My punishments

The parrots don't really like it when we go on vacation. They like routine, and they like us, and they get neither when we're gone! Luckily we have a fantastic bird sitter that they like, so it's not horrible for them, but they are always happy to see us again.

That doesn't mean they're not going to punish us for leaving!

Here is a rundown of what the 6 of them did/are doing to us, in order of appearance in our house:

Max -- She only got to stay out for about an hour after we got home, then it was bedtime. She was upset, so she bent down and bit my finger as I was putting her in her cage. For the first time ever, she drew blood on one of us! Since that evening, she has been fine. I knew it was going to happen, but was powerless to prevent it. I can finally type normally again today.

Calypso -- He always freaks out for a few days after we return, not allowing me to pick him up. I think it's because he's so excited to see me again that he can't control himself, though of course that's just a guess. Yesterday he woke up normal, so I was punished for two days.

Daphne -- Nothing. She is so laid back! She was just happy to see us.

Rocky -- He refused to go by Thomas for a day, and started stalking me big time. It was very strange because he was not trying to attack me for the first few days, he just needed to be in the same room with me. Yesterday he did launch at me and landed in my hair as I walked by him. I might have suffered a face bite had I not had a stick with me so I could easily remove him. He may end up getting a wing clip soon, which saddens me as I'd love for him to be able to fly (now is the first time he's ever been fully flight feathered). However, if he uses his power to launch aerial attacks on me, he'll have to be clipped again.

Beeps -- He, like Calypso, is very excited to have us back. He is on a hair trigger for attacks, though we're just even more cautious around him than usual and have avoided getting bit. Yesterday, he tried to attack me as I gave him a piece of apple (I call this "pulling a Rocky" -- attacking the hand that feeds you instead of taking one of your favorite treats). I was on watch, so I moved my hand away in time. He knows he's not supposed to do this, so right after, he immediately went in his cage. I like to think he knows he needs time to cool down! I locked him in and then let him out a minute later after he'd calmed down. I suspect he'll be back to normal by the weekend.

Stella -- Like Daphne, Stella did not punish us. She was so happy to see us, she regurgitated several times the first evening we were there. On subsequent days, she was completely normal.

I have not seen the lizards in the four days we've been back. It's getting colder, so they must be brumating. Their heat is fine (I am obsessed with checking their tank temperatures!) but somehow they must sense the outside weather is commanding them to brumate. I feed them every day, just in case they wake up, but so far, it's all been wasted.

Istanbul wildlife

Since I didn't take any parrot pictures last night (still doing laundry and getting back into the normal routine), here are a few more Istanbul wildlife pictures.

Breakfast at our hotel was served on the top floor. There were tons of birds to watch as we ate! This seagull had been on a neighboring roof and flew over, landed right near us, and then patrolled the ledge a bit.Although this picture was not taken when the seagulls were at their most numerous, you can see a few on the neighboring roof.
And a close-up of the crows on the minaret:
The next day, we took a cruise on the Bosphorus. We saw dolphins jumping around -- the first time I've seen them in the wild! Sadly, we didn't get any pictures.

From the ferry, we took a picture of all of the seagulls on these roofs:
I believe that's the Black Sea in the distance. So many black waterbirds!
Closer up:
Our guidebook humorously mentioned that you don't see too many people swimming in the Bosphorus due to a combination of jellyfish and garbage. The jellyfish were certainly plentiful! They were a bit more apparent in person, but you can see their ghostly outlines under the surface:
I'll post more wildlife pictures tomorrow.

Cat City

I'm back blogging after a week's vacation in Istanbul, Turkey. What a wonderful trip we had! I would highly recommend this destination. I'll post more on our trip in the upcoming weeks, but I wanted to post some of my cat pictures. More will follow!

I have never seen so many stray cats in my life. When we were outside, I don't think I went more than 5 minutes without seeing one! If I'd taken pictures of every one I'd seen, that's all I would have had time to do.

This cat was lounging in the grounds of Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent. When I stopped petting her, she meowed and looked forlornly after me. Not all of the cats were this welcoming to human attention!


