Alex the Grey Dies at 31 September 10, 2007
Posted by Andrew in : African Grey , 2 comments
Sad news for the avian community this month - Alex the grey was found dead on last Thursday (Sep 6th) at the age of 31. Alex was closely involved in a program by the Alex Foundation and Dr. Irene Pepperberg. There is “no obvious cause of death”, according to the necropsy vet.
Much was learned from the research with Alex and the entire avian community will miss him immensely.
Another Lost Bird September 3, 2007
Posted by Andrew in : African Grey, News , add a comment...please?Aww its so sad to have to post these. 
Be on the lookout if you are in the area please!
My Timneh African Grey Parrot got out of my house Aug. 27 and I haven’t
seen him since. I live near Louisiana College in Pineville, La. If you
or someone you know has seen or found him, please contact me. He is a
large gray bird and is very tame. I really miss him. Thank you.Additional information received:
Contact info:
Cell: 452-8392
Email: rojaperra @ aol .comThank you for doing this.
He’s a very sweet hand raised bird and I handle him every day to keep him that way. He talks his head off.
It should be very easy to catch him.
African Grey Snatched by Hawk August 11, 2007
Posted by Andrew in : African Grey, News , add a comment...please?August 09, 2007
Family’s pet parrot survives encounter with hawk
By ANNE GEGGIS
ORMOND BEACH — African grey parrot Bogart can talk, but he hasn’t yet said
a word about an incident most of his kind never live to contemplate.
What happened between the time a hawk ripped him from a screened-in porch
and when his human — the one he calls “Mom” — Elise Ewaniuk found him lying
under a tree in the thick woods probably went beyond words.
On Bogart’s seventh visit to the veterinarian in a row Wednesday, the
prognosis for survival was good — even if he might always carry the scars. His
veterinarian, Dr. Mark Andersen, isn’t sure whether Bogart’s neck will ever
straighten.
And Ewaniuk hasn’t quite recovered herself.
“Four days have been like four months,” she said.
It all started in the early afternoon Aug. 2 when Bogart was sitting on a
perch on the Ewaniuk family’s screened pool deck of their home in north Ormond
Beach. Then, Ewaniuk heard screaming — but she didn’t know it was her
beloved “little man.”
“It sounded like something scared, something being attacked,” Ewaniuk said
of what brought her from her home office to investigate. “I came walking out
because we have a bunch of baby (wild) turkeys back there.”
What she saw, though, was beyond her imagination — and something she still
sees when she closes her eyes: her pet in the talons of a hawk.
“He was just heading from the screen into the sky,” Ewaniuk said. “I
thought, ‘He’s gone. He’s got him.’ ”
The hawk, it appears, had been able to burst through a small tear about the
size of a softball in the screen and grabbed the bird known among the Ewaniuk
family’s friends for asking, “You talking to me?”
Ewaniuk said she ran back in the house for her shoes, ready to run into the
forest behind her house.
“I guess I was going in there to see if I could find him eating him,” she
said.
She ran 20 feet and saw her feathered child lying under a tree.
“I couldn’t believe it. I don’t even know what made me run in that
direction,” she said, explaining that she had seen the bird fly in the opposite
direction.
Bogart was rushed to Ravenwood Veterinary Clinic in Port Orange. There, he
received oxygen, antibiotics and painkillers. He spent a few nights in an
incubator.
“He certainly is lucky,” said veterinarian Andersen. “Most attacks like that
. . . I’ve seen birds with the wings torn off, their legs torn off.
“The bird (hawk) was probably startled by screaming and yelling,” Andersen
said.
He advised people not to leave their exotic birds on a porch or outside
unattended.
“If they see a bird in a cage, they will reach right into the cage,”
Andersen said.
For now, when Bogart’s not resting on her chest, Ewaniuk keeps the feathered
patient in a makeshift structure formed of blankets and pillows on the sofa.
She can’t wait until he’s back to his old tricks: chasing people out of the
kitchen while laughing, attacking her husband even as he mimics Bogart’s
voice and insisting that Ewaniuk take a shower.
Tuesday she knew he was back on the road to recovery when he took the first
sip of his favorite liquid treat: hot coffee with cream and sugar. Hope that
he would be back to his old self blossomed moments after Ewaniuk brought
Bogart home.
“I put him down and he said, “C’mere.”
