Daisy and Flying

I watched a dog for 5 days. A little Shih-tzu named Daisy. She was really cute. The birds didn't agree. At first, they were curious, but when Daisy began to jump up on my lap whenever I sat down, the birds had enough of her. Manzi dived bombed her regularly and Maui chased her with an open beak. Fortunately, Maui is really slow and Manzi was still pretty cautious around her. So in the end, no one was hurt. At one point, Daisy walked too close to the cage and Maui lunged at her and lost her balance and fell off the cage. Daisy got excited and jumped towards her. Maui’s back was turned and I quickly pulled Daisy away.

Animals have a good instinct to know where another’s mouth is located. Daisy quickly figured out where the beaks were on the birds and knew to stay away from them. It was funny, when the birds were turned around, Daisy would sniff their backs and leave nose prints on them. The birds didn't like it one bit and would try to turn around quickly, but by then Daisy would back away. The birds also knew where Daisy’s mouth was and would run after her when her back was turned.

By the end of the 5 days, Daisy and the birds were almost always watching each other and trying to stay facing each other.

Flying:

I've been taking Manzi outside flying. We've just done point A to B flights, but Manzi has been 100%! I am only doing up to 100’. I need to increase the distance. Anyway, he is doing fantastic, so I need to watch the weather and then let him free fly around when there are no storms coming up. I hope I can free fly him in the next few weeks.

Manzi and Maui being friendly

I have had a few visitors recently, all of them animal people. The first set of visitors gave both birds treats right away. After 45 minutes or so, Maui was begging them for scratches and Manzi was performing his tricks. Within a couple of hours, both birds did quite a bit of talking.

Another visitor who came was also an animal person. He has been interested in getting a Grey himself, so I suggested he come over to interact with them. Maui didn't want him to hold her, but she did stay very near and never took her eyes off him. Manzi was standoffish for 15 minutes or so, but then he had enough and wanted to find out what the guy was about. Within 45 minutes Manzi was letting the guy scratch his head and  happily taking treats from him. Manzi usually doesn't let strangers scratch him. The guy did all the right things though and was interested, but not pushy with Manzi.

Having visitors who know how to handle animals is a great experience for the birds. They learn to go to strangers and not bite. It gives me confidence too that I will not get sued by someone over a nasty parrot bite.