My Alexander and his ideas!
It all started when Alexandre, my husband, wanted a parrot. He had a sailboat and he wanted his parrot to match with it. What a stupid idea! I didn't agree at all, but he's tenacious. This eternal child wanted his parrot so badly! Ah! men! Rather than having it on my hands when I would return from my mission, I decided to do some search on it. What a good decision!
The deal of my life!
We first bought a very general book about African Greys, but the information was useless on the domestic context. Then, we discovered Johanne Vaillancourt, a recognized activist in the parrot community in Quebec. Her books are full of useful and interesting information. It is because I reed those books that I made the deal of my life with my husband, before agree having a parrot.
She was so right this Johanne! It is really difficult, see impossible to keep a clean floor when you got a parrots. One more reason of not having a parrot, right? So here the deal, I agreed that he would have his parrot but in exchange he would have to cleen the floors of the whole house for the rest of his life (swept and mopped). It's still today the best deal I've made ever!
However, this was only part of the problem, because they are noisy, hate loneliness, extremely vulnerable to illness and stress, are afraid of everything, can bite really hard, must have a stable meal and sleep schedule, need to be daily psychologically stimulated, need having lots of toys to destroy, they are hard on furniture, have to take baths and I won't even tell you about their complex diet. OMG! What was I getting myself into?
Via the awful!
Parrots are extremely intelligent, suspicious, curious, greedy and they fly. They are therefore more complex to raise than any other pet. I was away from home for the first six months after we adopted Via. It was on my return that I noticed the damage. Everything was allowed to her, she was the supreme mistress of the house! As soon as something was refused to her, she attacked. She was scared, she was attacking! She wanted your meal she was attacking!
Unfortunately it has become a game for Via. I imagine she was feeling powerful when she scares someone away screaming. She never misses an opportunity, especially with our eldest daughter, even today. It must be said that my daughter is very expressive and Via loves his reaction.
Not being present at home and not participating to her care. Via saw me as an intruder or rival who got too close to HER favorite human.
It took me a year to come up with a kind of relationship, but I had to make some habit changes and more research. This time it was with Bird tricks that I found my answers to correct creases. Meals outside the cage have been abolished. Sleep and meal times have become more stable. Diet was corrected. The caresses have been limited to the head (hormone issue). I also moved some toy and repaired the damaged wall and moldings. It takes work to achieve parrot-human harmony. You have to gain the parrot's trust without punishing it. Unlike other animals, he may never like you. They keep their freedom of mind even domesticated. A parrot could be unhappy rather than love someone he doesn't want to.
“I think that's one of the characteristics that I like most about birds. They are free in they totally and embody it.”
-Brigitte Marcotte-
Her favorite human being Alexandre, she only having eyes for him and food. He alone has the right and the privilege of closeness. She waits for him on her perch near the entrance when he is not there in the evening. She even made attempts to go down to the garage to join him. He takes her there sometimes when he's tinkering and she figured he may have been there.
Via opens its wings to feel the wind. She loves being where Alexandre is, no matter where it is.
I managed to get accepted by Via by being funny. I was singing nursery rhymes, opera (really bad), making animal noises, cartoon noises, etc. every day while doing the dishes. So I was far enough from her cage for not being consider as an assault, but close enough for her to observe me. She listened carefully, I could read in her posture that she was interested. Quickly, she began to repeat and it became a game. She learned to say hello, Via, up, bye (at the right time, our arrival and departure), peak-a-boo (in a creepy and cute way) that are you doing it? Come on! you are capable! come! Well done Via! You are good! All this with my voice souns and intonation.
Today, she sings Happy Birthday Via, do-re-mi. She imitates the loon, the dog, the cat, the turkey and many others. It copies coat zipper noises, Snap chat, Messenger, TV beeps and fire system beeps wonderfully (with the same intensity). She talks a lot and understands very well that Via is her name and the tone I take if she does something forbidden. Parrots have the intelligence of a child between 3 and 5 years old according to my readings.
