Dear reader,
One of my fans pointed out to me that commenting on the articles didn't work. My parronts say that they have fixed it now. When you comment, you should be able to do it with all kinds of accounts, but also anonymous.
Oh, by the way, even though I myself mostly speak English (I have a vocabulary of about 15 English words and recognizable sounds so far), my parronts both speak English as well as Nederlands. Feel free to comment in either of those languages. ;)
If you do happen to run into problems, you can also email me by clicking on the link on the left side, or send a message in Google+ or Twitter. We'll always reply, but it might take a few days.
Hugz & wink,
Vinny
February 12, 2013
December 28, 2012
Vinny shakes a tail feather
Normally a Vosmaeri Eclectus has 12 tail feathers. Vinny is down to 3. That is three. That's right. Luckily, they'll grow back, and that should happen over the next half year or so, while he's going through his first major molt. He's just about 1 year old now, so if you know your Eclectus, you know what I'm talking about.
It's actually pitiful (read: funny) to watch, he truly looks like a handicapped bird, but in a funny way, like a pirate with a peg leg. Even though he can still fly quite nicely with just 3 tail feathers, you can tell that his maneuvering is a bit wonky. He sways a bit left and right now, and if there was something like a parrot police, he would be pulled over for drunk flying for sure.
I may have said it before: Vinny is a true stuntman from time to time, mean that he often climbs in and on his cage in ways we never thought was possible, uses his swing like a real trapeze artist, and so forth. He sometimes gets himself in trouble and has to make emergency landings. During the first 8 months or so we've had him, he's lost a few tail feathers doing just that.
Recently, we've been on vacation and we put Vinny in a Pet Hotel at a bird-expert vet about half an hour drive away. 17 Days later he came back with yet 2 tail feathers lost. This was probably due to pacing around a very small cage. This is normally his sleeping cage. We have it in the darkest room in the house, to make sure Vinny get's at least 12 hours of rest every day. Of course the cage is still big enough for him to spread his wings at least, but other than that, it's not intended for him to stay in it for a longer period of time.
At the vet, we had no other option, because this is the only cage that will fit in our car. So he lost a few more. No big deal. But after we came back from vacation, Vinny seemed to be more fond of that cage, I guess he saw that as his comfort zone. So we let him stay in there more than normal. He even went in there by himself when we were around. And that caused him to lose 2 more, the day after we came home from vacation.
So three it is. No biggie. Not a problem. They'll grow back. Of course, because of this, we've been looking for signs of his first big molt, and last week our patience was rewarded. Two days in a row, we found two flight feathers (for those who don't know: the big long feathers on his wing) in his cage, perfectly intact as they're supposed to be.
And yesterday we found one of his stumps of a broken off tail feather as well, with a nice and intact base, a clear sign of a naturally shed feather. Perfect, perfect, perfect! He's right on schedule and within half a year, he should have most or all of his tail feathers back.
The thing with tail feathers, and we've read this on various parrot and Eclectus expert websites, is that the first feathers a bird has, are more flexible, but at that also weaker than his adult feathers. The reason for this is that nature has figured out that baby birds are more reckless and are more prone to feather-breaking than adult birds. Makes sense, right? Imagine chicks ruffling around in a small nest, or kids doing all kinds of stunts that are actually very helpful in getting in touch with their agility and dexterity. If everything we've read is correct, he should grow back stronger feathers.
And then this morning, to top it all off, we noticed two very nice pin feathers on his wings, one on each side, in the same spot. Those must be the replacements for the flight feathers he shed last week.
Remember, this is all new to us. If you're a weathered parrot-owner, you must probably be laughing at this! And if you have no interest in parrots whatsoever, you must probably be asking yourself what the big deal is.
Vinny is nowhere close to a human kid of course, but just imagine your own kid missing almost all of his front baby teeth, and then noticing the signs of his adult teeth breaking through. That's why we deem this a Kodak moment and write about it, for your pleasure!
Do you have an Eclectus or any other kind of parrot, and you have funny stories about their first molt? Please do share, that's what comments are for.
