Button & Ava

[onamom]

I’m in love with the blue coloration on this girl. She has it on her face/cheeks, her chest & stomach, & under her tail. It’s so iridescent & beautiful in the sunlight. @wrench13 does Salty have much blue on him?

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She is beautiful!

 

[nkrbkr]

You have beautiful parrots. Your Amazon looks smaller than the ones I’ve worked with (primarily 2 yellow napes). How much does she weigh? I’m not familiar with all of the Amazon species, and sizes.

Salty ( a yellow shoulder Amazon) weighs around 340 gr and is like 1/2 the size of a Yellow Nape. He had a very pronounced blue area around his nares when he was young, but since then it has turned green. He has a small spot under his beak that is still blue.

nkrbkr's Ava is a hybrid YSA and yellow crowned Amazon and would be larger then Salty but likely not full Yellow Nape size. ​

Thank you! Yes, Ava is a smaller Amazon. She’s usually somewhere between 335-340g at her daily weigh-ins. She’s more trim and not quite as stocky as other Amazon species. I get the impression she takes a bit more after her dad (the YSA) physically, but seems to have her mother’s personality. When I checked in with the aviary that bred her, I was told her mother was “a very silly talking yellow-crowned Amazon.” That would be Ava.

 

[nkrbkr]

The fellow that we adopted Ava from had told us that she was a Blue-Fronted Amazon. When we met her in person, I was actually very surprised at how petite she is, as I was expecting a larger parrot. Luckily, her hatch certificate had survived through her two previous owners, & made it to us as well. It described her only as an Amazon hybrid. So, I did some digging. The aviary that she’s from is no longer operating, so after searching for quite some time, I was able to find some old websites that had an email. I thought it was a long shot, but sent an email anyway, & was pleasantly surprised to receive a response the same day. I’m so happy I checked into it, as I was able to find out exactly what species Ava’s parents are.

 

[nkrbkr]

Question here. Never heard of sola. Attempted to look it up. Got things from bread or bagel items, beauty products and more. What is it?

I looked it up. According to Google AI, Sola is the lightweight pithy center of the stems of the Sola plant, Aescyhnomene aspera. It is non-toxic and safe for all birds and animals.

Yes, it’s a very soft plant material. It’s a good toy for the teeny tinies with smaller beaks, as it’s easier to destroy. However, it seems like birds of all sizes seem to enjoy it. Ava really seems to like it, although it takes her about 2 minutes to destroy it.

 

[kme3388]

I feel like the shelters I’ve been involved with have the yellow headed, and yellow naped amazons. Maybe a few blue fronts which were around 500 grams in weight. The ones I worked with were rather aggressive as well. If you didn’t read their body language, and fast you were going to learn a hard lesson. There were rules in place at the shelters that these Amazon’s could only be let out with each other or larger parrots as they had a tendency to harm the smaller parrots. Not to say they all would but you take the precautions anyway. The shelters require previous Amazon (or larger parrot) experience to even adopt them out. I didn’t realize amazons varied that much in size.

 

[nkrbkr]

I feel like the shelters I’ve been involved with have the yellow headed, and yellow naped amazons. Maybe a few blue fronts which were around 500 grams in weight. The ones I worked with were rather aggressive as well. If you didn’t read their body language, and fast you were going to learn a hard lesson. There were rules in place at the shelters that these Amazon’s could only be let out with each other or larger parrots as they had a tendency to harm the smaller parrots. Not to say they all would but you take the precautions anyway. The shelters require previous Amazon (or larger parrot) experience to even adopt them out. I didn’t realize amazons varied that much in size.

Yes, it seems that this is what you tend read/hear about Amazons, particularly certain species. They definitely communicate very clearly. Fortunately, Ava has a very patient, forgiving, & gentle personality. YSA (& I think yellow-crowned as well) are known to have gentler personalities in general. Even though she’s never shown any interest in being aggressive towards him, little Button stays safely in his cage while Ava is out. The size difference between the two is too much of a risk at this point.

 

[nkrbkr]

Little Bean started to learn how to play with a new toy today. It’s a hopper that dispenses hulled millet when you push the lever down. Super cute.

 

[onamom]

Little Bean started to learn how to play with a new toy today. It’s a hopper that dispenses hulled millet when you push the lever down. Super cute.

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Oooh! Link? I think Ona would love

 

[nkrbkr]

Oooh! Link? I think Ona would love

Sure! It’s another 3D printed Etsy find. They have an option for it to be cage mount as well, with bolt/wingnut, but I opted for the one without.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1472199350/?ref=share_ios_native_control

 

[nkrbkr]

This is what I mean when I say that Button is SO sensitive to any slight changes in his diet. It’s also why I do not feed him any seed in his daily diet, & only give it as treats. He practiced his new millet dispensing toy a little too much yesterday, it would seem, & is feeling very hormonal this morning. He gifted me with a nice bite on my arm, since I was ignoring his attempts to regurgitate. No blood this time, but looks like it will leave a bruise. You know, you try to do something nice for someone…lol

 

[LaManuka]

This is what I mean when I say that Button is SO sensitive to any slight changes in his diet. It’s also why I do not feed him any seed in his daily diet, & only give it as treats. He practiced his new millet dispensing toy a little too much yesterday, it would seem, & is feeling very hormonal this morning. He gifted me with a nice bite on my arm, since I was ignoring his attempts to regurgitate. No blood this time, but looks like it will leave a bruise. You know, you try to do something nice for someone…lol

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Nice little "badge of honour" you got there, @nkrbkr - that's gratitude for ya alright!!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Well, she was nice enough to not break the skin!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

"He"

 

[nkrbkr]

Well, she was nice enough to not break the skin!

lol…I think it was by chance that it didn’t this time. Little stinker was clamped on hard like a snapping turtle & wouldn’t let go!

 

[nkrbkr]

She was eyeballing the grapes as they were getting washed, so we couldn’t say no.

 

[LaManuka]

She was eyeballing the grapes as they were getting washed, so we couldn’t say no.

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Enjoy that well-earned snack, beautiful girl!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Button's bite reminds me of when I caught a dozen blue crabs in south Carolina and one of them grabbed my hand on its way to the pot of boiling water and WOULD NOT LET GO! Broke the skin and I had to use a tool to pry its claw open. The end of his claw was hook shaped and punctured the web between my thumb and hand! I did eat him in the end but he put up the fight of his crabby life!
Buttons was just a "love bite"!

 

[nkrbkr]

Button's bite reminds me of when I caught a dozen blue crabs in south Carolina and one of them grabbed my hand on its way to the pot of boiling water and WOULD NOT LET GO! Broke the skin and I had to use a tool to pry its claw open. The end of his claw was hook shaped and punctured the web between my thumb and hand! I did eat him in the end but he put up the fight of his crabby life!
Buttons was just a "love bite"!

Ouch! Yes, I suppose it was a love bite…quite literally since it was the fault of hormones. Lol. He’s broken skin many times when he really means it. Luckily, he’s in a better mood today.

 

[rheashard2]

Are those grapes eaten whole? Nameliss likes grapes. But she peels the skin off.

 

[nkrbkr]

Are those grapes eaten whole? Nameliss likes grapes. But she peels the skin off.

Ava takes a bite, eats the pulp of the grape, scraping it off the skin with her beak, then drops the skin. She does the same with apple slices. So, I guess she peels it in a way.