Gilbert suddenly loves the big bird shoulder cape

Before Gilbert came home, this time last year, I bought a bunch of supplies. One of them was a big, goofy shoulder cape with a crazy pattern, a treat pocket and two toys hanging from it. (Not the greatest fashion accessory, I might add).

Anyhow, he really disliked it and I had given up on it and put it away. Out of the blue, just recently, I put it on to see what he thinks of it now that he is older. He absolutely loves this thing!!! He climbs all over it and is crazy about the toys all of a sudden. It's awesome for me, because he can be with me, totally entertained, while I am doing something else (like right now, i'm typing and he is playing and ringing the bell on my shoulder).

So as it turns out, this thing was not such a waste after all!! He loves it.
Anyone else have one? What does your bird think? have you been creative with attaching new toys to it??

Well, you know how some birds are.....they want it to be their idea.....

haha, yes. It's cool because Gilbert said so....

My wife's keen on capes because of the droppings situation, and protecting her shoulders from scratches. I wear them too, occasionally mainly because many of my summer shirts are quite slippery. Ours have plastic chains and buttons sewn on them. One chain has one white link- and several birds are absolutley fascinated by that one white link and will sit on our shoulder for ages, with the white link held in their beak. We call that white link the "dummy" (what you Americans call a "pacifier" I think, for babies).

I wonder what Americans make of our OZ (and British perhaps) expression "spat the dummy"?

Haha, the 'dummy'? I never heard that before. I know "binky" and "goy goy" (don't know the actual spelling of that one) for pacifier but not dummy. I learned something new.

Gilbert is so CUTE!!! Where did you order the capes from? I would like one for my little devils, lol.

ruffledfeathers said:

Haha, the 'dummy'? I never heard that before. I know "binky" and "goy goy" (don't know the actual spelling of that one) for pacifier but not dummy. I learned something new.

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Dummies (the things for babies) have been called that in this country (Oz) as long as I can remember, and I'm approaching 60 But then the list of vocabulary differences between US & Oz is huge, although getting smaller thanks to the net and US TV. Crikey, I've even seen the ponderous "baby carriage" in use here instead of the perfectly concise "pram" (short for "perambulator") and heard the ridiculous "at the present moment in time", when a simple "now" would suffice.

faeryphoebe1 said:

Gilbert is so CUTE!!! Where did you order the capes from? I would like one for my little devils, lol.

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I believe I got the cape from Drs Foster and Smith--I order a lot of 'stuff' from there, my dog's heartworm med, bird supplies, etc.

Mike17 said:

ruffledfeathers said:

Haha, the 'dummy'? I never heard that before. I know "binky" and "goy goy" (don't know the actual spelling of that one) for pacifier but not dummy. I learned something new.

Click to expand...

Dummies (the things for babies) have been called that in this country (Oz) as long as I can remember, and I'm approaching 60 But then the list of vocabulary differences between US & Oz is huge, although getting smaller thanks to the net and US TV. Crikey, I've even seen the ponderous "baby carriage" in use here instead of the perfectly concise "pram" (short for "perambulator") and heard the ridiculous "at the present moment in time", when a simple "now" would suffice.

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I think I generally call a baby carriage a 'stroller' but I also am familiar with 'pram', although no American would use that term, unless putting on a ridiculous attempt at an accent while saying it!

When I hear dummy, I think of a computer terminal! haha

ruffledfeathers said:

I think I generally call a baby carriage a 'stroller' but I also am familiar with 'pram', although no American would use that term, unless putting on a ridiculous attempt at an accent while saying it!

When I hear dummy, I think of a computer terminal! haha

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In Oz a pram and stroller are two different things. A pram has 4 largish wheels and the baby lies more or less prone. A stroller has smaller wheels, front pair castor for steering, and the child sits upright, so they're more for toddlers than babies.