Meet Avery!

[saxguy64]

Well THIS is new....
Just a silly little behavior thing to report. Mr Avery is without a doubt the most toy destructive bird I've ever had. An expensive habit, but tempered by the fact that cardboard boxes and cup carriers are his absolute favorites.

Anyway, he's had a newish toy in his cage for about a week now. Wooden beads, flat thin wood pieces, and tied up bundles of straw type stuff. He checked it out, shook it, and nibbled a little, but not huge interest, until this morning. It was still largely untouched when I got up, but an hour later, I found this:

Now bearing in mind, the toy is NOT over the water bowl, it's most of a foot the other side of the perch, that means throwing all that into the bowl was completely intentional. Also, almost none of it was on the bottom of the cage.

Foolish boy!

 

[Vampiric_Conure]

Well THIS is new....
Just a silly little behavior thing to report. Mr Avery is without a doubt the most toy destructive bird I've ever had. An expensive habit, but tempered by the fact that cardboard boxes and cup carriers are his absolute favorites.

Anyway, he's had a newish toy in his cage for about a week now. Wooden beads, flat thin wood pieces, and tied up bundles of straw type stuff. He checked it out, shook it, and nibbled a little, but not huge interest, until this morning. It was still largely untouched when I got up, but an hour later, I found this:
View attachment 51312View attachment 51313
Now bearing in mind, the toy is NOT over the water bowl, it's most of a foot the other side of the perch, that means throwing all that into the bowl was completely intentional. Also, almost none of it was on the bottom of the cage.

Foolish boy!

**Laughs** That silly bird! Glad they're having fun, though!

 

[onamom]

Ha! Is this just a game or is he trying to soften the pieces to chew/eat them?

 

[SailBoat]

Well, several ways of looking at the aftermath!

The first would be to have simply errored the toy, moving it from time to time, which would have kept you hoping and praying for more interaction!

Or, what was provided!! A well executed attack and planned distribution of the bits that left you spending more time attempting to understand the results than he spent making it happen!

Seems he was totally success!

 

[LaManuka]

Well THIS is new....
Just a silly little behavior thing to report. Mr Avery is without a doubt the most toy destructive bird I've ever had. An expensive habit, but tempered by the fact that cardboard boxes and cup carriers are his absolute favorites.

Anyway, he's had a newish toy in his cage for about a week now. Wooden beads, flat thin wood pieces, and tied up bundles of straw type stuff. He checked it out, shook it, and nibbled a little, but not huge interest, until this morning. It was still largely untouched when I got up, but an hour later, I found this:
View attachment 51312View attachment 51313
Now bearing in mind, the toy is NOT over the water bowl, it's most of a foot the other side of the perch, that means throwing all that into the bowl was completely intentional. Also, almost none of it was on the bottom of the cage.

Foolish boy!

Oh Jon, that's hilarious, I love this! I'd love to have seen Avery's face when you spotted what he'd done - I bet he was looking pretty pleased with himself!

 

[saxguy64]

He did look pretty pleased, I just can't figure out the motivation. Perhaps he's just showing off his sense of humor?

 

[LaManuka]

Oh he's got a sense of humour alright, and a very sophisticated one at that!

 

[saxguy64]

Mr Avery has a pretty exhaustive, and ever growing list of sound effects, now including barking like each of my dogs, and the neighbors dogs outside, sniffing deeply, nose blowing, his wrestler growl, and a very loud "WHEW" that also morphs into a laser gun "pew pew pew" sound, and whistles of all kinds. Also, pretty much every ring tone he's ever heard. He seems to much prefer sounds to words, so his spoken vocabulary is pretty limited, especially for a grey. I'm absolutely fine with that, because he shows off his personality very well without that. Of course I'm always happy to hear a word or little phrase I haven't heard before, but it's all good. I adore this little guy!

So with that in mind, we had bedtime last night. We have our routine, he hangs on the front of the cage because he wants to come out for a few bedtime scritches, then he goes in, I put the blanket over the top of the cage, and he comes back to the front for kisses goodnight through the bars, usually a few kissy sounds, or tongue clicking, and a little beak wrestling before he'll settle in. I just follow his lead to see what he wants.

