Baby's first DU appearance

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

got a new digital camera and here are some of the first pics :bounce:

[SoCalDem]

1. What a cutie pie

:) Is the name "baby" or just what you call him/her?

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

3. Baby is the name

we don't know if its a boy or girl :crazy:

thanks :hi:

[khashka]

37. Well if Baby is a girl....

Keep her away from lesbians! Lola used to go into her mating routine and start building a nest every time my friend Nancy came over.

Baby is gorgeous!

Khash.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

40. Thanks Khash!

I think Baby is might a boy. He has no interest in women anyway, he's way to into me lol :P

[Heidi]

2. MAHNY!

What a sweetie! Boy? Or Girl? :thumbsup:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

5. Heidi!

:hug:

Don't know, heh!

while he is a sweetie we do call him The Baby Monster for a reason too! :scared:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Your baby is so beautiful, my dear MAHNY!

How are you tonight, my dear boy?

Great to see you as always!

:loveya: :hug:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

6. Peggy my sweet, what a pleasure seeing you tonight!

:hug:

I am doing quite well, enjoying playing with my new digital camera...

how are things by you?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. My dear MAHNY.......things are very good by me tonight.....

Thank you for asking!

I meant to ask, and then I forgot to....what brand of digital camera did you get? Is it a SLR?

The pictures are awesome, my dear.......

Tomorrow I am going to a LA DU meetup!

So I will most likely be posting some pics tomorrow night.....


:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

8. Im so gald you like The Baby!

:party:

Its a Konico Minolta Dimage x1 (but mines not black, its silver)

Have a great time at the meet-up. I saw your pics with GOPisEvil, so it looks like your meetup started early!

[Robeson]

9. Beautiful. Wow, what eyes.....

...:toast:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

10. when hes excited, the pupils dilate, and the orange looks really great

although hes much more willing to bite if you get too close at that point, so its a give and a take, heh!

[Ladyhawk]

13. My bird pins his eyes when he's emotional, but it can be either good

or bad.

If he's pinning his eyes at a stranger, it's bad. :D If he's pinning his eyes at me, it's good.

[Ladyhawk]

12. Yes, DYH Amazons have Sith Lord eyes. :D

[Ladyhawk]

11. HEY! You have a DYH, too!!!!!!!! (Pictures)

Here's my baby, Gabby:



Here he is ringing his favorite bell:



Gabby will be nineteen in the spring and I've had him since he was four months old. :D

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

16. Baby's almost 10 years old

hes really my roommates families bird, but we have been taking care of him for a few months. I love him to death!

[Ladyhawk]

21. Amazons are funny and entertaining as hell. :)

Mine can also be very sweet when he's in the right mood. :)

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

26. yea, hes really great...

hes pretty funny when he goes through is verbal repertoire...and he is learning a few new things too!

Baby can be a lamb when hes in the right mood too...othertimes...well, i have the scares to show for the other times

[Ladyhawk]

14. What a beauty! How old is he?

I'm trying to guess the sex of your birdie based on head structure and markings. Amazon males tend to have bigger bones, bigger beaks and a blockier head. Also, as males mature, they tend to develop red-edged yellow feathers on the nape of the neck. The last observation hasn't been proven completely accurate. In fact, the only way to know for sure is by surgical sexing (not recommended unless you want to breed the bird) or by DNA sexing. DNA sexing only requires a bit of blood which is sent off to a lab. I used to sex my baby parrots this way all the time.

I'm guessing you have a fairly young male, around five or six years old. It's just a guess. :shrug:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

18. We don't know the sex

but we are going to hopefully get the dna sexing done soon...

We think it could be a male too, mostly because of reading about how males act in comparison to females. he does have the red-edged yellow feathers on his neck...oh, and he's about 10 years old too

[sundog]

15. does this mean the bird is moving in too?

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

19. no

its not mine, its the roommates families really

[sundog]

20. good

cause it's kinda creepy

especially when you call it baby

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

23. That's his name!

he was scary to me at first too

[Ladyhawk]

24. My parrot calls me "Laura."

:shrug:

Really.

