Rocky videos

The Rockster was in fine form over the weekend. He's been stealing the shoes that Thomas wears around the house and trying to drag them under his cage. They don't fit. Then, he spends a lot of time positioning them just so and trying to squeeze himself into them. It's probably some sort of displaced breeding behavior. We don't do anything to stop it since it doesn't make him any more aggressive, and since he's not female, we don't have to worry about egg binding. It's actually kind of cute, plus it keeps him busy.

I was trying to capture this on video, but he noticed, and so he started showing off by dragging his beak on the floor and wandering around. He does make a brief stop at the shoe, but doesn't really get into it. He finishes by coming over to threaten me, so I stopped taping.


I started up again when it looked like he was going back by the shoe, but then he started showing off again. Still, I thought this video was rather funny, the way he briefly stops to make the bell ring and then tries to burrow under the paper by Max's cage.


I decided I wasn't going to get anything more substantial out of him, so I put the camera off to the side. As soon as he noticed, he ran over to me, jumped twice (he knows this is one of my favorite things he does) and shouted my name. It was so surreal, I'm glad Thomas was there to witness it. Apparently he wanted me to start taping again, so I complied. I'm only sad I didn't get that on video!

Here's more of the same, but with one jump, more shoe positioning, and more loudness (moaning, laughing, screeching).


He's decided he's done playing by himself. When he rocks back and forth like that, he's begging for something. He wanted to be brought up on the couch with us. Thomas was too busy watching football and didn't have a leg on the floor for Rocky to use as a ramp. So Rocky had to take things into his own hands.

As I've stated before, one of our goals is to teach the parrots personal responsibility. If they're unhappy about something, they need to do something to improve their situation. They just can't sit there and scream and hope that we solve their problems. Rocky wanted to come up and he figured out a way to get on Thomas's lap.


I thought I was done taping, so the football game has sound again -- sorry for the loud background noise!

Rocky was making moves as though he were going to descend to the ground. I find this an adorable move on his part, so I grabbed the camera again. However, when he noticed I had the camera, he changed plans and decided to show off a bit more by fake attacking Thomas.

I have been fake attacked before, and I find it unpleasant, but Thomas must have thicker skin than me. After a few seconds of Rocky giving Thomas the business, Thomas decides to turn things around and give Rocky the business.


Of course I feel the need to put a little disclaimer as I would not recommend that most people do this kind of thing with their parrots as the goal is to gain trust and have fun with your bird. This would not be fun for most birds. Rocky is a weirdo and by living with him and learning more about each other, he and Thomas have developed these kinds of games they play.