Inca, my blue-fronted amazon parrot, says “Hi” to Phinnie when he wanders out the patio door toward her cage. If he gets too close, however, she is not a happy camper.

Phinnie is our new dog – a rescue from the LA Animal Shelter. They think he’s a Havanese, but we aren’t sure. We just know he’s a white fluffy bundle of adorableness. My two parrots have a different opinion. To them, he looks a giant maw ready to devour them.

It’s been about three months and I don’t push it. There seems to be a bit of a truce between them. If Phinnie doesn’t harrass them and he gets to be in my office and watch them. Of course he is watched and restrained at all times.

Max, the senegal parrot, does not seem to have any survival instincts. He flaps his wings and flutters to the ground sometimes when Phinnie is nearby. Umm, not the place to be buddy. But those actually are survival instincts – he’s flying away – just can’t fly far enough. Inca just backs away and gives a look that says, “Get that fur ball with teeth away from me!”

We have plans for real training on the dog’s behavior, but have first focused on separation and controlled visitations.

My office is open to the rest of the house, so I had to buy a baby gate with a door. Phin stands on the other side watching me, hoping for permission to enter. The only time the gate is not latched is if the birds are outside in their outside cages. In my office, they each have parrot towers – too high for Phin to get to, but still not secure enough to allow unsupervised and controlled interactions.

We bought the gate BEFORE the dog came home. This is important. If you wait to put safety measures in place, you might be too late.

The next step will be to work on letting him get close, but to sit and stay, with a reward when he obeys. We use a specific sound for bad behavior (a beep) and he just snaps to when he hears it.

Inca and Max would surely be happier if Phinnie disappeared, but I think over time there will be a mutual respect that will make it possible for them to feel calm when he’s around.

Heidi has a decidedly negative view of keeping parrots as pets – probably because she has encountered the worst of the worse – birds that hadn’t seen sunlight in 14 years is one example she gives.  I do think her belief that they should go extinct is just hyperbole – mainly because she sees deforestation destroying their natural habitat and the only other option (captivity) isn’t a life for these birds.  While I agree that there are many cases of birds stuck in garages and other horrible life circumstances, I think there are plenty of people who have domestically raised parrots who give them good lives with plenty of sunshine and freedom.

You can read more about the series here http://www.tvguide.com/News/Exclusive-Heidi-Fleiss-1035860.aspx

Now a study out of Australia confirms that parrots are indeed more likely to be left-handed.

“Basically, you get this very close relationship with the eye that they use to view the object and then the hand that they use to grasp it, and it’s very consistent across all the species except a couple,” said Calum Brown, a senior lecturer at Macquarie University in Sydney, who led the study.

The study was published in “Biological Letters.”  They looked at many species of parrot, and a total of over 300 parrots. They found that around 47 percent were left handed, 33 percent right handed, and the remainder ambidextrous.

So, is your parrot a lefty too?

A parrot in Columbia was “arrested”  because they believe he tipped of a drug cartel family about a police raid.  The bird reportedly alerted the drug cartel by yelling “Run! Run! You’re going to get caught!” in Spanish.

This isn’t the first parrot that has been “arrested” in Columbia. Apparently police have taken into custody over 1,700 parrots being used by drug cartels as trained look outs. Now they are jail birds!

Watch the video on the drug cartel look-out parrots – you can actually hear the parrot speaking in Spanish – warning someone to run.

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, a man was arrested for abusing his parrot. He was carrying the bird in his backpack, and witnesses say he shook it so hard its feathers were falling out – the bird tried to fight back, leaving a few good bites and scratches on the abusive man. Police said the parrot was squawking loudly when they arrived on the scene.  They said the bird was limping and had a red eye and some areas where feathers were missing. The jack*&# claimed he was just training the bird. Nice attitude.  The abuser is being held in Washtenaw County Jail and faces a charge of  animal cruelty; this is  a felony charge (thank goodness some states do this!) that carries a maximum sentence of one year, a $5,000 fine or 500 hours of community service. Let’s hope he does some jail time.

It’s a twisted but hilarious skit, but now something not so nice is going on in the UK: parrots advertised on the Internet or in newspapers at too-good-to-be true prices, which die soon after arriving at their new owner’s home.

Officials are warning people not to buy any pet without first seeing it – or verifying the authenticity of the ad and those who are taking it out.  Some of these birds are being snatched out of the wild (flocks that have grown due to past escapes), and the shock is apparently too much for them.

Always consider the source before buying a parrot!

You can read more about the parrot scam here.