MP3 of Gabby Saying My Name

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

27. wow

gabby seems really smart...Baby..well...isn't :shrug:

[Ladyhawk]

31. LOL...Gabby's pretty smart. He does lots of fun tricks, too.

Here he is playing dead. I made this GIF several years ago, but Gabby still does the same trick, even though I'm older and fatter. :)

I "shoot" him with my finger and he falls over, hanging by one foot:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

32. how'd you teach him?

im curious on the methodology....most of the reading we have tried to do on teaching techniques have not been good at all

its a great trick! :bounce:

[Ladyhawk]

36. I used "operant conditioning" with a cue, bridge and reward.

It's not hard to teach a parrot that wants to learn. Most of Gabby's learning happened when he was younger and I was more motivated to teach him. The only thing I've been teaching him lately is how to fly...we're, uh, still working on that one. ;)

Let me see if I can find my old bird care pamphlet and copy/paste out of that. Ah, here we are. I never did clean it up after using OCR to scan it in, so you'll have to decipher it:

II. TRICK TRAINING:

There are three basic components trainers use to teach a bird a trick: the cue, the bridge and the reward. The cue can be a hand signal, a voice signal or both. The bridge is the word or signal used to tell the bird he has done what was expected of him. I use the word "good." The reward immediately follows the bridge and should be something the bird is particularly fond of. Some people use praise; others use a small piece of the bird's favorite food. Sunflower seeds and bits of peanut seem to work well.

Before you start trick training your bird, you must first teach him to stay on his trick training spot. Some people use a T stand. I prefer to use my hand. There the bird is completely under control and you are more able to keep his attention.

Tell the bird "good" when he is in his trick training spot and give him a reward. When he moves, gently tell him no and maneuver him back to his trick training spot. When he stays there, tell him "good" and give him a reward. This should not take long. Eventually, you should expect the bird to stay in his trick training spot without a reward.

Now you are ready to teach your bird his first trick. Here are two tricks that are easy for a bird to learn:

A. Kissing on cue (for tame birds only!):

Place a sunflower seed or peanut bit or whatever you happen to be using between your front teeth where the bird can see it. Now give the cue you wish to use. I simply say, "Kiss!" Repeat the cue until the bird reaches for the treat, then quickly cover it with your lips so the bird cannot reach it. As soon as the bird touches your lips with his beak, say "good" and follow up with a reward. Do not use the treat in your mouth as the reward. It is probably covered with harmful bacteria.
Repeat the above until the bird is reaching for the treat after you say "kiss" one time. Now get rid of the treat in your mouth. If the bird does not respond to the cue, backtrack until he gets the idea. Soon you will have a bird that kisses on cue.

B. Waving

This is one trick where a T stand comes in handy. Place the bird on the stand (or the buck of a chair) and place your right hand decisively in front of him. As he picks up his foot to step on, BEFORE HE TRANSFERS HIS WEIGHT TO YOUR HAND, tell him "good" and give him a treat with your left hand. When he starts lifting his foot to get a reward, back off with your right hand bit by bit. When he is doing the trick without your hand nearby, add the cue you wish to use and reward the bird for waving only when he does it after the appropriate cue. Again, if the bird becomes confused, back up to something he knows. With a little patience lie will soon be waving like an old pro.

Using these methods there's no telling what you can teach your bird to do. Catch him doing a natural behavior such as spreading his wings or turning his head upside down. Bridge and reward him for it and when he is doing the behavior to get the treat, add a cue. Using this method I have taught my double yellowhead to kiss, wave and say hello, play dead, show me where my nose and ears are, "burp," imitate a gorilla, spread his wings, turn his head upside down. put his head against me when I ask him if he loves me and let me lift him by his beak.

******

If you want the exact methodology I used to train Gabby to play dead, let me know and I'll write it up. I didn't actually set out to teach him that, but modified one of his behaviors (hanging upside down from a door) and got him to do it on cue. Then I thought it would make a great trick if he would fall over and hang from my finger. You can set out to teach a bird this trick, but it has to be a very tame and trusting bird. :)

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

38. this is some great information!

thanks so much for posting it! :yourock:

I actually think it wouldn't be too hard to get Baby to do some of these things with this method. he just needs to get what "good" is! heh.

I think the playing dead trick is way to advanced right now, so don't worry aobut writing it up...

:hug:

[Ladyhawk]

92. No problem. If you ever get into "advanced" training, let me know. n/t

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

41. Oh! i totally forgot, Baby flies!

but he doesn't seem to get what flying is...he uses it almost only when he's scared or desperately wants to come to you, lol

[Ladyhawk]

68. Gabby never learned to properly fly.

Most bird behaviorists are against allowing parrots flight for a variety of good reasons. When Gabby was about a year old, I decided to let him fly and he nearly killed himself when he toppled over a heavy trophy and it fell on top of him.

Lately he's seemed bored, so I'm going to risk flight again. He isn't too keen on the whole idea yet, but we're working on it. :)

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

83. good luck! and keep the mirrors covered

Baby sometimes smacks straight into them when he gets off the ground!

