Herkimer's Daily Journal

2008-12-25T09:54:00.000-08:00

Here are a few pictures of Herkimer. We have been allowing him more and more out time of his cage and he has really calmed down and enjoyed the company of our own amazon, Pico. It took a little bit for Herki to allow Pico to give him scritches, but within a day, they were enjoying each other's company and comforting nibbles.

We were a bit worried about entering and exiting the front door, since this playstand stands directly to the right of it, but as long as we come and go calmly and slowly, he just kinda watches us from a high perch. we do hold on to a wooden stick just in case we need to pick him up from the ground if he tries to fly at us or keep him in check on the playstand before he jumps. (he is easy to dodge since one of his wings is a bit crooked). but we've only really needed it once. it just seems that he is a much more happier bird outside his cage so we do this as much as possible.

he doesn't jump at us at every chance he gets. he'd much rather preen and be preened and sit pretty on the playstand (or explore it).

2008-12-25T09:52:00.000-08:00

2008-10-23T15:44:00.000-07:00

herkimer has been doing well. he really likes to be around other amazon birds - he looks to be at ease the most when he sees at least one other amazon in the room.

herkimer is also a quick learner. if i had more time with him, i would try to teach him a few more things besides waving hello (which he is a pro at).

he still allows some scritching either on his wing or head, but on his own terms. sometimes he is just not in the mood for any human interaction so we just respect his wishes. everyone that comes by to see him all agree that he is indeed a handsome bird. he just has a few trust issues that he, understandably, has that we are slowly working through. he is definitely willing to trust, however.

2008-09-12T20:52:00.000-07:00

here is the proof that herkimer allowed my husband to give him a wonderful head scritch. it has taken him almost a whole year to allow one of us to do this to him. its a wonderful breakthrough! in the video, if you listen closely, you can hear herkimer "purring".

2008-09-09T14:02:00.000-07:00

BREAKTHROUGH

well, my husband has been doing this for a while, but it has become progressively better!

Herkimer now allows my husband to scratch his head for a rather long time - at least a few minutes! and i have it on camera! i will post it as soon as i can. he just holds on to the side of his cage with his beak and lets the scritching begin! i was taking a few pictures, but then i realized he was also making a kind of purring noise which was just precious, so i had to make a short movie of it.

Herkimer will also occasionally come up to the side of his cage when i ask him if he wants a scritch on his back, and he allows me for a few seconds to do so. it has taken about a year to reach this point, but it was soooooooo worth it!

2008-09-05T13:26:00.000-07:00

You think owning a parrot (or two) is for you? Have you ever thought about whether you would be able to take the chatty "contact calls" that happen every morning and every evening? Play the following movie with your sound up all the way. This is in a house with 8 parrots, just after breakfast. (We cover the ground with towels to catch the poop.) Enjoy!

PS: I look forward to these conversations...:-)

2008-09-05T10:58:00.001-07:00

2008-09-04T22:29:00.000-07:00

2008-08-25T11:51:00.001-07:00

herkimer is doing well. we take him out of his large cage at LEAST once a week to have full range of the bird room. he really likes this as he wanders over all the cages and checks them out. he goes in his own cage if he wants to rest.

2008-08-25T11:51:00.000-07:00

2008-08-09T16:56:00.000-07:00

Herkimer is quite a handsome fella. I do have to take more pictures of this guy. The way he looks at you with his one good eye...you can tell he is full of personality, curiosity and intelligence. He may have his days...but who doesn't.

Normally he loves to see people. He is most at ease when he can see his entire flock - both birds and humans.

Herkimer will say "okay" when he wants a pumpkin seed from you - and that is quite often! He will also say "hi hi", "hello" and he waves on command. Occasionally, when he is feeling happy, he will even allow you to rub his wing, leg and foot. My husband found out that if you do a low purring sound, it calms Herkimer even more.

Herkimer is a bird who tries to display confidence, but really is an unsure bird. He needs calmness and respect in order to bloom as much as he can and be as friendly as he possibly can. We have seen this off and on, so we are just trying to be consistent with our actions and movements around him.

