Flying Today

Today I took Manzi out flying. He flew for about 30 minutes. He is getting better and better each time. It was a bit windy, but he did fine. He still is struggling to stop when going very fast, but he just circles around again, or he lands in a low tree and then flies down to me.

When Manzi was flying (towards the end), a small hawk passed by. It was about the same size of Manzi and flew very low to the ground. All of the birds were giving warning calls and it just passed on by. I'm not sure what type of hawk or falcon it was, but it paid Manzi no attention. I didn't want to take any chances though so I called Manzi down and we called it quits for the day.

A huge success

Manzi did so well on his car seat today. At first, I put him on and started backing out. He flew to my shoulder right away. I then let him stay on my hand for five minutes while I held it over the car seat. After that, I put him back on the seat and he stayed there the remainder of the drive. Manzi was a bit leery of visiting other parrots. It was his first time ever seeing another African Grey. At first, the Grey, Maui, puffed up at Manzi and tried to threaten him. He was scared, but after a while stopped paying attention to her. After 40 minutes, Maui began to put her head down indicating she wanted Manzi to scratch her. He did reach out towards her, but I was afraid of either of them getting hurt, so I held him back. Anyway, it seems that she liked Manzi and me both after a while. I think they will get along just fine.

Quick funny story: While I was outside with Manzi and Hercules, my neighbor stopped by to talk. She is moving away and gave me her new phone number. I put it in my phone and then called her to save the number. As soon as I put the phone up to my ear, Manzi stated, "Hello." It made my neighbor and me laugh as I wasn't really calling anyone. He just thinks that every time the phone goes to my ear, I need to say, "Hello."

Out of Town

I have been at a conference in Denver for the past week (it was a last minute decision). I will get home on Monday. A guy is taking care of Manzi (not the one who will take care of him while I am in France) and it is going very well. Manzi is now learning that there are nice guys around. Manzi is being let out for a hour every day and is not fly at the guy or harassing him at all. In fact, the guy finds Manzi humorous and loves seeing his antics. They are getting along great. This coming week I will probably take Manzi to the person who will watch him while I am in France. There are other parrots there, so I would like to see how they get along. To date, Manzi has seen one other macaw and a parakeet. He was scared to death of the Macaw, but after a few visits he stopped being afraid. He was scared at first of the parakeet, followed by curiosity, followed by annoyance. He has never seen another african grey, so this will be the first time.

Home Found

It has been over a week since I posted how worried I was about finding Manzi a nice home while I am away in France. My luck has taken a great turn for the better since then. I just happened to be talking to my neighbor about it when he phoned his friend who also has parrots. On Sunday the friend came over and he is a perfect match for the job. He was able to hold Manzi and after having Manzi for five minutes, when I asked for Manzi to step up, Manzi refused because he wanted to stay with the guy. I took Manzi anyway, but I was very happy to see that Manzi was comfortable with him. Usually, Manzi will step to someone and then hold his foot out for me to pick him back up. In addition, this guy is the nicest person ever. He has a power washer too which will make cleaning Manzi's cage easy and he has a van to transport the cage. The situation seems ideal.

This Wednesday I will bring Manzi to his house just to look around and to introduce him to the other parrots. The guy has a female african grey, so I am thinking Manzi might be liking her. I will get to use the car seat finally and for the first time, Manzi will see another African Grey. He's never seen one since I've owned him, so hopefully he will know that it is his own species.

By the way, I will use the "man's" name as soon as I get approval. I forgot to ask last time I spoke with him.