So that's how she starts to tolerate me in HER space. She now lets me take her out and back of her her cage and also play rappel every day. When Alexandre is away for a few days, I sometimes have permission to touch her head the feathers. I became his friend. The friend zone is good, but...
Beautiful Clochette.
Clochette the star!
So I decided to have my own parrot. Me, who didn't want any, a year before. We had a second one by my fault. I chose a yellow headed amazon, they are generally less picky than a grey. Her name is Clochette, she's my great love! She smell like a flower when she is happy or excited and this scent has me totally hooked! When angry or scared, this same flower stinks. She doesn't talk as much as Via but she talks too. She says hello, how are you with a hoarse or super loud and high pitched voice. She is much more sociable, the whole family manages to manipulate her except Alexandre. She wants to go on his shoulder, but no way he touches her. The moments to caress her on the head are pure happiness to me! She is very funny and loud. She likes to be the center of attention, she's an opera star. Wings and tail well outstretched, she screams her state of mind at us, especially if there is music playing or someone is on the phone. If you laugh, are loud or expressive she would loves you. She tastes everything I offer her without hesitation, unlike the others who are fearful and prefer to pass their turn. She even makes little noises of satisfaction while eating as if to say; Yum! that's great!
Mango takes a sunbath in this winter morning
Baby Mango
Then we had Mango, a little pineapple conure for my yonger daughter Marilou. It was a mistake, teenagers growing up have less and less time. Between school, sports, work and friends, the bird does not see its human enough to develop a bond. I couldn't leave this baby parrot in its cage all day. So I took care of it as my own. Mango therefore became my parrot too. She has a personality as strong as Via's, but her beack is less painful. Nothing scares her, not even the giant cat. Luckily he's declawed and feerful otherwise she wood have been eat. More affectionate than Clochette, she loves beeing on the neck and the hair. She do not miss a baths occassion. As she is not afraid of anything or anyone, we have to constantly protect her from herself. She does not see the danger of a hot dishwater or a boiling cauldron and does not understand why the swimming pool access is refused to her. Miss bites when she's not happy. The difference is that its beak is much smaller and even if it pinches, it's not very terrible. She chirps when Alexander is vacuuming and screams high-pitched when she disagrees or getting exsited. Mango had his wings clipped when he was adopted. It took four months for the feathers to regrow and another two to give her the confidence to fly. Hoppefully she was a baby, she learned very quickly.
Mango feathering on me and snuggling into my neck before bedtime.
Mango who never misses a bath.
Everywhere all the time!
The three tolerate each other, but always keep a distance except outside where Clochette and Mango sometimes get closer. I hope that over time they will become good friends.
Our parrots follow us everywhere most of the time. They have spent the summer with us on the sailboat. They enjoy the sun almost every day in a harness with us on the patio at the end of the day. Sounds easy like this, but no!
Putting a harness on a bird takes a lot of motivation and patience. With practice, it gets better and they quietly accept the harness, because they like to be with us outside.
The first year Via broke three harnesses during one season, then the following year two and finally she did two years with the same one. They should therefore always be monitored. We can't leave them alone outside with their harnesses. Alexander got bloodied many times when putting the harness on Via, but he ignored the pain and put the harness on her anyway. He keep saying that's why she's so loyal to him. According to him, she needs a boss... maybe!
For Clochette the first year she did not touch the harness. She was terrified! The time spent outside was about 15 minutes maximum. It took almost longer to put the harness on her than the time spent outside.
My technique is of putting her on the floor in the small bathroom to avoid chassing her around the house. I also studied the harness in order to better understand it and be quicker to put it on. Clochette doesn't bite really which made my life easier, but the faster it goes the less afraid she is. The challenge was more of being outside. The noises, the wind, the mosquitoes, everithing scared her in addition to having this thing on her! During the first rides, I had to hold her within my two hands like it was of a nest. She wasn't even standing on her feet. It took about three times for her to start enjoying the activity. The following year, become funnier to her, but she broke her first harness. Carrying something is not natural.
