What not to do with a nervous galah

[strudel]

I just wish my cockie could tell the difference between freckles and food.

 

[Hawk]

I outdid myself yesterday.

I'm in the middle of a sleep-study to see if I have sleep apnoea (well, duh! I snore like a locomotive) and yesterday I had to go to the hospital and have a faceful of electrodes stuck to me as well as wearing not one, but two monitor packs wrapped around my chest with industrial strength velcro.

(Aside: no one told me to wear what I planned to sleep in, so I was bound up in all this techno-stuff while wearing my very-best going-out blouse AND my very-worst most-uncomfortable underwire bra. THEN and only then did they tell me 'you have to sleep in that - no way can you take anything off till tomorrow morning'. Hnnnnnnnnhhhhhh...)

So, we arrived home, my Hunn and I, just in time for Animals' Dinner. The kids were doing the dog and cats and I thought to take Dominic down off his playgym and put him in his cage so he could have his tea. When I approached, Dom stuck up his hat and let out a bellow fit to wake the dead!

'OK, OK', I said, 'Don't get yer knickers in a twist! I'll get Matt.'

Calling to my son (whom Dommie likes better than he likes me), I stepped away while Matt lifted Dommie down from his fridge. I took a step toward them, intending to ruffle Dommie's hat, but he let out another screech and retreated up to Matt's shoulder. He was clearly quite agitated! Next, he began to lay into poor Matt's head, ears and neck with his beak, screeching and screaming like a mad thing! Good grief! What was the matter with him? The only thing I could do was to reach and gently pick Dommie up, enclosing his wings in my hands and removing him from poor Matt's now-bloody shoulder.

Dommie went ballistic!!! He chomped away on my thumbs till I simply had to let him go. He flew to his stand, which happened to have a pile of pizza boxes on it (for his private edification and confetti-making interests). Of course, the boxes slipped and Dom landed on the floor, whence he proceeded to raise his hat, screech like a banshee and rush after my (naked) toes! What the **** was going on?

Just then, my Hunn came and offered his hand. Dom ceremoniously stepped up, walked up Hunn's arm and bit him on the nose. I have to hand it to him: Hunn was a stout yeoman and never flinched. He just took Dommie up between his hands and put him unceremoniously into his cage.

I went into the bathroom to get stuff for everyone's (dripping) wounds. It was only then I realised. I looked like a misbegotten Dalek with electrodes and wires poking out of my face and a great, flashing black power pack on my front. The poor bird must've been out of his mind with terror and I kept trying to get hold of him!

I'm not usually this stupid, but yesterday, I was. I plan not to do that again in a hurry. So, dear members, learn from my mistake! NEVER approach a bird with something weird hanging off you - it can only end badly.

Hahaha.....No....ha ha ha, no ski mask, no funky monkey sun shades, no Bozo clown face paint, and surely NOT your wife with green cucumber facial on...that scared the bird poop out of them !!!!

 

[Anansi]

Wow, Trish! Dom bloodied 3/4 of your family unit in mere moments! Jason Bourne's got nothing on him! Hahaha! (I see Elle rather wisely steered clear of the fracas?)

I reckon I've been lucky in that regard. Neither Bixby or Maya, nor even dearly departed Suzie, has ever been put off by any changes in clothing, hatwear, or even sunglasses. They do get curious and want to chew on everything, though. And they get impish delight at any given opportunity to chew on any words or images on my shirts. Heck, Maya doesn't even require a design! She once idly chewed a hole in the plain arm of my t-shirt without me even noticing!

But no freak-outs... I did once have a beta fish that would go into the famous fighter battle display whenever my wife would approach the tank with her glasses on. Does that count? Lol! (We later realized he was reacting instinctively to the sight of another male fighter fish in his proximity... as he was seeing his own reflection in the lenses of Aida's glasses! Haha!)

 

[Birdman666]

I just wish my cockie could tell the difference between freckles and food.

My red fronted macaw has been known to try and remove freckles he does not feel "belong there" when grooming me...

OMG that hurts!

 

[strudel]

My cockie is always trying to eat the "seed" all over me, except it isn't seed!!!

 

[Robin]

My Robin hated hooded sweatshirts. He jumped on my son, ran up his arm, bit his ear and as my son went to shake his head, smashed it into the wall! It was a bad scene in the kitchen!

 

[Taw5106]

Buddy and I have battled over freckles, he keeps trying to remove them. Husband thought he was biting me to be mean but I explained he's trying to remove "foreign objects". Husband has a phobia of beaks, lol. And no it doesn't feel good!

 

[strudel]

There are not many (if any?) people who grew up in Australia who have milky-white freckle-free arms. You'd think an Australian cocky might know that. If she didn't make such a mess, I could give her some real seed to divert her from the "arm-seed-that-isn't" when we're having out "together-time" but she chucks it all over everywhere.

 

[Betrisher]

Strudel, you are so right! Australian cockies seem to know just one thing: what's yours is mine and what's mine's my own. LOL!

My poor hubby is afflicted with lots of moles and skin tags. Guess what Dommie does? LOL! If I hear the Hunn squealing like a girl, I always know it's Dom relieving him of excessive skin things. Oh well. It's cheaper than the dermatologist.

My daughter has milky-white freckle-free skin. I think I overdid the slip-slop-slap when she was little and now she's horrified at the idea of exposing herself to the sun. She went out without a hat a few weeks ago and came home with a - O HORROR!!! - tan line around her neck. You'd think she'd contracted the plague the way she carried on.

Me, I've got freckles on me freckles. Price you pay for being a ranga.

(NB. 'Ranga' is Australian for 'person with red hair'. It derives from 'orangutan', which is also a person with red hair. )

 

[strudel]

Yes, the young'uns might, but back in the olden days, we just baked. They didn't even have sunscreen when I was a kid, other than pink zinc for your nose. Now, the kids wear hats outdoors at school.

It's not so bad that she mistakes freckles (moles and skintags) as food, it's that, when she tries to pick it up and doesn't succeed she doesn't give up, she persists, trying to dig it out of my arm. She never seems to learn that "see spot, it's a seed" doesn't apply to arms.

 

[Hawk]

I just wish my cockie could tell the difference between freckles and food.

My red fronted macaw has been known to try and remove freckles he does not feel "belong there" when grooming me...

OMG that hurts!

Ouch....LOL....You think you have it bad, try a fast and very swift Senegal that takes a look up your nose and puts out a beak full of nose hair inside nose...Ouch...that'll really bring a tear to your eye...

I was napping on the couch and my Grey crawled up onto the couch and bit
me on the hind end real hard...followed by a real fast up and down head bob.....Now my hienny is going to swell up.

Dose my Grey make my hind end look big???