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No Bananas for Katie! July 31, 2007
Posted by Andrew in : African Grey, Video , add a comment...please?nuh-uh, no bananas for Katie! lol
Video credit: TKTandLLS
African Grey Parrots Food June 15, 2007
Posted by Andrew in : African Grey , 2 commentsBy Anna Hart
When you invite an African Grey parrot to share your home, you are taking on a long-term responsibility to provide a good diet for that parrot for 50 years or more. Many owners fail to do this, even for a few months. Believing that bird seed is enough, they purchase a large bag of mixed seed, and feed their African Grey. Seeds are cheap, so bird food companies push them.
African Grey parrots’ food must not be only seed, however. Such an incomplete, imbalanced diet is likely to cause illness. Seeds are high in fat and carbohydrates, and your African Grey will probably pick out its favorite seeds, making the diet even less balanced.
Most parrot experts agree that an African Grey parrots’ food needs can only be met with a formula diet supplemented with a variety of other foods.
Organic Pellets
What is a formula diet for an African Grey? Organic pellets. I say “organic” pellets because many of the conventional pellets have unhealthy ingredients. Some have even been noted as containing potentially toxic ingredients.
African Grey parrots’ food should never contain menadione. If the pellets you are considering for your African Grey list menadione as an ingredient, read on. The FDA requires a warning on every bag of food that contains it. That warning must read, “Person who handles needs to wear protective outfit, gloves, mask, and glasses.”
Menadione may be added to give your African Grey additional vitamin K. A better option is to provide full spectrum light for your parrot. An African Grey will get vitamin K from the light, just as it would if living outdoors.
Organic pellets also let your African Grey avoid the high quantities of sugar in colored pellets. Most African Grey parrot owners care enough about the bird in which they’ve invested so much money, that they don’t want to give it a diet that is high in sugar.
African Grey parrots’ food that is based on organic pellets will be free of contaminants that might be found in other pellets. In the U.S., government regulations force companies making organic parrot food not to use pesticides or other contaminants.
In addition to a basic, formulated pellet food, African Greys need many of the same food you eat.
1. Fresh vegetables: Offer your African Grey a wide variety of vegetables, raw or cooked. Think bright, deep colors for the most nutrition. Most vegetables that offer high nutrition to you and your family will be good for your parrot as well. Cooked legumes such as beans and lentils are good. Sprouted seeds are also good. Your African Grey will love them. To avoid contaminants such as pesticides, you may want to use organic vegetables for African Grey parrots’ food.
2. Fresh fruits: In the wild, African Greys eat fruit freely. The trick is to keep your parrot from filling up on its favorite food and neglecting pellets and vegetables. As with vegetables, choose bright, rich colors in fruit for the most nutrition. Also, purchase organic if possible.
3. Other supplemental foods: African Grey parrots enjoy cooked eggs and small amounts of yogurt now and then. African Greys are more prone than some parrots to calcium deficiency, so you may leave the egg shell on the hard boiled egg, if you wish. You should not need to give your parrot calcium supplements if you are using a good organic pellet food. You may give a few seeds as a treat, but go easy on them.
No, Thank You
African Grey parrots’ food dishes should never contain avocado, chocolate, or rhubarb. They should not contain any human junk foods or processed meats either. It should go without saying, but your African Grey should never be given anything containing caffeine or alcohol.
Water, Please
Remember, when thinking of your African Grey’s dietary needs, that it should have fresh, clean water in its cage at all times.
Helpful Tip
For healthy African Greys, be sure you clean the food and water dishes every day. If your parrot decides on an impromptu bath, wait until it is done, wash the water dish, and give it a fresh supply of water.
©2007, Anna Hart. An avid reader and researcher, Anna explores many parrot breeds and offers more information about African Grey Parrots and their care at http://www.parrots-of-the-world.com. If you are interested in learning about parrot food made at home, you won’t want to miss the information Anna shares on that subject.
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Note: If you are interesting in purchasing organic parrot food, may we suggest [this link].
Video - Training Parrots November 11, 2006
Posted by Andrew in : African Grey, Amazon, Cockatiel, Cockatoo, Conure, Lory, Lovebird, Macaw, Quaker Parrot, Senegal, Toucan, Video , add a comment...please?This is a good video introduction to training parrots. Also shows a neat trick you can teach your bird.
There are 2 videos, one on each page. After watching the first one, go to the next page for the link to the second video!
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Tags: parrot | video | parrot training | birds | parrots | tricks