[purr]

45. Bingo does the wave and kisses..

She'll come up to me and go KISSES! and make kissy sounds. Shes just started saying hello after I answer the phone. She has great accuracy - as soon as I push the button and put the phone up to my ear shes saying HELLLOOO! Quite amuzing.

When she wants my attention she goes "Hey Tina! Come here!" She will even call the cats so she can fight with them :rofl:. Yes, the cats and her get along which in itself is amazing. Shes rarely in her cage anymore which I think shes happier about. My Sphynx in my signature will hop on her cage to look out a side window and she'll run over and attack the cat.

The only thing about Bingo is she does NOT like her back being touched. She's been this way since I got her from the breeder. Everyonce in awhile I'll be able to briefly touch her back then she lets me know thats enough.

[Ladyhawk]

49. A lot of birds don't like their backs touched. It's instinctive.

Parrots are prey animals. If something is touching a bird's back, a quick takeoff is impossible.

Macaws and cockatoos are less likely to get pissed about being touched on the back. :) In fact, I used to hold hand-raised macaws like little babies, upside down. Baby greys didn't like that very much.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

64. Baby doesn't like his back geting touched either...

he gets a bit...shell we say, defensive...

[GoddessOfGuinness]

17. Pretty bird!

for Baby:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

22. He does love a good fancy cracker

he's partial to Carr's with Monterey jack cheese :9

[Ladyhawk]

25. Hehe. My bird is a pasta lover. His favorite dish is lasagna. (pics)

You can see tomato sauce on his beak in these pics:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

28. He's beautiful

i wish we could take baby outside, but its way to wintery here

baby likes pasta too! heh

[GoddessOfGuinness]

33. I just made lasagna the other night

If I'd known, I would have invited you guys over!

[In_The_Wind]

29. He's a real cutie!

Is that the lil' guy we PMed about several months ago?

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

30. Thanks Joani!

Yup, thats him! :hug:

how are ya?

[In_The_Wind]

34. You're welcome.

I'm actually doing better than usual for this time of year.
Without DU, I would have started my seasonal depression a month ago.
I have my 1st DU anniversary on 12/12.
Yep, I think this winter is going to be better than my last few.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

35. woohoo!

:party::woohoo:

thanks goodness for DU, 'eh? :loveya:

[In_The_Wind]

39. Thank goodness for DU ~ YES!

A bazillion times YES!

[Ladyhawk]

71. Don't you mean a "brazillion"?

:hide:

[In_The_Wind]

74. *

[newyawker99]

42. Awww! He is cute.

:-)

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

52. Thanks newyawker99!

you can stop over and say hello if you'd like sometime ;)

[purr]

43. Nice Amazon!

I got one too!! Except mine is a Yellow Naped Amazon named Bingo. Shes a riot! She prefers women over men but she hasnt been around a male bird yet. I'd love to get her a friend but afraid she'd tear him up :rofl: .

Here's my bingo - taken with a crappy camera phone because my digital was out to repair:



The only man she likes is my husband. Which is surprising to me - she hates ALL men. She will leap on them and start pecking at their head and laughing about it.

[Ladyhawk]

51. I love yellow napes. :)

Of course, I like all parrots. There isn't a species I dislike, but my faves are Amazons, especially the yellowheaded group: yellow-crowns, yellow napes, yellowheads. If I can ever afford it monetarily (and time-wise), I would like to get a baby Panama Amazon (a subspecies of yellow-croan).

I also have great fondness for the large macaws, but they're just too loud to live with. Amazons can be loud, but their calls don't deafen me. :crazy:

Nice nape, BTW. If I had all the space, time and money in the world, I'd have a nape, too...and a greenwinged macaw and a greater sulfur-crested cockatoo...and a hyacinth macaw. Oh well. Gabby has lived with me for almost twenty years and he's plenty. He's ringing his bell right now. When he does that, I call him a "ding-a-ling." :D

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

53. Bingo looks adorable as well!

haha, that coke can pic is hysterical! :rofl:

[Jamastiene]

44. Awwww, I was expecting

pictures of a human baby, but instead I am delighted to see a creature. Baby looks so smart and beautiful. Adorable. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

54. heh! fooled you

:P

thanks for giving Baby a shoutout though :hug:

[tjwmason]

46. What a charming bird.

Very beautiful - just like you.

