Sally Blanchard's Blog 
COMPANION PARROT

FRIDAY March 28, 2008

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: I found another way to get healthy into my parrots. I bought Flax Plus Lifestream Organic Whole Grain Waffles and toasted two of them. I mixed sweet potato baby food, lowfat yogurt, and a little bit of almond butter together and spread it on the one of the waffles and then put the other waffle on top. I cut it into 6 wedges and my parrots love it!

THURSDAY March 27, 2008

PHOBIC ROSIE

How long does this flu thing last? I had been feeling better but I woke up this morning feeling horrible. I made the mistake of thinking I could go back to sleep for a few minutes and woke up at 5pm. I must have needed the sleep! The daily mail had a letter from a woman I met in New Jersey last October. It was the kind of letter that makes me feel much better. I really like to know when my information makes a difference. That is what it is all about!

Dear Sally,

"The last time you made a presentation at Bird Paradise in Burlington N.J. I spoke to you about my 2 year old very phobic Rose-breasted Cockatoo. I told you that for about a year every time I approached his cage he would flail himself around and scream in terror! Forget about even touching him unless he fell to the floor and then I'd have to chase him down and throw a towel over him in order to get him back in the cage. I tried everything I knew how to tame down a bird with behavior problems - 20 years + of working with our Adoption Program at least gave me some experience but nothing worked with the Rosie!

You suggested that I read your articles on dealing with phobic Rosies, plus your publication on Cockatoos. I am extremely happy to tell you that "we" had a miracle occur on Thursday! I had to get Widget out of his cage for his annual vet appointment. I thought what the heck, I'll slowly extend my arm towards him just to see what he would do - he stepped onto my arm and allowed me to place him into his carrier. I almost fainted! Once at the vet's office I opened the carrier door (in the exam room) and whispered to him he was such a good boy and he lowered his head to be petted. I quickly obliged him! I was in tears when my vet came in the room - she though something was terribly wrong  and when I explained what happened everyone got emotional.

When I came home I sat down on the sofa with the carrier, slowly opened it and he climbed right up to my shoulder, put his head on my cheek and allowed me to give him at least a hundred kisses on his beak! He was actually licking up my tears of joy! He's come out of the cage twice yesterday and we've had some very serious loving going on! It's almost like he's a sponge soaking up all the loving he's missed over the past year! I know his personality could always go phobic again but I am willing to do everything you taught me to bring him back again - even if it takes another year to do it. Thank you!!
Sincerely,
Pat

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  Parrots are prey animals, which means that predators hunt them for food. They have to be wary and vigilant in the wild. Just because they are domestically raised, their predator responses do not go away. If for some reason a parrot-family bird becomes traumatized, he or she may go into "prey mode," which means that the bird has a strong fear response. With some parrots this can result in aggressive behavior. With others it can turn into phobic behavior. It is not always clear as to what caused the fear response but the bird often becomes afraid of almost everything including the person who was his best friend. The best way to get him back is to as "un-predator like " as possible. This means being submissive - little or no direct eye contact, lowered head, quiet conversation, and the opportunity for him to come to you rather than you trying to make him come to you. It works!


WEDNESDAY March 26, 2008

I think that I will do a little "name-dropping." There are three men whom I have been lucky enough to meet and spend a little time with. Each one has had quite an influence on me and the world of birds. I wanted to write about my short experiences with them.

CHARLEY HARPER
        The first is Charley Harper. Since he was not a parrot artist, I will presume that his work is not familiar to everyone who reads this. Back in the early 1980s when I was making my living doing my wood sculptures, I had a showing of my work with Charley in St. Louis. I lived in Wichita, KS at the time and had been become close friends with a woman named Helen Brewer. Helen was a bit younger than my mother and became a sort of surrogate mother for me when I lived in Wichita. She collected Charles Harper prints. The minute I saw one, I knew I had found a kindred spirit in the art world and I started collecting his serigraphs. The man was a design genius and his work, like mine, was based more on a minimal perception of the bird rather than great detail. In fact when he was asked by someone to compare his work with Audubon's, he replied, "I don't count the feathers, I only count the wings."  When I had my
show in St, Louis, I took Helen with me so she could also meet Charley and his wife Edie, who is also an accomplished print maker.

From the moment I first met Charley and Edie, I thoroughly enjoyed their company. Just seeing his work, one would know that he had a wonderful sense of humor. We clicked and spent a great deal of the day coming up with bird puns and laughing. Charley's work could be serious too and each piece came with descriptive prose. His "Pelican in a Downpour" talked about the Brown Pelican and DDT. It was an unforgettable day. Charley even took one of my suggestions and turned it into serigraph - "Redbirds in the Redbuds." He went home with my favorite Wood Duck sculpture (pictured above) and I went home with a few more of his serigraphs. I begged Charley to do a parrot - I even suggested the concept of a Double-headed Yellow Amazon. To my knowledge, the only parrot Charley did was an early Carolina Parakeet and a small depiction of one on a poster.

A few years later my friend Helen and her husband Joe had a horrible house fire. Helen's collection of Harper prints was destroyed.  I called Charley and asked him if there was any chance of getting a discounted price on some of the prints so I could replace them for Helen. He asked me which ones she had lost in the fire and I gave him a list. A few weeks later, he sent her a package of all of them without any invoice. This was one of the most generous gifts that I have ever witnessed in my life and it says a lot about the kind of man that Charley Harper was. Charley died last year and even though I had not seen him in years, I felt a serious loss. He had many fans and admirers both in the worlds of nature and design. Todd Oldham (the TV design guru) "discovered" Charley a few years ago and has done a sumptuous volume on Charley's work called Charley Harper, An Illustrated Life. I am sure that Mr. Oldham's attention will bring Charley a whole new group of fans. An early book on Charley's work has been reprinted, Birds & Words and a second book shows most of his serigraphs on birds and animals, Beguiled by the Wild. Regretfully, I have several of his serigraphs for sale. To see them, click Charley Harper.



ROGER TORY PETERSON
Many years ago I showed my bird sculptures at an Audubon Conference at Rocky Mountain National Park. Roger Tory Peterson was the main event. He stopped by my display and spent some time looking at my work. It was an awesome experience having him comment on the various pieces and complement me on my sculptures. There were many pioneers in the world of bird watching but Peterson is without a doubt the best known and the most highly respected. His guidebook format made bird watching and bird identification possible for everyone. He was also a very accomplished bird artist. I have two of his limited prints for sale. Click here.

I met Roger Tory Peterson again. I was bird watching in southern Arizona. I had gone out very early in the morning and was coming back when I noticed Mr.Peterson coming down the path with several other people. I didn't expect him to remember me, but he recognized me as being someone he had met before and asked me if I had seen anything interesting. I have a reputation for messing up words and my my answer to him was one of my best. I told him that I had seen my first "suffer-berried frycrotcher."  As I remember, he gave me a quizzical glance and then stated that he didn't think he had ever seen one of those. I was trying to say "sulfur-bellied flycatcher." Maybe that made me more memorable than my bird sculptures?

ALEXANDER SKUTCH
      As a collector of bird books, I was familiar with the name that the writings of Alexander Skutch. This man was amazing. When I met him, he was 78 and he had the vigor of a man half his age. I went to Costa Rica on a group bird watching tour. We were lucky enough to visit his farm south of San Ysidro and have Mr. Skutch take us on a bird watching tour of his farm Los Cusingos (named after the native name for the native Fiery-billed Aracari. Skutch hated snakes and he brought a machete with him. His logic was that man had created an imbalance that made survival more difficult for the bird populations. Because of this, he "discouraged" snakes. As we were walking sown the path, he made a motion for us to stay back and "whap, whap, thump" a bird-eating snake was permanently discouraged. He also "discouraged" raptors for the same reason with the exception of the Laughing Falcon that eats lots of snakes. It shocked me when he dispatched the snake but I understood and respected his choice. When he first came to Costa Rica as a botanist to study bananas, he became fascinated with birds. He moved to a very secluded area of rainforest in the late 1930's. Eventually he built a house out of cattle dung and straw. No it didn't stink and if you didn't know, you couldn't tell. When I was there over 25 years ago, the Skutch's farm was the only natural land left in the area. The rainforest had become extremely segmented. I was able to talk with him for 15 or 20 minutes about parrots and he lamented that he really rarely, if ever, saw parrots especially the large macaws, in his area any longer because of the loss of habitat. When he first lived there, he would see them fly over or nest nearby on a daily basis.

Dr. Skutch and his wife Pamela lived what most of us would consider a very primitive life but this life inspired him to provide the world with in-depth knowledge of the life histories of the birds of Central America and the world.  Not only did he write about families of birds, he also wrote several books on philosophy - especially the philosophy of nature. I was always hoping that Dr. Skutch would write a book about the parrot family but he never did. He died in 2004 just days before his 100th birthday. He made arrangements a few years before his death so his farm and its natural land would become the Los Cusingos Neotropical Bird Sanctuary. Although I just spent an afternoon with him along with about 20 other people, I feel privileged to have spent time with Alexander Skutch.

MONDAY March 24, 2008

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: There are several reasons why some species of penguins are in trouble due to global warming. The Antarctica is vast but there is still a concern for habitat loss as ice shelves break into the ocean. The main concern, however is a break in the food chain. The main diet for several penguins and sea mammals is krill. Krill a very small shrimp-like organism and it takes a lot of them to feed the animals that eat them. Krill eat the algae that grows on the underside of the Antarctic ice shelves. As these ice shelves fall into the ocean, there is less algae, which means less krill for the penguins and the sea mammals that dine on them. The balance of nature is both amazing and intricate and the loss of one "apparently" simple aspect can cause devastation at a much higher level. .  

FRIDAY March 21, 2008

If there is anyone reading this who lives within driving distance of Loveland, I am in great need of a volunteer to help me with some cataloging work  I am trying to get the vast majority of my items for sale on my web site and I need someone to help me measure the items and make sure that they all have a price on them. If you can help, please call me at 970-278-0233 or email me at staff@companionparrot.com

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Did you know that some early ornithologists (1800s) classified the Palm Cockatoo as a Macaw because of its bare face. Some scientists referred to the Palm cockatoo as the "Great Ara" despite the fact that it was from a totally different area of the world than the macaws. Ara is the genus name for most of the large macaws. I wonder if the ornithologists faces were red when they realized that the Palm was a cockatoo and not a macaw? The drawing is from my new book on Companion Cockatoos. Did you also know that the Palm never closes his beak entirely? 

THURSDAY  March  20, 2008

I don't think this flu stuff will ever be through with me. I got my first symptoms in early January but every time I seem to get better, I seem to get worse again with different symptoms. I have talked with people all over the country who have had the same thing. Yuck. Luckily I felt well enough to give my program in Albuquerque but the next day I spent the day in bed at my host's home and evidently missed some really good Mexican food.

I have been neglectful of posting to this blog, I thought I would try to add some parrot information at least a few times a week. Some thing that I thought of - it may be something simple or something more complicated. Today it is something simple ....

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:  Today I realized that the person who is helping me take care of my parrots was adding the baby food carrots to the water before she cooked the noodles. She didn't realize how much vitamin A is lost in this manner. From now on she knows to put any of the vitamin A baby foods into the glop or other moist and cooked foods that we feed after it has been cooked.

WEDNESDAY February 13, 2008

In October I was approached about speaking at the Midwest Bird Expo in April. I was in New Jersey and said that I was pretty sure that I could but I needed to check my schedule

Since people found out that I was speaking at this event, I have had several write to tell me that they were looking forward to meeting and hearing me. This communication is for people who will wonder why I am not scheduled to speak anymore.

However, I have been asked to speak at the Northern Illinois Parrot Society (NIPS) event on September 27, 2008 - so the people who were anxious to hear me speak in the Chicago area, will get to hear me there.

In regards to being canceled as a speaker ...

I sent an acceptance e-mail on 11/24/07;

I meant to answer you much sooner but have been swamped and forgot. I had a really good time in NJ too and Kathy asked me back for next year.

I would enjoy coming to Chicago. I would need my expenses paid plus a booth for my artwork, etc. I would also ask for ----- speaking. I don’t mind staying in a club member’s guestroom instead or a hotel as long as they do not smoke. Let me know if this will work out.
Sally 

REPLY

Sally,
I had a TASC meeting tonight and the answer is YES!!  I'm so excited!!  They need to know your airport so they can make arrangements.  In the mean time go to www.tasc-chicago.org and fill out the vendor information.  Your table will be close to me and Irene.  When you go in to talk - I can have someone watch your table or sell your things if you want. We can talk about that later. We have time but I'll be looking into either putting you in a hotel with Irene or having you stay with someone. … I think if Arlene comes she'll stay in the same hotel as Irene. I may put you there - depending on how many of them will be there to keep you company. We'll set up our tables on Friday night.  They'll fly you in Friday morning or Thursday evening and send you home Sunday afternoon. 

REPLY
I fly out of Denver and always prefer an aisle seat. I can’t leave too early in the morning (before 9) as I have to take an hour shuttle from where I live. This adds $60 to the travel costs. I don’t care which airline I fly but I am not very fond of Southwest but would fly it if is much cheaper for your organization.
Sally

On February 1^st I received the following email:
Sally,
I am the Director of the Midwest Bird Expo coming up in April. Due to our time constraints, we will need to cancel your appearance at our event.  We have not heard from you and since we have people pre-registering, we had to be sure we secure all speakers and vendors by February 1st.  ______________________________________________________________       

My reaction to the cancellation is that it is absurd. I wonder if the man who canceled me for the event even knows  what I have been doing in regards to parrots for the last 30 years. I also wonder if their might not be some other "political agenda." I will add the statement that although I hadn’t filled out the vendor form, from the e-mail it seemed to me that this was a formality and I believed that I had fully committed to coming to the event and gave them the flight information I was asked for. I also was told by e-mail that I had a booth and where it would be.  

If the man had gotten in touch with me earlier in the week, I probably wouldn't have answered right away since I have had a horrible sinus infection with an accompanying headache. I am way less than perfect in my communication with people. I get over 150 e-mails a day (and 25-50 phone calls). While some of them are spam that my filter doesn’t catch, most of them are about parrots. People want advice, they want to order, they are asking me to speak, they are complaining about something I did or didn't do, and sending me all sorts of stuff that I would probably enjoy if I had the time. At this time, I don’t have an employee and I never seem to catch up on anything – from writing, to packing and shipping orders, from doing ordered art work, taking care of my animals, running the Laughing Parrot Gallery, and so on. I rarely give advice by email anymore because 95% of the people I help with a question never even write back to thank me. I am often neglectful in doing some of the things I need to do. I virtually can't help it right now. It frustrates me and it frustrates the people who are trying to get in touch with me. To tell me the deadline has passed on the day that it passed without notifying me of an actual deadline is something I simply don’t understand.  

I have only reneged on a speaking commitment twice in the over twenty years I have been traveling to give programs and seminars. Until my elderly mother came to live me, I gave 6 to 12 programs a year. One time I developed a serious and painful knee injury about a week before I was supposed to speak in Canada and was unable to walk comfortably until I had surgery. The other time I got the flu and had to cancel a few days before the event. Other than that I have traveled and spoken a few times when I should have stayed home. For example, there are people that will still remember when I spoke less than a week after major surgery to have a large suspicious tumor removed from my thyroid and ended up having my entire thyroid removed.  I still had the bandage on my neck.  I also flew to England a week or so after 9/11 despite the fact that no one I knew (particularly my mother) wanted me to go. I figured it would be the safest time to fly.

I will certainly miss visiting with Dr. Pepperberg in April but I will see her in October when I speak in New Jersey again.

TUESDAY February 12, 2008

I have not had much time to write anything on the blog lately. In November I realized something very important to my success and the success of the CPQ. Before my mother became ill and I had to spend so much of my time caring for her, I was doing OK financially. The CPQ has rarely paid for itself and in California it was costing me about $20,000.00 to print and mail each issue.
I will write more about this later. 

I went through my records and realized that the time I was most comfortable financially and able to support the CPQ was when I put out books. So I sat down at my computer and started writing books and it seems that I didn’t take any break at all except for from mid-January to the first part of February when I had some nasty bug that turned into a killer sinus headache. My computer was no doubt feeling lonely as it is quite rare for me not to have it on at least 18 hours a day.

I have now finished writing two books: Companion Cockatoos 116 pages and finally Companion Amazons 156 pages. I am also in the middle of Companion Caiques and Companion African Greys. None of them have been printed yet as I am waiting for the final proofreading to print the cockatoo book.  I am also looking for funding to print these books, but luckily the cost won’t be as exorbitant here as in California. Companion Cockatoos will be first – probably available in mid-March because of the delay in getting the proof reading back.  Then I will print Companion Amazons and hopefully it will be out by May. I also plan a Companion Macaws but I am not sure when the Caique, Grey, and Macaw books will come out.

I believe that once these books are out it will be much easier to start getting the CPQ out in a timely manner. There will be several changes in the CPQ mostly because it has been so difficult to get advertising. With a lot less advertising the magazine will become thinner but the content will be about what it has been. Most likely, each issue will have a topic that will be covered. I will write the main article and will have articles by a few other people on the same topic. If anyone reading this has any ideas for a topic, please let me know.

Although it has been a long time since the issue of the CPQ came out, I am dedicated to continuing the publication. The last two years have been very difficult for many reasons.

SUNDAY November 18, 2007
Friday and Saturday I had a booth at the National Cage Bird Show.  It was interesting to see all the birds being judged. It is a very different world than having companion birds although I am sure that there is some overlap. I saw the largest Caique and Alexandrine parrot I have ever seen. Obviously the birds have to be well-cared for or they wouldn't be in the condition they need to be in for a bird show. Since I was at my booth most of the time, I didn't really get to spend too much time learning about the bird show and the reasons one bird wins over another. It seems that size really does matter with some of the categories. With the singer canaries, the song was what mattered. If a bird didn't sing for the judge ... that was it. I wasn't sure what all the ribbons were for ... there were so many different colors. Some cages were surrounded by ribbons of many different colors. Some asked me if the birds knew they had won all the rewards. I don't know for sure but I wouldn't doubt it.