More coming up about Vinny's adventures as a young Eclectus finding his way on this great chunk of dirt we call Earth. He's about to see the big Oh-One, so time to sum up a year of new experiences, for both Vinny and his 'parronts'.
 |
| Clear view of 2 snapped tail feathers after yet another typical Vinny-stunt. Vinny is quite wet here, just having had a shower. Moments later, we freed him of his broken off feathers. |
I may have said it before: Vinny is a true stuntman from time to time, mean that he often climbs in and on his cage in ways we never thought was possible, uses his swing like a real trapeze artist, and so forth. He sometimes gets himself in trouble and has to make emergency landings. During the first 8 months or so we've had him, he's lost a few tail feathers doing just that.
 |
| left: broken off baby tail feather middle: shedded stump of broken off tail feather right: naturally shed flight feather |
At the vet, we had no other option, because this is the only cage that will fit in our car. So he lost a few more. No big deal. But after we came back from vacation, Vinny seemed to be more fond of that cage, I guess he saw that as his comfort zone. So we let him stay in there more than normal. He even went in there by himself when we were around. And that caused him to lose 2 more, the day after we came home from vacation.
So three it is. No biggie. Not a problem. They'll grow back. Of course, because of this, we've been looking for signs of his first big molt, and last week our patience was rewarded. Two days in a row, we found two flight feathers (for those who don't know: the big long feathers on his wing) in his cage, perfectly intact as they're supposed to be.
And yesterday we found one of his stumps of a broken off tail feather as well, with a nice and intact base, a clear sign of a naturally shed feather. Perfect, perfect, perfect! He's right on schedule and within half a year, he should have most or all of his tail feathers back.
The thing with tail feathers, and we've read this on various parrot and Eclectus expert websites, is that the first feathers a bird has, are more flexible, but at that also weaker than his adult feathers. The reason for this is that nature has figured out that baby birds are more reckless and are more prone to feather-breaking than adult birds. Makes sense, right? Imagine chicks ruffling around in a small nest, or kids doing all kinds of stunts that are actually very helpful in getting in touch with their agility and dexterity. If everything we've read is correct, he should grow back stronger feathers.
 |
| New pin feather on his left wing |
Remember, this is all new to us. If you're a weathered parrot-owner, you must probably be laughing at this! And if you have no interest in parrots whatsoever, you must probably be asking yourself what the big deal is.
Vinny is nowhere close to a human kid of course, but just imagine your own kid missing almost all of his front baby teeth, and then noticing the signs of his adult teeth breaking through. That's why we deem this a Kodak moment and write about it, for your pleasure!
Do you have an Eclectus or any other kind of parrot, and you have funny stories about their first molt? Please do share, that's what comments are for.
More coming up about Vinny's adventures as a young Eclectus finding his way on this great chunk of dirt we call Earth. He's about to see the big Oh-One, so time to sum up a year of new experiences, for both Vinny and his 'parronts'.
Souvenirs for Vinny!
For Turkey Day, my girlfriend and I went to visit her family in the USA. Vinny stayed with the vet for those 17 days. Our bird-expert vet has a boarding arrangement as well. See our separate post about that.
Usually when we visit the States, we do lots of shopping, clothing in particular. Everything is much cheaper there so we save a ton of money. This was our first trip since we have Vinny, so we figured it was time to do some Vinny-shopping as well. Time to get souvenirs.
Now, most souvenirs we had on our shopping list included materials to create toys ourselves. Raw leather (not chemically treated) is hard to find here, including stainless steel clasps, rings and parts, at least at a reasonable price.
Halfway through our vacation, we hadn't gotten anything for Vinny yet, except for 2 colorful cardboard pinatas, from a chain pet store. Much cheaper than here in the Netherlands, but not what we were looking for. So we did some googling and this is how it came to be that we found THE PERFECT STORE !!
Why in capitals, why so sure about that? If you're ever in the States, or if you live there, you should really (and I can't emphasize this enough) check out the store we found.
