A Baby Eclectus Parrot Arrives...and the Learning Curve is HIGH!

When 4 month old Ollie arrived at O'Hare airport in August of 2009, he was just a little guy.  He was so scared. He had left everything he knew, traveled in a noisy (and probably scary) environment and was now peering at two unfamiliar humans who then brought him into yet another strange place with another unfamiliar human and three unfamiliar wolves. He also saw and heard a young happy cockatiel and a cranky older cockatiel--none of whom were his flockmates.  His cage, surroundings, flockmates and familiar humans were gone. So were his feelings of being safe.

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.

A New Beginning: Feather Destructive Behavior

My silence on this blog was unintentional.  I just didn't exactly know how to talk about what we were experiencing with our crazy male Red Sided Eclectus parrot over the past 18 months.  He has almost been rehomed. Twice.

Many of my followers and friends know that life with a parrot can be challenging, but life with a feather destructive bird can be over-the-top impossible.  There are SO many reasons why a bird can begin and continue this activity, even the avian experts and vets cannot make a definite call on why an individual bird will exhibit feather destructive behavior while another bird in the very same flock will not.  The reasons range from behavioral and intelligence to environment and nutrition. And everything in between...and in combinations. Which change with the seasons, emotions...and life circumstances that are sometimes beyond our control.

I will tell you one thing everyone DOES agree on.  Feather destructive behavior is difficult to resolve.  Most people give up before making even one tiny bit of progress because every tiny step forward usually results in several leaps backwards.  And those backward leaps can be literal ones resulting in accidents and even death.

Birds are designed to fly and be able to land and stand on unstable surfaces that require skillful balance.  Without feathers, a bird has very poor balance and no ability to escape danger or correct a fall.  Every time a bird gets hurt, he is stressed and in pain or discomfort. This alone can initiate or exacerbate feather destructive acts because there is a chemical release in their brains whenever they purposefully perform these behaviors.  It then becomes a habit and way to numb bad sensations.  Its like asking a heroin addict to stop injecting the drug that they crave...except parrots are like human toddlers. And we all know how easy it is to reason with a toddler when they want something.

And then there is the frustration because he can't fly.  Which can lead to screaming. Plus the endless feather replacement which has GOT to cause nutritional cravings, as well as just the general discomfort of molting.

So while we DO know the WHEN and WHY Ollie started showing signs of feather destruction, we couldn't figure out why he allowed his feathers to grow at times and totally attacked them without warning at other times.  And why he began breaking off his wing and tail feathers which are ESSENTIAL for balance and flight...and safety. 

My husband saw this as a losing situation and chose rehoming as the only solution to resolve OUR stress and inability to resolve the problem. And trust me, there were times, I agreed.  If the temps hadn't soared to 95+ last summer, Ollie would have been flown to a bird sanctuary in Oklahoma.  But while we waited for the temps to drop, I decided to try some different approaches to help reduce the craziness.

And guess what.....
Something worked.

My next blog post will fill you in on what had led us to us becoming so desperate....stay tuned....