Vinny talks dirty!

You know, before we got Vinny, while we were talking to various people about Eclectuses (or Eclecti? Anyone knows the correct plural?) and doing our research, every person and website told us that there's never a guarantee that your parrot will learn to talk.

I say: the heck with that theory! You're pretty much assured that your Eclectus will talk. Never 100% guarantee, but I would say 99.9% chance. It'll probably start around 4-8 months old (for Vinny it was around the half year mark) when your Eclectus will speak his first word or phrase. And it won't be what you expected.

For months now, we've tried to teach Vinny all kinds of words and expressions, but it's the least expected ones that stick with him.

Before his latest discovery in speech, he pretty much got the following ones down: "Come on", "Hello", "Shower" (pronounced as "..ower"), Coca Cola, and his all time favorite: "Good boy!". Besides that, he knows a whole range of various sounds, like "wawawawawa" and some whistling.

The ones that we've been trying to teach him, are "I love you" (he said that once or twice), "Thank you", and "Harley Davidson" and "Go Iron Pigs!". But training him isn't limited to just speech. We've also been trying to teach him to poop on command. Especially when we take him out of the cage, Vinny is now at the point where he does his Number Two before he steps onto our hand.

However, this last training came with some collateral damage. Vinny now knows how to say .... here it comes ... drumroll .... "GO POOPIE"!

He loves this new catch phrase so much, that he can't stop saying it. It has banned out most other words, or he will only say anything else, if it's followed by Go Poopie. It's a bit like the cute game teens play, where you say "... in bed" after everything you say. Especially when you've had a few beers/wines, it's quite funny. For Vinny, this is it. Go Poopie.

It's quite obvious where he got it. From us. Inadvertently we've been saying it quite a bit, to teach him the poop-in-the-cage thing. And he's caught on and successfully separated the phrase from the act.

At first, he didn't say it super clear. For someone who didn't know what he was saying, it could have sounded like "Cookie". Obviously, we've tried to get him to say that, but unfortunately his pronunciation has gotten better and it turned to a very clear "Go Poopie". We've now restarted his bathroom training with the word "Timber". Hopefully we'll have more luck with that.

Of course it's all as cute as a button and if this is the least innocent he'll be, we can live with that for sure. We are very careful to stay clear of anything near the 7-word-list. We definitely don't want to turn our bird into a cursing bird. A good example of a (rescue) bird that came from a wrong environment and inherited some bad lingo, is this one ...

A while ago, when I got a hair cut, my barber said that he once bought a bar and it came with a parrot. He's couldn't remember what kind of parrot, but by the description, I'm guessing it was a Macaw. And apparently it was fed all kinds of stuff, offered by guests, including steak, beer, of course peanuts and the like. And the parrot had a vocabulary that would fit a shady bar.

Do you have any experience with cursing birds? What do you teach your parrot? Comment section is open!

Ps. I know, a picture is a bit lame for an article about Vinny talking. But Vinny is a little bit camera-curious. He usually talks when he's relaxed and sitting on a perch, or whenever we watch tv (sigh, more about that later). But whenever a camera or any electronic device comes near him, it's all he's interested in. Let's just say ... i'm very happy that my smartphone has Corning Gorilla Glass. Trust me, as soon as we have any kind of audio/video footage, we'll be posting it here.

Vinny shows his true colors

I can remember it clearly, just about 15 months ago, we got in touch with Jessika, a fantastic Eclectus breeder, about 1.5 hours drive from where we live. We made a reservation for the first available hatch, and we were very happy to wait it out. We had no clue how long it was going to take. Could be a week, could be 5 months. It's nature, so who knows, right?

Then, just before the year 2012 came upon us, we still hadn't heard anything, so we gave her a call. And as it turned out, we had a bit of a problem with emails from her, early December 2011, and we totally missed the message that there were eggs! In fact, as she explained, they were about to hatch already!

Of course we were very excited. Getting close to getting your first big parrot, is a moment to remember. And every step in the whole process has been memorable .. at least to us. Like that phone call, just before Vinny using his fragile baby beak to break through the shell and see daylight for the first time in his life.

Vinny hatched on January 1st, 2012. That's a bit over a year ago now, so time to take a moment and look at Vinny's life so far, but we'll take the beak-approach. From a fluffy baby-bird with dirty-black beak to his adult candy-corn colors! A year in pictures ....

at the respectable age of 2 weeks, still in the nest, no clue what gender

4 weeks, first pin feathers so we knew he's a 'he', almost black beak.

6 weeks, who cares about the beak, look at my feathers!

9 weeks, feathers mostly green, now let's focus on the beak

12 weeks, that's a bit better already, starting to see color

15 weeks, yeah baby

17 weeks, nice clear picture, color change really going fast now

22 weeks, starting to see some peeling of layers

31 weeks, the peeling at its worst, so we thought

34 weeks, even more peeling, we were starting to think about a visit to the vet

43 weeks, luckily, the peeling cleared up by itself, apparently a natural thing
(ps. not a beak defect, that's corn he's munchin' on)

53 weeks old and colors are getting deeper and more intense

Vinny today, 1 year and just over 2 months old, look at those strong and gorgeous colors.
Isn't he a handsome beast?

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.

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.

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.

left: broken off baby tail feather
middle: shedded stump of broken off tail feather
right: naturally shed flight feather

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.

New pin feather on his left wing

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'.

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?

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.

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.

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. 

tools of the trade

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?

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. 

basket with foot-toys

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. 

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.

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!

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:

Vinny and his sister, 2 weeks old
(photo courtesy of Jessika Timmer)

Vinny with green pin feathers and got his ring now, 4 weeks old
(photo courtesy of Jessika Timmer)

Vinny on the day he left the nest, 6 weeks old

Vinny at the vet, getting checked & chipped, 9 weeks old
(photo courtesy of Jessika Timmer)

Vinny getting picture taken for passport, 3 months old

Vinny out in the park with us, 4 months old (2 weeks ago)