In the mid 1970's I went to a few cage bird shows. In fact I helped co-chair a show that my bird club where birds were judged. I was planning on entering my Red Lory, Gypsy. She was a gorgeous bird in excellent feather. On the way to the hotel, she jumped off the perch and ended up rolling around in her droppings. That seemed to be the end of my bird show hopes. As I walked into the show area, a friend noticed my dirty little Lory. She said she had a better cage if I could get Gypsy cleaned up in time. The bird show was on one side of the hotel exhibition area and a large wedding reception took place on the other side. I rushed Gypsy into the women's room which was full of wedding guests. Gypsy was very tame so I held her in my hand and held her under the faucet. I was careful about the water temperature and I made sure she didn't get her head wet. The women from the wedding were quite concerned about what I was doing to the poor little bird but Gypsy was just fine with what was happening. Then I put her under the hand drier moving her back and forth until she was dry. I rushed her into the show room and placed her in the cage moments before the judging was to start. I don't remember for sure but I don't believe that there were any other lories so it was a given that Gypsy would win best Lory. When she made the final four (or whatever it was called), she was competing against 2 larger birds and a Caique for best of show.  The caique came in second and Gypsy won the best bird in show. The next year my Yellow-collared Macaw Bojo won the best Macaw in show. That was my limited experience with bird shows with judges.

MONDAY November 12, 2007

Last month was a bad one for my animals. I wrote in early October about my almost 20 year old Silky Terrier dying. The last day of October, Buffy, one of my cats passed away.  When my grandmother went into a nursing home in the early 90s I adopted her cat. Louie was with me for several years and the evening of one of the PBIC Conventions in Oakland, he had a stroke and died. That left Nimbus as the only cat and he and Louie used to play together a lot. I decided to go to Alameda Animal Control and adopt an older cat. I fell in love with the poofy Cheshire cat cheeks of a somewhat fat cat and he came home with me. His name was Socks but I renamed him Toc, which stood for the other cat. However before I left the shelter, I was informed that he had come in with another cat. She was a skinny little shy cat. After a few days, I decided to go back for her… after all they had been together for over 8 years and probably missed each other. When I got her home, I immediately discovered that they couldn’t stand each other, but Nimbus and Louie became great pals. Over the years Buffy evolved from being the proverbial scaredy cat to being my mother’s most devoted companion. Even when my mother was comatose, she still was petting Buffy. When my mother died, Buffy went back to being a very shy cat.  She had always been skinny but had received a clean bill of health from the vets she had seen. From the shelter records, I know that she was at least 16. Nimbus who died last spring was almost 23 so 16 seemed young to me but the vet told me that was a pretty good age for a cat to live. I can’t say I know very much about cats even though I have almost always had one in my live. I have always had a laissez-faire relationship with my cats. There are two basic rules for them: 1. Leave the birds alone, and 2. Use the litter box. My older cats rarely show any interest in the parrots. I think this was passed on from Nimbus who got too close to my Amazons one day and the large male, Rascal jumped on his back. He was quite young then and he never showed any interest in the parrots again; neither has any of the other cats who came to live with me.  I have always adopted older cats who have already had their front claws removed. I hate the idea but I provide them with a good life as an indoor cat. I just can’t see having cats with full claws around parrots. It certainly is possible to have cats with parrots but it requires some management skills. It has been my experience that it is the small flighty birds like finches, budgies and cockatiels that attract a cat's attention. Cats usually ignore larger more sedate birds. I never allow my birds out without knowing where the cats are. TOC was really obese when he came to live with me and although he is thinner, he still lacks the curiosity and athleticism to be a problem for the parrots.

SUNDAY November 11, 2007

I am now bird sitting Bianca and she has quickly won my heart. I first fell for her when I did a consultation with her caregivers. She is a very loving and enthusiastic hen Umbrella.

Note: There is a sandwich shop across the street called Carl's Canteen that makes delicious loose meat sandwiches - or Made Rites. These are an Iowa tradition and my family was from Iowa. In fact I was born in Cedar Rapids. Throughout the years as I was growing up and moving all over the place, my mother talked about three Iowa food favorites and how much she wished she could get them: 1. Made Rites, 2. Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches, and 3. Pan-fried Catfish.  With a Made Rite sandwich shop across the street, I was able to meet at least one of those requests after we moved here. My mother had quite a few loose meat sandwiches after we moved here. I am still looking for a good Pork Tenderloin sandwich - maybe I can talk the folks across the street into making them too??

OK I have obviously gone off on a tangent again.  So why was I talking about was I talking about food and how does that relate to Bianca? There are two young ladies who are related to people at the sandwich shop and they have come over a few times to meet the parrots. Yesterday they spent quite a lot of time catering to Bianca's every wish. This scenario reminded me of a cartoon I did for the Companion Parrot Handbook of one of my many imaginary "inventions" called the Perpetual Petting Machine. The question was, "how long could Bianca enjoy this much petting? The answer ... How many hours are in a day? The actual answer ... until one of the girl's fathers told them they had to come back to the sandwich shop.


TUESDAY November 6,  2007

Janice G sent me an email with a link to a story that appeared today in the Asheville Citizen-Times. The article presented generalized misinformation about several "easy-care pets."  The concept of the article was that there were many pets that were far simpler and inexpensive to keep when compared to dogs and cats. The following is the section about birds:

"Break out of the mold with cheap, easy pets

Parakeets are the most popular pet birds, perhaps because they are smaller and less expensive than some of their more talkative cousins. Parakeets can be as little as $15, and live happily in a cage costing $15-$35. Cockatiels, cockatoos, macaws and parrots, on the other hand, can run all the way up to $2,000. Their cages run $50-$150.

Laura Paintiff, who owns and runs WNC Aquarium and Imports with her husband, said African gray parrots are great talkers, and cost about $1,100.

Quaker parrots, on the other hand, are also great talkers with a warm personality, and only cost about $165.

Pet birds can live as long as 25 years, so it’s a good thing they are easy to care for.

They rarely need a visit to the vet, but owners should insure they aren’t faced with severe temperature fluctuations or fumes from paint or burning Teflon cookware."

My Response to the newspaper:

I have published a parrot related magazine (The Companion Parrot Quarterly) for 16 years and have worked with hundreds of people and their parrots over the last 30 years. Jim Marks has written one of the most ignorant pet industry slanted articles I have ever read about "cheap, easy-care pets." The last time I read an article this bad about "easy-care" pets was in the early 1990s and it was rubbish then. Parrot family birds are neither cheap nor easy to care for. The only easy care parrot that I am familiar with is a toy parrot. The statement, "Pet birds can live as long as 25 years, so it’s a good thing they are easy to care for."  Parrot family birds (including parakeets - accurately called Budgies) require daily cage cleaning, daily food preparation, accessories such as toys that can be costly, and at least daily (if not more frequent) social and focused interaction with the people in their lives for them to anything that could be called a "warm personality." Not all African greys talk and those that do receive a tremendous amount of interaction from their caregivers. The prices of cages in this article are absurd. Proper caging is much more expensive. Proper medical care by qualified avian veterinarians is generally much more expensive than with dogs and cats because they are far more complex. If anyone wants a parrot to live 25 years or more, they will need to spend a great deal of money. I am familiar enough with the other animals listed as easy-care pets to know that the writer's statements are inaccurate generalizations at best. Next time you decide to have someone write an article about something they know absolutely nothing about; please make sure that they do quality research instead of a "quicky" article full of inaccurate generalizations.

The result of anyone believing information that comes from such a poorly researched article is far too often a lot of animals that receive poor care and die long before their time.

Sally Blanchard
Editor Publisher
The Companion Parrot Quarterly
www.companionparrot.com

Please read this article and send your own comments about this article. The website address is:

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071105/LIVING/71103015/1250/ADVERTISING

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2007

I'm baaack.
My trip to New Jersey was quite an adventure and I will write more later.

For now I want to show readers a series of photos that I took at Bird Paradise.

I really don't know how long the juvenile delinquent Black-headed Caique had been making a play thing out of the handsome Hawkhead but I did get a good series of photos that clearly show a pattern of harassment. In the first photo, the clinging Caique grabs the Hawkhead's tail. In the second photo, the Hawkhead is clearly trying to escape but the persistent Caique holds on and is dragged across the play area. In the third photo, the Hawkhead tries to get away by climbing up to a perch but the persistent Caique continues to try to drag him down. Finally (in the fourth photo), the Hawkhead has made it on to the perch and looks underneath himself to get a good look at his stalker. Even though the Hawkhead is on the perch with his buddies, the stubbornly unyielding Caique continues to harass him and try to pull him off of the perch.

Clearly the Hawkhead needs a restraining order to keep this Caique away. If there is a lawyer willing to do pro bono work on his behalf, the larger bird may finally be free of his stalker. Please contact harassedhawkhead@companionparrot.com and I will forward your messages to him..

THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 19, 2007

Tomorrow I travel to New Jersey and tonight I am running around crazy trying to get stuff ready that I should have gotten done last week. I am speaking with Dr. Irene Pepperberg at Bird Paradise. I will write about this adventure when I return but I still have too much to do! 

TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 9, 2007

I am actually up quite late because I have made a decision tonight that is keeping me awake. As many of you know I have a very elderly Silky Terrier named KT. She was the love of my mother's life and, of course, she has a very special place in my heart. I had wondered for some time who would leave my life first - my mother or KT and I knew they both would be somewhat lost without each other. It has really surprised me that KT has lived a good year and a half since my mother's death. She was totally blind when we moved here to Colorado but once she got used to the living area she did fine as long as no one moved the furniture. She did learn to navigate with her nose and bumped it into a lot of stuff.

When she had lived with me for a year or so, a woman told me that Silky Terriers were prone to collapsed tracheas and rarely lived more that five years or so. I think this was a gross exaggeration but I adored this little dog so I was somewhat worried about her, especially when she would have a coughing spell. I didn't need to worry. I can't remember when KT actually came to live with me but it was either 1990 or 1991 and she was 3 years old when I got her. That makes her somewhere between 19 and 20. Even though she is blind and somewhat demented, I wasn't going to put her down until she stopped wagging her tail and/or seemed uncomfortable and/or in pain. Today was that day and I know it is time. So tonight I am grieving her loss as she sleeps at my feet and tomorrow I will take her to the vet. Twenty years is a very long time for a dog to live and thinking about her really takes me down memory lane. I have had her longer than I have done the Pet Bird Report/Companion Parrot Quarterly (That started in 1991). I remember a time when I drove down to visit my mother in southern California (she didn't move in with me until 1999). I always took KT with me because my mother loved her so much. I got out of the car at a rest stop to stretch my legs and when I walked back towards the car, KT jumped up at the window to greet me and locked me out of the car. A young woman walking a pair of Dobermans saw what happened and found a wire in her car and helped me unlock the door. KT barked at the big dogs the whole time and when I opened the door she jumped out and chased after them ... the little dog complex (somewhat similar to the Caique complex mentioned in the next entry.) I will certainly miss this wonderful little dog.

Nimbus, my cat who died in March, was almost 23. It didn't seem as unusual for a cat to live that long but I never expected to have a dog who lived close to 20 years. Part of it may be because for many years, I fed my dogs a recipe that consisted of fresh ground turkey and cooked oatmeal with high vitamin A vegetables and added nutrients including EFAs, calcium, and vitamin E. I need to start doing that again. Dewey, my Havowart, is a 9 and he is starting to have as much problem moving around as I do. Two of my cats (Toc and Buffy) are 14 or 15. Only Diablito, my 2 1/2 year old Tuxedo Manx, has enough youthful exuberance to keep me on my toes. And even the birds are getting on in age - 9 (Twiggy), 11 (Whodee), 17 (Pascal), 19 (Spike), 24 (Roxi-anne), and 32 (Paco).

MONDAY OCTOBER 8, 2007

Yesterday I drove down to visit my friend Andrea and her birds. I took my camera but I forgot to change it from close up to automatic so all of the photos of her birds came out blurred. Andrea has a male Eclectus named Skyler, a Caique named Beaker, an Alexandrine named Harper, and a Ringneck hen named Piper. Beaker and I may someday become friends but as it is now, he pretty much does that Caique stalking thing with me. I play with him carefully with a towel and we are not too sure whether Beaker is still stalking me or actually playing.  I think with some birds there is a fine line. He sauntered towards me and sways back and forth snorting like a miniature bull. I used a kitchen towel as a barrier and we played for some time. I did get one semi-in-focus photo of Beaker about to leap at me when I was sitting on the couch - you may notice that both of his feet are off of the top of the couch. Luckily I was saved by a couch cushion just after I snapped this ominous picture.

I really enjoyed listening to Harper talk. He is a quite a talker and says all sorts of fun things. One of his favorite expressions is "Kiss your foot." He also has a way of saying "ex-cell-ent" that is hysterical. None of his photos came out so I will include a photo of one of my Tongue-in-Beak Clay works that I just finished of an Alexandrine. Just about every Alexandrine I have ever met has been an incredibly delightful companion. I have to rate them as one of the most under rated parrot family birds. They are stunningly beautiful with all of their colors - several shades of green, lavender-gray, chestnut, and turquoise. Their eyes are yellow with a delicate ring of red and, of course, they have their large orange-red beak.  I made the tail as long as I could without it becoming really fragile but it could have been a few inches longer to be really accurate. I think Harrper is going to join my list of the top 25 most enjoyable parrots I have ever met!

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2007

If you don't want to read my mini tirade about the bar next door go down to the day before this one ...

I often work late at night at my desk in the Laughing Parrot Gallery. One thing that I will never get used to is the number of people who stop and stare into the door or window to see what is in here. There are several good restaurants and a few bars in downtown Loveland so their are often people walking by. From time to time someone will come in who saw something in the window that they wanted to know more about. Right now I have a display of Exotic Birds From Around the World in the window. This display includes a few parrot family birds but is mostly softbills such as Toucans, Bee eaters, Rollers, Hornbills, Trogons, etc.

There are also usually some people from the bar next door that just hang out in front of my window and smoke because they are no longer allowed to smoke in the bar ... Colorado state law. I am sure that public urination is also against the law but I have watched drunks urinate in my front door alcove twice. Of course, by the time the police would get here, the drunk would be long gone. When I talked to the police about it I was told that their would be no way to prove that the person came out of the bar next door so there essentially was nothing that they could do about it. It is sad because this is really a delightful historic little downtown with good restaurants, gift shops, and art galleries. On the other side of my store is a Natural foods store and and a very cute store across the street sells baby stuff. I am also across the street from a theater that has been redone and is now a Loveland landmark.  I have seen several live performances there.

It is also against the law for anyone to smoke within 10 or 15 feet of the front of any business but I have never seen anyone try to enforce that part of the law. I wish they would because the smoke filters into my display window and into the front of the store. I quit smoking over 20 years ago ... mostly because I realized how bad the smoke was for my birds. I guess you could call me a reformed smoker and I know that we can be extreme from time to time. I am adamant that I don't want to breathe in other people's cigarette smoke but I also believe that if people want to smoke it is their own business as long as they are in a smoker's environment or their own home (as long as their parrots don't have to breathe their cigarette smoke. I once watched the necropsy of  a Timneh grey that spent half of his life on his owner's shoulder. The man was a heavy smoker and the bird's respiratory system looked black enough to be that of a coal miner.)

On July 1, 2006 my life changed dramatically. That was when the Colorado smoking ban went into effect. This meant that the people who go to the bar next door could no longer smoke in the bar. So the bar set up a patio at their back door for their smoking patrons and put a tent up with a TV. The problem is that this extension of the bar next to my carport and right below the side of my wonderful deck and my master bedroom windows. I can't use the deck at all because of the smoke and it certainly put an end to my putting any of my parrots outdoor for their daily sunshine. From about 11am to 2am almost every day and night, it sounds and smells like the bar patrons are in my home and they are often loud and obnoxious. My response has been to spend most of my life in my store and my office down here. I moved into a smaller bedroom in the front of my dwelling so I could sleep without hearing the shouts and laughter of people who have had too much to drink. 

I also have some speakers outdoors and was playing classical music to drown them out in the evenings. One time I was really upset and it was quite loud so the police came to my front door because of a noise complaint. This was certainly a case of the pot calling the kettle black. In my conversations with the police, it is clear that I have no rights whatsoever in this situation. I knew there was a bar next door and I really never had any trouble with it before the smoking patio was added. The irony to me is the number of people I have watched stumble out to their cars and drive away. It really makes me wonder if the "crack down" on drunk driving is hypocrisy.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 28, 2007

I had a delightful visitor today. For some reason that I am not always clear about, I have a thing for hen Umbrella Cockatoos. Especially if they are well loved. Notice I did not say well-behaved. They don't necessarily have to be completely well-behaved as long as their behavior is based on happiness. I have never believed that exuberant, happy-to-be-alive behavior is negative. When I meet a hen cockatoo that is full of herself, I really enjoy spending time with the bird. I have to admit that today was pretty much a yucky day. I am not sure whether I am recovering from something or getting something different but I felt lousy. Ginger's visit cheered me up tremendously! I spent a an hour or so visiting with Ginger and her caregiver Judy.t

About a month ago I did a consultation with another Umbrella hen and her family. She was also full of herself in a quite delightful way, but she had become aggressive to her male caregiver. My basic diagnosis was that they needed to find more creative ways to channel her energy into play and to learn to interpret her body language better. Some times with cockatoos, the line between exuberance and overload is not always easy to see.

I love meeting these well-loved cockatoos. It is then that I clearly see that cockatoos can be wonderful, if not demanding, human companions. Through the years I have met many people who do an excellent job with their cockatoos and rewarded with a positive relationship. A few years back I met a hen Umbrella who did the hokey pokey with her caregiver. It was so much fun to watch! Then several bird people started playing with her and she became very exuberant ... she was picking up our energy and we were all having fun. Her posturing and vocalizations were not those of a misbehaving cockatoo.

Unfortunately I have also met dozens of problem cockatoos in rescue situations and I have worked with dozens who scream incessantly or show aggression at the slightest provocation. What is the difference? With the handfeds, I think it is the people that they have encountered throughout their lives from the time they hatched. Not every cockatoo that hatches in aviculture has been blessed with nurturing from a caring breeder and not everyone has gone into a home that really understands their special needs for human interaction ... especially for instructional interaction. They all need a "job" whether that job is enthusiastically swinging from their playgyms or taking toys apart. They also need a supervisor who cares enough to teach them positive interactions and doesn't demand that they become their love sponges.

WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 27, 2007

I have received some interesting comments about my previous rant about Dr. Pepperberg and Alex ... mostly positive.  I found a quote from Carl Sagan that I think is appropriate for a discussion about animal intelligence.
“Philosophers and scientists confidently offer up traits said to be uniquely human, and the monkey and apes casually knock them down - toppling the pretension that humans constitute some sort of biological aristocracy among the beings on earth.” Alex has shown us that the word parrot could be substituted or added to monkey and apes in this quote.