Cats lounging in the shadow of Chora Church:Cats in Asian Turkey:
We didn't get the greatest picture, but were unsure what this cat had done to earn the medal around his neck:
Earlier in the week, we had seen a beautiful all-white cat limping towards us. She looked at us, and we were startled to see that she had one green eye and one blue eye. She was so stunning that she'd run away before I gathered my wits about me to take a picture! Back in my hotel room, I read in the guidebook that she was most likely an endangered Van Cat.

We didn't see another one, but after that, every white cat we saw, we endeavored to take its picture!In addition to cats, we saw several ringneck parakeets flying around in the Hagia Sophia and Topkapi Palace areas. We heard them before we saw them, but did have the pleasure several times to see them soaring high above us; their brilliant green feathers shining against the blue sky. We assume these are escapees -- we'd also seen ringneck parakeets at Kew Gardens in London.

Taking a break

I'm taking short blogging break of about a week.

I thought I'd leave with a picture of Calypso, perhaps the easiest-going and least "caique-like" of all caiques (certainly of those that I've met).
I just cannot resist him. It's like he has magical powers over me. Late for work? Sure, I'll stop and cuddle you for 5 minutes! Here, let me find the biggest cashew for you! He demands so little I want to go above and beyond to make him happy.

I don't write about him much on here as he's not photogenic and doesn't really enjoy the camera. He also doesn't get into much trouble and therefore doesn't make for interesting stories, unlike the hooligans sharing his living room.

Parrot fight

Max has taken to hanging out on the stairs. We remove her as soon as is practicable since the stairs are carpeted. Last night, I was in the kitchen and Thomas was supposed to be watching the parrots. He yelled, "You might want to get in here!" and this is the scene I came across:A bit of background: earlier in the evening, Rocky had climbed up the stairs and surprised me while I was in the bedroom. Usually I have a stick with me at all times, but I did not have one as I'd assumed Rocky would stay with Thomas in the living room. Instead, I grabbed my robe and had him hang onto that as I brought him downstairs. Then, I set the robe on the stairs, intending to take it up with me the next time I made the trip.

Rocky loves towels, robes, and all terry-cloth items, so he must have taken my robe hanging on the stairs as an invitation for him to play on it.

Max did not take kindly to this intruder near her stairs, so she came over and the two of them started fighting through the rails. I just snapped one quick picture so that I could remove them from the situation, so the picture makes it look like Max is behaving demurely and Rocky is attacking her. Not the case -- they were both willing and equal participants!

After removing them to more acceptable perches, I brought the robe upstairs.

Melon progression

This series of photos was taken last week, after Thomas had scooped fresh canteloupe into bowls for dessert (for the humans).

First, the exploration:Then, partial claim by putting one foot on the bowl, making it difficult for humans to remove the melon from the parrot:
Finally, full claim to the melon! The only way for the human to take the melon bowl to eat is by bringing the parrot along!

Dirty beak

Thomas was eating yogurt. Since Rocky operates under the assumption that he is invited to share in any food that anyone is eating, he ran up and thrust his beak into the bowl.

His usual way of cleaning his beak is to wipe it on whatever surface is readily available. Since that probably meant Thomas's clothes, he asked me to bring him a tissue so he could take care of the mess before it got on fabric.

Running update

I have qualified for the Boston Marathon! At my age, that means I had to run a marathon in 3:40:59 or faster. Even three years ago, this seemed like an unreachable goal. I figured I'd have to maintain my fitness and qualify in a few decades, or pay quite a bit of money to buy a charity entry.

Everything just went so perfectly on race day. The weather was gorgeous and I'd slept well the night before. I had a feeling it might be my day, and it was!

My next race is on Halloween...should be spooky!

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.

If Beeps were human...

Thomas and I sometimes play the game about what our parrots would be like if they were human. Usually this is generalities (i.e. Calypso might be an accountant and would like to read), but in this case, we know who Beeps would be.

Charlie Manuel.

He was reading the sports section the other day, and said, if Beeps were human, he'd be the manager of the Phillies (which just happens to be my favorite baseball team!)

It was due to this quote, from Jimmy Rollins:

Usually he’s calm for the first three minutes. And then come the beep, beep, beeps. And then a joke or something, so everybody starts laughing.

That pretty much sums up our lives with our caique! (Though Beeps doesn't tell a joke, he does something funny that makes us laugh.)

We now sometimes refer to him as Charlie Manuel.

For illustration, beeping his way up the stairs: