March preview

The month of March is one that Thomas and I have been dreading since December. It's the last month where Thomas has to spend nights at the hospital. Over January and February, everyone, including the parrots, had gotten used to him being around a lot. Only a few days in, and it's already been a huge challenge. Also, since these nights involve staying up for 30 hours straight under stressful conditions, he's often not in the best mood when he gets home. The parrots can be helpful in this -- like when they fly to him or tell them they love him -- but they can also be especially irritating if he just wants to relax but they're beeping incessantly or in his face demanding attention (basically just being parrots).

Enough complaining! We've survived 19 of these months and can do one more.

The parrots do not behave as well when I am home alone with them. I'm not sure if they're stressed out because he's not home, if they're behaving the same but I notice it more because I don't have anyone who can help with their needs, or if it's because of another reason entirely. Here are Max and Rocky battling over the newspaper:
Rocky becomes especially needy when Thomas isn't there. I was making toys for parrots at the rescue, and Rocky had to climb up on the couch and inspect all of my toy part containers:
I ended up having to put all of the parrots in their cages while I made a few toys since I wasn't getting anything done with all of their interruptions, many of which involved me separating two sparring parrots (Max/Beeps, Max/Stella, Calypso/Beeps, Calypso/Stella).

The next morning, I was eating breakfast. Rocky climbed up on the table and was begging for attention. He would go an inch away from my face and say "Hello! Hello Rocky! Hello!" I must have been greeted a thousand times. It took me a long time to get through the paper! Finally, he grabbed a piece of wood and chipped it up for me:When Thomas finally came home, the parrots were ecstatic! Especially Rocky, who followed him everywhere. Thomas had to go in another room to make a phone call, but Rocky kept knocking his beak against the door, which led to this picture:
Note how Max is also following him around!

Rocky's been great with me the past few weeks. I'm not sure if it's a stage, or if he's made a lasting change in his attitude towards me. He'll threaten me occasionally, but his heart doesn't seem in it. He's been practicing flying and has not once flown to attack me. He's been taking food nicely from my hand. I am still very careful with him, but perhaps old age is mellowing him a bit. I'll definitely keep updating about that, as it's been fascinating to watch his behavior towards me change throughout the years.