Jumped

Calypso's favorite food is giant cashews. He'll eat the smaller ones, but the big ones are his favorites. I found a bag of large cashews the other day and have been making it a point to give him one in the morning when he first gets up and another in the afternoon when I first get home from work. Although that may sound like a lot of cashews for a little caique, he eats only a small portion and the rest is discarded.

He's still not back to normal after our trip, and I'm hoping that I can bribe him into liking me again. It's just going to take time, but he's already showing signs of normalcy.

Yesterday after work, I had the open bag of cashews in my hand. I had just given Calypso his and was about to go around and give some to the other parrots, when I was jumped by Beeps. With no warning, he launched himself at my head. Instinctively, I threw my arms up to protect my head (I'd much rather have an arm bite than a face one!) As you may imagine, when I threw my arms up with a fairly full bag of cashews, cashews exploded all over the room! The good news is that Beeps did a U-turn back to his cage and immediately went inside so I could lock him in for my safety (he knows the drill).

I turned my attention to closing the bag, when Rocky flew at me! You may have noticed from some of the pictures that we are attempting to let his wings grow out again. I would love for him to be able to fly, and as long as he doesn't attack me, he'll get that chance. Previous attempts at this have ended up with the scissors, but I'm (naively?) optimistic when it comes to him.

Rocky gets three attacks on me, and then he'll be clipped. We're not counting last night since we're not sure if he was launching himself at me, or at the cashews on the ground. When he got to the floor, he immediately started devouring the nuts and didn't try to attack me.We didn't let him eat all of the nuts. Thomas swept them up (since he's the one who let Beeps out) and returned Rocky to his cage, with one cashew.

The question of whether or not to clip Beeps is weighing heavily on our minds. I truly believe that his recent attacks have all been due to hormones. I also see signs that he's coming out of this, so I don't want to make a hasty decision. I guess we'll wait another week or so to see what happens. Since I've been on alert for attacks, and also since once he lands on me to attack he has to posture for a few seconds before starting to bite, I've managed to escape with all of my blood.

I'll keep you posted.