It was an hour drive for us, from where my girlfriend's mother lives (Allentown, PA) to a town called Burlington, in the wonderful state of New Jersey. This is where we found Bird Paradise, and that was exactly what it looked like to us!
They call themselves 'World's Largest Bird Store' and we've visited a few that called themselves that, but this particular one is definitely worthy of that title. One experience we will never forget. Let me describe how we experienced this store.
So, you come to this store, with a parking lot suitable for maybe 60-70 cars, and a reasonably sized building. One floor. And all around the parking lot are 2nd hand cages lined up, with price tags on them. The building obviously screams that they're some kind of parrot store, but once you get inside, the first thing you notice is a corridor with bird toys on either side. This was already more than we saw in any Dutch pet store. Then, about 15 feet in, a sign and spray bottles with hand sanitizer. A good sign! They take hygiene seriously and that's always nice to see.
Then we turned right, and came into a room with stuff for wild birds. We were put off a bit. We figured, so half the store is gonna be like this? Not what we're looking for. But we pushed on, took another turn and came into another room, and another turn and into the the main room, where the front desk and register were. More walls filled with toys. More stands, also filled with toys. More of everything, except for the wild bird crap. Who's interested in that? Not us, so we were happy that that was only in one room apparently.
In the main room, they had a bunch of large stands with tame parrots sitting on them, amongst other birds, at least a couple of very friendly Eclectus and an adult Macaw that truly was the sweetest of all.
Then we took another turn, and all of a sudden it dawned on us! We had arrived in Bird Toy Heaven! We looked down this isle, which gradually sloped down into a basement of sorts, and looked down a path crossing at least 4 (four!) more rooms, exactly like the ones we walked through.
Floor to wall, narrow paths in between stands, all filled with nothing but parrot toys, parrot toy parts, parrot stands, parrot EVERYTHING! You name it, we saw it there.
All in all we walked through about 8 rooms, all like that, with no exception. And at the end of it all, we went into the large rooms (plural) with the live parrots! More 'oh-my-goodness' !! Big cages, open sections with hundreds of parrots of all sorts! Even one with about 20 Caiques, all housed together, playful and clown-like as they always are .. while we had trouble finding those here in the Netherlands!
The pictures in this post don't do the right amount of justice to this store. We felt truly humble here. If you live far away, but if you ever get a chance, make sure you visit this place!
A few hours later, after the friendly lady at the desk had tallied up the US$ 212 we spent (and that was after putting back some stuff, because it was too much to take home), we walked back to the car and drove off silently, still impressed. It was 10 minutes later when the first thing we said was: good thing we don't live around here! We'd be broke by now, just because of this store!
Back at home, we still have a big red suitcase sitting in our living room. It is the one with all the toys and Vinny stuff. And whenever Vinny is around and we come near the suitcase, he goes on high alert! He stretches his neck, he looks at the suitcase, he knows that all those colorful things in there are his. We even caught him red-clawed a few times, trying to get into the suitcase, while we were just looking away for a moment. Sneaky bird!
But he can't have it all in one go, This new collection of toys is supposed to last us at least a year, so whenever it's time for a new toy, we let him ruffle through the suitcase and whatever he picks out, he gets, before the suitcase closes again till next time.
Information about the store:
Name: Bird Paradise
Website: http://bird-paradise.biz
Webshop: http://www.mybirdstore.com (they ship internationally)
Address: 551 E Rt 130 South, Burlington, NJ, USA
No, we don't own shares of this store, nor are we in any way affiliated, except for the fact that we became instant fans of Bird Paradise during our visit. Next time we're in the States, we definitely clear a day in our schedule (and a sizable chunk out of our budget) to visit this store!
Halfway through our vacation, we hadn't gotten anything for Vinny yet, except for 2 colorful cardboard pinatas, from a chain pet store. Much cheaper than here in the Netherlands, but not what we were looking for. So we did some googling and this is how it came to be that we found THE PERFECT STORE !!
