Tuesday, January 19, 2010

A reading saga or why we are so far behind on our magazines

Thomas and I are avid magazine readers. We get quite a few, but it can be hard to keep up with all of them, so we sometimes are at least a few weeks behind. Partly this is because Beeps cannot control himself around people who read magazines or catalogs on the couch. Therefore, magazines are relegated to the kitchen or a non-parrot-inhabited place.

Last night, Thomas was trying to read, but was bothered by Rocky and Stella, demanding attention. Notice that Rocky has one of his feet on the stick. He'll often briefly step up on a stick when he comes across one, even when we're not asking him to do so.There are times when Rocky is so adorable I've almost convinced myself he's a different bird than the one I usually describe here. On the right side of the picture, Stella was ramming her head into Thomas's chest, asking for either head scratches or kisses.
Thomas chose kisses.
Which made Rocky jealous. Though he has never shown any actual aggression against the other parrots, it only takes one time for something bad to happen. He appears to be at a safe distance here:But Thomas noticed what was going on and used his hand to block any attempts by Rocky to get Stella.
Thomas's patience started to wear thin as the parrots continued to hound him; Max joining in the fun. I told him there's a price to being so popular!
He eventually tossed Stella over to her stand, but she quickly returned to him. If he's within her reach, she'll bonk him on the back with her beak until he puts her in his lap again. (That's Beeps in the upper right hand corner on the stand).
After finishing the article (and taking four times as long as he thought it would), he quieted everyone down by offering them their choice of nut:This is very hard to believe, but Beeps actually chose a Brazil nut. Amazing! No one really likes them in our house:A rare sight: the five larger parrots in the same area, doing the same thing, quietly, not bothering anyone else, human or avian.
I'm glad I got a picture of this one to remind myself that yes, it really did happen!

2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I like the progression of Thomas in the pictures from standing straight up to more and more hunched over to withstand the assault of the parrots.

We like to read at night before bed and lately Conner has taken to screaming until I pick him up. I know that I shouldn't reinforce his screaming, but he is one loud cockatiel.

Mary said...

Yes, he claims that the parrots beat him down at times :) It's kind of funny to see that in his physical appearance as well!

Cockatiels can be really loud for such a small bird! I'd have a hard time resisting them, too. The smaller the bird is, the more indulgent I am, for sure. My budgie can get away with murder while I expect better behavior from the greys :)