for example, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French which are all Latin-based languages) you start by simply using your own language syntax but changing the words to the ones in the new language and then, as you learn more, proceed to tweak it to make it specific to the new language. For example, in Spanish and Portuguese, 'my son' would translate into 'mi hijo' and 'meu filho' with the possessive adjective ('mi' and 'meu') not indicating gender (same as in English) so only the noun tells you that your progeny is a boy and not a girl - BUT, in Italian and French, you would say 'mio figlio' and 'mon fils' with the possessive adjectives indicating gender as well as the noun. That's the tweaking I was talking about that has to do with the where, exactly, you are in the learning process.

Now, English is a real b*tch to learn for romance-speaking people because not only the syntax is completely different (English been a Germanic language), but also because (thanks to the fact that it is also a hodgepodge of several languages) there is no such thing as ANY pronunciation or spelling rule that doesn't have a million exceptions so you have to, pretty much, learn how to pronounce and spell every word by heart.

[Wolf]

That is all really great but since I know that you speak Portugeuse as well as American English, which one do you think in?

[Chantilly]

I am learning Japaneese as a second language in school.
I can hear 'otokonoko watashiwa hashitaimusu' and I understand it without having to think about it in english... but it is harder when speaking it, I have to think of what I am saying in English then think about how that goes in Japaneese... Theat is me anyway