Why in capitals, why so sure about that? If you're ever in the States, or if you live there, you should really (and I can't emphasize this enough) check out the store we found.
It was an hour drive for us, from where my girlfriend's mother lives (Allentown, PA) to a town called Burlington, in the wonderful state of New Jersey. This is where we found Bird Paradise, and that was exactly what it looked like to us!
 |
| Bird Paradise, front/road view of the store |
So, you come to this store, with a parking lot suitable for maybe 60-70 cars, and a reasonably sized building. One floor. And all around the parking lot are 2nd hand cages lined up, with price tags on them. The building obviously screams that they're some kind of parrot store, but once you get inside, the first thing you notice is a corridor with bird toys on either side. This was already more than we saw in any Dutch pet store. Then, about 15 feet in, a sign and spray bottles with hand sanitizer. A good sign! They take hygiene seriously and that's always nice to see.
Then we turned right, and came into a room with stuff for wild birds. We were put off a bit. We figured, so half the store is gonna be like this? Not what we're looking for. But we pushed on, took another turn and came into another room, and another turn and into the the main room, where the front desk and register were. More walls filled with toys. More stands, also filled with toys. More of everything, except for the wild bird crap. Who's interested in that? Not us, so we were happy that that was only in one room apparently.
In the main room, they had a bunch of large stands with tame parrots sitting on them, amongst other birds, at least a couple of very friendly Eclectus and an adult Macaw that truly was the sweetest of all.
 |
| Walls and walls full of toys |
Floor to wall, narrow paths in between stands, all filled with nothing but parrot toys, parrot toy parts, parrot stands, parrot EVERYTHING! You name it, we saw it there.
All in all we walked through about 8 rooms, all like that, with no exception. And at the end of it all, we went into the large rooms (plural) with the live parrots! More 'oh-my-goodness' !! Big cages, open sections with hundreds of parrots of all sorts! Even one with about 20 Caiques, all housed together, playful and clown-like as they always are .. while we had trouble finding those here in the Netherlands!
The pictures in this post don't do the right amount of justice to this store. We felt truly humble here. If you live far away, but if you ever get a chance, make sure you visit this place!
 |
| Sign in the store, hanging just a bit too low? |
Back at home, we still have a big red suitcase sitting in our living room. It is the one with all the toys and Vinny stuff. And whenever Vinny is around and we come near the suitcase, he goes on high alert! He stretches his neck, he looks at the suitcase, he knows that all those colorful things in there are his. We even caught him red-clawed a few times, trying to get into the suitcase, while we were just looking away for a moment. Sneaky bird!
But he can't have it all in one go, This new collection of toys is supposed to last us at least a year, so whenever it's time for a new toy, we let him ruffle through the suitcase and whatever he picks out, he gets, before the suitcase closes again till next time.
 |
| Vinny picking a toy from the red suitcase |
Information about the store:
Name: Bird Paradise
Website: http://bird-paradise.biz
Webshop: http://www.mybirdstore.com (they ship internationally)
Address: 551 E Rt 130 South, Burlington, NJ, USA
No, we don't own shares of this store, nor are we in any way affiliated, except for the fact that we became instant fans of Bird Paradise during our visit. Next time we're in the States, we definitely clear a day in our schedule (and a sizable chunk out of our budget) to visit this store!
December 27, 2012
Vinny's Vacation at the Vet
Since my girlfriend (Vinny's mommy) is American, we went on vacation to the USA, visiting family for Thanksgiving. I'm a big fan of her family (love ya all!), but another great reason for me was to go for all the foods that we don't really have here in the Netherlands, including the all famous Thanksgiving Turkey. We had Grilled, Baked and Deep-fried and it was GOOD!Obviously, it seems a bit weird to talk about eating birds, while this blog IS about a (pet) bird. However, I can see Vinny imitate the gobble-gobble of a turkey, but I don't see a turkey greet us and laugh at/with us and say Coca Cola, and sit on my shoulder watching tv with us. That's the difference and that's nature.