If you need ideas for other pics to take - I'm sure I can help out there :evilgrin:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

55. aww

too bad we cant take some pics together :evilgrin:

:loveya:

[tjwmason]

57. You only ever need to tell me when your flight arrives

Heathrow is easiest for me, Gatwick is still very do-able though. :loveya:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

59. well, If I wasnt alreading goin away

in two weeks, i might take you up on that offer toot-sweet

[tjwmason]

61. Is toot-sweet a nick-name for me

or are you trying to wow me with some NewYorkified French?

Either way, it works for me. :D

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

62. lol!

impress you with some WWI new-yorkified-french, heh

and I hope you aren't toot-sweet actually

[tjwmason]

63. I'll be toot-sweet or toot-sour or toot-anything else you want.

:D

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

65. sweet

:evilgrin::loveya:

[bigwillq]

47. Oh how cute!

And I'm not talking about you this time, MAD! :evilgrin:

Thanks for sharing! :hi:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

56. haha

how about a picture of your bird now? Hows she doing...and is she laying eggs? :hug:

[bigwillq]

66. We had to get rid of the bird.

It was getting too big and messy. We took it to a farm up state. :hi:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

67. awww, sorry you had to lose the bird

:hug: at least you let it free(ish) :party:

[bigwillq]

70. The good thing is

the bird is now with his friends. Hopefully, she'll live a relaxing life on the farm, laying eggs all day and eating everything in sight! :hug:

[sundog]

73. back off bigwillq!

he's mine!

[bigwillq]

77. So are you going to fight me for him?

:evilgrin:

[jonnyblitz]

78. CAT FIGHT!

:P

[bigwillq]

80. Aren't they the best?

:evilgrin: :hi: CATFIGHTS!

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

85. why wont you defend my honor?

:hug:

[jonnyblitz]

87. I enjoy watching them fight over you....

can you blame them? :hug:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

88. .

:blush:

:hug:

[jus_the_facts]

48. What a preeeetty baby ya got there......

.....too sweet! :hi: :smoke:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

58. Thanks jus_the_facts

but no smoking in front of the bird ;) :evilgrin:

[ScreamingMeemie]

50. Awwww! Beautiful eyes. He/She actually looks like he/She is smiling.

Those pictures almost make me want a bird, I actually want to squeeze yours! :hi:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

60. haha! we always say that too

something about the way he holds his beak open...

:hug::loveya:

[Ladyhawk]

75. Too bad most Amazons don't like squeezing. :D

I think hyacinth macaws are the cutest when it comes to the look of "smiling." They're big and goofy. The yellow around their eyes and beak is skin. There's also a yellow stripe down each side of the tongue.

Oh, and they DO like squeezing. Most large macaws and cockatoo species are into cuddling. Too bad the hyacinth is so endangered. :( I don't think they should be kept as pets, but damn, I'd like to have one.








For huggable, consider an umbrella cockatoo:



Unfortunately, these guys are very prone to feather-picking. It's usually the sensitive parrots that resort to feather-picking. :(

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

86. wow! thats an amazing bird!

Baby likes to cuddle only sometimes. If im lucky he'll lean into my chest so i can pet him. However sometimes i just squeeze him and he just has to deal, heh! :evilgrin:

[ScreamingMeemie]

91. Awwww. I bookmarked this thread. Those photos are so sweet.

Thanks LadyHawk! :hug:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

69. VERY adorable.

:D :D :D

I have an African grey parrot myself. Birds are wonderful creatures. :D

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

72. got any pics?

:hi:

thanks WritingIsMyReligion! :hug:

and yes, they are

[Ladyhawk]

79. Yes, got pics? Here are some pics of my baby greys.

At four weeks:



At five weeks:



At seven/eight weeks or so:



Tub O' Greys:



I could get better ones if I ever get around to capturing some pics from video.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

82. HAHA! The Tub O' Greys is too cute!

:rofl:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

95. No, sorry, and I'm too technologically challenged to try.

:D :D

No problem, though.

:hug:

[Ladyhawk]

76. Greys are wonderful. I used to raise them.

I decided for myself that, as smart as they are, I probably shouldn't keep one. They require a lot of attention and the right kind of attention.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

94. Yeah, they do.

Mine can be a right pain in the ass. :D :P :D

[Pithlet]

81. Aw, what a sweetie.

:)

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

84. Thanks Pithlet!

:hi: he can be a monster though :scared:

[Ladyhawk]

93. That's par for the course for Amazon parrots.

;)

They can be bratty, but I really like them. Besides, their persnickety natures make them easy to read.

[Lavender Brown]

89. Aww! he looks just like you!

;) Pretty birdy. :hi:

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

90. oh yea, total resemblance

:silly:

how you doing? :hug: :loveya: