Some pictures of the very photogenic Parry...

Parry is really a great bird. she has been needing some mediction (she was on cipro for an earlier infection they found, but they saw that the infection was still there so we are using a different antibiotic) and although we do have to towel her (towelling her is not difficult at all - my husband plays peekaboo with her for a bit then towels her for her meds) she takes the meds without a fuss. she's a really good bird.

oh, we also took her into get some xrays done. Dr. Chris Sanders wanted to see if there was anything that was causing her infection to continue. He found nothing that would prolong this infection, but he found some hardened arteries due to her previous diet of mostly nuts and seeds.

and although she still doesn't really trust me as much as my husband, she tolerates me well and doesn't lunge at me or go out of her way to try and attack me. i have cleaned her cage with her perched on her cage and she has been wandering on the ground in her room, as i sat on the ground near her cage. she has never shown any aggression towards me and she has calmly walked around me.

she continues to LOVE to forage...great reinforcement for her is the yummy nuts she finds. this weekend is a bird mart where i can find really great toys and toy making parts at great prices. i think i will look more for great foraging materials and toys for her.

oh, and she is starting to "talk" more. i have heard her say "hello" more often and she does chime in on the morning and early afternoon calls that the other birds make (Parry is still not anywhere near the loudness you would normally associate with macaws, but she is a bit more vocal than when we first met her.

Parry has just gone through 2 weeks of cipro medication (.3cc twice a day) and after a recheck from the vet, they found that she still has elevated levels of white blood cell count - which means that she is still fighting some kind of infection. we have been asked by the vet to have her x-rayed to see if there is anything internally going on that is causing this prolonged infection. we are waiting for more direction from the macaw coordinator, but im sure that will be coming shortly.

Parry continues to enjoy her time with my husband. she enjoys scritches from him. i have not been able to touch her yet (except on the toes through the cage bars), but i have been able to give her nut treats to her outside of her cage. (i think that is due to my own personal hesitation to try this than parry's fear of me).

I also allow her out of the cage (only if my husband is around though...i have not yet tried to have her step up on to a stick in my hand - again, probably due to my fear of being bitten by such a large beak). i don't flinch back when she tries to crawl around her cage to be near me. i just talk to her very softly and not give her full eye contact for longer stretches of time (i don't want her to think that i am either challenging her or thinking of her as a meal).

She LOVES to forage. we do make it a point to fill up her "foraging stations" that she has around her cage (there are about 3, but i will hide a nut in new places to just have her roam around her cage). she will go to each one, fling out all the stuff i put in them (SO cute and funny!) and go for the nuts. she thinks that she knows where all the nuts are so if i were to hide a nut in a cardboard cylinder, she usually doesn't think to look in that and just flings that to the bottom of her cage with the nut inside - oh well...

she has gotten VERY good at unlocking the plastic foraging treasure chest i have in her cage. it took her a while to get to know how it worked, but that lasted about a week. now she can get it open in a blink of an eye. (and that thing has two "keys" you have to manipulate to open the chest!)

Parry likes strawberries! we have strawberries growing in our veggie garden and she eats them with gusto. oh, and we also have her on pellets. she has really taken a liking to roudybush, but we now mix those with harrison's. so far roudybush continues to be her favorite.

Parry also is getting a little more vocal - no noises longer than a second or two, and nothing as loud as what you would normally think a macaw would make, but she has started to make honking and short whining-type of noises - especially if she is in the midst of going through her foraging stations.

I do think she is still plucking, but that will take a while, if she ever gets out of the habit.

Parry, unfortunately, continues to pluck. But after 2 - 3 years of plucking, I doubt just a week and a half in our care would cure that. It helps that Parry is so curious! I got her yet another foraging toy - this one requires here to turn 2 stainless steel "keys" and to pull BOTH out (not at the same time) and it opens up (its in the shape of a see-through treasure chest) and she gets the goodies inside. i left home (to go to work) with just one of the keys "unlocked"....when i got home from work, she managed to actually unlock the other key! amazing. i thought it was more of a possibility that she would break the thing to get at the nuts inside. we really have to keep this gal busy and put more foraging toys up..or just homemade ones as well. making her "work" for her food might also be an option instead of just for treats...i just want to make sure that she does eat something!

i also bought her a large boing. i've placed it outside of her cage just to get her used to it. i think we will rearrange a bit of her cage this weekend so that we can get that boing in - if she uses it, i think it could really release alot of her energy.

i have started doing target training with her and she has been doing great. i thought she would be more nervous about the target (which is a round wooden ball atop a straight wooden stick, slightly thicker than a wooden chopstick) but she touched it the very first try. i think i will continue this through the bars, or have my husband continue with maybe working with a wooden ring outside of the cage...we'll see.

Parry exploring the top of her cage....

Parry enjoying a green bean...

Parry had her first actual shower with us today (she got wet, as you can see). my husband put her on a step stool in the shower and used one of our spray thingies on her (you have to pump in the air and you have a nice steady mist of water for a while). she didn't do much...from what i heard from my husband, she just stood there and took it all in. she didn't go all silly like i thought she would. i think its because it was a new bathroom and its something to get used to.

we've only had her for about a week, but a few days with us, we did have concerns about her health with more than occasional sneezing and some weird bright green poop. i thought it was due to stress, and i think it is. after the first week, her poop has become more normal in color (dark greenish..but of course depending on what she has eaten) and my husband and i have noticed less sneezing - we rarely hear her do this (if any) now when we spend time with her.

my husband has been able to scratch parry's head and under her chin inside and outside of her cage. i think its wonderful that she has gotten used to someone in our home so quickly. from what we see, parry loves the person who has and exhibits a LOT of energy. my husband will act crazy with her - dancing all over the place and singing or whistling - and she would actually dance/bop along with him and make occasional noises. parry also allows my husband to easily transport her on a short stick from/to just about anywhere.

i am taking things slow...she doesn't "ask" to be scratched by me, even when i offer so i don't push the subject. she does still take nuts nicely out of my hand, though, and im completely happy with this interaction we have.

parry has become quite inquisitive lately...she has been pulling out toys out of her green bucket i've given her (i've placed a nut in there as well, and she knows it)..i've put up a coconut foraging toy with a shelled walnut stuck in the bottom of it and she's found and eaten that...she has another foraging toy where she has to lift the top up to get at the treat inside. and she has been nibbling on the wooden and plastic toys hanging around her cage. with all this activity, i hope she has decided to stop (or at least limit) her plucking issue. we should keep up with changing around her toys to keep her mind stimulated.

on saturday morning i fixed up various veggies and fruits - bell peppers, long green beans, slices of raw carrots, grapes, blueberries, bananas - and mixed in some birdie bread. parry seems to really like the green beans (still) and the bell peppers - which she started off with first. my husband cleaned out the breakfast bowls so i couldn't see what else she liked. im thinking about using a birdie kabob in her cage to hang from the top or the side of her cage and just put some fresh veggies on there for her breakfast or dinner and see if she has fun with that...