Before we got Vinny, we did our research on boarding for Vinny, since obviously you can't take anything with feathers from Europe to the States. And even if it was possible, having to buy a full ticket for a bird that weighs around 420 grams (almost 15 ounces), seems a bit excessive.
So we chose to give Vinny another safe home for the 17 days that we were gone. Surprisingly, the solution was only half an hour drive away, and cost a mere 5 euros per day. Very reasonable price, compared to bird-boarding in the USA, or for cats/dogs anywhere. And it is at the local bird-expert vet.
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| The Vet: Dierenziekenhuis & hotel Drachten. Photo source: www.dierenziekenhuisdrachten.nl |
This was truly a test for us. We've only had him for 8 months, but we've never left him behind for more than half a day, let alone with strangers. We weren't afraid that anything was going to happen to our boy, just that he might scream all day, cause a few bite wounds here and there or be a holy hell terror for the 2 weeks. Obviously, if that would happen, we'd be extra anxious to bring him there next time, or leave him behind anywhere, for that matter.
We prepped everything. We had 17 days of his special bean mix, a baggie of pellets, some fresh fruit, a handful of toys and a short document with some basic instructions. Okay, we may have gone a bit overboard with that last one. It was 2 pages describing his feeding pattern, his general behavior, his vocabulary and emergency contact information. They probably had a few giggles over that, but we didn't care.
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| Charlie & Darwin |
During our stay in the States, especially the first few days, we joked about calling in to see how he was doing. I had to put my foot down several times to prevent my girlfriend from calling. Especially with the 2 page manifest on Vinny-care, I didn't want to seem like the typical over-concerned parent.
Just for your information: the budgie-duo Charlie and Darwin were housed at my parents for a total of 3 weeks and of course they were treated like royalty with fresh fruits and veggies every day and lots and lots of attention, including from my niece and nephew who were over almost every day to say hi to them. They even had a room with a view!
Then, it was time. We came back home on a Monday morning, and went to pick up Vinny that same afternoon.
Immediately after checking in at the vet's front desk, we heard that everything went great and it turned out that everyone of the vet's staff loved Vinny. They took him out of the cage to fly around a bit, he had a lot of company, he was the sweetest bird ever, didn't bite, didn't growl, didn't scream ... a true model bird! No signs of his earlier biting stage he went through, no signs of upcoming puberty, no signs of general bad behavior whatsoever.
As you can imagine, we were very relieved! We raised Vinny well, so far. And now we feel confident that whenever we do want or need to go travelling, we can easily leave our pet behind.
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| Vinny after he took a shower back at home |
Passed, with flying colors!
Do you have any experiences with boarding your bird, any stories that stick out? Good or bad? Feel free to let us know by commenting!
The pictures of the birds are ours (also the grilled one). Other picture courtesy of Dierenziekenhuis Drachten (the vet, from their excellent website).
August 25, 2012
Vinny the Inventor
Vinny definitely watches too much tv. Please let me explain that.
Sometimes when we're doing chores around the house, or we're in the office upstairs for a little while and Vinny's too rambunctious for his own good, we leave him by himself in the big cage in the living room. He's totally fine there. Lots of toys to play with, a bit of snacky food (usually a tomato or just some pellets), fresh water, what does a young Eclectus want more?
Last weekend, we had a moment like that, where we just wanted some rest. We let him be by himself downstairs. However, what we didn't realize, was that he was watching stuff he wasn't supposed to watch. When we came down later to get him, he was watching reruns of MacGyver. Sure, it's PG and of course he loves it. He was babbling a lot and we were wondering what he was saying. But of course that was futile, since the only few words he says that we can understand, is Coca Cola, Hello, Good Boy, Shower and Wockawocka.
On the towel, he had gathered a small coil of network cable, my World of Warcraft authenticator, and a pack of gum. Was he planning his escape? Does he have a secret plan to rule the world? Is he becoming a Prepper?
