Piper is now three years old...I think she's always been
a little snippy. Most of our other birds willingly go into their cages, but I've always had to
take a different approach with Piper. I need to focus on her & tell her that I have to leave
now so she'll have to go in her cage for a bit. Then she usually lets go. Otherwise, she can
nip with that sharp little beak or show some anger by jabbing at me thru the bars.
She's always flying off & floor birding it. Dangerous for her to wander like that so she gets
picked up right away. I reach down for her & she lifts up her
left leg to the side automatically...practically rolling over on her right side sometimes. I
still find the sight of a little leg reaching out sideways comical. She has a mind of her own
& knows what she wants to do. She very
much wants to be around people but keeps at a slight distance...independent.
I find that I don't take as many liberties with her as I do with the lovebirds &
caiques. She just isn't as easy going & more liable to misinterpret motives. So instead of a
quick tip-up & tummy kisses, I have to court her for a few minutes before I stick my beak that
close to her beak. She has always seemed to have a more self-contained sense of self. Of
course, I only met her after she was weaned so can only speak for that time onwards.
I haven't really noticed any changes in her behavior except she's more interested in crevices
this spring.
March, 2000:
A friend of mine is writing an article on poicephalus parrots & emailed me to
ask about Piper's coloring...thinking she was much more brown. I wrote back
eulogizing about her beautiful colors. The whole reason I was instantly attracted to her was
her similarity to our Jardine's beautiful green coloring which was even more striking when
Piper was younger as her head was more olive green than brown. I was hoping it would remain
that way as her breeder said that Piper's sibling's head was distinctly more brown than hers,
but over time,
the brown has conquered the green.
Piper has extremely long feathering curling around her legs
from her body....a virtual pantaloon of feathering. I'm always noticing this &
marveling when she's sitting tummy up in my hand getting scritched.
Jardy the Jardine's has
the same lovely yellow/green color of feathers on his tummy & butt, but the normal length of
plush feathering not this splash of feathers long enough to
curve beside & around behind Piper's legs.
Another fun thing about Piper is that whenever little quill ends show up on her head, they are
always ready for me to preen them off easily. My little canary is the same. Caique quills
are rarely ready for such human attention.
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