interested in a white cap

hi,

I've been looking around at different birds, spending as much time with them at stores locally and decided, correctly, I hope, that a pionus is the bird for me. I spent quite a bit of time with a Blue Headed. She was great but when I returned to buy her, she had already been sold.

The bird would be in a cage a few feet from my desk, where I work at home for most hours of the day. I'm looking for a bird that would enjoy handling but also can amuse herself independently and one that isn't too loud.

Anyway, I just spoke to a woman who breeds pionuses. she was very nice and said she had just gotten back a five-year old WC. The woman who had her was sick and couldn't work with her anymore. The breeder says she can be a bit feisty in part because no one has worked with her for a while and needs handling. She does eat out of their hands. She says that the bird will get loud briefly a couple of times a week, mostly in reaction to other birds.

I'm curious how this sounds to the folks here. I like working with birds, so a bird that needs to be retrained doesn't scare me. At five, can she become a loving pet? The breeder has blue heads sitting on eggs. Would I be better off waiting for a baby BH? Are their personalities superior, if all things were equal? Any real differences in personality between males and females, male BH and female WC?

Sorry for all the questions but I'd love to hear any suggestions or thoughts, good or bad, about this WC.

thanks for any info,

jeff

Hey again Jeff! Can you visit the pionus to see if you can build a rapport before you bring her home? They are a bit like Amazons, in that they decide right away whether they like you or not. If she seems at all interested in you when you talk to her, you're in the door. When I met my Jimmy, she was very shy but was curious when I spoke with her. She loves me now and enjoys spending time with me. Some folks she meets, she will immediately display for - she wants to be friends.

You can definitely train a bird that likes you. Jimmy is more handleable now as an adult than she was as a baby, also more snuggly. At 5 years old, your potential pi pal will have adult behavior, so you will know how she is. They are honest parrots and don't trick you - what you see is what you get.

There are differences in behavior with male and female pionus. Other threads in here explain it in detail. Males can be more territorial and touchy when hormonal, but they are easy to read and work around this. My female white cap is perfect for me and really is the perfect parrot - very easy and loving. Supposedly white caps are more fiesty than blue heads but I have no personal experience with BHs. And fiesty for a pi, I take as just curious and determined (personal experience) but take it as you will.

Thanks for the helpful response. No, she would be too far to visit, and so I think I will keep looking. I do like the idea of a bird that is post-puberty though. Anway, your advice I'm sure was right on target.

Funny about amazons. At my local bird store, they have a lilac crown that they say was such a nice bird. They had it in a cage with a red lored, and the two had clearly bonded. I was curious about it, so they took it out of the cage and handed it to me, and in a flash I had an incredible painful bite. Blamed me for the separation. On the other hand, they had just gotten a blue front that was afraid of everyone, and she was eating out of my hand after maybe five minutes of my holding and talking to her. I put her back in her cage, and she walked right back to the door with her foot up in the air for me to pick her up again.

Hi Jeff, when you say you like the idea of a bird who is past the onset of puberty, remember, it's not just hormones 'once' and that's it... When a bird is mature, it will have yearly seasonal hormonal behaviors (if other factors don't stimulate hormonal overdrive even more often). Pionus are usually very clear about giving warning with their body language.

Pionus are a species where you will see a basic difference in temperament between male and female. Take a look in the Pionus section when you get a chance. I've posted several times lately about the differences .

You bet , I've been reading. so much great information, thanks.

I meant by being past puberty, they won't roll their eyes at things I say, not put away the dirty dishes and complain about homework. parrots can be tough at that age.

Hmm, Jimmy never did grow out of the "why can't I?" phase... hehe.

I have a wcp male. He loves just chilling with me all day. I could see your set up working great for a pi. I would check out the 5 year old and see what you think. If its not a match, then the bhp are still cooking for you. My male is almost 2 and I guess you could say he is feisty, but I don't have any experience with other birds. He seems very laid back and independent compared to my friends green cheek conure. He is very independent and can entertain himself for hours at a time. Not sure how much work you will get done though....they are extremely cute and quite the distraction!

sounds pretty encouraging, and I think you're right about them in comparison to a green cheek. is there that pionus smell?

jeffisme said:

sounds pretty encouraging, and I think you're right about them in comparison to a green cheek. is there that pionus smell?

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He does have a pionus smell if you stick your nose right on them....which I do! I love his smell. I can tell you that my mom is really really sensitive to smell etc and when my parents come to visit she has never noticed a smell.

As far as the smell that Pionus puff out from the face area (and the related Amazons - the only other species who does this), it seems to be emitted at times of strong emotion, excitement, fright. It smells so 'sour and musty' that we call him Stinky around here. Raven and the two other birds I've had to did this all smelled about the same. As far as an actual feather smell, I don't know, I can't get my face that close to Raven, and I don't remember with the others.

Yes, I gather it's related to the wheezing they do when they get frightened or upset, and comes from inside their nostrils (I know there's a proper word for them).

I don't smell the 'pungent odor' when Raven does the Pionus wheeze. I can't ever see or hear when he does the puff from the nare area, but man can we smell the stink when fairly close to him lol.