On Sept 13, I included a graphic of a painting my father did of me when I was in the 4th grade.  I found it when I was going through a mislabeled box.  Another item that I found was a watercolor painting I did when I was 7 or 8 years old. This shows a very different type of childhood than the idyllic painting my father did of me as a young bird lover. I think it is quite amazing that I painted this type of subject at such a young age ... I guess it also shows that I had a "dark side" as a child. My father was an Air Force Colonel and he framed the painting and hung it in his office in downtown Philadelphia. When he asked me what the painting was called, I told him it was "Peter and the Atom Bomb." Obviously I was a child of the "Cold War."  I think I called my little boy Peter because I was so fond of the musical story "Peter and the Wolf" as a child. As a past high school art teacher, I am quite amazed that I could create such an abstract yet identifiable painting of a young boy in a nuclear conflagration ... especially when I was that young. I am really happy that this childhood example of my artistic ability survived my many many moves.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2007

The following message is not intended to insult my readers. It is also not intended to make anyone feel bad if they have been misinformed or have asked questions about Alex's welfare. It is a message intended only for the malicious people who are described below and probably won't recognize themselves in my words. Of course, the majority of these know-it-all people would never take the time to read anything on this blog.

To those mean-spirited, petty little miscreants who are using the Internet to bash Irene Pepperberg and proclaim that Alex was nothing but a lab rat ...
GET A LIFE AND GROW UP!
What gives you the right to try making yourself seem significant by mouthing off (again and again) about something you know NOTHING about.
Have you ever met Alex?
Have you ever been to the lab?
I have and you are all full of it..
As someone who has worked really hard to make life better for parrots, I am really sick of people like you who have to be the first one to tell everyone all of the bad things you hear when you don't even have the facts. Does your nasty behavior really make you feel more important? Sad, isn't it!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007

The Legacy of Alex the Grey

(My drawings are actually of Alex)

Occasionally I buy a copy of People Magazine. Sometimes I like the articles about real people and I certainly don't want to lose track of my knowledge of pop culture trivia. (Please note a slight edge of sarcasm) However I can certainly state that for a long time I thought that Paris Hilton was the Hilton Hotel in Paris. In fact, I actually wish that was the truth because I doubt that People would waste so much print space on a hotel.

That said, I really have a serious intent of bringing up People Magazine. I noticed in the section on Passages that they had a photo of Alex and a notification of his death. If there is anyone who doubts the influence that Alex has had in acquainting the world (parrot lovers and people who don't know diddlysquat about parrots) with the truth about parrot intelligence, just consider this blurb in one of the most read magazines in the U.S.

I heard about Dr. Pepperberg's work with Alex at least 20 years ago and have visited with her on several occasions. I only had the pleasure of meeting Alex once when I was visiting Tucson. He took a little time to warm up to me but when he did I spent an unforgettable 10 minutes interacting with him. My time was up when one of his favorite students walked into the lab. I was no longer of any significance to him. (But that was OK - it is not that often that a mere mortal gets to spend that much time with a legend.) One of the points that Dr. Pepperberg has made on several occasions is that there was no evidence that Alex was an exceptionally intelligent African grey. She believed that most any normal grey could have been used for her work. This idea verifies one of the most important aspects of my work with parrots and that is that a great deal of their behavior is learned. It is difficult to believe that some people are still adamant that parrot behavior is all hard-wired. Some is; some isn't. I know that my late great African grey, Bongo Marie was every bit as smart as Alex and so are most of the greys that I have met. The difference is in the teaching and learning. I taught Bongo Marie an incredible amount of stuff and she learned very quickly, but it was not in the name of science. On the other hand Alex learned in a highly structured manner that qualified him as a scientific experiment. This is not to say that he was not loved; to know him was to love him or at least to develop a devoted affinity towards him. Alex developed a strong personality during his years with Dr. Pepperberg and he certainly was more than just an experiment. He did not always do what he was supposed to do and he made it quite clear that he was up to the task; he just was not in the mood to do it. He made up his own words that his caregivers had to learn so that they could do his bidding properly. He had a delightful talent for manipulation, which is just more evidence of his intelligence. If an animal attempts to deceive or manipulate another animal it is evidence that they are aware that they can change that animal's behavior. I think that this criteria indicates intelligence in the vast majority of companion parrots. 

I think that Dr. Pepperberg's work with Alex profoundly changed the world of parrots and I will always be grateful to this wonderful bird for making my life much easier. I started giving programs about wild birds over thirty five ago. When I first got into parrots, I was lucky to have a great deal of knowledge about birds and this helped me figure out more about parrots. At that time, so many people treated parrots like caged birds rather than companions. The parrot sat in a cage on a wooden dowel. He might have had a lava rock hanging from a chain. Sometimes he talked and if he was really lucky and tame enough, his owner might bring him out of the cage from time to time and he would get to climb up to the top of his cage. Sunflower seed was the diet of most birds because many people thought that all birds ate nothing but seed.

I think that so many people who have gotten into birds in the last few years or so think that bird keeping has just about always been like it is now ... that one could always find decent information about parrots ... NOT SO! The changes in the last 15-20 years in regards to parrot information have been beyond phenomenal. When I started writing articles about parrots, the word socialization had rarely if ever been applied to raising baby parrots. Socialization of young parrot chicks became my crusade. An arrogant breeder once said to me, "You can't prove this socialization crap is true and until you can I am not going to waste my time with it." This statement was not only ignorant but it proved her total lack of common sense and knowledge about parrots. Back then there was hardly any in-depth information about the biology and ethology of wild parrots. Of course intelligence goes hand in hand with early socialization and all animals with a modicum of intelligence need to learn their social and survival skills. An extension of this aspect about parrots that I also had to fight for was to get people to understand the intelligence of their birds. I would explain how intelligent parrots are and use observations, experience, and anecdotes to back up my claim. Some people enthusiastically nodded their heads in agreement but others shook their heads in disbelief. I still hear people say that parrots are just mimicking us when they speak and have no idea of what they are saying. It was even a struggle to try to convince people that parrots were intelligent enough to deserve compassion and concern for their welfare. This was especially true when I spoke to groups that either did not have parrots or to groups that included production type breeders (or "animal users" as aviculturist Laurella Desborough once referred to her colleagues with a financial interests in parrots.) I spent a lot of time swimming upstream to educate people about parrots and in some ways I still do. Of course, making enemies of some people is actually a measure of success.

Along came Alex! He was featured on television shows about animal intelligence (As I recall this list includes NOVA, National Geographic, Discovery, PBS, various children's chows and many more.) In addition to a number of books, any magazine that had to do with animals, birds, parrots, animal intelligence, animal behavior, etc. eventually made mention of Alex. People who never had even thought about parrots, started to know haw smart they are. I have had a good number of people come into the Laughing Parrot Gallery who have never owned or even thought of owning one, yet they know that parrots are really smart because they have heard about Alex. It became easier and easier to get people to understand the physical, emotional, and intellectual needs of parrots because they had learned about Alex. There were and are still nay sayers ... I once heard bird trainer Steve Martin mock Dr. Pepperberg as someone practicing bad science. And of course people who had more concern for the buck than the bird didn't like the changes Alex was influencing in the world of companion parrots.

I have always believed that it is more difficult to accept mistreatment of any animal when people realize that the animal shares what are considered to be human traits. If we have a basic comprehension of history, we can see how easily the human race embraces the dehumanization of people to justify bigotry, racism, and genocide. Add to that the fact that the human race tends to have an arrogance of superiority when it comes to other species on the planet ... I call this "speciesism." The accusation of anthropomorphism is often flung at anyone who tries to make a favorable comparison between an animal and humans. There is a vast difference between acknowledging an animal's innate characteristics and turning a parrot into a delightful little human like Disney's Jose Carioca. The truth is that quality science has shown that many of the traits that we have smugly thought to be human are shared on many levels by animals.  It is not anthropomorphism to assign an animal a certain "human-like" trait if that animal innately shares that trait. This, of course, brings me back to Alex, and and the vast difference he has made in the way so many of us now look at animal (and particularly parrot) intelligence. How can anyone with any intelligence and compassion, mistreat an animal who shows as much intelligence and understanding as Alex?  This is what Alex's legacy is to me.

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 13, 2007

Sometimes it just seems that there is way to much to get done. I have been working on CPQ #72 that will feature play. I just finished doing a whole bunch of drawings for the toys articles. I have 4 Tongue-in-Beak Clayworks upstairs that I am trying to finish but I just finished several new ones that are birds I have not done before ... a Jardine's, Green-cheeked Conure, Bare-eyed Cockatoo, a Great-bill and two wild birds - a Black-billed Magpie and a cute little Western Tanager. To see them all, go to the TIB page. I also just finished an Umbrella Cockatoo that I think is delightful. I have always loved the way that they throw their head down with a fully extended crest.

A lot has happened in the last month or so that I should have been writing about. I'll try to remember some of it. In August, Susanne Cochran sponsored a Toy making Workshop. I spoke about why birds need toys and their different styles of playing. Andrea Frederick and Cindy Dietrich talked about toy safety and techniques for making toys. Then we all got to make our own toys. Most of my parrots really love their bells and the more racket they make the happier they are. So I decided to go with the bell theme and I ended up making a toy that was quickly dubbed "Hell's Bells." It is 2 feet long, has a total of 9 bells, with all sorts of other stuff. I hung it up last week on the play gym area in the store, but so far no one has touched it ... maybe it is still too awe inspiring?!? Now if my male Double-yellow head, Rascal, still lived with me, he would have demolished it by now.  He is the real bell aficionado. As many of you know, he now lives with Troy Beaudoin (Terry and Shari's son) in Minnesota and they are very happy together. Maybe if I ever get upset with Shari or Terry for even the most petty little reason, I will send the Hells Bells to Rascal. The combination of Rascal and the Hell's Bells toy would be an assault to any one's eardrums.  To be honest, I don't think that Hell's Bells could be a marketable toy. It would be cost prohibitive and would drive most people crazy if their parrots really loved it.  

A few weeks ago, I drove down to Andrea's to meet her parrots and go out for dinner. The drive was about an hour and I had NPR on my radio. A Dr. Stuart Brown, who is the founder of the National Institute for Play was being interviewed. Talk about synchronicity! Ever since the Toy Workshop, I have been working on a special CPQ that would deal mostly with play. I rarely listen to anything but music on the radio and the fact that my radio was turned to NPR was amazing. The interview started when I backed out of my carport and lasted until I drove into Andrea's parking area.  Look for my in-depth article about parrots and play in the next issue.

I went to storage today to bring several boxes of the CPH and back issues to the store so that I could fill orders. I brought one box home that was marked issue #49. It turned out to be all of my photos and some memorabilia from the time I was a kid to before I moved to Colorado. I was sure that all of this stuff was lost and recently I had actually been looking for something that I found in the box. I loved birds as far back as I can remember. My father was a hobby painter and when I was in the 4th grade he painted a picture of me with our Budgie, Miki. I was sitting next the window and there was a wild sparrow outside the window. The painting was in the box. The condition is not that great and I don't think that Miki was actually that yellow or quite that body shape. As I remember him, he was a normal green Budgie.  I adored him! I have told his story in this article on the web site Budgerigars: The Most Popular Pet in America. I have been traveling down Memory Lane tonight looking back at my life from when I was a baby (I was a very cute baby!). I am beginning to understand why my mother always said that she just couldn't understand how she got so old.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2007

I am watching an African Grey named Topper and an Orange-fronted Conure named Tikko. Tikko reminds me of my Cockatiel, Rosie, from many years ago. Rosie used to sit with his head in his bell and this is one of Tikko's favorite things to do. Rosie was a very special bird and I guess he considered himself a quite a "ladies man."  At about 8 pm I would ask him "Do you want to go to bed?" and then whistled his lullaby for him. You know how parrot family birds love to mix things up. A friend of mine was bird sitting Rosie and her neighbor came over. She walked over to Rosie and told him he was a very pretty boy. To this he replied, "I love you, you're pretty! Do you want to go to bed?"

Topper, the Grey that's here, occasionally talks in a man's deep voice. When I am her working late at night it really throws me3 until I remember he is here. I put him to bed at about 8 or 9 but as long as I am down here, he keeps me company with all sorts of conversation, whistles, and alarm noised. He whistles the "tune" from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He is very talented. He is quite tame but I have been going really slow in working with him because he doesn't seem very comfortable with me yet. He is very tame with his people, but has not warmed up to me yet. When I make eye contact with him, he fluffs up and postures aggressively. He also says "Scary Stuff" when he feels threatened. Since I don't want to force him to come out, I have been doing what I call "the chair exercise" with him. I have been sitting in front of his cage reading a book. Occasionally I look over at him but then I lower my head in a submissive posture. Today he came very close to me and took an almond from my hand for the first time. Hopefully he will come out to visit with me in the next day or so.

One of the reasons I decided I would not work with him right away is because my energy has been pretty bad the last two weeks. The most important aspect of this can be summed up in 3 words, I HATE QUEST. When I moved here I used them for my DSL and phone service. I made the mistake of thinking they were the only phone company here - they aren't. I have to admit that I paid my bill late - sometimes I can barely keep track of what day it is. I received no shut off notices and they shut off my phone and DSL. I called in a payment immediately but it took 7 days to get reconnected. It didn't matter who I talked with or what I said. The last 2 weeks, both my phone line and my Internet access has been down. Since I do most of my business using the Internet, this crippled me. I could not check my email, use Paypal, run charges, access Ebay, upload information to the CPQ web site. So after the first 7 days without phone or computer, I switched to FRII - another DSL company. Unfortunately Quest had to take part in the change so it took me several more days to get up and running. I talked to the service man and he informed me that it would cost $110.00 got him to come out to change the line over. He informed me that Quest was a revenue based company and his job was to create revenue. I watched a Quest ad tonight and they were touting their great service. Finally I got service again yesterday when FRII was nice enough to send someone out to move the wires from one post to another.

Without my phone or Internet, I have been doing a lot of artwork.  I particularly enjoy doing the clay sculptures and have been doing some birds that I haven't done before. I finished an Eclectus hen, a Sun Conure, a Red-bellied Parrot, a Goffin's cockatoo, and a Yellow-shouldered Amazon. I am going to do an art fair next weekend so I am trying to do some more wild birds. I am working on a Rockhopper Penguin now but I made it large enough that it is really getting difficult to have it hold together. Hopefully I can resolve the problems I am having with it tomorrow. 

SUNDAY, JULY 15, 2007

I have been busy doing artwork. I am going to have a booth at an art show for the first time in over twenty years.  A few weeks ago, I also had a booth at a bird fair for the first time in almost as many years. The first day was pretty busy and my hope is that more parrot people in the Denver area will know about the Laughing Parrot Gallery and come up for a visit. The second day was a heat wave and not that many people came to the show. I think they all stayed home in their air conditioned homes. I did get a chance to meet some nice people and visit with a few fun parrots.

I used to have a booth at just about all of bird fairs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Some were certainly better than others as far as quality was concerned. I attended quite a few bird shows throughout California; some as a vendor, some as a spectator. Just about all of them had at least one vendor that enraged me. It was obvious to me which vendors had smuggled birds but there wasn't much I could do about it. I talked to the people at Fish and Wildlife and they appreciated my information but needed absolute proof before they could do anything. Why was I sure that the birds were smuggled. There were boxes of baby Amazons and conures; all native to Mexico and it was baby season in the wild. Certain species in the boxes were not that available as hand-feds. One vendor at a couple of shows had birds standing on broom sticks. Occasionally one of the parrots would fall to the floor and the man would just pick up the bird and put him back on the pole. There was no doubt in my mind that the birds were all drugged so that they would be tame enough to sell. Some of the venders had obviously sick birds that seemed very tame to the novices who purchased them. At one show, I saw a small wire cage full of wild-caught African greys. They barely had room to move. I watched the vendor put on heavy leather gloves and pull one of the greys out by his leg. When the bird screamed and twisted to bite him, the man jerked it and I am pretty sure the bird's leg broke so he threw it to the ground and grabbed another grey.

Back in the late 1980s I started a small parrot related distribution company because I knew about many great products that weren't being sold by stores. These included foods, treats, toys and various accessories. Back then most of the good parrot products were made by people with an entrepreneurial spirit who loved parrots and wanted to make healthy treats and/or safe toys. I loved dealing with these people and I loved making good products available for parrots. I also loved working with many of the bird/pet shops that I sold to. I hated dealing with some of the the others that were ignorant about the proper care of birds and obviously preferred to stay that way. .

As I traveled around the country giving programs, I would find out about new products for birds and would bring them into the Bay Area as a distributor. I was the first distributor for some of the products that are still on the market today, while others are long out of business. At least a few of these companies were ahead of their time and parrot owners didn't yet see the need for their products.

More on this topic to follow ...

MONDAY JUNE 25, 2007

Today I was forwarded a message written by the "Toolady and the Rescue Birds of Echo's Haven." I have not met the Toolady and have not formed any personal opinion of her and, of course, she is allowed her opinions.

However, I need to let readers know how strongly I disagree with her message, which insinuates that the Oasis Sanctuary in Arizona does not spend their donations for the welfare of their birds. The inference is that the director, Sybil Erden, drives an expensive car and takes $90,000 as a yearly salary. Obviously this woman has
never been to the Oasis and is speaking without having correct information. If she had simply tried to solicit funds for the organization that she wanted to promote, I would not have been as offended as I am that she needed to bash a legitimate organization that is doing an excellent job with the birds in their care. I have been to the Oasis on several occasions and wholeheartedly support the organization and the care that the birds receive there. I am
sure that any readers who have actually visited the Oasis would agree with me.

The "Toolady" wanted to raise money for the Tropics in North Carolina. I am actually shocked that this organization persists. I had a great deal of experience with the Tropics several years ago. When I first talked with Mary Bradford she seemed very sincere to me and I supported the Tropics in the Pet Bird Report (now the
Companion Parrot Quarterly). However, I quickly received emails from many reliable people (without political motivation) who had been there and were very concerned about the collector mentality and the
welfare of the wall to wall birds at the Tropics. When I discontinued my support of the Tropics, Mary Bradford put out an email personally bashing my appearance and accusing me of abusing my caique, Spike. To my knowledge, the Bradfords closed the Tropics under threat that it would be forcibly closed. It is also my understanding that they sold off most of their birds so that they could pay bills and taxes.

