Funny eclectus stories

[cytherian]

Ekko can come up with the funniest things. Last night I walked into the bird room and he shouted, "Hey You! Come here!"
I evidently took too long to raise my foot because he followed it with, "NOW!"
That's all new and cracked me up. At the same time, I was a little afraid of what would happen if he had to say it twice 😂

I can just imagine it. "Hey you! Come here! Let me out!" Actually, I wouldn't mind if Rosie would do that. Instead she has this really loud, unpleasant squawk instead. Ranger will imitate so many things we say. Sometimes he'll just say, "Wanna come out?" And we'll find that he doesn't really want to. He'll sometimes just roll through his vocabulary, like practicing it all.

What is really a hoot is this.
Ranger: "Hello. Hello... hello?"
Us: <no response>
Ranger: "Helllllllooooooooooo!!!"
Us: <laughter>
Ranger: "Hahahahahahahaha!"
Us: <laughter x 100>

 

[Terry57]

I can just imagine it. "Hey you! Come here! Let me out!" Actually, I wouldn't mind if Rosie would do that. Instead she has this really loud, unpleasant squawk instead. Ranger will imitate so many things we say. Sometimes he'll just say, "Wanna come out?" And we'll find that he doesn't really want to. He'll sometimes just roll through his vocabulary, like practicing it all.

What is really a hoot is this.
Ranger: "Hello. Hello... hello?"
Us: <no response>
Ranger: "Helllllllooooooooooo!!!"
Us: <laughter>
Ranger: "Hahahahahahahaha!"
Us: <laughter x 100>

Ah, the dreaded Ekkie squawk that rattles the brain! I'm so glad that Ekko doesn't do that a lot, but when he does I always gasp and jump a foot high.

Haha, Ranger is awesome! I love how our birds have a sense of humour, it cracks me up every time.

 

[Talaya]

Same thing here. We have a 60" wide screen TV in the living room and Rollie will sometimes land on it. He KNOWS he's not supposed to do it, as when we approach he immediately flies away. Little bugger. We will tell him "Rollie, OFF!" a few times. Sometimes he flies off, other times he just looks at us like "uh, make me." I will approach him with two fingers out on my extended arm aiming towards him and in just 2 steps he'll fly off. We haven't found a good solution. We thought maybe about putting something uncomfortable along the edge so he learns it's not a fun place to be...

Solo also knows he’s not meant to be there. If I say ‘off‘ he goes all sleek and he waits until I get up and start to walk over and flies away. unless I get stern, he just waits to get his lift off…
I do have a solution which worked last year, I just need to get to the shop again. Buy a foil helium ballon (they’re stronger) pull the string down behind the tv so it’s not loose/a danger and have just the ballon above it. Then when they fly to land the ballon bobs in the breeze of their wings and puts them off landing. it did work About 95% of the time. I think our tv is the same and Id Say I ideally need 2.
I also have a pendant floor lamp and have taped the deflated ballon to the arm and he doesn’t land on the shade anymore. We now have a wheelable perch next to the tv to try and encourage him on there instead, but so far that’s not working!

 

[cytherian]

Ah, the dreaded Ekkie squawk that rattles the brain! I'm so glad that Ekko doesn't do that a lot, but when he does I always gasp and jump a foot high.

Haha, Ranger is awesome! I love how our birds have a sense of humour, it cracks me up every time.

There's so much to learn about bird communication, as it's often very individualized. And of course body language coupled with that.

Rollie can let out some very unpleasant squawks. But when he does it it's because he's unhappy. Very telling. The usual case is that he wants to be out and freely roaming around (as he became accustomed to doing since the pandemic keeping people home), and also his desire to continue his prolific feeding. He LOVES to regurgitate to his mate and also to his son. The only other time he has done his most screeching & unpleasant squawks has been when Rosie is taken out of the house alone for a vet visit. He's so in tune with her. She is his world. EVERYTHING is about her. When it gets to the point where it's clear she's not coming back for a while, he'll make these loud, sorrowful squawks. When she's back, he'll get so excited he'll practically lose his grip on his perch.

Rosie... wants to be a mamma. Nothing really else in her wheelhouse any longer. She rarely plays with anything. Her "MO" is to either be frolicking and being serviced by her mate, or roosting on eggs. When she wants out, she lets out these horribly unpleasant squawks. And there are times where we just can't let her out, as there needs to be supervision. She wants to be in that "love hut" (the carrier) so badly that when we take her out, she'll be agitated until we make an open path for her to fly and WHOOSH she's right over there, with Rollie flying directly behind. They land on the couch and scramble into the hut, then Rollie will... "check her oil with his dipstick."

Getting Ekkies in mated pairs... is a totally different experience and presents many challenges. I wouldn't recommend it, unless you want to breed chicks.