Researchers (Miyata et al) have been studying the Kea parrot of New Zealand. These beautiful birds are called the “clown of the mountains” and are known for being rather bold, playful creatures. I remember hearing stories a few years ago about how they had developed a taste for any little bit of rubber on cars. Hee hee. Skiiers would come back to their cars after a day on the mountain and find their handiwork.

Miyata and his colleagues tested the birds using boxes with fruit locked in them. The first round of tests were too easy for them – so they made them haarder. They made it more like a puzzle – where the bolts had to be put in specific positions or they would block their ability to open the boxes. For the harder tests, they let some of the birds study the obstacles before letting them touch them and found that made them much faster at solving the riddle of the box! In other words, they could create a strategy based on observation – it wasn’t just trial and error that let them succeed in opening the boxes to get the fruit.

Researchers have also found that Kea can learn by watching other Kea.

Read more here and check out that Kea snuggling in the snow – now that’s a cool parrot!

http://www.brooklynparrots.com/

Recently neighbors caught a pair trying to nab the birds using long poles and a net.

In other feral news, a quaker parrot nest in the Bronx was recently destroyed.

The 67-year-old New Jersey resident will likely get probation, and unbelievably, will not have a record if he doesn’t get into trouble during that three-year period.  He also has to do 100 hours of community service with a humane center. Would you want this guy handling animals at a humane center?  I hope they give me the job of cleaning up the poop.

His defense? According to his lawyer, he was drunk at the time.  The African Grey, “Mikey,” was 20 years old at the time of his death at the hands of his low-life owner.

Noise levels can really vary from parrot to parrot within a species, so these are general guidelines. If you are someone who relishes quiet and tends to get irritated by noise, stick with the 1s and 2s.

If volume is a consideration for you, this is basically a primer on the noise level for certain species of parrot. I’m rating the noise on a scale of 1-5, with 1 being not offensive at all, to 5 being pretty capable of infuriating your neighbors.

Amazons: have a tendency to call the flock early in the morning and in the late afternoon.  I’m lucky because my amazon only does it in the afternoon when most people are at work or not likely to complain.  She usually goes off for about an hour with various calls, screeching, laughing, and babbling. It can be pretty funny. Fortunately, the screaming is short-lived.  However, if I lived in an apartment, I don’t think she’d have many fans.

Amazon noise level: 3-4

Cockatoos: probably have the worst reputation for real crazy screaming. They get bored, they screech. They need a pretty good amount of attention to be content.  Here’s a video of some awesome Moluccan screeching.

Smaller cockatoos will obviously have smaller lungs, but they can still get going. Rose-breasted cockatoos are probably a lot easier on the ears than Umbrella Cockatoos.

Cockatoo noise level: 3-5, depending on species

Conures: Their really high-pitched shreeeeek makes a lot of species of conure hard to take by many people. The sun conures, cherry heads, jendays and similar species can deafen you with one loud screech in the ear. The smaller species, such as the greencheeks, are really relative quiet and are definitely better apartment birds. People are often attracted to the gorgeous orange and yellow sun conures, then end up hating themselves when they realize what that screech is like.

Conure noise level: 2, Pyrrhura species like the greencheek; 4-5, Aratinga species like sun conures, jendays, cherry heads (half moon considered quieter than sun conures though).

Senegal Parrots: If well-trained they can be pretty low on the noise scale along with their cousins the Meyer’s. My senegal developed a nasty habit of screeching as loud as he could when a friend walked by him. I had to work on that diligently, and he rarely does it now.

Senegal noise level: 2-4, depending on whether you let them develop bad habits.

Budgies/Parakeets: probably the least problematic in the noise department. Pleasant chirps and rarely a problem for neighbors.

Budgie noise level: 1

Lovebirds: Have one, no problem; get a couple of them or more, they can really get going. Compared to larger parrots, they really are pretty quiet, with brief periods of high noise activity in the morning and late afternoon.

Lovebird noise level: 2

Macaws: These are big birds, so they have a big voice. These are definitely not apartment birds. Generally, training can help with excessive vocalization. Often, noise problems are due to boredom, lack of exercise, and other issues that probably mean you shouldn’t have one in the first place.

A happy, well-adjusted macaw will normally vocalize to call the flock a couple of times a day, and that can be a bit much for some people.

Macaw noise level: 4-5

Cockatiels: Great apartment birds and really not a noise problem. They have pleasant sounds and rarely screech unless agitated or excited.

Cockatiel noise level: 1-2

Parrotlets: Really tiny amazons is how I would describe these dynamos. They have one of the most pleasant little chirps that is evocative of the rain forest. No noise issues really.

Parrotlet noise level: 1