Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Caique update

Beeps is still very hormonal. Unprovoked, he flew at my head last night and managed to get a bite or two in before I could remove him. I think it's a bit worse for him than normal because we are leaving for a week's vacation on Saturday, and he normally gets upset about that. During the week before each of our last vacations, as best I can remember, either Thomas or I received a Beeps bite.

Beeps and Rocky have a symbiotic relationship when it comes to screaming. Rocky starts, and then Beeps chimes in, although at a much lower volume. They were doing this right before I took this video. Of course, Beeps did not continue once he saw the camera.

However, you can see his eyes flash red, and then he starts threatening me. His movements start to look rather mechanical or robotic, and he flips around and attacks one of his toys. I knew then that I had to remove the camera from his view, or risk another bite.



This hormonal season has already stretched on too long for my liking. I hope I have my normal Beeps back once we get back from vacation!

5 comments:

Scritches.com said...

Poor baby. I thought PMS was bad, but when I see what parrots go through . . .

Mary said...

I know! At least we understand what we're going through.

I try to explain to him that things will get back to normal, but not sure he understands.

I'm just glad he's not as bad as some parrots I know about. He's still handleable, but just has a much shorter fuse so we have to be on high alert!

Anonymous said...

hehe... Kermit my conure and Harley do that whole screaming thing. Harley macaw will scream - then Kermit will scream (at half volume). Rinse and repeat for a looooong time.

DoodleBird said...

Beeps must be fully flighted? These kinds of posts make me so nervous that my sweet little angel will sprout horns.

Mary said...

Richard -- there must be something contagious about those macaw screams :)

Doodlebird -- Beeps is fully flighted. But, even when he was clipped, he would launch and attack. His previous owner released him outside because he bit her so badly. Hormones affect every bird differently and you still have a few years of peace! And it may never be bad for you so don't start worrying yet! But there's a good chance she will have some personality changes as she grows up. I think your problems will be mitigated by the fact that you are giving her such a fantastic foundation right from the beginning with training, etc.