With Mango it's always easier. We are better because we have learned with others. She is so small that the harness does not break under her beak so easily. Same technique as for Clochette, but she bite me the first few times. During the first time she was stuck in my neck and the other parrots weren't there. I wanted to have only her to manage. She quickly became comfortable.
Abandonment and abuse
And so the Parrot project why? I would like to make people aware of the fact that these magnificent birds are not for everyone and extremely demanding.
Parrots are the most abandoned pet in America. Attracted by their talents as a talker (African grey), a dancer (cockatoo and quaker) or their colors (ara, amazon, parakeets, conures and others) people who had idealized the adoption of a parrot having a terrible experience. ( severe bites, repeated persistent cries and breakage of furniture). Some parrots get hit after biting a human. For a bird whose weight is counted in grams, the consequences are equivalent to a car accident for us.
Misunderstood, these unfortunate parrots develop and accumulate bad behaviors and are often abandoned repeatedly. For a bird that lives from 30 to 80 years depending on the breed, we sometimes speak of a dozen adoptions before a specialized center finally recovers them. Some will have their wings amputated (cutting of the metacarpal ligaments) in order to be restricted to the ground forever. Others never come out of their cages and are used as a decorative object, then isolated in a room because of their load yelling. We have already meet a skipper having a African gray parrot. The poor bird never left his cage, according to his human, he was too mean. The poor bird was isolated on the boat where he only received visits from his owner to be fed. This man didn't think he was doing anything wrong, there's no point in throwing rocks at him, but I hope that having seen Alexandre with Via in a harness on his shoulder, will have raise to question certain things.
Rescue Parrot
Perroquet Secours is the reference organization for us here in Quebec. They take care of finding competent families for abandoned, mistreated or lost parrots. They also help to find and reunite runaway parrots with their families. It is not uncommon that by curiosity or to try to follow their favorite human, some parrots get out inadvertently. Panicked, they fly for miles without knowing where to go. Being domesticated, they have no chance of surviving alone outside, especially during the winter in Quebec.
If you want to do a good action that costs nothing. Simply subscribe to the Parroquet Secours Facebook page. You will likely see an ad for a lost parrot in your area at some point and can help find it. Just go out for a walk and check if he's somewhere near you.
Also, if while taking your walk you see a bird with tropical colors, the right thing to do is to take a picture with your cell phone and identify Perroquet secours.
If the bird approaches, do not be afraid, it will not bite you, it is confident enough to approach. He's so terrified and until now you're his new best friend! You can talk to him gently and encourage him to come see you. Then, if you manage to bring the bird home, you can offer water and notify Perroquet Secours. They will stop the search and send a volunteer pick up the bird. The poor bird will probably be exhausted and not move much. A chair backrest with a dish towel on top will suffice as a perch.
Photography in all this?
Probably I would never finish this project. First for the technical difficulty of execution. It is really difficult to photograph a bird indoors. Light is rarely enough.
Birds are afraid of the camera and with the required speed I sould have to adjust the camera to get a sharp image, it normally requires a flash, especially when they are flying. Which scares them even more (I tried).
I'm working on experimenting with the tripod, a remote, and some distance, but again, it's not easy. They are very often on me, moving constantly and quickly, which makes the framing and composition random.
Then, it's a project based on my two passions (photography and birds) so why ending it?
I plan to add other birds to the project. We will surely talk about it again, there is so much to see and know.
I confess to having passed up the photography opportunity in Mexico. There was this magnificent blue and gold macaw with which they offering you photos. Instead, I preferred to speak with the bird and check with its human about his living conditions. Although not ideal for the bird due to the heat and clipped ligament. I assure you, his human was tooking care of it proprelly. He was experiencing the same thing as his bird while looking for customers on the sunny beach. While chatting with this Mexican, I witnessed him offer a cold glass of water, a fruit and let his parrot play with leaves during the break in the shade. Also, the bird had a reward after each short cooperation on the shoulder or the arm of the tourist for the time of a photo. He was also making sure everything was very fast.
I blame myself for not having asked to take a picture of both of them. I just didn't think about it at the time, hypnotized by this magnificent bird.