Monday, August 23, 2010

Maui

She had a rough night last night. She panicked when I turned off the lights. I ended up leaving the hall light on and today I talked with her owner and found out that he keeps a nightlight on for the birds. I will leave the hallway light on again tonight and tomorrow will get a nightlight.

Today I took her in the shower with me and she loved the water. I didn't completely soak her, but she did get quite a bit of splashes. She didn't come out of her cage on her own, so to get her in the shower I had to reach into her cage and hope she didn't bite me. She was being a sweet heart and talked the entire time.

Later, I gave both her and Manzi walnuts. Manzi cracked his right away, but Maui couldn't get hers open. Right away she went to her water and dropped it in hoping that it would soften it up. She waited 10 seconds or so and tried cracking it again. She did this about 5 times before I finally took it back and cracked the shell. I didn't completely crush the shell, just made some cracks on the outside. Anyway, Maui took it back from me and immediately dropped it back into her water. This time when she took it out, she was able to open it (due to the cracks made by me). The funny thing is, she probably thinks all her water soaking is what finally worked!

Maui still hasn't come out of the cage on her own, even though I leave the door open all day. Once I heard her climbing around. I looked over and she was halfway out of the door, but as soon as she saw me, she immediately went back inside. She is very shy, but she loves getting her head scratched. Hopefully she'll relax more and more every day. Manzi was showing some jealousy today, but after taking him for a walk by himself this afternoon he was much better and not so naughty.

Just a side note: Both of Maui's eyes are a bit strange. Her right eye has a black fleck near the bottom and her left eye has an unusually shaped pupil. I haven't seen many African Greys, so I have no idea how common this is or if it affects her vision. Maui clearly is not blind and uses both of her eyes. Anyway, here are some photos of her eyes.

Her left eye:

Her right eye:

2 comments:

Michael, Kili, Truman said...

Wow, that's cool. I didn't realize an African Grey could crack a walnut entirely on its own with such a little beak. How does the whole nut fit in there? Post a picture or video some time? I know my Senegal and Cape can crack an almond or a Walnut with some help, but never entirely on their own. And the Cape beak is like 3 times bigger than African Grey. Maybe I should stop helping him and make him do it on his own!

Adele said...

Manzi doesn't put the whole nut in his mouth. He just works at it from the midline and finds a weak point. From there, he can crack it and once cracked he can get the rest open. Sometimes he is fast and can finish a walnut in 5 minutes, but usually it takes him at least 15 minutes and can take up to an hour. I rarely help him open the walnut so sometimes he'll have one for two days before he can get it open.

I used to always make him do it on his own and he gets better and better.

blogger templates | Make Money Online