Running a large scale animal sanctuary of any kind requires serious planning and a solid foundation in regards to fund raising and legal issues. It also requires a lot of work. One of the reasons that I have such intense respect for Sybil Erden is that she has taken a dream and turned it into a reality. For years she did a great deal of the grunt work with both building and maintaining the sanctuary and caring for the parrots. Each and every time I have been to the Oasis, I have seen the donations go towards improving the facility. As I wrote in this blog on May 10 and May 19 and will write in the next issue, I visited the Oasis in April to give a program. Last time I was there, the goal was to build a state of the art 40' x 40' African Grey aviary … this time it was there and very impressive. I got to spend over an hour sitting and watching all of the greys and their interactions. They could not have had a better home. It is my opinion that the Oasis is an excellent facility to support. Now they are fund raising for a Macaw aviary; there is no doubt in my mind that the next time I go down there, I will spend a great deal of time watching the Macaws flying and interacting in a 60' x 60' aviary. The next one planned is for Cockatoos and then maybe the Amazons will be next. I look forward to returning every few years to see the progress.

By the way, Sybil drives a pick-up truck. It is a pretty large one and is fairly new. The roads to the Oasis are not that great and the truck comes in handy when Sybil rescues dogs along the isolated stretch of road or brings a new donkey home that was going to be slaughtered. I never knew that Donkeys were such great watch "dogs."
There are also several big geese at the Oasis to keep animal intruders away from the parrots. I have no idea what Sybil's salary is but no one there is getting rich off of the Oasis. (Actually it is about $12,000.00 a year) With Sybil's dedication, I would bet that it pretty much covers only her basic personal expenses because she lives and breathes for the care and betterment of the birds at the Oasis.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20, 2007

Sometimes I simply do not understand people ... especially some bird people. Perhaps I am biased but I believe that the number one trait that good parrot caregivers can have is CURIOSITY ... a quest for learning. I have worked with parrots for well over thirty years and I learn something new every time I talk to people.

Most of CPQ readers that I talk with share this trait. Since I have had the Laughing Parrot Gallery open, I have been amazed at the people who have parrots who seem to lack any sense of curiosity to learn anything. One woman came in a few weeks ago. She did tell me that she had a cockatoo so I tried to engage her in conversation about the bird. She seemed offended. She had never heard of the Companion Parrot Quarterly and stated that she had stopped reading Bird Talk years before because there was nothing much that she could learn from it. At some point she did tell me that she was feeding her bird a 100% diet of a brand of brightly colored pellets. I tried to explain to her why I believed that the pellets with artificial food coloring would eventually cause serious problems with her bird. The next day a woman came in who lived near a good bird shop in another part of the country. She didn't shop at that store because they were too bossy in there. They probably gave her too much information because of their passionate concern for the proper care of parrots. I presume that she shops instead at a bird store with a very dubious reputation. I suppose there are people who think I am too bossy. My guess is that the woman who fed her cockatoo the colored pellets thought I was a bossy know-it-all. I try not to be too bossy but sometimes I am sure that people don't like my advice ... especially if they didn't ask for it. Today a couple came in an wandered around the store. I tried to engage them in conversation because I tend to be a gregarious person who loves to talk about birds. The woman did say that they had two macaws. Again they had never heard of the CPQ and had never read anything I wrote. The couple seemed to lack any curiosity about anything in the store or anything I had to say about parrots.

I was delighted that balance was added to my day. Another couple came in this afternoon, they also had macaws. I could tell immediately that they were subscribers. I brought my grey, Whodee, down for a visit. We sat down and talked for an hour or so and I thoroughly enjoyed the parrot conversations. We talked about Scarlet Macaws and how they are so different from the other macaws, especially that they seem more sensitive. We didn't come up with any definitive reasons for this ... perhaps that is another discussion when they come up again. I am delighted that there are still so many questions to answer and puzzles to solve; even the ones that will never really be answered are worth discussing because discussion always gives a better understanding. Unfortunately I never asked these delightful people their names. I look forward to them coming back so I can talk with them again. I really enjoy talking with curious people!

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 2007

I really appreciate the orders and donations that are starting to come in to help me keep the Laughing Parrot Gallery going. A few readers have ordered Tongue-in-Beak sculptures of their species of parrot. I love doing these and appreciate the opportunity to do as many as possible. With the 20% discount for subscribers, they are more affordable. Years ago I used to enter art shows and have my bird sculptures in galleries but I haven't done that for years. There is a nice art gallery around the corner from the Laughing Parrot Gallery on Lincoln St. Appropriately it is called the Lincoln Gallery. I have a friend who is an accomplished clay sculptor. She mostly does animals but recently did a wonderful sculpture of a Snowy Owl.  I entered three pieces into their open show and all three were accepted. My Goose with the Puppy in his bill won a Merit Award. At the opening of the show, a number of people asked me about the sculpture called 'Role Reversal.'.

In the early 1970s,  I attended a few Ducks Unlimited Art Shows to show my Rare Hardwood Inlay Bird Sculptures. The artists set their work up and people came to see it during the day, but the time when a lot of items were sold was after the banquet. Often the attendees would have a few drinks and were more apt to part with their money. I explored the show and noticed how many paintings and sculptures there were of hunting dogs with dead birds in their mouths. I went back to my booth and did a drawing of a mallard with a puppy in his bill and hung it on the back of my booth. The duck hunters loved it and I remember selling it but can't remember how much I sold it for. Once I started doing my Tongue-in-Beak Clayworks, this was a sculpture I had to do.

I love the work of Gary Larson and eventually  I saw his wonderful cartoon of a Pheasant with a puppy in his mouth. I was pleased to know that I thought of the idea before I saw his cartoon. I have done several cartoons that have a Gary Larson attitude. Of course the difference is that he has done hundreds of brilliant cartoons, and I have done a few and, of course, most of mine are parrot related. I have created a booklet, Selected Parrot Humor, with my favorite humor from the PBR/CPQ. The day that he stopped doing is cartoons was a sad day for me. I really appreciated his sense of irony and particularly enjoyed the fact that his cartoons could be viewed on different levels. They were funny on a basic level but often had a side to them that only someone with an interest in biology could understand.

My color pencil drawing of 4 Caiques foraging was also accepted in the show. This is my first "major" drawing. Most of my parrot drawings are about 8"x10" - this one is over twice that size and took me forever to do. I have been influenced by the intense colors of parrots and I lay down a lot of color to try and accomplish this intense coloration. I break a lot of colored pencils before a drawing like this is finished. I also get some serious hand cramps in the process ... but they are not nearly as bad as I used to get when I did my bird sculptures using hard woods such as Rosewood, Ebony, African Blackwood and other very dense exotic woods. I really enjoy doing artwork again!

SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2007

I am planning Issue #72 of the Companion Parrot Quarterly.  I am planning on doing Friends of the Sulfur-crest and Citron-crested Cockatoos. If you have a story to tell about your cockatoo, please send it in so we can have a good number of personal experiences. I am primarily interested in information about your particular bird and your relationship; what you like (love) about the bird and any problems you have had with him or her and if you found a solution to the problem. Try to keep the article between 500 and 1000 words.

SATURDAY, MAY 19, 2007

More on the Oasis ...

Waiting to Fly ...
After spending time sitting in the Grey Aviary, I am looking forward to my next visit to the Oasis. Fund raising is progressing for a similar but larger macaw aviary. The Oasis has some of the funds but still needs much more money to build a first class aviary like the grey aviary. I believe that it will be 60' x 60' (or 60' x 40'). There are many macaws at the Oasis and they are either in roomy outdoor aviary cages or cages inside the large building. While these cages are appropriate for now, Sybil Erden is looking forward to the day when all of the birds are in true flights like the one the greys are in now (see below). Plans are also being made for 2 large cockatoo aviaries ... one for hens and one for males.

When I first met Sybil Erden, she had a vision. At that time, she had way too many birds in her home but she was looking for land to set up an oasis for them. In my conversations with her, I could tell she had the determination to do something important. She stayed true to her vision and the Oasis has evolved into a first class sanctuary facility for parrots. Continual fundraising is essential for the Oasis to maintain (and possibly increase) the number of birds who live on the property. I may have an ulterior motive for promoting the Macaw Aviry because I want to be able to watch them flying in their large aviary at the Oasis the next time I visit. The majority of funds for a project like this come from people who love parrots. If you are particularly fond of macaws, this is a great project to help fund. Donations of any size are gladly accepted. For more information, please go to:  http://www.the-oasis.org/

WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2007

 At the end of March I took a trip to Tucson Arizona. I love visiting Tucson for a variety of reasons. I lived there when I was in my late twenties. I started doing my bird sculptures there and the marvelous bird life there turned me into a fanatical bird watcher.  Now I stay with my friends Barbara and Bruce Bailey. Barbara is still recuperating from her extensive bone marrow transplant. The Transplant was very successful but she still tires easily. Until she was sick, Barbara was always a dynamo and I think as her health gets better and better, she will be one again. Visiting the Bailey's is always an adventure since they have well over a hundred cockatoos (actually I think it is less than a hundred ... maybe less that 20 ... but it seems like over 100 at meal time. There are two cockatoos that I have a "special" relationship with. The first is my little Citron-crested buddy, Pumpkin. She is a delightful cockatoo who would be happy to sit on my shoulder 24-7 but she is not demanding and she does whisper sweet nothings in my ear.

The second is my nemesis, Tiwi. She is Barbara's longtime companion Moluccan. She is absolute proof that a cockatoo who plucks can be a happy bird .... and Tiwi is loaded with personality!

A few years ago, I made a critical mistake with Tiwi. I allowed her to chase me down the hall where I climbed onto the guest bed. In my defense ... I was barefooted and one of Tiwi's favorite games is to bite my big toe. It is the old game "dance when I say dance." Tiwi always remembers me and the time she won her game and I lost. Before I got to Barbara's, I planned my strategy. I wore heavy shoes (I do not have any steel-toed shoes) and swore to myself that I would stand my ground. I thought that if I didn't give her any attention, she would just check me out and that would be it. Yeah -sure! It did work for the first half of my visit. She did follow me down the hall when I went into the bathroom. When I came out, she was waiting for me on the guest room bed. She had rummaged through my open suitcase and thrown my clothes around. I was going to have to play keep away with her. As I walked towards her, I thought that I really needed to do something different with her to change the game. So I mustered my courage, walked over to her and said "up." I think it surprised her because I think she thought that she had me completely bamboozled. She stepped on my hand immediately and our relationship changed. She still stalked me and followed me just about every where I went. The difference was that I had a little more to say about the rules of the game we played and aggression was not acceptable. I made up a few more games for us to play and, most of all, she stopped trying to bite my big toe. I also reached the realization that the reason Tiwi picked me out was not because she doesn't like me. The reason she likes me to visit is that she knows that I am a sucker as far as spending a lot of time playing with her.

THE OASIS SANCTUARY 

Every time I visit the Oasis Sanctuary I am very excited about the changes that have been made since my last visit. When I was there the last time, they were raising funds for an African Grey Aviary. They had a small parrot aviary, a Lory building, and rows of aviary cages all arranged in a Pecan grove. For one reason or another, some of the parrots can't take the heat in the summer or the cold in the winter so they live in cages in a large building. Most of the birds still housed in the building are chronic feather pickers.

 

During this visit I noticed at least two major improvements that I am sure will make an incredible difference in the welfare of the birds. One is that the aviary cages are now underneath a canopy to protect them from the weather. The roof of the canopy has a misting system that keeps the birds cooler on hot hot summer days. The second amazing improvement is the 40' x 40' African Grey aviary. It is very sturdy and was built with a few live Pecan trees inside. In addition, it has many climbing branches and open areas for flight. I think I counted 18 greys but they kept moving around. I sat on a bench in the aviary for an hour or so. I wish I could have spent more time and that I had a pencil and somedrawing paper. It was an incredible experience to watch the Greys climb and fly in such a large enclosure.

One grey spent the whole time I was there digging in the dirt and chewing on dirt and rocks. He would walk from one hole he had dug to another and work another rock loose to chew on. Then he would look up at me and give me the raspberry. Then he would move on and do the same thing over again and again. At one time he did walk over to me and bit my shoe, looked up at me and gave me the raspberry and then wandered off to his new exploration. Since greys are such avid diggers, it wasn't a surprise to see a grey on the ground ... it surprised me that there was only one. Perhaps others would have joined him if I wasn't in the aviary. The raspberry thing ... well that's a different story ... it certainly must not be a natural behavior!

I wanted to ask questions about all of the greys I interacted with in the aviary. Some of them were quite tame and curious about me, while others stayed as far away from me as possible.  The Grey Aviary also has a very unique misting system and the birds like to hang out near the mist. Sybil told me that they were planning a water feature of some kind but were still investigating what would be the best for the birds. Greys love to bathe in shallow water pools so that will be a welcome addition. The aviary is large enough for about twice as many greys and there are a few more inside of the large building (photo to the left) who will be joining the others in the aviary now that the weather is warmer.

TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 2007

 I finished another Clay sculpture of an African Grey this evening. It was one I had actually started a long time ago but I had some problems figuring out how to finish it. I finally tackled it and I am happy with the way it turned out. It is for sale on my Tongue-in-Beak Clayworks page and the photo is larger there also. I really like the way the towel the bird is sitting on came out.

Merlin, the Red-fronted Macaw and Ariel, the Green-winged Macaw are visiting me again so their people could take a vacation. They are in the Pacific Northwest and are or will be driving down the California coast along Highway 1 from Oregon. This is the major part of California that I really miss but I didn't take advantage of it enough when I lived there. Point Reyes in one of my favorite places and I loved to drive up there for the day and have a picnic lunch from the wonderful grocery store deli in Inverness. One time when I was in Inverness there was a lot going on. We were going to get lunch but the store was off limits and to our puzzlement we saw several very pregnant women walk out of the from door. As they walked away, they all pulled a pillow like apparatus from underneath their clothing. Finally we saw enough to figure out what was going on. Hollywood was filming the remake of "Village of the Damned." We saw several movie stars including Christopher Reeve before his horrible accident. When I saw the movie, I got the idea to do my "parroty" Aviary of the Damned. It is on the Fun Pages on the site.

Side tracked again - Merlin and Ariel are a lot fun to have around. Merlin should be called Merlin the Mischievous. I like parrots with spunk and he has a lot of it. Both Merlin and Ariel are very tame and sweet and like to hang out with anyone who happens to be in the store during the day. Merlin flies so it is difficult to avoid his attention. My employee, Mariano, helps with shipping, lifting, and odd jobs. He has never been around parrots before but is becoming quite fond of them. I think since Merlin has such a strong bond with Jared, his "adopted dad" he really likes having Mariano around for a buddy. This particular picture was taken as Merlin was giving Mariano a "birdey hickey" at the same time he was grabbing his ear with one foot. Ariel was also harassing Mariano in some typical macaw manner and the poor guy went into parrot sensory overload. Joanne and her 17 year old son Zach come over during the week to feed and take care of my birds and animals. They are pretty used to them now except for my little demon bird, Spike, who can be pretty particular about the people he likes. Like a typical "spoiled brat," the more someone does for him, the less likely he is to like them. It is interesting, however, that Spike really gets along well with Mariano. Other than that, I am his only other friend at this time. Poor little guy! It took awhile but Joanne and Zach are getting pretty comfortable handling Merlin and Ariel now, although the photos look like they still think the birds either have bad breathe or are going to remove their noses. (Sadly a lot of things disappeared when Mariano worked for me. Good help IS hard to find!)

THURSDAY/FRIDAY, MARCH 15/16, 2007

I have had a few requests to write a bit more about myself and how/why I became such a bird fanatic. Early in life I liked to watch birds in my back yard but I never really bothered to ask much about them. I think an important part of my "education" was living so many different places. I often find myself standing around with a group of people at a conference when they are talking about where they live. Sometimes as they talk, I find myself saying, "Oh I lived there." The problem is that I say it to people from several different places and people begin to look at me as if I am slightly nuts.

The following are the places that I have lived.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa - I was born in January (on epiphany) 1944 and was named Sara Merle Rundquist. My mother named me Sara so she could call me Sally. My mother's ancestors were Welsh/English/Irish and my father's father was Swedish. Sara was a family name and Merle was my grandfather's name on my mother's side. He died a few months before I was born so I am happy to have his name as my middle name. Merle is the French name for the European Blackbird. My mother always said she named me Sara so she could call me Sally but many people do not realize that Sally is a nickname for Sara. I've even had delays getting on planes because of the the Sara/Sally confusion.
   My father was in England during WWII, so my mother, brother, and I lived in my mother's old family home. I was a really cute little girl as the photo with my grandmother (mother's mother) shows. Years later my father told me a story about meeting an African Grey Parrot at a dinner party in Paris just after the war. The bird had very colorful language but spoke French, which meant that my father could not understand everything it said. He evidently made several comments about pig excrement. Because of this bird, my father always talked about getting an African Grey. We eventually got a Budgie but never got a Grey.
Montgomery, Alabama - Maxwell Air Force Base The only story from this time that I have heard is that I played in the coal bin with the General's daughter and we both were filthy dirty.
Berkeley, California - spent a lot of time with my aunt and uncle who were botanists and did a lot of nature hiking learning about plants and birds when I very young. I don't remember anything specific but I have been told that I really enjoyed the birds.
Germantown, Pennsylvania My brother and I both contracted Polio on our move from California to Pennsylvania. He was much sicker than I was and was in the hospital for a few weeks. He was lucky and suffered no major or permanent problems. I was luckier and had a very mild case and I was quarantined in a hotel until we moved to our new home. I got to read dozens of books including a favorite story about a little girl and her parakeet. I can't remember the name of the book but I know that I really wanted a Budgie after I read it.
Whitemarsh Village, Pennsylvania - Got Mickey Finn our wonderful talented Budgie. I adored him. One day my visiting Grandmother walked out the door with him on her shoulder. He said, "Shut the door stupid, the bird's out." She turned around and rushed back into the house. (More on Mickey Finn)
Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania - earned a Girl Scout Bird Badge
Montgomery, Alabama - Maxwell Air Force Base - Sixth Grade A next door neighbor woman tried to tame the tomboy out of me and turn me into a young lady. Mostly I remember me and my friends trying to walk around with books on our heads. Her attempts failed.   
London, England - I noticed wild birds but didn't take the time to identify them as we traveled around England. I waited until my trip to England in 2001 to actually identify the British birds. I do remember going to a huge caged bird show with my parents. There rows and rows of all kinds of caged birds with lots of parrots. Most of all I remember rows of cockatoos in cages that were in way too small cages. I bought the first item in my bird art collection at the Portobello Road Antique fair - a large wood carving of a pair of hawks. It cost five pounds, which was about $15.00 at the time... it is probably worth more than that now? That's one of my sculptures of a life-size Cedar Waxwing sitting to the left of the Hawks.
Baldwin, Long Island, New York - High School - Got As in Biology when we studied Anatomy and Animals - I didn't do as well on other topics. My art teacher wanted me to paint flowers and birds and I wanted to paint soldiers and football players (I guess I changed over the years!)
Hempstead, Long Island, New York - First Year of College (Hofstra University) I saved a knocked down nest full of Blue Jay babies and was attacked by the parents as I placed the nest back in its tree. Despite this attack, I was delighted to watch the babies grow up from my bedroom window.
Redlands, California - (Second Year of College - University of Redlands) Can you imagine what my accent was like moving to California after living in Alabama, England, and on Long Island. No one could understand me.
     I loved my college on Long Island and felt very sorry for myself that I had to move. One evening, I was sitting out in the back yard moping and a Great Horned Owl flew down and landed next to me and then hopped on my lap (click here for story) A semi-tame Raven visited us on a frequent basis to drink out of the hose or my father's sherry glass.
I went to San Bernardino Valley Junior College for a year and took some really interesting classes that never counted towards my degree. I took Anatomy and taught the lab part of the class the next year. I also took Physical Anthropology which I loved. 
Loma Linda, California - Married an Air Force officer who went to SE Asia for a year and we lived here before he left.
East Los Angeles, California - I graduated with a degree in art and a teaching credential from California State University at Los Angeles. My emphasis was in sculpture. I did some welding, stone sculpture, clay work, assemblage and, what became my favorite, wood sculpture. My first actual wood carving was of a somewhat abstract owl. I am sure that my Owl friend from Redlands was my inspiration. My professor loved my stone sculpture but was not very impressed with my owl and gave me a C on it. I still like it. This was not a safe place to live. My roommates and I had two break-ins - one was a knife-wielding man who crawled in the kitchen window. The other was a "john" who meant to go upstairs where a "lady of the night" lived. Very scary!
Los Angeles, California - College
San Gabriel, California - College
Rosemead, California - College My roommate when I lived here was pretty much a caricature of a horrible roommate.
Santa Ana, California - I lived in my grandmother's high quality antique shop while I did my student teaching. My room was actually part of the shop so I always had to make sure my bed was made. The bed frame was very high and I had to use a step stool to get into it. My grandmother (father's step-mother) had many wonderful duck decoys that inspired me to carve my very first bird sculpture. She also had quite a few antique porcelain birds. In going through some of her old photographs of items she had sold, I came across a black and white photo of a bell jar with two taxidermy parrots. They were fairly small with long tails. I can't guarantee it but once I really got into birds, I talked with her about them and she said they were 'Carolina Parrots.' I wish
that I could go back in time and get them!  
Since I went to so many colleges before I graduated, I ended up with 30 extra units but they most in classes that I really enjoyed - Biblical Literature, Anatomy, Psychology, Physical Anthropology, Art History, Medieval History, the Renaissance, Childhood Development, and a few others.
Tucson, Arizona - Davis Monthan Air Force Base Spent 6 weeks at a little motel on Speedway while my husband was in school.
Wichita Falls, Texas - Shepherd Air Force Base - This was my least favorite place I ever lived perhaps it was because it was tornado season and there were a few of them!
Lompoc, California - Vandenburg Air Force Base - Beautiful area and I spent a lot of time wandering around in nature while my husband was in classes
Tucson, Arizona - Davis Monthan AFB -This is where I started my bird sculptures and became a fanatical bird watcher. I did a sandpiper out of redwood - not the easiest wood to carve. I loved bird watching in the desert. There is an incredible variety of birds in southeast Arizona. One of my most memorable experiences was when I was chasing after a Curve-billed Thrasher and fell backwards into a barrel cactus. It was very difficult to drive to get help removing the cactus spikes from my butt.
Wichita, Kansas - McConnell Air Force Base - It was in Wichita that I went into high gear doing my Rare Hardwood Inlay Bird Sculptures. I started going to art fairs and having special showings of my work throughout the Midwest. I reached the point where I could pretty much sell everything I carved.
Warrensburg, Missouri - Whiteman Air Force Base - My husband and I built a wonderful house that was surrounded by miles of woods. I let the last 2/3 of the yard stay wild and set up bird feeders and nest boxes throughout the yard. I saw over 150 species of birds in and around the yard. I also took a class in Ornithology at Central State Missouri University - the professor's name was Dr. Hawksley. I hated to leave this home but my marriage had become very difficult due to my husband's alcoholism.
Wichita, Kansas -  I moved back to Wichita because I had so many friends and clients there. I joined the local wood caregivers association and met a couple who were setting up Double-yellow head Amazons for breeding. I became smitten with several of there birds and started bird sitting when they were out of town. Their first true pair, Charo and Chongo, were the parents of Paco and Rascal. Paco was their first baby. The more I was around parrots, the more I became fascinated with them. The picture shows 3 babies from three consecutive years - Paco, Tuffy, and Rascal.
In 1976 I had a showing of my bird sculptures at the Fuertes Library at Sapsucker Woods - the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology. I continued my bird sculpture and had pieces in galleries all over the country. I also started traveling to see birds.
In 1982 I went on a bird watching trip to Costa Rica ... it was incredible to see parrots in the wild! The experience had a profound effect on what I believed about wild parrots and their capture and importation for the pet trade. I watched a pair of Scarlet Macaws come out of their nest tree and fly over the valley screaming each other the whole way. When they returned they were so quiet that I was actually surprised to see them clamber down to the nest opening. I watched a flock of Mealy Amazons virtually disappear into a flowering tree. I wouldn't have known they were there except for the flower petals being thrown from the tree. I also had the pleasure of seeing a small group of Yellow-napes bathe in a small waterfall pool. Of course I saw many other wonderful bird species. My favorites were all of the Hummingbirds, Toucans, the Laughing Falcon, the Mot Mots, the Resplendent Quetzal, the Trogons, and all of the birds I had never heard of before I went to Costa Rica.
It was in Wichita that I really started working with parrots. I started out by taming wild-caught parrots and helping out my friends at their aviary. I also started giving programs on my sculptures, parrots and wild birds and became more comfortable with public speaking. I enjoyed living in Kansas but all of my family was in California so I knew that I would move back there at some time.
Alameda, California - Once I settled in the San Francisco Bay Area, I continued doing my bird sculptures but also started working extensively with people and their parrots. I taught a monthly bird care seminar at the San Francisco SPCA and give bird care and behavior seminars and programs at other Human Societies and Bird Clubs. A few years after moving to Alameda, I was in an automobile accident and sustained a neck injury that made it very difficult to continue doing my bird sculptures. For a few years after that I had a parrot distribution business. My goal was to seek out high quality parrot products and get them into bird and pet shops so people who cared about their birds could buy them. I also promoted and sold the products at the large bird fairs that were held in California then. In 1989, I submitted a few articles to Bird Talk Magazine and became a regular contributor. I started traveling around the country giving programs about parrots In 1991 I started doing the Parrot Psychology Column for Bird Talk. I did hundreds of consultations with people about preventing and solving their parrots' behavioral problems.
As I talked to more and more people about parrots, I realized that there was a need for a publication that provided more in-depth behavior information. I started the Pet Bird Report in 1991 as a 16 page newsletter and the publication continued to grow and is now called the Companion Parrot Quarterly. In 1999, I published the first edition of the Companion Parrot Handbook to rave reviews. The second revised edition was published in 2004. Readers continue to tell me it is the most helpful parrot book they have read. The Beak Book, the only book with in-depth information on aggression and biting in companion parrots,  was published in 2002.
      In 1999 my elderly mother came to live with me and my life changed dramatically. All of my dogs and cats immediately became devoted to her and she always had at least one or two of them on her lap ... especially if she was eating. I didn't share my food and she did!  The photo shows my cat Toc after my mother ran over his tail with her stair chair lift. She didn't see him on the stairs and he is a pretty stubborn boy and didn't move. We did "save" his tail and you can tell that he did not resent my mother for the accident ... especially if there was food around. My mother and I loved each other and we drove each other crazy at times. She lived with me for the last 7 years of her life. When she first moved in, she was able to get around quite well but she became more and more debilitated requiring more and more of my time and energy.
     At some point in my life I decided that life in the San Francisco Bay Area had become too hectic and too expensive for me. I wanted to live someplace where I could afford to have an avian education center, gallery, library, and museum for all of my stuff. Before I even knew where I was going, I started packing. Eventually I decided to move to Loveland. It just seemed like a neat place to live. As far as the move went, nothing happened as planned. The move cost me over twice what I had planned ... mostly because of difficulties coordinating everything. The actual move was pretty much a nightmare. I rented an RV for my mother and all of the animals and two trucks for my stuff - I had lots lots and lots of stuff.
Loveland, Colorado -  Perhaps someday I will look back on my move to Colorado as "Sally's Folly." Although I really enjoy Loveland, life has not gone as well as I hoped here. My mother's health deteriorated due to a reoccurring bladder infection. She had been on so many antibiotics for it that they no longer helped. She passed away a year ago. I immediately felt both sorrow and relief. The Larimer County Hospice provided me with incredible support during the last month or so of her life. I had become emotionally and financially drained with her care. My mother was very intelligent but never knew it ... you didn't have a chance of winning against her at scrabble. I teased her quite a bit but she always had the perfect come back and I miss that a lot.
It took some time to get the Laughing Parrot Gallery open and this winter was dismal. The weather kept almost everyone inside. I started doing a series of parrot related Booklets and Compilations and I have sold quite a few of them. I plan to do more as time goes by. Originally they were compilations of all of the articles on the species or topic from the PBR/CPQ but a group of people whom I had previously mentored threatened to sue me so I had to redo the booklets and remove their articles. Other people were quite generous in allowing me to use their articles ... their consensus was that the more good information there was out there, the better the lives of parrots will be. The "politicrap" in the bird biz can be amazing.
     In the last year I have started doing a lot more artwork, which makes me very happy. I call my work pArRoT. I enjoy doing the colored pencil drawings of parrots and hope at some point to do one of each species of parrot that is kept as a companion. I have turned many of my drawings into note cards and am planning to do some prints of them also.  Most of all, I love doing my "Tongue-in-Beak" Clayworks and am always trying to think of new and original ideas. My latest piece is my second version of "Grey Matter." I like the fact that several people are ordering clay sculptures of their birds and I get to do more species. I hope to do many more of these humorous sculptures as time goes by. I still have quite a few ideas for them! I am working on another grey, a Moluccan, a Pionus, and a Cockatiel now.

TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2007

People who come into the Laughing Parrot Avian Education Center are usually surprised to see a live cat or two amongst all of the bird images. I often hear the words, "I would love to have a bird but I have cats."  While it does take some management to avoid problems, I have had parrots and cats (and dogs) for a long time. Many years ago when Nimbus first came to live with me he was investigating Paco and Rascal - my DYH Amazons - on their sun porch. This was when Rascal was about 7 years old and quite full of himself. He launched himself off of his perch and landed on Nimbus's back. I never saw him move that fast before or after! Nimbus lost his curiosity about parrots.

Shortly after I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area I decided I needed a cat. The house next door had a small abandoned barn that had been a canary aviary. The family had owned several houses on the block, including mine, that were built when the west part of Alameda Island was mostly truck farms. The patriarch, Papa Joe, had raised canaries for years but he had passed away a couple of years before I moved in. The neighbors actually gave me his last canary - a hen who was about 9-10 years old. I had her for a few more years. Because of the canary aviary that had not been cleaned out yet, there were lots of mice and I have to admit I am not very fond of mice in my home. I was talking to a friend and mentioned that I was going to get a cat and that I was thinking of buying a Russian Blue because I thought they were so beautiful.

A few days later I was sitting in my living room watching television. I had not yet replaced the raggedy screen door and a kitten who was about 6 months old crawled in through a rip in the screen. He walked over as if he belonged there and jumped up on my lap. I tried to find out if he belonged to anyone in the area, but no one claimed him so I had my cat and he was very handsome (pretty much the same color as a Russian Blue.)

I used to carve bird sculptures for a living and I had just finished one of my most complex and expensive sculptures - a life-size flying California quail. It was sitting on a credenza in my living room. A few days after he moved in, the kitten jumped up and knocked it on the floor breaking the sculpture so that it was basically irreparable. I suppose that I could have kicked the cat out but I kind of liked him so he stayed. But I got an idea for his name - Nimbus ... because there seems to be a dark cloud in every silver lining. A year or so later, I had to quit carving after I fractured a vertebrae in my neck in an automobile accident.

Although I had been working with parrots for some time, that was when I really started doing it seriously. When I started doing the Pet Bird Report/Companion Parrot Quarterly, Nimbus became one of the office workers. His job evaluations were not that good but he was usually great company. He was particularly good at being a paper weight in the In Basket. He fancied himself a writer but I could never understand what he was trying to write on the many occasions he walked across the computer keyboard. Nimbus had a passion for the outdoors and I finally relented when I had a house with a high fence. He most went outdoors and sunned himself. Nimbus had become what could be called a "full-bodied" cat but in the last few years he started to slim down.

A few months ago, he started having kidney  problems and he started going downhill. Saturday he experienced an aortic saddle thrombosis, which is throwing a clot that "causes a blockage in the aorta in the lower abdominal region or the area in which the aorta splits to become the femoral arteries of the legs."  This is the same condition that killed Louie, the cat that I adopted from my grandmother when she went into a nursing home. On Monday I had to have Nimbus euthanized.

He had a good life in his close to 22 years living with me.                                   

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2007

Saturday I did a parrot program at Loveland's Backbone Special Event Center. There is an uplifted ridge of rocks west of Loveland called the Devil's Backbone. Not far along the Big Thompson River (which is not very big!) is a little red building that looks like it could have been a stagecoach stop. The seminar was co-sponsored by Susanne Cochran's Avalon Aviary. It was the first of a series. Click here for more information on the other planned seminars. We were not able to give a lot of notice ahead of time but we did have a number of people who were interested and signed up. The day before the seminar, the news reported that there was another big snow storm/blizzard with heavy winds coming into Colorado. This storm did hit south and east of Denver and in the mountains. North of Denver and up this way, there was nothing but people in Colorado have become quite wary of snow storms after living through so many since right before Christmas. Business has been very slow at the gallery and other Colorado businesses because people stay home rather than venturing out in the snow. Because of this, we only had about 9 people, but this created a much more intimate group where everyone got to ask questions and be a part of the seminar. Since the topic which had to do with a parrot's psychological needs in his environment and his need for his "human flock" to provide "social security." The topic is an important one so we will be planning another seminar with this same topic ... probably in May.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2007

We had a few people come into the gallery today. It has been horribly slow because of all of the bad weather. Of course, the visitors were treated with a visit with two delightful Macaws. As I wrote yesterday, Ariel and Merlin are visiting while their people have some potentially toxic work done in their home. Merlin, the Red-front is the "little bully" and Ariel is very patient with him up to a point ... they seem to have the same relationship that many siblings have. Earlier today I got a kick out of watching the two of them. Ariel, the Green-wing, was preening Merlin's head with her beak. At the same time she had her foot up scratching her own head in the same place that she was preening Merlin. It was a much more complicated version of a dog kicking with his foot when his belly is being scratched. 

When I looked carefully at the first photo, I wondered about the third bird. Then I realized it was one of my collection of hanging parrots. It seems quite curious about what Merlin and Ariel are doing? They were actually pulling on each other's tails. The third bird is actually a vintage paper mache logo from Corby's Whisky. It is an unidentifiable bird - a little bit of macaw with an Amazon shape.  The next photo is of Ariel responding to the fact that Merlin was hassling her. Of course when she goes after him, he can just simply fly away. The third photo is of Ariel giving Merlin a good head preen.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2007

I am bird sitting two macaws for a couple of days while work is being done in their home on a new heating system. Their people called me today because they were afraid of fumes and Teflon and no one in the company doing the work could answer their questions and concerns about potential problems. They are both young birds from Avalon Aviary. Merlin is a fully flighted Red-fronted Macaw and Ariel is a 16 month old Green-winged Macaw. I met her the summer I moved here. She was the only Green-winged that summer but there are 5 babies this year and they are all really cute. I think Ariel may be a bit more dignified than the birds this year. This year's babies are a raucous bunch.

I have just started to bird sit on a very limited basis with only one or two birds at a time and at this time I am only accepting birds that were raised at Avalon Aviary. I have watched a fun little Brown-headed parrot named Beau. I have very little experience with this species and have been delighted to get to know one up close and personal. He needed his wings trimmed but I didn't want to do it the first day so he flew quite a bit in the store. One time he flew into the "kitchen" area and disappeared. I couldn't find him anywhere until I realized he was hanging on the wall. I am looking forward to his visit again in March. He is a very gently little sprite.

Maybe tomorrow I will have a chance to take some photos of Ariel and Merlin. The cage was too large to fit in my "bird sitting room" so they are in the main store. I am alternating them in the large cage. When Merlin is in the cage, Ariel is content to hang out on the large atom but when Ariel is in the cage, Merlin is dedicated to hassling her through the cage bars.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2007

Last week I went to the ATM at a Kings Sooper Market in Loveland. I needed to get cash to pay someone because of a cash flow situation. I rarely have more than $50 cash with me but in this case I had $600.00 in my purse. I bought some groceries and got home and realized to my horror that I did not have my purse. I knew that I had left it in the cart. This is the price of being stressed, overloaded, and over sixty. I sped back to the store and the shopping carts had all been taken inside. Not good. I rushed into the store and asked at customer service if anyone had turned in a purse. I was asked what color it was. I said "blue" and the woman went and got my purse out of a locked room. The guy who was collecting carts had turned it in and all of the money was inside. Sometimes something happens in life that restores faith in humanity!