However, there's a truth to all of this. We do really believe that Vinny is trying to grasp the concept of tools. In the office, on a dedicated Vinny table, we have this basket with most of his 'foot-toys'. And on occasion, we do catch him trying to combine those toys into one big toy. An example of this is an old decommissioned creditcard he's putting into a little box. Of course, like for most inventors, it also comes with failure, and in those cases he usually just goes into tantrum mode for a few minutes, with him getting angry at the toys and throwing them out of the basket.
Sometimes we leave the TV on. He'll start talking and will keep doing that for at least an hour. He loves loud noise, including but not limited to applause, explosions and thunderstorms. We usually let him watch anything like that, as long as it's PG. We don't want to turn him in to a cursing bird.
Anyway, getting sidetracked here. The thing is ... we didn't realize how dangerous it was to let him watch MacGyver, until a few days ago. My girlfriend was working on her computer and Vinny was exploring the room. Nothing extraordinary. When I go to work in the morning, I usually throw a towel over my desk, otherwise I'll find the keys of my keyboard scattered all over the room, and Vinny also loves the rubber mouse wheel. So at some point she looks over, and sees Vinny experimenting with a few things.
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| tools of the trade |
Either way, of course she had to laugh so hard and me as well, when I came home and she told me about this. It took a little while till we linked this to MacGyver. Of course there were no WoW-authenticators back in the days when MacGyver originallly was on TV, but that only shows how intelligent Vinny is. At least, he's coming up with his own inventions!
Or at least, that's what we like to think.
.jpg) |
| basket with foot-toys |
Do you have any similar experiences with your Eclectus or other parrot? Feel free to share them in the comments! Would love to hear them.
June 17, 2012
Vinny the Babbling Bird
Just for the fun of it, we've created a short video of Vinny. This video contains various footage in the form of random photos and some videos.
We basically created this video to make it easy to share the audio with you. The narration is completely done by Vinny. These are the typical sounds he makes when he's in a mood for it. We haven't been able to record his attempts to speak yet, but as soon as we do, we'll let you know!
This video is posted on Youtube. Click HERE for Vinny's own video channel.
Take care, and have fun!
We basically created this video to make it easy to share the audio with you. The narration is completely done by Vinny. These are the typical sounds he makes when he's in a mood for it. We haven't been able to record his attempts to speak yet, but as soon as we do, we'll let you know!
This video is posted on Youtube. Click HERE for Vinny's own video channel.
Take care, and have fun!
Good Eats for Vinny!
For us, as first time parrot owners, figuring out the food has been an experiment. We've fed him just about any type of food we've been recommended. All kinds of fruits and veggies, the right pellets (no additives and only with natural coloring), the right seeds, beans and peas, and so forth.
For about 2 to 3 months now, he's been off the Nutribird formula and he's doing great. One night, about a month after his last formula feeding, he was on a rant around dinner time and wouldn't eat his bean mixture. So we tried to feed him the formula again, but after 2 spoons, he flung it all around the room and went back to his old 'new' food. And that was that.
We've gotten into the habit of making his food once per month, bag it up in small batches, and put it in the freezer. On a daily basis, he gets one of those batches, additional fruits and/or vegetables, and a small handful of seeds or nuts.
In the morning, he gets a healthy seed/grain mix (again: no added vitamins/minerals), around dinner time he gets the mix and in the evening it's usually snack time. His absolute favorite snacks are red grapes, corn-on-the-cob, and pumpkin. That last one, we sometimes buy at the farmer's market.
He also loves almonds or sunflower seeds, but we usually only give him those when we train him. We do stimulate him by making him open the container himself, or hide it inside a toy.
If you have an Eclectus yourself (or maybe more than one), feel free to comment and let us know what you're feeding your 'child'. If you don't have any Eclecti (maybe this is it?), feel free to skip the technicalities above. Oops, too late! At least I hope you're enjoying the pictures in this post!
Take care and Bon Apetit!
Vinny turns five and a half!
I know, I know, it's been a while. But here's an update about the wonderful life of Vinny the Eclectus!
