Q&A #1

Owen wrote:

Are agps very easy to train, like, do you know if you can train them to know where to go and where not to go, and things like that?

The AGP was more or less housebroken when we got her. She's not real reliable, but she will generally indicate when she needs to "go Poopie" by walking over to her T perch or leaning towards it... if we're paying attention, we'll give her a lift. (She squats a bit and waggles her tail before she goes, but by the time you see her doing that, it's too late to move her!) Otherwise, we put her on her perch every half hour or so and tell her to "go Poopie" and she does!

I have read of people teaching their birds to, for example, stay on their playstands and not climb down, but my understanding generally is that you can't teach a bird that certain areas of a house are off-limits. My experience with the AGP, who is as independent as a hog on ice, indicate that a Grey's going to go where s/he wants to. The key, therefore, is to make areas the bird can get to bird-safe: You can't count on teaching a parrot to leave certain plants or the electrical cords alone, or to stay out of the kitchen or bathroom.

Alex is probably the best example of a Grey's trainability, but then, he was an exceptional bird.

H.O.P.E.S.

Grey Parrots are not endangered, but they are "Near Threatened" partly because so many of them are captured for the pet trade, and partly because the trees they need for nesting are being taken for timber.

The AGP is not wild-caught: their importation is illegal in the U.S. The AGP was bred here. Nevertheless, as member of a Near Threatened species, the AGP has an interest in saving other wildlife. Which brings us to her favorite blog, Helping Our Planet's Endangered Species (H.O.P.E.S.). The cool thing about H.O.P.E.S. is that it is run by a remarkable 13-year-old girl named Owen. Her mother fronts for her, as she is a minor, but the blog is Owen's idea and she does the scut work.

She is set up to accept donations, sell art, and auction items donated by the rest of us in order to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund. Her first goal is to raise $4,000 for firebreaks for tigers. The money would go to plant larch to protect Siberian tigers from wildfires. Of course this does Greys no good at all, but maybe the AGP can get Owen interested in them for her next project...

She's a cool kid and it's a cool site.

GO THERE.

NOW.

The AGP helps pay the bills.

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring!

It started raining here last night and hasn't stopped yet. Before this, it hadn't rained in a month.

The humidity in the house is up to 62% and the AGP is loving it.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream

The ice cream truck, besides that annoying, repetitious, tinkling racket that passes for music, periodically emits an uncannily parrot-like "Hello!"

Yesterday the AGP and I were out on the deck when it came up the block behind us. She came to rigid attention the first time she heard it 'speak,' and after the third time she started answering it.

Weird, listening to the truck driving around the neighborhood saying "hello" and the parrot answering back.