Hello. On January 6 th 2001
Emily's page mysteriously disappeared so we are in the unfortunate position
of redoing her page fully. Much of her page has been on here since 1996
and it is hard to remember exactly what was here! I am adding as I remember
and making some changes.
So please bear with us and come back often!
I am afraid the greatest casualty is the list
of what she says. She says about 350 - 400 words and phrases. Several things
are apparently different words to her, although they are the same to us.
'Oh' can be said in understanding , in suprise,
in disgust etc.
She also changes the order of words and adds
or drops some words. She might say- Peanut? I want peanut- You want peanut?
Want peanut! I am peanut and I LOVE peanut.
She came to us as a gift at Christmas time in
1990 when she was about 8 months old. Her eyes were still dark and changed
colors to a straw yellow over the next few months. She used to sleep wrapped
up in a blankie in a basket on top of her room when she was a baby. She
still likes to snuggle in a blankie but gets too hot after awhile and comes
out. Her wings had been quite badly mangled and did not grow in for several
years. I did not realize that they had finally grown in until the day she
let herself out, caught a breeze and flew in circles around the house for
three days until she figured out how to land low enough for me to climb
up to her. Poor little thing was SO happy to see me- and I her !
She did not talk for two years. Not
a word. She did a beautiful clear wolf whistle when she came and that was
it. She was extremely shy and terrified of everyone for a long long time.
I took care of her basic grooming and wrapped her up for secure snuggles
and scratch sessions , but basically left her alone while she learned to
trust me. The turning point was when I was confined to bed for almost six
months with an illness. I spent a LOT of time on the couch by her room
(a huge cage) and she was allowed to sit out whenever she wanted. She becalmed
concerned about me and when I was asleep she would come out and climb across
the back of the couch to my head where she would preen my hair and snuggle
with me until I woke up. Over the next few years she became completely
comfortable with me and now will allow me to do absolutely anything with
her. She has developed a sense of humor and fun and loves to play .
We have almost forgotten what a hand shy timid bird she was. Now
she trusts me so much that when I give her new toys- if I put my hand on
the toy and tell her to get it she will not be afraid of it. (That took
*years* of trust so don't try it with your bird until you have a strong
bond!)
She is still deathly afraid of hammers and brooms
a suddenly appearing stick (hey I understand THAT one!) and the feather
duster (looks like a BIG MAD bird).
Her favorite toys are raffia (vegetable dyed
paper rope) both twisted and untwisted, "I can't believe it's not butter"
spray bottles, washed without a lid stuck upside down into her drawbridge
door, and HER wiffle ball. HER ball- and DON'T forget it! She also loves
to chew on wood and has spent time the last few years sneaking back to
the edge of her t-stand and demolishing the side trim. She is not a destructive
bird, although if I leave her without new toys for tooo long she
will try out what is around.
She is also pretty good at being quiet when we
are sleeping, unless she is hungry when she will make progressively louder
and more obnoxious noises until someone feeds her.
She does several tricks, hand shakes, some words
on command (mainly peanut) dead bird, over,up,fly,kisses and laying on
her back. I hold her to clip her toenails . She is very good about it but
HATES to have it done and lets me know by making the clipper noise VERY
LOUDLY the whole time I am doing it. She can also turn the bathroom light
switch 'off', and we are working on 'on'.
She imitates all the birds she has ever been around
(oh BOY can she!) but takes a special pleasure in imitating poor old Lucy's
trills and clucks and squeaks. Usually in a sarcastic tone-sometimes OVER
Lucy. She also loves to play the head bob game- she will do it once or
twice to get we people started, and then will sit back and laugh while
we keep at it trying to get her to do it again. She has us trained.
She likes to wander around the house
exploring, but we have to limit that due to the obvious dangers. She does
have access to the living room most of the time and will often climb down
and visit.
Emily's favorite food is peanuts. She also likes
popcorn any warm drink bananas oranges apples carrots celery corn etc.
She has a staple diet of those with a seed/pellet/etc mix that she has
access to at all times. She crunches through cuttlebones and calcium blocks
as fast as she gets them! She also LOVES to shred apple branches, fresh
from the tree , leaves and all. They usually come from my mother, and she
sometimes leaves little apples still on the branches and Emily *really
likes that.
She likes to hang upside down from
her ceiling and attack her bell and plastic keys and other toys, shrieking
and laughing with delight. She also TWANGS the bars of her room. Sometimes
she is irritated or bored, but sometimes it seems to be just because she
enjoys the sound,
unlike the rest of us.
Emily is also a evil evvil bird with the little
birds. She will lop off a toe if given even a slight chance.
She is jealous and makes that very clear! If
someone small (bird) flies to her, now if I yell she will leave it alone,
if I am *quick to remove it.Three of the birds we have now are toe casualties.
She is not sorry. She will often chastise herself as she does a forbidden
thing. Just now she tried to grab a clean towel to chew it (or to climb
down it- both forbidden) and when I said "Eh-ehhh!" She turned and said
" BAD! Stop! You know better! ". She knows.
This is all I have time for right now. Check
back soon as I will add more as I think of it!
Please check the links below for some great info
about greys. The internet is the perfect place to find out about birds
before you get them. The *very best place for new gray owners is the gray
list.
QZanny and Emily