Is it ok to play birds chirping

[Eric&Rebecca]

I was watching a documentary on birds of paradise and Percy started chirping which was sooo cute but I wondered if this is actually a bad and misleading thing to do. Could it make him think there is another bird in the room or make confused?

Or is it good to do this because it reassures him and encourages natural behaviours?

[friend2parrots]

I think in the future, its perfectly fine as an enrichment activity, as long as he doesnt seem disturbed by it (some birds get worked up, for reasons of territorialism - i guess youll have to watch his reaction)

right now, however, I wouldnt play him any bird chirping CDs, for the following reason:

because I think it will probably facilitate the bond between Percy and Edmund if the only bird that Percy hears right now is Edmund, doing his contact calls from the other room.

what do you think? how are the contact calls going, by the way? do they seem interested in each other?

[Eric&Rebecca]

OK no more nature documentaries for a while then! It was pure coincidence and I wanted to check...

No contact calls as yet although Percy is still very young but we have had a little chirping spree out of him other than TV stimulated ones- like when Eric sits next to his cage and talks to him Percy wil occassionally bumble around and chirp as if to say "now I am eating"... and "now I am drinking". He has become a bit more active in climbing around but is still very placid. Eating like a madman though! Although none these chirping sessions appear to be triggered by Edmund. Edmund is trying though... persistently. If Percy flaps for any reason (he is still baby bird clumsy!) Edmund will call to him or fly to the door to try and protect him which is sweet.

I will admit to there being a slight incident with the quarantine... Luckily Percy was only vet checked recently so we know there's very little chance of contamination. There was a small gap in the door and Edmund managed to walk through it, we didn't think the gap was anywhere near big enough. It wasn't till I heard Edmund's "helloooo" I realised what had happened. He had very cleverly moved my blue bobbly hat onto my shoulder in his place before very silently skulking off, like a pillow stuffed in bed as a kid! I soon realised Edmund has not turned blue but was pulling off some sort of escape artistry.

We briskly went in only to find Edmund sitting on the shelf right next to Percy's cage. Percy had actually moved to see Edmund and was seemingly intrigued. We tried to move to get Edmund away as quick as possible but without startling either bird as that would have done more harm than good. Although, when Edmund tried to nibble some seeds he had dropped outside the cage this was a bit rich for Percy. Percy made this little selection of throaty noises which sounded like a pathetic blustering as if to say... and what do you think you're doing?! Edmund then flew straight to me and hid in my pony tail!

We did call the avian vet to declare quarantine breach but he said it's very unlikely that little time would result in contamination and the chance of Percy being in any way sick was very small indeed. So not to worry, these things happen. He knows what Edmund's like... last time we were there for a check up he flew into his bird cupboard and began flinging swabs at him. Needless to say we were very embarassed birdy parents!

The door now remains completely shut when Edmund's out!- no more sneaky visits.

[janetafloat]

Friends2parrot's response seems very sensible. However, for future reference I often play a radio station called Birdsong radio which is (as the name implies) nothing but birdsong. It's lovely background sound, very relaxing, and Scout enjoys it too and often gets very chirpy when it's on

[marie83]

Never heard of birdsong radio :S tell me more please...

[janetafloat]

Its a British radio station and literally just plays birdsong, it's lovely. Check out their website on birdsongradio.com

[friend2parrots]

I will admit to there being a slight incident with the quarantine... Luckily Percy was only vet checked recently so we know there's very little chance of contamination. There was a small gap in the door and Edmund managed to walk through it, we didn't think the gap was anywhere near big enough. It wasn't till I heard Edmund's "helloooo" I realised what had happened. He had very cleverly moved my blue bobbly hat onto my shoulder in his place before very silently skulking off, like a pillow stuffed in bed as a kid! I soon realised Edmund has not turned blue but was pulling off some sort of escape artistry.

We briskly went in only to find Edmund sitting on the shelf right next to Percy's cage. Percy had actually moved to see Edmund and was seemingly intrigued. We tried to move to get Edmund away as quick as possible but without startling either bird as that would have done more harm than good. Although, when Edmund tried to nibble some seeds he had dropped outside the cage this was a bit rich for Percy. Percy made this little selection of throaty noises which sounded like a pathetic blustering as if to say... and what do you think you're doing?! Edmund then flew straight to me and hid in my pony tail!

We did call the avian vet to declare quarantine breach but he said it's very unlikely that little time would result in contamination and the chance of Percy being in any way sick was very small indeed. So not to worry, these things happen. He knows what Edmund's like... last time we were there for a check up he flew into his bird cupboard and began flinging swabs at him. Needless to say we were very embarassed birdy parents!

The door now remains completely shut when Edmund's out!- no more sneaky visits.

this got me laughing what a funny little character Edmund is! sneaky visits indeed! too funny!