Back in 1976, I was living in Missouri and was having a showing of my "Rare Hardwood Inlay Bird Sculpture" at the Cornell University Laboratory of Ornithology in the Fuertes Library. It was quite an honor and I drove to New York to deliver the sculptures. On that trip a friend and I turned it into a vacation by coming back through Pennsylvania and then the Shenandoah valley and the Blue Ridge Mountains. After the show another friend, a dedicated bird watching friend, and I had planned a trip to go up through Canada and then down to New York to get the sculptures. She had her baby with her and we were planning on stopping at her parents home outside of Detroit so they could spend time with their grand daughter while we bird watched at Algonquin Provincial Park, etc. On our trip we stopped at a Dairy Queen in Gary, Indiana. We had our lunch and Susie changed the baby's diaper. We had driven at least 60 miles when she discovered her purse was missing. She had left it on the top of the car when she changed the baby's diaper. It had the $500 (worth even more back then!) she had saved for the trip. We drove back and, of course, it was gone. She was very upset and decided that she couldn't go on the trip because she didn't want me to pay her way. I needed the company and certainly didn't want to take the trip by myself.  When we got to her parent's house, Susie's husband had called and wanted her to call him as soon as she got in. A woman had called  from Gary, Indiana to report that she had found a purse and wanted to know if it was OK for her to send a check to replace the cash because she was worried that the cash could get lost in the mail. Bill told her to keep part of it as a reward and she refused to do so. Susie's parents lent her the money for the trip until the check from the woman in Gary arrived.  Susie and I had quite an adventure in Canada and also got in some great birdwatching in New York and the rest of the trip.

My favorite story about Algonquin is when we ended up on a dirt dike road through some relatively isolated swampy area of the park. I stopped the car and we got out to see what we could find. We heard a splash in the water below so we walked to the edge. We saw a cow moose and her very young calf. She was only about 7-10 feet away and was obviously alarmed by our presence. I haven't researched this to determine if it is a normal defense mechanism but she immediately urinated in what seemed to a way to get us to leave her and her calf alone. It worked ... I have never smelled anything so acrid in my life .. it burned our eyes and made breathing difficult!  We got in the car and drove down the road a bit. Eventually we stopped and nature called both of us so, in turn, we both peed behind the car. As we were scanning the area with our binoculars, we saw a wolf trotting towards us. As she got closer she detoured down the bank to avoid us. We stood very quietly against the car. She was by herself and she seemed intent on avoiding us so we weren't too concerned about her. Once she got past us, she walked back onto the road. She was probably about 25 feet away when she stopped and sniffed the air. She then turned and trotted back towards us. We still stood quietly but with a bit more fear than before. We whispered to each other that if she started running towards us that we would quickly scramble into the car. When she got to the place where we had peed, she squatted and urinated. Then she trotted down the road again. It must have been her territory and she wanted to let us know. 

Hmmm ... this is the way my mind works - I can start out telling a story about the return of a purse and restored faith in humanity and then I end up writing about moose and wolf urination!

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2006

In transferring photos to this computer after the other one died, I came across this picture on my cat. As many readers know, I have a cat who is pushing two years old. He is a very cute Manx. I originally named him Diablito (little Devil) because he is into everything. When he is really sweet, I call him Angelito (little Angel). Most of the time I just call him Lito because he goes from being devilish to angelic and back again so quickly. There is a "canopy" over the parrot playgym area of the gallery. We have two very large Penguin figures there. They made from goose feathers on a framework. One afternoon, I glanced up to see that they appeared to have a new addition to their family ... I grabbed my camera and got this photo.  Lito now has the nickname "penguin cat."

Lito loves to hang out in the store. As long as he behaves, he can stay ... this actually means he doesn't get to spend too much time there. He loves to climb up on the desk top and then on to the top of the display cases and onto the loft in the front of the store. People are often surprised to come into the bird art gallery and find a live cat peering at them from the top of one of the display cases. If the movie Happy Feet had come out before I got Lito, I would probably have named him after one of the Penguin characters from it.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2007

This last weekend I was at the Parrot Festival in Houston. It was nice to be out of the cold and snow if only for a few days. I have always considered myself to be somewhat of a "gregarious misanthrope" ... I really enjoy spending a lot of time by myself so that I can work on my various parrot endeavors or read. But when I go to a conference or a seminar, I thrive on the social setting.  I thoroughly enjoy spending time with friends that I have not seen for some time. I laughed a lot and they say that laughing is very healthy. I spent a lot of time with the people from Project Bird Watch, including Bonnie Zimmerman, Stewart Metz, and Lorraine Otto. They are doing a wonderful job in Indonesia to help the wild parrots and recently introduced a small group of smuggled Moluccan Cockatoos back into the wild. We all missed Barbara Bailey at this event and I know she would have really enjoyed it. She has been in Seattle at the Fred Hutchinson Transplant Center since November. I am pleased to report that her bone marrow transplant has been a success and she is feeling better than she has in years. It appears that she will be able to return to Seram to see the wild Moluccans that she loves so much. This was Shari Beaudoin's first conference since she became president of the Amazona Society and the meeting went very well. I think that her dedication will help the organization grow and prosper. Her first newsletter was wonderful. For more information, visit the Project Bird Watch and Amazona Society Web Sites.

For one reason of another, I did not get a chance to attend many of the lectures. It is really difficult to try to run a vendor booth and attend a lot of the programs at the same time. However I did get a chance to talk with several speakers and there was a very positive feeling about several conservation projects. Dr. Don Brightsmith said that he was optimistic about the Spix Macaw project. Several of the bird collectors and breeders who have these macaws were being quite cooperative about working with their long-term reintroduction to the wild. 

This is the first time I have had a "serious" vendor booth at a conference and I was very pleased with my sales. I sold quite a few of my "Tongue-in-Beak" Claywork pieces, many notecards and booklets. Next time I will bring more drawings because I sold the only ones I brought.  There was no doubt about it - my "Grey Matter" sculpture was the most appreciated piece that I had at the show. I will be doing more with this basic theme!

Not a Good Year Up Until the Parrot Festival
Until the Parrot Festival, this new year has not been very good to me. It is phenomenal the number of things that have gone wrong. Of course, if you have paid attention to the weather, Colorado has had a couple of blizzards and snow every weekend since before Christmas. If it hasn't snowed, the temperature has been very cold ... that is unless it is warm enough to melt some of the snow during the day so that we can have serious ice at night. In addition to the weather, the following has happened:
1. Stomach flu the week after Christmas - takes a couple of weeks to feel decent.
2. Computer virus (even with virus protection) creates another serious problem on the computer I use to format the CPQ causing another long delay. My pagemaker files are corrupted and I use pagemaker for everything.
3. Mitsubishi Montero 4 wheel drive - dies just when a 4 wheel drive would really come in handyin the deep snow. Needs a new battery and alternator.
4. Next day my PT Cruiser dies - needs new battery but has to go to dealer to put the battery in. Still hasn't been fixed yet.
5. Roof in loft area in store where I do my artwork leaks. On warm days, the snow melt causes the bucket to be filled with water several times a day.
6.  Basement in store leaks.
7. Coincidental problem with the other computer that we use to keep all data records. Works only at snail's pace.
8. Old crown breaks off of molar.
9. Upstairs toilet overflows, turns bedroom carpet into a swamp and ruins living room ceiling below it. I use every towel and sheet in the house to soak up the mess. 
10. Washing machine won't spin or drain and needs replacing. Can't wash pile of wet towels used to clean up toilet overflow. Luckily a friend lets me bring everything to her house to wash the next day. 
11. Broke another tooth eating an almond.
12. Ordered new Pagemaker program, which I waited for with baited breath so that I could take a full assortment of note cards and booklets to the Parrot Festival. Received the program the day before I was to leave. Adobe sent me the French version by mistake. I still haven't received the English version.
I think that's enough - it is all going to be uphill from now on!!! That is as soon as I get everything repaired!
13. The computer I use for all of my work is kaput - after spending close to $600 having it worked on it turns out that it is the mother board. Argh!!! I have to try and rebuild and/or transfer all of my files to this computer I am using now so I can finish the now very late CPQ and print out the booklets.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2006

The view from the front door of the Laughing Parrot Gallery. Wow - a real blizzard!

I moved to Colorado a year ago September so this is my second winter here. Last winter was easy with very little snow and certainly not enough to complain about ... maybe there was an inch or so on my back porch - just enough to make a nice sized snowball to show my then bedridden mother who didn't believe it was actually snowing. She had lived in California for 41 years.

I am now  experiencing (as many others are) a real snow storm - a blizzard. It has snowed all day and at least a few times when I looked out the window, the wind was blowing the snow horizontally. The is a 2 foot drift at my back door, which means that when the dogs go out again, I will have to find the snow shovel which is probably under a foot of snow on the patio. I know that many people reading this will say, "so...?" because they are used to this kind of weather. After living in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 20 years, I doubt if I saw more than a few snow flakes for at least that long.

Luckily there was no reason I had to go outside today! All of the businesses here in downtown Loveland were closed except for the bar next door. I watched four people struggle and slip through the snow and ice from their car to get to the bar's entrance. Sometimes it amazes me what people will do for a drink.

My parrots are all quite cozy upstairs in what could have been the dining room. Melissa works at Avalon Aviary on Wednesdays so she probably went to work because all of the birds there need to be fed and taken care of. She is due here tomorrow but if she even makes it, I am sure she will not bring Lucy. Lucy is her Red-lored Amazon. Lucy usually comes on Thursday. Melissa brings Dory on Tuesdays - she is a DYH chatterbox who wiggles almost constantly and loves to play on the atom. Dory is a bell ringer and can fight the bell for hours. Phoenix, Melissa's Green-wing comes in on Fridays. He really impresses the people who come into the store!
 

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9, 2006

Does anyone out there have a  Grey-cheek parakeet or know someone who does?  In the 1980's, they were one of the most popular parrots on the market. Of course most, if not all, of the birds were imports. They were often called Pocket Parrots and they were definitely a personality packed little parrot. Grey-cheeks were very bonded and loyal to their primary caregiver but a drawback was that they were often quite territorial and could be aggressive to other people. They could also be noisy little guys but the people who loved them really loved them. They were always little busy-bodies and had to be supervised since they would get into almost anything and they loved to wander around on the floor if they could get away with it. Over the time I worked with them, I knew of at least 3-4 who were underfoot and died when they were stepped on. As I remember, there was a serious problem with many of them having Avian TB. The bird shop that I worked in one Christmas sold quite a few of them but they also had a room upstairs where they put sick birds and birds deemed unsaleable. There were more than a few grey-cheeks up there who had plucked all of their chest, belly, and back feathers. I have often wondered if this was a symptom of the Avian TB that just wasn't understood back then.

What is interesting to me is that such a popular parrot would almost completely disappear from the market in such a short time.  When imports were banned, with most popular parrots, people started breeding them so the species went from being commonly imported to being raised in captivity with a minimal impact in their numbers as human companions. I have heard that the grey-cheek is difficult to breed but I personally don't know anyone who breeds them now. I have seen them advertised on the Internet but other than that, I hear very little about them and the other Brotogeris species.

I remember I told one woman to make sure that her grey-cheek got a variety of veggies and fruits. A week or so later, she brought the bird to be groomed. There was a whole orange, a whole apple and a half a pineapple in the bottom of the cage. (This was probably not as strange as the woman that I told to give her African Grey well-cooked fresh chicken a few times a week. She called me about 6 months later and told me her grey was plucking. I went over to see what was going on and she told me that her grey was in the kitchen eating her chicken. When I went into the kitchen, the grey was chest deep in the carcass of a greasy rotisserie chicken ... no wonder the bird was plucking.)

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2006

I have been working on clay Christmas ornaments of parrots. So far I have done a caique, a cockatoo, and an African Grey, but I am working on others which I will put up for sale on my art pages.

I just finished a funky 3 piece Amazon parrot Sculpture with a Yellow-nape, a Blue-front, and a Double-yellow Head. The theme is "Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil, See No Evil."  I think that Amazon Parrots lend themselves very well to this theme - even more so than monkeys.

 I also did an "Umbrella" Cockatoo that sold very quickly on Ebay. I have some other ideas for interesting parrot sculptures and wild bird sculptures that I can do, So I will be working on more of them from time to time.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2006

I hope your Thanksgiving was a happy day. I spent the evening with Susanne Cochran at Avalon Aviary and it turned out to be a Green-wing Macaw funfest. She has 5 delightful babies now plus one of last year's babies was there for a visit and her 14 year old companion Skipper came in to spend some time. It was quite a challenge to eat dessert with this many curious macaws. Once the babies were fed their evening meal before bedtime, they all gathered on the top of the couch, faced the wall, and gronked softly into the wall. This was a very interesting behavior that I had never heard about, but Susanne said it is normal for her baby Green-wings to do this.  Perhaps it was so they could stay upright with their full crops. These are all delightful babies and it is quite an experience watching them grow from silly putty blobs to fuzz balls and now into real Macaws. 

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2006

There a few people within the world of parrots who have really made a big difference.  Many of them started out as people who had companion parrots and have gone several extra miles. My friend, Barbara Bailey, is one of them. She started Tucson Avian Rescue and Adoption (TARA), which has an excellent record for finding new homes for parrots, some who need a great deal of rehabilitation. Even though the photo shows Barbara with her macaw Kitty, Barbara specializes in Cockatoos and has written several articles for the Pet Bird Report/Companion Parrot Quarterly about these intelligent and sometimes difficult companions. It was on a visit to her home full of Cockatoos, that I watched my Caique screaming his head off. The profound question is, "Does a Caique really scream in a household of Cockatoos if no one can hear him?"

Barbara became involved in Project Bird Watch (Indonesian Parrot Project) and with Dr. Stewart Metz, and now with the organizational skills of Bonnie Zimmerman, has turned it into a highly respected conservation organization. Recently Project Bird Watch started introducing smuggled Moluccan (Seram) Cockatoos back into the wild. Barbara and her husband Bruce have also been strong supporters of my parrot education endeavors.

Barbara has been ill for some time and is now in Seattle in the Fred Hutchinson Bone Marrow Transplantation Program. For the last few weeks, she has been undergoing tests. On December 2, she will start chemotherapy and on the 8th, she will have a bone marrow transplant. Her brother is the donor. This is a serious procedure but the odds for success are higher than they would be without treatment. Once she survives the transplant, the odds are in her favor that health will be restored.

I look forward to seeing Barbara with her energy and dedication restored.  More than anything, I know that she wants to visit Indonesia again and see first hand the progress of the organization that is so important to her.

I ask that you keep Barbara in your thoughts and prayers. We need her renewed energy back in the world of parrots!

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2006
 

Without Comment II ... On October 5th I wrote about seeing 4 macaws sitting in front of the city theater across the street. There was no one watching them but the birds were quite nonchalant about just sitting there. They attracted a great number of people and most of the people left them alone and just wondered why they were there with no one watching them. When I finally did find out who owned them, it was a woman and her male friend who were eating in a nearby restaurant. When she came out, she told me that she did this all of the time and the birds loved the attention. I personally wasn't as concerned about the birds taking off as I was about the people they might attract. I told the woman this and she said she had never had any problem ... I wanted to add the word "yet." She went into great detail about how important the birds were to her and how they went everywhere with her. Friday the woman's male friend came in and asked us if we would be interested in buying any used cages. The woman was moving in with him and he didn't like the macaws so she was giving them to a rescue organization.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2006

Having the Gallery can be interesting. We don't get a lot of visitors yet who are really bird people. We've certainly had more parrot people than wild bird people. I think that if you love one, it is natural to be interested in the other but it isn't always so. What is interesting to me is the number of people who wander in that used to have a parrot or have a friend or relative that used to have a parrot. I hear the term "used to have" a lot. Of those who have come in that do have a parrot, many of them have never read a parrot magazine or book. I have also heard the words "got rid of" a lot. These are my least favorite words. There is a vast difference in attitude between saying, "I found my parrot a good home." and "I got rid of my parrot." 

Parrot Allergies or Seed Allergies?? A couple came in and told me that they inherited a very talented Amazon from a friend but had to find him a home because of allergies. The bird was fed a predominantly seed diet, which makes me wonder. I love to wonder about parrot related stuff ... in fact my brain rarely shuts down. When I first got parrots, I had some rather intense allergic reactions. As time went by I realized the the major allergy I had was to the peppers in seed mixes. When I made a point to buy seed without peppers, I found out that I was still somewhat allergic to the seed mixes. This became really obvious to me when I worked for a short time at a bird shop. They kept seed mixes in large bins and I often poured bags of seed into the bins. This caused me some serious allergies reactions. I still use seed but I buy really clean seed in small packages and have little or no problems with it.  Once I stopped using seed in large amounts a lot of my allergy problems went away. In talking with the people who really wanted a parrot again, I wondered if their allergies were actually to the parrot and not to the seed they were using?

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2006

Last weekend I was in Guelph, Canada to speak at the Canadian Parrot Conference. The first time I spoke in Canada was in 1990 or 1991 at the Canadian Parrot Symposium and I spoke in Toronto almost every other years since. Now the conference is sponsored by a different group but it continues the tradition. I talked to several of the same people I have seen for years but also spent time with others that I hadn't gotten to know as well before. Suzan Berezuk from Tikibird Aviary in Burlington, Canada let me visit her room to see two adorable baby Meyer's parrots she brought because she was feeding them. There were several parrots at the conference so I didn't handle the babies but they sure are cute with their little yellow shoulders.  Poicephalus are a family of parrots I haven't spent a lot of time with so I am always delighted to visit with knowledgeable breeders and people who have them as pets. Suzan only breeds Poicephalus and I got to talk with her about their unique personalities. Meyers are such beautiful little birds. Suzan really loves the little Brown-headed parrots. My friend Suzanne Cocharan at Avalon Aviaries also breeds these delightful little guys and I have been very impressed with them at her aviaries. I guess people think they are not that colorful but they certainly have a subtle beauty. With good care, their feathers can be iridescent and the color on the inside of their wings is intense. It is their personality that wins people over. The ones I have known are incredibly sweet and they tend to stay that way to everyone in their lives.

Is this a face that only a mother could love? Actually no. I can't remember his name for sure bit he was one of three birds at the WEEP booth and he is a very popular bird. Once you spend some time with him, he grows on you. He is actually pretty cute! Because of the bad press, in my ignorance, I was surprised at how clean and shiny he was. He is a Their educational birds are Socrates, Einstein, and Whistler but I can't remember who was who. My guess is that the Turkey Vulture is Whistler. The other two birds were a majestic Great Horned Owl and a stunning Broad-winged Hawk. WEEP stands for  Wildlife Education and Environmental Programs and is a program sponsored by the Ontario Veterinary College of the University of Guelph. 

