News of Lola our 2005 baby

This picture is of Amber, my niece with Lola, taken before Lola went to live with Jenna and her family. Amber is very talented with animals and is planning to become a vet tech.

This is Jenna with Lola. I wrote to Jenna yesterday. She is the gal who got Lola, the baby that was hatched in 2005, just a few weeks after Doug's accident. It is always such a relief to hear a good report from a baby who has flown the nest!!

Jenna writes:
Hey!! It's great to hear from you! I absolutly LOVE Lola!! ...Lola is soo much fun! My entire family loves her and shes is very pleasent to all of them!! I did have her sexed and she is a female! She is extremly playful and loves to be held and given attention. Any time that we start talking loud or laugh she starts to laugh reallly loud its so cute, she can also ring exactly like the telephone, that cracks my mom up everytime she does that. She can say hello, pretty girl, Hi lola, i love you, step up, good morning, bye bye, whatcha doin pretty girl, she can sing marry had a little lamb and my brothers name is Cody and she always says that, but other then that she can't really say too much, maybe because she is still young or because i haven't worked with her too much on talking. We took her to the vet and they say that everything seems really good with her and she doesn't seem to have any problems. When i first got her i could not get her to step up while she was in the cage, i had to leave the door open and get her to come out on her own but now my dad has been working with her alot and she steps right up from inside the cage now. We also have an outdoor cage for her that she loves to play in. I would love to see pictures of her parents if you have any, and also do you know what her birth date is? She is such a joy to have around if you have any other ideas on anything that we should do with her i would love to know!! I will also send you some pictures of her now if you would like to see them, Shes soo pretty :)

The furry little thief

I was very surprised when this squirrel showed up on our deck that Java and Kiwi were so passive when he began digging his paws into their dish to steal their food. I guess they think that if they pretend not to see it, then it isn't really there, emptying their food dish!!

This squirrel showed up at our house this winter. He was fascinated by the parrots! He would sit on the window sill and look at them with all of the interest of a birdwatcher with his binoculars! I could imagine him writing in his birdwatching journal, "I have discovered a new species of birds today. They are green! Not only are they larger than most of the birds in this area, but they have acquired the most unusual vocal abilities!"

That was my theory when he showed up and began watching the birds through the glass for hours at a time. Now I realize he was casing the bird's cage and trying to figure out how to get to their bowl of expensive nuts and dried fruits and vegetables!

Feeding patterns

Parrots are notoriously messy when it comes to eating habits. My brother has a theory that their purpose in life is to feed the animals on the rain forest floor! They drop more food than they eat! This would not be such a big problem in the rain forest, but in our homes....

Amazons love nuts and seeds, which do grow prolifically in the area where Amazons come from, but I feel that it is especially important for them to eat a wide variety of fresh fruit and vegetables. I don't think it is an accident that breeding season comes during the summer when there is such an ample supply of fresh fruit and vegetables. I have found that they eat the fresh foods the best if I give them small amounts frequently through the day. I give them fresh food probably 5-6 times during the day, every couple of hours, and give different things each time. If I give them everything at once, they pick out what they like best and drop the rest on the bottom of the cages. I found that they eat everything if I give 1-2 things at a time and then a few hours later, something different, etc. That way they end up getting 8 to 10 different fresh items a day.

Since Coco and Charlie laid the eggs I have just been feeding them twice a day, as it upsets them too much for me to be in and out more than that. Charlie has been a challenge since Coco started sitting on the eggs, because he takes the food out of the dish and throws it on the floor, to show me he will not tolerate invasion of his territory... but he's been going down and getting it after I leave. They hate the bottom of their cage...

How much do they understand?

Connie was telling me this morning that she is seeing Sunny understanding her more and more. She said this morning she was on the t stand playing with her favorite pen. Connie had to go and stood up by her tray and and said, "Sunny it is time to go." She put her pen in the cup and put her foot up for Step up! It is times like that you don't have to even wonder how much she is understanding!! Can you imagine, through the years how much more she will know, as you continue to talk to her? She might have understood a combination of Connie's actions and her words, but I do believe they come to understand a vast amount of language.

I have tried saying different phrases to the birds and they do seem to understand so many different ways of saying the same thing. For teaching them new tings, I try to use the same phrases, so they can catch on... But if I say anything to them about their noise level...using most any words, Kiwi seems to understand and starts giving her little lectures on "you need to be quiet," "you must whisper," "quiet. She is not responding with the words that I said, but with the IDEA behind them. Kiwi is the only one who seems to really understand my desire for them to be quiet. She always stops making noise immediately and then tells me that she is a "good bird!" She looks at Java and tells him to be quiet. She is so serious! But I have wondered if she isn't also trying to make herself the "teacher's pet!"

Kermit would yell "Cool it!" when the other birds got loud, but he was the loudest one of them all!!