Well, near the end of the routine last night, as he rubbed his beak against my fingers, he put his head down and said "good boy" exactly in my voice, and then stuck the beak out for more kisses. OMG, I just melted! I'm feeling the love

 

[zERo]

Mr Avery has a pretty exhaustive, and ever growing list of sound effects, now including barking like each of my dogs, and the neighbors dogs outside, sniffing deeply, nose blowing, his wrestler growl, and a very loud "WHEW" that also morphs into a laser gun "pew pew pew" sound, and whistles of all kinds. He seems to much prefer sounds to words, so his spoken vocabulary is pretty limited, especially for a grey. I'm absolutely fine with that, because he shows off his personality very well without that. Of course I'm always happy to hear a word or little phrase I haven't heard before, but it's all good. I adore this little guy!

So with that in mind, we had bedtime last night. We have our routine, he hangs on the front of the cage because he wants to come out for a few bedtime scritches, then he goes in, I put the blanket over the top of the cage, and he comes back to the front for kisses goodnight through the bars, usually a few kissy sounds, or tongue clicking, and a little beak wrestling before he'll settle in. I just follow his lead to see what he wants.

Well, near the end of the routine last night, as he rubbed his beak against my fingers, he put his head down and said "good boy" exactly in my voice, and then stuck the beak out for more kisses. OMG, I just melted! I'm feeling the love

Oh my goodness what a sweetheart!

It’s so cool to hear a bird say something that’s said to them (probably often!) when we think they aren’t even picking up on it!

 

[saxguy64]

It's even more special this time around, since the previous episode when I told him he was a good boy, and he replied by yelling, "GIRL!" at me. Maybe he was just telling me that he thinks I'M a good boy? IDK, but it was really cute.

 

[onamom]

Awe, how sweet! I agree it's super exciting when they say something new or make a new noise! I bet "Good boy" is something he will repeat. Ona tries to say things sometimes and I just can't understand it. Wish I knew everything she was saying.

 

[LaManuka]

Mr Avery has a pretty exhaustive, and ever growing list of sound effects, now including barking like each of my dogs, and the neighbors dogs outside, sniffing deeply, nose blowing, his wrestler growl, and a very loud "WHEW" that also morphs into a laser gun "pew pew pew" sound, and whistles of all kinds. Also, pretty much every ring tone he's ever heard. He seems to much prefer sounds to words, so his spoken vocabulary is pretty limited, especially for a grey. I'm absolutely fine with that, because he shows off his personality very well without that. Of course I'm always happy to hear a word or little phrase I haven't heard before, but it's all good. I adore this little guy!

So with that in mind, we had bedtime last night. We have our routine, he hangs on the front of the cage because he wants to come out for a few bedtime scritches, then he goes in, I put the blanket over the top of the cage, and he comes back to the front for kisses goodnight through the bars, usually a few kissy sounds, or tongue clicking, and a little beak wrestling before he'll settle in. I just follow his lead to see what he wants.

Well, near the end of the routine last night, as he rubbed his beak against my fingers, he put his head down and said "good boy" exactly in my voice, and then stuck the beak out for more kisses. OMG, I just melted! I'm feeling the love

Oh Avery is just wonderful, isn't he? It must be a measure of how happy he is and how much he loves you that he's SO engaged with everything he hears and picks it all up so fast! Give him a great big kiss from his favourite (only!) Aussie aunty and tell him how much I love him, won't you?!

 

[saxguy64]

Well, I've gone and done it again. I wasn't even looking, but a super deal on a bigger cage showed up on FB. The trip to go see it was quite an adventure, as the lady lives up in the hills in the middle of nowhere, and with all the rain and flooding we've had, the GPS kept insisting I take a route where there's a bridge that's completely washed out. I finally got there, and was kind of disappointed at first that the cage wasn't what she had in her ad. She had just copied an amazon listing of what she thought it was, but to be fair, it's been in a storage bin for five years, so she guessed wrong. Oh well.

However, once I looked at the parts all stacked against the wall of the bin, I realized EXACTLY what it was. It's the same gigantic Preview cage that Tucker has. She felt bad that I went all that way and it wasn't what she advertised, but after a brief negotiation, I left with a SUPER bargain, and Mr Avery is getting a palace to match Tucker and Baxter's.

