Frankly, I don't know how he adjusted to all that at once. Change is not something birds enjoy. Ever. Even small changes like a new hairstyle on his favorite human or a chair moved to another spot in a room can cause stress. With so many changes all at once and nothing that gave him any sense of safety, this baby parrot must have been totally over the top. As I look back on it all now with the knowledge and understanding I have gained over the past decade, my heart breaks for him. I also admire his courage and his spirit. And his ability to adapt.
Most people just think of birds as animals relying solely on instinct. You know, just...a "birdbrain". That may be partially true for some bird groups or species, but definitely not for the groups that include crows, ravens or parrots! Research has proven the intelligence of these birds can be higher than that of our pet dogs! Many bird species also feel emotion...which is where some of the problems can start when birds live with humans.
Parrots are very intuitive. They can pick up on our energy, as well as body language and sound cues. I'm confident Ollie was not sure of us at all...for a long time. We were all so excited...and also quite nervous and inexperienced with larger parrots. Our trying to figure out what to do, when to do it and how to move around him created tension, loud voices and inappropriate, scary movements as we learned mainly by trial and error how VERY different an Eclectus was from a cockatiel or parakeet. Or dog.
Even though we had had parakeets and cockatiels for almost 30 years and dogs for almost 25, getting an Eclectus parrot was a whole new experience for us. We just weren't aware of how much we would need to learn and adapt. For example, Eclectus are thinkers and need to take time to decide if and when they want to do something...including stepping up, taking food or if they can trust someone or something. Expecting quick reactions and rushing them only result in losing trust. So yes, we made mistakes in the beginning that we didn't even know we were doing, and yes, we also had a HUGE learning curve to go through but we eventually started to understand this intelligent creature we had brought into our home. And Ollie slowly began to see us as less dangerous.
He came to us with a light wing clip that prevented him from flying high and getting into trouble. BUT...what we didn't realize was that this wing clip was going to create HUGE problems in the long run because we allowed an Exotic vet we had never gone to (who knew nothing about the specific trim needed for an Eclectus) to keep it trimmed. This was another unknown for us. We found out too late that it was imperative for Ollie to ONLY be under the care of a specialized certified AVIAN vet who was also familiar with Eclectus. These two factors set up the beginning of what would become a life-threatening problem for this adventurous green guy.
Stay tuned to learn how Ollie began his path into feather destructive behavior.