Its fun to be traveling again and the best part of it is the people I get to spend time with and sometimes, the birds I get to meet.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 28, 2006
Downtown Loveland had its big Halloween celebration today. Hundreds of kids come downtown to Trick or Treat and many stores pass out candy. This was our first year and we were surprised at how many goblins, power ranges, spider men, princesses, mummies, ghouls, and various animals came into the shop for candy. We started with 10 bags of various kinds of candy and I had to make 3 more candy trips because we kept running out. Of course we had lines to come in the Laughing Parrot because we had live parrots for everyone to see. Melissa, my assistant, brought Phoenix, her Green-wing to work and he was very popular. When she wasn't holding him, Paco, my 31 year old Double-yellow head Amazon was on her shoulder. The gallery was actually named after Paco because she laughs so much. I called my consultation business "The Laughing Parrot" almost 30 years ago because of her laughter. Paco laughed all day for just about everyone and often told them Goodbye after they got their candy. I would guess we had around 600 to 800 people come into the galley. Very few of them were very interested in all of the bird stuff we have but a few said they would come back when there was less of a crowd downtown. Melissa's year old nephew Tyler came in dressed as "his cousin" Phoenix. He also won Fourth prize in the city costume contest. He borrowed some old tail feathers from Phoenix and Melissa's sister made the rest of his costume. He is very cute! 

SATURDAY OCTOBER 5, 2006

Without Comment ... There is a restaurant across the street. For over an hour, 4 macaws have sat outside on some nearby sculptures on the sidewalk. There is no one watching them. They are happily preening and hanging out. I went over to investigate who they belonged to and finally found that the owners were having dinner in the restaurant. The woman finally came out to check on them. The birds were exceptionally well behaved as dozens of people walked by and talked with them. Obviously the macaws are used to being in public places with lots of people around. A very loud motorcycle stopped for traffic and revved up but the macaws showed little reaction. I wasn't that concerned about the birds getting down or taking off. I took dozens of pictures of them with my digital camera for drawing references. I talked with the birds for some time and many people thought they were mine because I had on a parrot shirt. Like me, the people were surprised that the birds were outside unsupervised. My major concern was people who were trying to handle the birds. Among the crowd of observers were 3 adolescent boys who have actually come into the Laughing Parrot Gallery and have tried to tease our birds. Even though the boys were being jerks around the birds, the macaws stayed put. The people came out of the restaurant and came over to the gallery for a short time. Then they gathered up their macaws and left.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18

Today John Brasaemle and his wife, Carol, came up to get his watercolor paintings from our gallery show.  We sold 3 of his paintings, which is probably not bad for our first gallery show. He had to get them for a Artist in Residency show next weekend. The walls look very empty so I will have to get to work on the next display.

I took the afternoon off. I hadn't had a chance to get up into the Mountains so I took Dewey, my Hovawart, for a ride up to Rocky Mountain National Park. (There is a picture of Dewey on my "flock and family" pages if you don't know what a Hovawart looks like. It was beautiful since the trees are changing color. There were elk everywhere and I could hear their high-pitched bugling all over. At one point a herd with a huge bull was crossing the road. Of course when this happens, cars stop everywhere and wait for the elk to saunter across the road. There were quite a few calves of varying sizes. A mother stopped to let her calf suckle right next to my car. I grabbed my digital camera, turned it on, and framed my shot only to have the words "battery low" flashed on the screen. No photo but it was a fantastic sight to see. Last weekend when Susanne Cochran and I drove up to Wyoming, we saw a small group of Pronghorn Antelope and a fox. I need to look it up to know what kind it is for sure but it was very handsome. Since Dewey was with me on my drive today, I didn't get much bird watching in but did see some Mountain Chickadees and a Clark's Nutcracker (haven't seen one of those for years!). 

I did go and play with the babies at Avalon Aviary yesterday. This time I concentrated on three very adorable Timneh Greys, a wonderful Lesser Jardine's hen and two baby Greatbills that exuded intelligence. I fell in love with the little Jardine's. I worked with quite a few Senegals, and a few of the others but  Poicephalus became more popular after I did most of my consultations with parrots so I do not have nearly as much experience with them. Susanne raises Red-bellies, Brown-heads, Senegals, and Jardine's. Playing with the babies and the young birds at the aviary is giving me a lot more hands-on experience with Poicephalus and I am very impressed with them. I also played with a young and very colorful Blue-front. He went to live with a woman after he was weaned a year or so ago but his new caregiver was killed in a car accident so the little Blue-front is in need of a good home. He is a bit shy but he is very tame and well-behaved.  The baby Greatbills are dolls. While I have read many times that they do not like to be touched, they certainly welcome it when they are babies. Great-bills are one of those parrots who observe and evaluate everything and they start this at a young age. When they look at you, it is as if they are looking into your soul. A Great-bill would be a perfect parrot for someone like me. According to reports, they tend to be crepuscular (active at twilight) and/or nocturnal. Since I am also crepuscular and semi nocturnal, a Great-bill would be fun to have to keep me company well into the night as I work. My grey, Whodee, keeps me company many evenings but he starts yawning long before I actually go to bed

Watching the baby Poicephalus play together on the Atom toy was a delight. Most of the birds get along well but there is always an exception. The two baby Eclectus were sitting on the arm of the couch when one of the hand-feeders came in with a basket of Blue-headed Pionus, Yellow-shoulder Amazons, and a single Black-headed Caique to hand feed. The Caique has been raised in the same playpen with the Pionus and YS Amazons so he considers them his family. However he is intent on removing the other birds from the face of the earth. He propelled himself across the room and flew right at the male Eclectus, knocking him to the floor and not letting go until we jumped in to rescue the Eclectus. This is a normally sweet baby Caique who isn't weaned yet ... what is it with these caiques? I'd say it was TMT except I have heard about hens who are also this full of themselves.

I was going through some paperwork from many years ago when Spike first came to live with me. He is at least 17 years old. He was about a year old when he came to live with me. It is hard to imagine that I have had him in my life this long. He has shown his share of aggression to various people in my life but still remains very devoted to me.

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 16, 9 pm

This week I am finally getting my "artist's studio" arranged in the loft above the back of the gallery. I am excited by this because it will give me a place to create various projects without it being a mess in the rest of the store. I am working on several projects: colored pencil parrot drawings, Polymer clay sculptures of parrots, a cockatoo painting, and two life-size sculptures - one of a baby Umbrella cockatoo and one of a Rockhopper penguin.

I am also working on the next issue of the CPQ - I can still use a few more Friends of the Hyacinth Macaw stories. Anyone have a Hyacinth???

We had a very nice couple from England come into the Laughing Parrot Gallery today. I really enjoyed talking with them about English birds. When I lived in London as a teenager, I liked to watch birds but not enough to really identify too many of them. When I went back to speak at a parrot conference in England, I got a chance to do some bird watching. There were 4 birds that I definitely wanted to see: the European Robin, the European Blackbird, the Blue Tit and the Long-tailed Tit - the last two are related to our chickadees and are really delightful little birds. I spent two days in London and then took the train to Stratford for the Conference. That afternoon, I found a canal near the hotel and went for a walk. All 4 of the birds that I was so anxious to see were all on the same tree.   I thanked the birds for their show and went and took a nap since I had flown to England on a night flight and was still tired. I did get in some more bird watching before I left England and saw many wonderful birds.

This last Tuesday night I went to a meeting. The speaker was a 62 year old woman who wanted to do something different after her children grew up and moved away. She applied for a job working at McMurdo Station in Antarctica. She started working in the galley washing mounds of pots and pans but now she drives the big transport buses on the ice for 2-4 months during the Antarctica summer.  Sometimes they see Emperor and Adelie Penguins and sometimes they don't. One of the rules is that no one messes with the wildlife but when a plane comes in if there are penguins on or near the ice runway, the have to be pushed off with cardboard. When people fly down there to work, they gather in Christchurch, New Zealand and then fly in a C130 cargo plane cramped into bucket seats. The plane is fitted with skies and offloads supplies while it is still moving and only stops long enough for the people to rush off. If it stayed on the ground too long, it wouldn't be able to take off because of the temperature, which I think she mentioned was -55 during the summer but I can't remember if that is Fahrenheit or Celsius ... but it is very cold . Then they are driven to the buildings on one of these huge bus like vehicles. This is certainly a unique way to deal with empty-nest syndrome?

Last weekend, Susanne Cochrane of Avalon Aviary and I went for a ride up to Cheyenne and Laramie Wyoming just to get away. Her life is very busy since she has a very busy job in addition to raising wonderful baby parrots. There is a beautiful rock area between Cheyenne and Laramie - I believe it is called Vedauwoo Glen. It is a very beautiful area for picnics but it was pouring rain so we ate in a restaurant. We found a fun gallery in Laramie that was featuring a show of Wyoming women artists.

Sunday afternoon I went over to Avalon Aviary and became a playgym for 3 delightful Green-cheek Conure babies. I also got to socialize some very cute Timneh Greys, a wonderful Red-fronted Macaw, and a 6 week old brother and sister Eclectus. Susanne also has baby Blue-headed Pionus and Yellow-shouldered Amazons, which are one of my very favorite birds. There are also dumpling Green-winged Macaws. I may go over again tomorrow just to play with the babies.

FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 8, 10:00 pm

I have not been able to do my blog for weeks because the people who have my web site server were changing equipment and I have not been able to add anything to this page for weeks. Finally tonight I tried again and it works!

I have been really busy since my last post.  I went to Minnesota for a week to give a program at Parrot Island and goof off for a few days. I haven't been able to goof off for such a long time. I always enjoy doing seminars at Parrot Island. They are well attended but most of all the people who come are the most highly educated bird people in the area. I wish there was a bird shop of that quality in every state that I could visit once every few years. One of the highlights of my trip to visit the Minneapolis area was going to their new Trader Joe's. I really miss this store chain that I frequented in the SF Bay Area and there are none in Colorado. My mother loved their Shrimp Tempura and so do I. One time when Shari was visiting me my mother ate almost a whole package ... 20 shrimp. So we got the TJ Shrimp Tempura and ate way too much of it in honor of my mother.

I got to spend time visiting my Double Yellow-head Rascal who went to live with Troy Beaudoin last year. Rascal is really happy with Troy and he certainly takes exceptional care of the 29 year old Amazon. I am really happy that Rascal found such a great home. Terry and Shari Beaudoin have an created a wonderful yard with all sorts of bird feeders and a wonderful Koi pond with a waterfall. It was very relaxing to just sit out there and watch the fish. Makes me wish I had a pond but I don't even have a yard anymore.

I had a wonderful deck that was nice to sit out on a nice evening but that has been ruined by a new smoking law in Colorado. My store and home are next to a bar. It was rarely a problem but when the law passed that no one could smoke in bars, it meant that the bar next door opened a smoking patio right below my deck and my bedroom window. I stopped smoking years ago and I develop asthma when I am around cigarette smoke. There are up to 25 or 30 people smoking within a dozen feet of my living space from 11 am to 2 am every night. Luckily I am a night person but some nights I would like to go to bed before 2 am. Even with earplugs the noise is horrendous. It is amazing how loud people who are drinking can get. Now they are setting up a TV out on the patio so they can have sports programming on from 11 am to 2 pm  Because I live in a business zoned area, I have no rights and no legal ground to complain according to the local police department. Of course it also means that my parrots can't spend time in their outdoor cages on the patio, which is a real bummer.

We accomplished a lot with the store. There is a small basement below the store but most of it contained an old boiler heater that was installed in 1919. It almost as big as a VW bug. I hired two young men to disassemble it. At first they tried to do it gently and then they went at it with a sledge hammer. It took a few days and a few trips to recycling and now I have storage space in the basement so we moved the stuff from the loft in the store to the basement and now I have a sculpture studio in the loft. Now the trick will be finding the time to do more artwork!

Tonight was the Loveland Art Walk. People come downtown and usually have dinner at one of the many fine restaurants - then they visit the galleries and stores that stay open for the event. We had a few dozen people come in but only a few were people who really enjoyed all of the good bird stuff.  We finally got a bunch of press releases sent out to Bird clubs, Audubon societies, colleges, magazines, and newspapers. Hopefully more people will hear or read about the Laughing Parrot Gallery and Avian Education Center.

An added note: I finished a new Booklet, which is now available at our Ebay store - companion parrot - It is called "My Experiences with Cockatoos" and is 54 pages. Click on the cover for more information.

SATURDAY AUGUST 5, 1am

Today was one of those days that wears me out and when I am this worn out I find it difficult to sleep. So I gave up for awhile and finished a color pencil drawing I had been working on for some time. It is on 4 Black-headed Caiques foraging and is the largest color pencil drawing I have done. I like the way it came out and may even make a print of it some day. I am hoping to have a few more art pieces available for the Grand Opening on next Friday evening.

We are really working to get the gallery ready for out Grand Opening, which includes the opening of a showing of John Brasaemle's watercolors on Friday evening August 11 from 7-9. This is the same weekend as Loveland's famous sculpture show so there will be a lot of people here for it. Since so many people will be in Loveland for that show, I figured this would either be the best or the worst weekend to have the show. John painted the Scarlet Macaws on the cover of the current issue of the CPQ and the first page of the Friends of the Scarlet Macaws color section. I have always loved his work and have had a better chance to get to know him and his wife, Carol, here in Colorado.

We also hope to have our CPQ/Laughing Parrot Gallery brochure available for the weekend.

If you live within a drivable distance, please come to visit us at our Grand Opening on Friday night or during anytime - The Laughing Parrot Gallery hours are 1-5 Tuesday through Saturday or by appointment.

We've already had quite a few subscribers who have been in Colorado and have come to visit the gallery. So far we have had visitors from New Hampshire, Oregon, Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angeles, Texas, Maryland, Florida, Louisiana, Utah, Arizona, and even a man from Beijing.  I have enjoyed visiting with these out of state visitors.

SATURDAY July 29, 2006 4 pm

We had a call today from a woman who really wanted to know what has happened with the Amazon book. There is a rather complex reason that it has not been finished since it was so close to being done and nothing has happened for a long time. I started the book several years ago with the idea of including information and quotes from many people who had knowledge about Amazons either through working with them or living with them. I was relatively sure that once I got settled here in Colorado, I would be able to take the time to actually work on the pages that needed finishing. Unfortunately I was contacted not too long ago by a lawyer representing a small group of people who previously wrote for the Pet Bird Report and the statement was basically made that I was not to use any of their information in anything I published ever again. This was true even if I had previously had permission to use some of their information and quotes. In the words of the lawyer, I was to act as if these people never existed. Consequently, I will have to rewrite a great deal of the Amazon book to comply with this request. With everything else I have to do, I am not sure how long this will be. However, I do have a booklet that I sell on Ebay. It contains the color portrait section that I did for the Amazon book and an in-depth article I wrote called, "What Amazon Parrots Have Taught Me."

SATURDAY July 29, 2006 2am

I often lose track of time when I am working on projects. Tonight I decided to work with some Sculpty clay. I have previously made a caique, a Grey, and an Umbrella Cockatoo out of this material. They are all "bappies" in a sitting position. I showed a couple of them in an issue - maybe it was #67 or #68.  Tonight I did a little Hyacinth Macaw. Perhaps I will put a photo of him on the web site after I fire him. He turned out pretty cute.

FRIDAY July 28, 2006 10:15 pm

Sometimes I don't have the time to write much here but I'm going to try to write something tonight. I actually received the first email I have had from a reader letting me know that someone is actually reading what I write here ...

The Email

Sally,
Morning from CBS in Tyler, TX!
I've been following you and your work for many years.  Our family has a
9-yr-old Mealy Amazon.. Merlin.. hatched on 7.1.97.
Congrats on your new store!  I've enjoyed reading your Blog -- please
keep it up!
Thanks for all you do for the avian community.  I appreciate your
enthusiasm and desire to "give back."  Keep up the great work!
Scott

Scott Fossey
Morning Weather
CBS-19/KYKX-TV
Tyler, TX

My Response:

Hi Scott,
    Thanks for the encouragement ... it helps keep me going. I'd love to hear more about your Mealy Amazon - I think they are one of the really under rated Amazon parrots. I have met some wonderful Mealy Amazons through the years. One of the first taming sessions I ever did was with a wild-caught Mealy. When I did it, I had never even heard of a Mealy Amazon.  I didn't know the bird's gender but he or she was very responsive to gentle handling.  I think I have always had a special feeling for Mealy Amazons because of that bird. 

Scott has encouraged me to keep writing the blog so I will ...

More on the Cockatoo Conference

If the Cockatoo Conference reinforced one thing for me, it was that we can't make too many generalizations about these birds. I asked the attendees some questions about their cockatoos. One was about the large male cockatoos - Moluccans, Umbrellas, and Tritons - the really smart ones. I asked how many people had them and then I asked how many of those people had serious problems with them. The percentage was not nearly as high as "popular wisdom" would have us believe.  I did a consultation today with a woman who just adopted a previously owned 20 year old male Moluccan Cockatoo. She had been told by several people in the bird world that she should not even give it a chance ... that the bird should go into rescue.

Since I was in grade school and the who class had to stay in at recess because one boy misbehaved, I have desperately tried to avoid judging everyone of anything by one of everything. Before I would possibly agree that this male Moluccan should go to a resce I had to have more information. I couldn't just condemn the 'too to a rescue if he had any pet potential at all. First of all, there are not that many good rescues and there are absolutely some cockatoos that need to go to a rescue. A bird with pet potential would be taking a place that another more difficult bird might need. After talking with the CPQ reader, it was my opinion that she was dedicated enough to work with the bird and that the bird did not appear to have a history of aggression. At this point, he was quite tame. The best time to work with a parrot is at the time it changes homes. At this time, he can't rely on the routines that he or his previous owners have established. If these were negative routines, it is easier to change them and with nurturing guidance, positive routines can be established. We talked at great length about what I call "instructional interaction" and how to work with him ahead of time to teach him distraction behaviors. We also talked about recognizing what aggressive behaviors look like when they start and how to stay focused on him so that she and her husband could see any behavioral changes that could precede aggression. We talked about how to keep him from forming a strong sexual behavior with either of them that would create aggression towards the other. This was the kind of consultation I love to do ... one in which I think I was really able to make a difference in the lives of the bird and the people he lives with. 