I scrubbed it down all good and let it bake in the sun until almost dark, when it started raining... Again. (It's been a really wet spring/summer around here! ) I hadn't realized we were missing some of the bolts, but a quick run to the hardware store solved that. I put it together this morning while Avery was right next to me to watch and "help" and left it where he could scope it out. This will be the third upgrade since he arrived here, and he's been amazing with it so far.

Soooo, I brought him closer to it to see his reaction. As seems to be his normal response, he stepped on to the door, looked around, and climbed right in to explore. I don't have any perches or anything to decorate it with yet, so move in will be in a few days. Curious boy had fun checking it out, and I think it's good that I didn't immediately close him in.

I think it's going to be a hit

Now, the thing that excites me the most, is that with that big door and all that floor space, I can give him bigger boxes to chew up! (His absolute favorite toy ) Maybe then he'll get more than half a day's entertainment out of them before there's nothing left

 

[LaManuka]

Ohhhhhhhh emmmm GEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZ, Jon, that cage is so HUGE it makes Avery look like he's Lovejoy's size!!!! You sure did bag the bargain of the century there, he's just gonna love it!!

 

[saxguy64]

Thank goodness I have a big living room! Tucker has the same cage, and Baxter's is the same size, but the flat top version, so now I'll have THREE of these monster cages in there!

 

[ravvlet]

Oh my gosh that’s amazing!! I love that for you and for Avery! Gorgeous cage and gorgeous bird.

 

[SailBoat]

Well, you have proven the Point: Go Big or don't get a Parrot!!
Big personalities need lots of space!
Those Parrots with the best feathers sleep in the largest cages!
How to make the Macaw envoys? Have a bigger cage!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

Well, I've gone and done it again. I wasn't even looking, but a super deal on a bigger cage showed up on FB. The trip to go see it was quite an adventure, as the lady lives up in the hills in the middle of nowhere, and with all the rain and flooding we've had, the GPS kept insisting I take a route where there's a bridge that's completely washed out. I finally got there, and was kind of disappointed at first that the cage wasn't what she had in her ad. She had just copied an amazon listing of what she thought it was, but to be fair, it's been in a storage bin for five years, so she guessed wrong. Oh well.

However, once I looked at the parts all stacked against the wall of the bin, I realized EXACTLY what it was. It's the same gigantic Preview cage that Tucker has. She felt bad that I went all that way and it wasn't what she advertised, but after a brief negotiation, I left with a SUPER bargain, and Mr Avery is getting a palace to match Tucker and Baxter's.

I scrubbed it down all good and let it bake in the sun until almost dark, when it started raining... Again. (It's been a really wet spring/summer around here! ) I hadn't realized we were missing some of the bolts, but a quick run to the hardware store solved that. I put it together this morning while Avery was right next to me to watch and "help" and left it where he could scope it out. This will be the third upgrade since he arrived here, and he's been amazing with it so far.
View attachment 52093

Soooo, I brought him closer to it to see his reaction. As seems to be his normal response, he stepped on to the door, looked around, and climbed right in to explore. I don't have any perches or anything to decorate it with yet, so move in will be in a few days. Curious boy had fun checking it out, and I think it's good that I didn't immediately close him in.
View attachment 52094View attachment 52095View attachment 52096View attachment 52097
I think it's going to be a hit

Now, the thing that excites me the most, is that with that big door and all that floor space, I can give him bigger boxes to chew up! (His absolute favorite toy ) Maybe then he'll get more than half a day's entertainment out of them before there's nothing left

What a find and what a lucky bird!

 

[DonnaBudgie]

What a find and what a lucky bird!

I have to say that our weather in Maine has been so depressing for the past couple months.

 

[DonnaBudgie]

He did look pretty pleased, I just can't figure out the motivation. Perhaps he's just showing off his sense of humor?

I read through Avery's entire thread and what a lucky bird he is! His original owner must have been pretty good to Avery before he got too old and sick because Avery is such a good bird. Is his old owner still alive? If so, have you ever thought of taking Avery to visit him in the nursing home? Might brighten up his day to see his buddy is doing so well in his new home.