Vinny is five and a half months old now. He's definitely a fantastic bird, but still a child in all respects. He likes cuddling when we watch tv, he's trying out what our limits are, he's playful, he's a true Explorer and he loves getting attention from us, but also from Charlie and Darwin, our Bubblehead-Budgies.
He rarely screams. Only in those cases where he desperately feels he needs our attention (i.e. when he's hungry or when he gets overexcited). Other than that, he's mumbling a lot and is starting to talk a little bit. So far, we've heard him try to say 'Always Coca Cola', although not very successful yet (something I'm trying to teach him). He is getting better at 'Ello', 'Owah' (which we guess means 'Shower') and 'Wocka Wocka' though. That last one is always followed by typical Eclectus-giggle, probably also an imitation of us, because we usually laugh our asses off whenever he gets it right.
From what we've read so far, this is the age at which Eclectusses (is that the correct plural?) can start to get nippy. And I have to say, our sources are at least partly correct so far. Set aside the playful bites (not hurting in any way) and the grabbing hold of a finger while stepping up, he is starting to bite a little bit. It only happens when he's testing us out and tries to gain some dominance (and if we don't give him that pleasure), or when he gets a bit overexcited when he's in a playful mood.
Of course we usually respond by pushing back instead of pulling away, and that definitely keeps it under control. We're convinced it's only a phase he's going through, like any other child.
Don't get me wrong, 99% of the time he's on his best behavior, so we must be doing something right in his upbringing. And the breeder, who had him for the first 2.5 months, must have done a great job as well. Or maybe it's just in his genes. That one percent of time when he tries to test us out, we usually laugh it off and manage to change his mood rapidly.
Last night, we had a friend over. He hadn't met Vinny yet and he was very cool with our little one. Vinny was a bit reluctant at first, but we can already tell that Vinny is and will be a very social bird. Within minutes, Vinny felt very comfortable being around our guest and was already showing off his new vocal capabilities a bit.
Take care and see you in the next update!
Vinny is five and a half months old now. He's definitely a fantastic bird, but still a child in all respects. He likes cuddling when we watch tv, he's trying out what our limits are, he's playful, he's a true Explorer and he loves getting attention from us, but also from Charlie and Darwin, our Bubblehead-Budgies.He rarely screams. Only in those cases where he desperately feels he needs our attention (i.e. when he's hungry or when he gets overexcited). Other than that, he's mumbling a lot and is starting to talk a little bit. So far, we've heard him try to say 'Always Coca Cola', although not very successful yet (something I'm trying to teach him). He is getting better at 'Ello', 'Owah' (which we guess means 'Shower') and 'Wocka Wocka' though. That last one is always followed by typical Eclectus-giggle, probably also an imitation of us, because we usually laugh our asses off whenever he gets it right.
From what we've read so far, this is the age at which Eclectusses (is that the correct plural?) can start to get nippy. And I have to say, our sources are at least partly correct so far. Set aside the playful bites (not hurting in any way) and the grabbing hold of a finger while stepping up, he is starting to bite a little bit. It only happens when he's testing us out and tries to gain some dominance (and if we don't give him that pleasure), or when he gets a bit overexcited when he's in a playful mood.
Of course we usually respond by pushing back instead of pulling away, and that definitely keeps it under control. We're convinced it's only a phase he's going through, like any other child.Don't get me wrong, 99% of the time he's on his best behavior, so we must be doing something right in his upbringing. And the breeder, who had him for the first 2.5 months, must have done a great job as well. Or maybe it's just in his genes. That one percent of time when he tries to test us out, we usually laugh it off and manage to change his mood rapidly.
Last night, we had a friend over. He hadn't met Vinny yet and he was very cool with our little one. Vinny was a bit reluctant at first, but we can already tell that Vinny is and will be a very social bird. Within minutes, Vinny felt very comfortable being around our guest and was already showing off his new vocal capabilities a bit.
Take care and see you in the next update!
