Peppers is home!

I brought my beautiful red lored amazon Peppers home on Saturday!!!! He is an amazing bird! Here are some pics for you guys.

He's cute! Does he talk?

Not that I know of. He does have the ability to, I just don't think he has decided to talk yet. . . He is actually a VERY quiet bird.

A quiet bird? Weird! Haha.They always seem so noisey in stores.And I had friends with birds too and they were pretty noisey as well.Is this species a quiet one in general or just Peppers?

Peppers is beautiful

Originally Posted by 709Juggalette

A quiet bird? Weird! Haha.They always seem so noisey in stores.And I had friends with birds too and they were pretty noisey as well.Is this species a quiet one in general or just Peppers?

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Amazons are generally noisy but the Red Loreds are known for being pretty quiet. I think he will get a little more talkative once he settles in but for the most part, he never makes a noise that is louder then us talking.

What a beautiful bird

He is GORGEOUS!!!!! I'm so jealous! He looks like such a wonderful bird!

Aww! He is beautiful. Congrats! He looks very happy (he has the birdy smiley face going on lol).

What a cutie!

Originally Posted by Vixen16

Wow.... soooo pretty!!!

Is this your first large Parrot?? and how are the Cats with him so far?
Does he whistle or make and interesting sounds?

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He is actually my first bird of any kind. . . I know they aren't suggested as your first Fid but he chose me when he first met me and who could argue with that?

The cats are pretty good around him so far. They were too curious at first but they have already decided that he isn't so interesting because he is mom's bird which means they can't get him. Nemo and Bentley are actually scared of him.

He is actually the quietest bird I have ever met. He makes clucking sounds sort of like a chicken for the most part. He occassionally does the pretty girl whistle too. So far he doesn't talk but that's not to say he won't decide to later on.

He's a handsome guy!

Now for the sermon
I'm not sure if you know, but larger parrots, especially amazons and macaws, tend to try to dominate you if they are positioned above you. (IE: Above your eyes).
Having a bird on your shoulder puts them in the dominant position and they may become dangerous if they start to see you as a subordinate.
You can off-set this to some degree by dilligently practicing "step-up" and "step-down" commands, every single day, re-enforcing the idea that you are the one in control, not him.
Not much different than re-enforcing obedience training with a dog.

Originally Posted by Arlyn

He's a handsome guy!

Now for the sermon

I'm not sure if you know, but larger parrots, especially amazons and macaws, tend to try to dominate you if they are positioned above you. (IE: Above your eyes).
Having a bird on your shoulder puts them in the dominant position and they may become dangerous if they start to see you as a subordinate.
You can off-set this to some degree by dilligently practicing "step-up" and "step-down" commands, every single day, re-enforcing the idea that you are the one in control, not him.
Not much different than re-enforcing obedience training with a dog.

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I know that having him on my shoulder isn't the best idea and I don't allow it that often. He is stick trained and does amazing at stepping up and down onto the stick but I don't think the people who had him before worked with him much on stepping up on people so he is still slightly unsure about that. As of now, I am the only one he really steps up on and I am the ONLY one whose shoulder he is allowed on. I trust him with me because I can tell when he is too excited to be allowed up there but I do not trust him with other people yet. I have had Matt working with him on the stick training already too so he'll know that he is dominant.

Good news

I just always make sure, because a lot of people simply don't realise how dangerous it can be to allow larger birds to assume a position of dominance, especially if they can't read their mood.

My own current parrot is a little Hahn's macaw, but they come with the very same personality traits as the big guys, so I have to be diligent with him, and at 7, he's sexually mature and can be a handful at times. He's not stick trained (they terrify him too much), but he does not like to be toweled for claw clipping, so when he won't step up for me, I simply show him the towel, he'll step right up while he's busy giving the towel what for

Most of the bigger birds that were brought to me when I rescued were surrended for aggression, they were not aggressive, they just weren't properly trained.

The up side with tiels though is that they are incapable of hard bites.

Murphy actually is good with wing clipping as he likes to have his 'wingpits' scratched, I just scratch and clip, one flight feather at a time while he holds his own wing out.

I love conures, but I hate the loudness of most conure species.
Murph has his loud moments, but he's mostly a quiet bird.

Try a poicephalus species like a senegal or meyers, they have the clownish personality like the conures, but they are very quiet little guys.
Meyers are huge clowns.

My tiels were little noise makers, but nothing can compare to the happy screams of a conure, though I admit, I simply love their colors.