Precious, Meyers Parrot

Precious
Meyers Parrot

Precious, Meyers Parrot

Precious
Dinner=> Fresh grapes, broccoli, blueberries, apple, corn, steamed sweet potato, and sunflower seeds.

submitted by Jim Ronaghan, Jr.

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Dr. Jungle says, "Like Precious, I like sparklies too!"

Here's what Jim says about Precious:

Precious, our Meyer's parrot, just turned 2 in August 2004, and we have had her since she was 3 months old. She is the most affectionate, mild mannered, inquisitive character I know.
Every morning she has to have her oatmeal with my wife, and starts mimicing the microwave oven (which my wife uses to heat the oatmeal) when she gets impatient. I have started using the button on the microwave to teach her to count, and she is up to "two" after only a week.
She will tell us "Ready" when she wakes up and wants to leave the cage to be with us. Other times, she'll look at us, and for no reason, ask "Are you ready?"On weekends, she spends most of the morning out with us, but needs to go to her cage at mid-day for her siesta. Then she is ready for more fun and games from about four p.m., until she goes to bed about 7:30 p.m. My wife will often ask her "Are you ready for bed?" If she's not, she will emphatically tell us "No." If she does not answer, but wants to be held and pet, we know she's tired and wants to go up.
When my wife sneezes, Precious imitates her and starts sneezing too. But only for my wife...I could sneeze my head off and she could care less. However, if she is startled by something...a loud noise, door slamming etc., the first one she flies to for protection is Dad...a real character.
She loves travelling in the car down to the lake, and enjoys being on the boat...she particularly enjoys listening to the other birds at the lake. She is a great snuggler as the sun goes down, preferring to be held and rubbed all over...sometimes she crawls down the front of my wife's blouse or sweatshirt, until only the top of her head is showing, and she'll nod off to sleep. This occurs mostly in the car and on the boat.
She is very excited and happy to hear the garage door open when we come home to work, calling to us as we come in the house...when I go up to get her, she is running side to side on her perch, with her wings held out, trembling with excitement that Dad is home. When I open her cage, she runs up my arm, and presses HARD against my neck, trying to get as close to me as she can while I pet her.
She does her business on a particular perch when we take her downstairs, at the command of "Dump!". When she complies, she is so proud of herself as we praise her for being such a good girl.
Favorite foods are raspberries, blackberries, fresh corn (she will not eat canned or frozen corn), apples, GRAPES, peas, pineapple, cooked SWEET POTATO, seeds I sprout for her, zucchini, cucumber, and BANANA. I don't give her a lot of seeds, other than the sprouted ones, but she does like sunflower seeds the best.
She loves for me to get her rope out...I hold it up, down, sideways, and she climbs up, down and all around on it...she particularly likes it when I hold it perpendicular to the ground, and spin it around while she holds on...
She is bathed in the sink by my wife, or she comes in the shower with me every day...she loves getting wet and taking a bath. She looks like a miniature drowned crow when she's done splashing around...then it's a wet flight to my wife, who turns the hairdryer on low to dry her. Precious loves it, holding her wings out and turning until she's all fluff dried. Then downstairs for her breakfast, to include her oatmeal.
She likes to eat chicken and plain chicken wings, I call her my little cannibal. It appears to me that she takes whatever moisture is in the meat, but doesn't swallow the meat itself. My avian vet says they need the protein to keep from becoming anemic.
She is very even tempered, although sometimes she gives us the "cold feather" if we have gone somewhere and left her in the cage too long...she will come to us, but for about 15 minutes remains aloof and disinterested with us...doesn't happen very often, but she warms up the more we tell her we love her. She's a real character...
I took her to work at Halloween, since I was the Birdman of Alcatraz. She had so much fun seeing all the costumes and lights...she loves "sparklies".
I don't know what we'd do without her."

Here's a few pictures from "A day in the Life" of Precious:

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Chowing down.