Over the years one of my major frustrations has been how easily certain parrot family birds get a bad reputation ... which birds seems to depend on the year.  It makes me wonder if people think there is any parrot that makes a good companion. I hear the stereotypes all of the time. A week or so ago a woman called to ask what bird would make the best companion for her household. I immediately thought of a grey but she had quickly dismissed an African Grey because she had read on the Internet that they were "all neurotic."  So let's see, all Amazons are aggressive, all conures scream, all macaws don't stay good companions past breeding maturity, all greys are neurotic, all cockatoos feather pluck, all male cockatoos are aggressive, all ... blah blah blah blah ad nauseum. If all of this nonsense was true, I wouldn't have talked to hundreds of grey, Amazon, macaw, conure, cockatoo, etc caregivers who love life with their birds.

As more and more people hear about the Laughing Parrot Gallery, we have had more visitors. Several subscribers have visited this part of the country and made a point to come and visit us. We have had visitors from New Hampshire, Oregon, California, Washington DC, Arizona, Michigan, New Jersey, China and lots of people from Colorado.

We are going to have our first show here at the Laughing Parrot on the evening of August 11th. We will be featuring the parrot watercolors of Colorado artist John Brasaemle.  One of his Scarlet Macaw paintings is on the cover of CPQ #70, which should be mailed out next week.

TUESDAY JULY 11, 2006 9:50 pm

I just returned from my trip to Long Island for the LIPS (Long Island Parrot Society) Cockatoo Conference. I always enjoy going back to Long Island. I graduated from high school in Baldwin and went to Hofstra University for my freshman year in college. I hated to leave but my father was reassigned to southern California.

I arrived at 6:35 on Thursday morning after leaving Colorado at 1am. Terri Pakula picked me up and delivered me to a breakfast location half way to Susan Chamberlain's home. A wonderful woman named Lynnette (I have forgotten her last name?) took me the rest of the way to Susan's. After some conversation, I took a long nap. That evening Susan and her husband Billy hosted a LIPS party where I got to see some of my old acquaintances from the bird club and got to meet some new people. Friday was a day of preparation and setting up for the conference.

More information coming on Cockatoos.

SUNDAY JULY 2, 2006 5:26 pm

Issue #70 is at the printer but has been somewhat delayed because I decided to go with a new printer and that always makes everything take longer. The printer I used last time just caused all sorts of problems and it was amazing that the issue even got out.

In my never ending unpacking frenzy, I continue to find things that I forgot I had. Yesterday I came across the most wonderful item. It both delights me and makes me sad. I found a tape that I had made one afternoon about twenty five years ago. My late great African Grey, Bongo Marie, was an incredible talker - in fact she rarely stopped talking if anything was going on around her. A lot of what she said was just a nonsensical combination of her favorite expressions but often she was right on in the things that she said. The tape contains about an hour of her nonsense. There were many words and expressions on the tape that I had forgotten that she said. I certainly was reminded of the time I broke my toe near her cage. Greys - aren't they great! They don't always remember what you say the most but seem always to remind you of what you said with the most enthusiasm. I was also a lot younger then so I guess I was a lot more enthusiastic especially when it came to calling my dogs and informing them of their misbehaviors. I am certainly glad to remember that after awhile, the dogs started to ignore all of Bongo's tirades towards them about their behavior. Sometimes she could be really sweet in what she said to them but other times she ranted and raved about how bad they were.

More later about the tape - I am going to dinner with a friend ...

Dinner was good and afterwards I painted some more of the Library floor. Painting floors is not a lot of fun. Anyway I took a break to come in and watch the 4400 and the Dead Zone so I thought I would finish writing about this tape with Bongo's musings.

Most of Bongo Marie's favorite sayings are on the tape ... over and over. These include:

"Who do you think you are!" or the shorter version "Who do you are?"
"You're in a LOT of trouble!"
"Good to see ya!"
"See ya later - you be good!
"What are you doin?"
"How nice for you!"
"What's the Matter?

Then there are many diatribes against my poor dogs at the time. Chester was my elderly poodle and Kiwi was my Scotty puppy. They are yelled for and at almost continually.  One of the funniest things that Bongo did was to call the dogs and then whistle for them - but the funniest part is that she called me when she called the dogs. She never said my name properly and always called me "Sawee" I was always the last "dog" she would call before she whistled. Bongo also laughed a lot - sometimes normally and sometimes with a maniacal aound. She also called the cat but then insulted her, "KC, you damn cat!"

She did over twenty animal imitations but the tape only includes barking dogs, kookaburras, meows, and one gobble gobble.

My favorite thing on this tape is something I forgot that she said and that is, "I love you Mommy Dearest" in a sweet voice. Sometimes instead she said, "I love you mommy parrot"

The tape is a real blast from the past that I haven't heard for a long time. Bongo was one incredible parrot who shared her life with me for close to 25 years. I will always miss her clever and raucous personality. Read more about Bongo - A Tribute to Bongo Marie

SATURDAY JUNE 17, 2006 12:00

WOW - I have been putting books away ... hundreds of them. All of the boxes are here from storage. When I started packing them over a year ago, I had to pack them according to size and not according to subject.

One wall is all of the parrot and caged bird books and books on endangered/extinct species. I still am not sure where the non-bird wildlife books are going.

The other wall is about 20 feet long with 6 shelves running the whole length except for the bottom two shelves. The bottom shelf is has books about wildlife artists. The second shelf is the birds of various areas of North America. The third shelf has guides and books about birds from different areas and countries of the world. The fourth shelf is bird family and species books sorted according to their classification. The fifth shelf contains scientific and general books on birds.

I am not sure what will go on the top shelf yet because it has to be reached with a ladder. It will probably contain the older books on birds or maybe books on plants?

The library will be open in July or August. It will be available for anyone who wants to do research on birds, artists looking for resource material, people who are traveling and want to research the birds and wildlife of an area before they get there, and for people who just are interested in studying birds and looking at bird books.

Books are heavy when you have to lift a bunch of them and climb up and down ladders with them. This is a time when I really wish I had some help moving them around.  I guess I am about halfway done organizing them.

FRIDAY JUNE 9, 2006 9:30 am

The last two weeks have been very hectic. We removed the garage door from the back room/library and put up a real wall with a window. We painted the library, put up all of the book shelves, put up lighting fixtures and a ceiling fan. In the last few days we have brought about half of the books over and I have placed them on the shelves unsorted. Sorting will come later. It is wonderful to be able to go through my books again! 

MONDAY MAY 21, 2006 10:30 am

Lucy, a 14 year old Red-lored Amazon, has lived with Melissa for 8 years. She had lived in a business in downtown Loveland. She was on a seed only diet and spent much of her time with her cage covered because she was too noisy. They advertised her for sale in the newspaper and she came home with Melissa. It took a few months to get her on a better diet but she is still somewhat food rigid for an Amazon. She doesn't like most women and Melissa thinks this has a lot to do with the fact that the women at the business were always yelling at her and kept her cage covered most of the time. While Melissa was still living with her family, Lucy did not form a strong bond with her. Melissa thinks this is because she preferred her father and, most of all, one of her twin brothers. Once Melissa moved into her own home, a stronger relationship formed between them.

On Saturday, May 13th, Melissa noticed that Lucy had a slight swelling in her lower abdomen. Since Melissa worked at Avalon Aviary for so long, she recognized this as an egg. As the week progressed the swelling increased and Melissa watched Lucy carefully to make sure that she would not become egg-bound. Melissa became a bit alarmed as the week progressed and was planning to take Lucy to her avian veterinarian, Dr. Combs. Melissa relaxed when she found Lucy's egg in the bottom of the cage on Friday morning.

Why would a companion Amazon lay an egg after 8 years of living with someone? At least part of the explanation is obvious. Dory, a 3 year old hen Double-yellow headed Amazon, came to live with Melissa this Spring. At first Lucy treated Dory as if she was a pest but Dory persevered and kept trying to play with Lucy. In the last few weeks, Melissa noticed that Lucy began to respond sexually to the attention of the younger Amazon. She started to hunker down with her body horizontal, flutter her wings and made grunting and cackling sounds.  She also noticed that Lucy had begun to spend more time in a place on the floor next to the couch ... a dark, cozy spot where one of Melissa's sweaters had fallen off of the couch.

Over the years, I have known of many hen companion parrots who have laid eggs for their caregivers. Years ago, a friend of mine had a Yellow-nape Amazon who laid an egg in her lap when they were watching television together. This does not mean they want to breed. It is simply a biological response to stimulation that they perceive as sexual. Is it a health problem for hen companion parrots to lay eggs? Not as long as they are healthy, on a good diet that has adequate calcium, and get a good amount of exercise.  Some parrots on bad diets who get little or no exercise can become egg-bound. This can be a life-threatening problem if the bird does not receive proper medical care. 

This weekend, Tony (the Handyman) came and ripped out an old workbench in the "library to be" and painted that wall. We are pretty much ready to start putting up shelves now when he comes back. Then I can start bringing the books over from storage to put away. That is exciting!

I have to go buy some track lighting for above the slat wall in the storefront and another ceiling fan for the front of the store. The air conditioning and heating in this over 110 year old building was not installed for efficiency.

MONDAY MAY 15, 2006 10:30 pm

Some days go by so quickly and then you wonder what you accomplished. I worked on the CPQ and rearranged one of the display cases so that it would leave us more space in the gallery.

If anyone is reading this, I am beginning to search for bird related items to take on consignment or to resell. Anyone have anything that I could evaluate?

SUNDAY MAY 14, 2006 5:30 pm

This was a really busy week! We made a lot of progress in the shop. The walls had been pretty dirty and a yucky shade of pinky beige.  Now they are a light blue green. The ceiling is at least 15' high so some time ago I bought a 12' A-frame ladder. It really came in handy to do the painting. I'm thinking that if I get brave, I may climb the ladder and paint some flying parrots on the wall. But I will wait to do that since there is so much else to do.

I saw my first Eastern Kingbird here in Colorado today. I haven't seen one of them for a long time. I love the Kingbirds, but my favorite is the Scissortail Flycatcher.

I have also been working on the CPQ, editing articles and doing more illustrations. Not much more to report. I will continue when I have something else to say.

MONDAY MAY 8, 2006 11:00 pm

This weekend I didn't get a lot accomplished. I think I overworked last week moving furniture around in the library area so we could get part of it painted. I was exhausted so I actually took some time to relax and do nothing on Sunday.

Tonight, I finished my article on 'My Experiences with Cockatoos' for the next issue. In thinking back it amazes me how many cockatoos I have known and worked with. I had so many stories to share I ran out of room for this issue and will have to do a Part II for the next issue.  As I was writing I remembered more and more. When I first started doing consultations in the San Francisco Bay Area I put most of my consultations down in a notebook so this helps jog my memory. Some of the notes leave me clueless about the birds but other notes bring back a lot of detail. I think I ay have worked with more cockatoos than any other birds during this time. For example, I wrote in the notebook "Sulfur-crest - garlic on pizza." That one left me blank until I finally remembered writing about another cockatoo. The story of this consultation is in the article. It never occurred to me that I could write a book on Cockatoos but if I keep remembering many more situations with them, I probably could!

Issue #70 is going to be a good issue with lots on Cockatoos and on Scarlet Macaws. "Stuff Your Parrot Wants You To Know" will feature giving your parrot a basic physical exam.

We also got the inside front of the store painted. Tomorrow, Tony (our handyman) will paint the west wall and hopefully he will have the east wall painted by the end of the week. With that and a few more things to hang and clean up - the store part will actually be finished and ready to open. I am not sure exactly when we will open - My guess is that it will be the weekend of June 17th or the week after that. The next step will be to get the library in the back ready to go. One wall has been painted so we can start hanging shelves on that so hopefully I can start placing books in the next few weeks. I really miss my bird books!! There are so many things I want to look up and believe it or not, everything is not on the world wide web.

FRIDAY MAY 5, 2006 8:00

Yesterday and today we got a lot accomplished. Just a bunch of little things that took a long time. We started painting and got the long wall in the library painted. There is a hall between the store front and the library and we got it painted to. There is a plumbing pvc pipe that runs down from the ceiling to the floor about 5" from the all ... it's kind of ugly so I decided to turn it into a tree. I wrapped it in various shades of brown tissue and crepe paper and then used acrylic varnish to patch it and make it look like a tree instead of a pipe. I still need to do the leaves at the top but am not too sure how I am going to go about it yet.

We are going to paint the inside of the store a light blue-green (the library is a light green-blue). I am hoping that one day I will have the time to paint some flying birds up near the ceiling. The ceiling is wonderful. It is a very old decorative tin ceiling and is about 15' high so there is a lot of wall space up high. We have a 12' ladder but I am at this point a little hesitant to climb to beyond the halfway point. Actually it is the climbing down that bothers me. My kitten Lito climbs all the way to the top and then meows to have us come and rescue him. He doesn't do it when Melissa is not here because he knows I am not going to climb up and get him.

Melissa brought her little Double-head, Dory. to work today. She is very playful and loves to chatter. Dory is a petite 3 year old hen. Melissa has only had her for a few months. Dory and another Amazon, Sophia (a Green-cheek or Mexican Redhead) lived with a woman who died. Suzanne Cochran of Avalon Aviary here in Loveland took them in and Melissa fostered both of them for some time. Sophia is one of the most exuberant parrots I have ever met. Her favorite expression said with great enthusiasm is, "Soph-ee-ah so beaut-eeee-ful!!"  Dory also has her version of the expression but when she says it the words don't sound nearly as narcissistic. Melissa fell in love with both of them but could only take one because she already has a Green-wing Macaw and a Red-lored Amazon. They are both sweethearts but Melissa chose Dory. If anyone reading this is looking for an enthusiastic little Amazon, Sophia is still available at Avalon Aviary.

Lucy is Melissa's Red-lored Amazon. She is older and lived in a business location where she received substandard care. Melissa brought her in to visit yesterday. Melissa's mother and one of her sisters stopped by the shop. It was obvious the the sister's presence disturbed Lucy. So Melissa explained the situation to me. Melissa has several siblings and three of them are triplets - two identical men and a fraternal woman. (I didn't know that happened??) Lucy was mistreated by a woman and it took her over a year for Lucy to trust Melissa. Lucy absolutely loves one of Melissa's brothers, likes the identical one as a substitute because the favored twin (triplet) lives out of town. I can barely tell the difference between the brothers but it is obvious that Lucy can. For some reason, Lucy barely tolerates their sister, Melanie (the other triplet.)

Anyone reading this have stories regarding parrots and their recognition of  relationships with twins or triplets?

WEDNESDAY MAY 3, 2006  9:00 pm

Well the handyman got the slat wall finished and trimmed. Now he will start on some painting and putting shelves up.

I did drawings for the CPQ much of the day but also had to run errands for paint, trim nails, spackle, etc. I also had some printer problems that made me quite impatient. It turned out that a card got jammed in the back.

I have one of those Roomba robot vacuums to run over the carpet when we are doing other things. It works ok but it certainly goes in a lot of circles.  It took me a few times to figure out why it would turn on by "itself." I'd be working at the computer and suddenly it would start running around the floor. This happened several times before I realized that my cat, Lito (sometimes Diablito - sometimes Angelito) was turning it on. I'm sure the first time and maybe the second time it was an accident. But now it is one of his favorite forms of entertainment. The Rhomba is in its dock and he pushes on it and it starts vacuuming. When it chases after him, he becomes quite a little sissy but when it is going the other direction, he chases it. This is not the kind of cleaning help I was looking for ... at least I have some extra help!

My assistant, Melissa, mentioned that she saw that some idiot was doing a made for TV movie about the "Bird Flu." This is really scary to me because so many people really love to spread alarm without having all of the facts first and these types of movies always exaggerate everything.  Terry Beaudoin has a good article in CPQ #69 and we also put in on the web site.

I am going to start to set up the display case with the extinct birds tomorrow. I couldn't get that done before because it is next to where we had to set up the slat wall.

Tuesday, May 2, 2006  8:00 pm

I can't promise profound but I will be writing down my thoughts and the progress of what is happening here at the Companion Parrot Quarterly office and the Laughing Parrot Gallery.

My handyman and his son got the slat wall put up this weekend but the job needs some more work  I am hoping that I don't have to do any of it because that stuff is heavy. Slat wall is essentially thick paneling with slots in it that you can use to hang things. The wall with this slat wall will be the gallery part of the store where paintings and artwork that is for sale will be shown.

I am working with John Brasaemele to show his wonderful watercolors as the first actual show in the gallery. This will be convenient since he doesn't live that far away. He has done several covers for the Companion Parrot Quarterly and one of his beautiful Scarlet Macaws will be on the next issue with three more of his paintings on the first page of the article. We are planning on the showing of his work in mid to late June. I will certainly post more information as we make more decisions. If you don't remember John's work, he was the featured artist in the color centerfold of Issue #64.

Almost all of the bird figures I have are now in their proper places in the display cases. In the last two weeks I built a 3'x3' tabletop penguin encounter with icebergs and islands. I have dozens of rubber penguins of 15 penguin species (I am missing 2 species) and they now have a proper home. I will be putting a photo of this on the web site once I find the battery charger for my digital camera. The penguin encounter is on the top (about 45" high) of an old store display and there is another shelf which fits around the middle (about 26" high). One side is a Puffin encounter with cliffs and mountains and ocean. I have most of my puffin collection on this. The other three sides are duck habitat from a "mountain lake/pond" to lakes, a bay and the ocean. Again I have little figures of all of the North American ducks and several from other areas of the world. This display also has a few kingfishers, herons, flying hawks, grebes, swans, and geese. It is very involved with trees, a swamp, a waterfall, and water from the bay going into the ocean.

Of course, the water is not real ... I used Styrofoam and acrylics to get the look for all of the habitats from the icebergs to the mountains and water.

These were a tremendous amount of fun to do and I plan more ... perhaps one of the macaw clay licks but I really don't have enough or the right size little parrots so I will probably have to make them too.

Of course I have also been working on the next CPQ. Today I was formatting the Scarlet Macaw articles and doing some drawings of Scarlets. I have the layout of the magazine pretty much finished now I have to fill in the ads and get some more drawings ready. Hopefully it will be ready for the printer in two weeks. We had so many problems with the printer and the mailing service last time, I am not sure whether we will start over with someone else or hope that they can get it right this time???