 

[cytherian]

Solo also knows he’s not meant to be there. If I say ‘off‘ he goes all sleek and he waits until I get up and start to walk over and flies away. unless I get stern, he just waits to get his lift off…
I do have a solution which worked last year, I just need to get to the shop again. Buy a foil helium ballon (they’re stronger) pull the string down behind the tv so it’s not loose/a danger and have just the ballon above it. Then when they fly to land the ballon bobs in the breeze of their wings and puts them off landing. it did work About 95% of the time. I think our tv is the same and Id Say I ideally need 2.
I also have a pendant floor lamp and have taped the deflated ballon to the arm and he doesn’t land on the shade anymore. We now have a wheelable perch next to the tv to try and encourage him on there instead, but so far that’s not working!

Thanks for that suggestion. I know they make helium balloons in small sizes... might be worth getting a couple to see how he reacts. He's a VERY curious bird. In this present phase of his mate's cycle, she has no eggs and is either fixated on procreating or finding a new "hollow" in which to nest. In the "dining area" (I use the term loosely) we have an enormous open shelf rack loaded with boxes of various sizes. Rollie will often size it up, curiously poking around trying to see if there's any nesting opportunities there in which to invite Rosie. When he got fixated on a particular narrow space where we can't fit any box, I made a false box out of paper and fit it perfectly in there. Rollie became seriously curious about this new thing and found one tiny flap, began pulling at it, nearly ripping the thing. I had to tape it down so there's no edges sticking out that he could lock his beak on.

 

[Terry57]

There's so much to learn about bird communication, as it's often very individualized. And of course body language coupled with that.

Rollie can let out some very unpleasant squawks. But when he does it it's because he's unhappy. Very telling. The usual case is that he wants to be out and freely roaming around (as he became accustomed to doing since the pandemic keeping people home), and also his desire to continue his prolific feeding. He LOVES to regurgitate to his mate and also to his son. The only other time he has done his most screeching & unpleasant squawks has been when Rosie is taken out of the house alone for a vet visit. He's so in tune with her. She is his world. EVERYTHING is about her. When it gets to the point where it's clear she's not coming back for a while, he'll make these loud, sorrowful squawks. When she's back, he'll get so excited he'll practically lose his grip on his perch.

Rosie... wants to be a mamma. Nothing really else in her wheelhouse any longer. She rarely plays with anything. Her "MO" is to either be frolicking and being serviced by her mate, or roosting on eggs. When she wants out, she lets out these horribly unpleasant squawks. And there are times where we just can't let her out, as there needs to be supervision. She wants to be in that "love hut" (the carrier) so badly that when we take her out, she'll be agitated until we make an open path for her to fly and WHOOSH she's right over there, with Rollie flying directly behind. They land on the couch and scramble into the hut, then Rollie will... "check her oil with his dipstick."

Getting Ekkies in mated pairs... is a totally different experience and presents many challenges. I wouldn't recommend it, unless you want to breed chicks.

Thank goodness that not all ekkies are that into mating, though. One of my friends has a male and female and they don't even interact much - she is just not that into him, I guess

It's definitely something to be conscious of for someone wanting a pair, they may well be like your ..uh...lovebirds

 

[cytherian]

Thank goodness that not all ekkies are that into mating, though. One of my friends has a male and female and they don't even interact much - she is just not that into him, I guess

It's definitely something to be conscious of for someone wanting a pair, they may well be like your ..uh...lovebirds

I'm glad to hear that.
In fact, I'm starting to wonder if it's harder to get captive birds to become a mated pair and that this situation of two birds strongly bonded and eager to breed might be something highly desirable for those who seek to breed birds.

 

[Talaya]

Thanks for that suggestion. I know they make helium balloons in small sizes... might be worth getting a couple to see how he reacts. He's a VERY curious bird. In this present phase of his mate's cycle, she has no eggs and is either fixated on procreating or finding a new "hollow" in which to nest. In the "dining area" (I use the term loosely) we have an enormous open shelf rack loaded with boxes of various sizes. Rollie will often size it up, curiously poking around trying to see if there's any nesting opportunities there in which to invite Rosie. When he got fixated on a particular narrow space where we can't fit any box, I made a false box out of paper and fit it perfectly in there. Rollie became seriously curious about this new thing and found one tiny flap, began pulling at it, nearly ripping the thing. I had to tape it down so there's no edges sticking out that he could lock his beak on.

I guess my boy is still a baby and there’s no female around, so far I’ve been able to guide/influence him to what he can and can’t have. I’ve generally been successful apart from the tv. He doesn’t even usually bother me for my coffee or sandwich anymore.
On the other hand we were cleaning his cage out and found a piece of sponge cake.. which he must have taken advantage and stolen from my plate whilst I popped to the loo 😂

 

[cytherian]

I guess my boy is still a baby and there’s no female around, so far I’ve been able to guide/influence him to what he can and can’t have. I’ve generally been successful apart from the tv. He doesn’t even usually bother me for my coffee or sandwich anymore.
On the other hand we were cleaning his cage out and found a piece of sponge cake.. which he must have taken advantage and stolen from my plate whilst I popped to the loo 😂

You're lucky you have a male -- no eggs!

Our female had a nasty egg obstruction in the midst of her 2nd clutch of eggs after she'd had the baby. She was going to die if we didn't take her to an emergency hospital for pets. Thankfully they were able to clear the egg and she was OK, but the bill? You don't even want to know how many thousands it was.