May 15, 2012
From Baby-Vinny To Big-Bird-Vinny
It's so funny that it seems such a long time ago that Vinny became part of our lives. The days (back in December) that we were excited because there was an egg with our name on it feels like ages ago. And yet ... we're still very much starter-parronts (parrot parents). Every day we learn something new about Vinny, and of course we try to shape Vinny's youth as well, by letting him experience as many new things as possible.
Today we received a very kind email from Jessika (the breeder where we got Vinny). Vinny's parents are doing very well and are actually sitting on eggs again (about to hatch this weekend). Jessika is fantastic and we are very very happy that we found her. Kudos to Jessika! We'll keep in touch for sure.
Anyway, this sudden spur of sentiment also reminded me of a quick blog post I had in mind for a while already. So here we go ... a quick history of Vinny, in pictures:
Today we received a very kind email from Jessika (the breeder where we got Vinny). Vinny's parents are doing very well and are actually sitting on eggs again (about to hatch this weekend). Jessika is fantastic and we are very very happy that we found her. Kudos to Jessika! We'll keep in touch for sure.
Anyway, this sudden spur of sentiment also reminded me of a quick blog post I had in mind for a while already. So here we go ... a quick history of Vinny, in pictures:
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| Vinny and his sister, 2 weeks old (photo courtesy of Jessika Timmer) |
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| Vinny with green pin feathers and got his ring now, 4 weeks old (photo courtesy of Jessika Timmer) |
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| Vinny on the day he left the nest, 6 weeks old |
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| Vinny at the vet, getting checked & chipped, 9 weeks old (photo courtesy of Jessika Timmer) |
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| Vinny getting picture taken for passport, 3 months old |
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| Vinny out in the park with us, 4 months old (2 weeks ago) |
April 30, 2012
Leash & Leisure for Vinny
Today is Queen's Day in the Netherlands, an official holiday that brings fun for all ages. And today is also the first day of actual nice weather. A comfortable 75 Fahrenheit (over 20 Celsius), nice sun, light breeze, couldn't be better and what a coincidence that we got this today! Actually felt like spring and we even got a little sunburn.Even better, because this morning we went out to the 'Vrijmarkt' here in Groningen, which is basically a big open free flea market in the streets. We got lots of new cheap toys for Vinny at an average of 60 cents a piece. Vinny will be so happy!
Since the weather was so nice, we decided to do a nice picnic in the neighborhood park and give the Aviator a run for its money. The Aviator is basically a harness on a leash especially developed for parrots. They come in various sizes for different types of parrots and it's very well designed and made. Based on this alone, we think it's an excellent product. We bought it online from Avonturia, a store in the Hague, the Netherlands.So we went out on our bikes (only a few minute ride), Vinny in a carrier and already in the Aviator harness. You have to understand that, aside from twice in the back yard, this was Vinny's first day out! Since the weather has been bad over the last few months, we didn't really get the chance to try this before, but today was definitely the day.
Here's a little tip, in case you are considering getting the Aviator, or already bought it: watch the instructional DVD that comes with it, and/or read the manual. IT people use the term RTFM (Read The Fricking Manual) regularly. Well, it definitely applies here as well. When you go through the whole loop of getting your parrot used to it gradually (like we did), you will be rewarded! It'll be easy to get the Aviator on and off your parrot, especially if your parrot is used to being touched on the head, back and wings.
Vinny was perfectly fine on the way over in his specially prepped carrier, he even made some cute sounds. Oh yeah, about the carrier: We use your basic plastic cat-carrier, but put a (natural) perch in, leaving some room at the bottom to slide a sheet of paper in.
Anyway, when we arrived in the park, we set out our blanket in the shade and unleashed the beast. He was somewhat anxious at first, but soon got used to being outside, to the big sea gulls flying over, and crows shooting through the canopy. He got settled in for sure when he got some food as well, although he wasn't too sure about hopping through the grass or even our blanket. He did seem to want to sit on our shoulders more than normal (I guess it is his safe spot).
We even did some starter recall training and we found out that praise is a very good motivational thing for Vinny's training. Works even better than treats. What a perfect bird!
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