parry is really a great bird. she still plucks, unfortunately, but we do use various foraging toys and let her out of her cage a lot to dissuade her from this. she still works very well with my husband, stepping up when asked. for me, mostly because i am very intimidated by her beak, i only interact with her by handing her treats or talking with her. i don't really show her my fear just because its not really a fear anymore since i've lived with her for a couple of months (i do stand my ground, which she just decides she can walk over my lap like a small road-block, lol). i just rather have a good living relationship with her without putting more stress on her and me.

things are going well. she likes to rip up towels, which we have a few old ones reserved for her.

Parry just received some really great toys donated by the wonderful people at Parrot Toy Angels! They are absolutely beautiful and well-made. We have introduced her to one of them...here is Parry playing with her new toy.





Parry loves her foraging time, even though this time may be short. why short? because she will visit ALL foraging "stations" once she gets into her cage at night and digs out her treats all at once. we try to change the places and which place has a nut and which just has pieces of wood or paper in it, but she's just quick.

She does continue to pluck herself, but i'm still positive that she will someday stop. she has started to really enjoy her multi-weekly baths so maybe this will help stop the plucking as well.

Parry is definitely a character! she has found her newest playground (which we are certainly trying to discourage for many reasons!) in our bedroom closet. we usually open her cage and let her walk out into the living room, where we place her on a playstand. i close the bathroom door since she has shown much interest in tearing up our bathroom rug to pieces. but we have left our bedroom door open a few times and twice, so far, she has walked straight into our bedroom and into our warm, soft, dark closet.

during once instance, i actually SAT in the doorway of our bedroom and she was so determined to get into our bedroom, that she climbed over my leg to get into the room! (she was very polite about it too, and didn't pinch any skin). what a goofy girl!

Parry loves preening sessions with my husband and doing her own thing. we still fill up foraging toys around her cage to keep her busy during the day, but occasionally we find plucked feathers (even some drops of blood) around her cage and playstand. its disheartening, but we are trying. the next thing to try is changing her diet a bit. but i think this is probably more of a habit than a skin irritation - i could be wrong.

I just wanted to share a moment with parry which shows her intellect and playfulness.

I have been working with parry on targetting. her treat upon successful targeting is a pumpkin seed (a little smaller than I am comfortable with, but she is GREAT at gently taking it out of my fingers). Recently, I offered her the target and she took it out of my hands. She was gently biting it and playing it with her foot, but I couldn't possibly give her the treat for removing the target out of my hands...

At this point she held the target stick in her foot. I showed her the pumpkin seed and as she reached out for it with her beak, I showed her my other opened hand, which was strategically placed under the foot which held the target stick. I said to her "can we make a trade?". Parry looked at me, my open hand, looked at the target stick, dropped the target stick and I promptly gave her the pumpkin seed. some kind of coincidence? a show of intelligence and understanding of cause-and-effect? hm....

Parry has fun in the shower (look at that tail wag!):

parry on my husband's hand

parry enjoying some red bell pepper