He really is a great bird, but you have to enjoy him for his personality. He will probably not be a bird who you can snuggle up with, but he will sure enjoy your companionship when you consistently respect him and his need for more patience and love.

2008-07-21T13:31:00.000-07:00

BREAKTHROUGH!!

okay, so it may not normally be a breakthrough when someone is able to scratch the top of a parrot's head, but this is Herkimer we are talking about here! my husband told me that he asked Herki if he wanted a head-scritch by motioning to him with his finger. and herki bent his head down and allowed my husband a few strokes! that is just incredibly awesome.

we've had Herki for about 7 - 8 months now and we've had a lot of difficulty getting close to him from the very beginning. it started with touching toes, then on to when he allowed us to stroke his wing (on and under it) and now scritching his head! that is just wonderful.

i have been working with him in targetting and waving on command. he also knows that if he wants a pumpkin seed (which we use as his treat) and i am not looking in his direction, he says "okay" and i reward him. (im also trying this with other words he knows like "hi, hi"). he has been doing really well. and he takes the pumpkin seeds sooooo gently out of my fingers.

whenever we get all of the birds out of his room and in the living room, i let Herkimer out and have full range of the bird room. he usually stays on the tops of the cages or even hangs out in his own cage, but the best part is that he can make that choice.

2008-07-06T22:32:00.001-07:00

Herkimer talking to me

2008-06-20T08:17:00.000-07:00

the handsome herkimer...

2008-06-18T13:38:00.000-07:00

i found a way to calm herki...when i enter the room, i take a few pumpkin seeds with me and just talk to him calmly for a bit. usually when someone enters the bird room, he gets really excited (and aggressive) and you cannot get anywhere near him without either ferociously attacking his roll of toilet paper or lunging at you.

what i do is just talk to him, say how beautiful he looks and make a amazon parrot purring sound (thats what i think it is, since it kinda soothes him). when he starts to actually look at me with his big eyes, then i know he has calmed and i ask him to wave (his one and only trick he knows....so far) and then i reward him with a lot of drama and a pumpkin seed. oh, and he takes that seed out of my fingers ever so gently!

when i get his attention and i reward him with the "drama" it seems that he just l-o-v-e-s that. there is no furrow in his brow (and he does furrow the top of his eye when he's about to strike...its weird) and he just looks very happy and interested in you. he follows me around...sometimes if i give him the signal to ask him if he wants a scratch, and he wants it, he will maneuver the right side of his body towards me, where i can scratch his wing (and underneath) until he moves away. (by the way, the right side is the side that is undamaged from his car accident).

i have been letting him out more - i place all the birds that are in his room, onto various play areas in the living room, and i let him have free time in that room (all eletrical outlets are covered). he sometimes just stands on his cage...this past weekend he visited 2 other cages. i think he really likes the "freedom" he gets in there.

oh, and just a side note. i have been calling him herki turkey (just because it rhymes and its cute), but now i've stopped doing this and call him either herk or his complete name - herkimer. i don't know why...i just think that its a 'teasing' name to call him herki turkey. call me crazy, but i would be a bit p-o'ed if someone came in my room and kept on teasing me with a name like that.

2008-06-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

herkimer is doing well. when we allow all of our birds out on different playstands in the living room, i let him out to have free range in the bird room (where his cage is). he usually stays on top of his own cage, but sometimes wanders about, checking out the other birds' living quarters.

yesterday, my husband said that herkimer was "conversing" with a crow outside the window. how cute!

note: herkimer loves pumpkin seeds!

2008-05-16T12:41:00.000-07:00

herki has been the same. we try to let him out of his cage when we take out all the other birds (so he basically has the entire bird room to roam around). he has really made a connection with our own amazon, pico. whenever we take pico out of his cage, herki goes into a frenzy and calls out to pico.

if pico is in the room, he feeds off of pico's emotions and acts accordingly. such as, pico really likes my husband and "tolerates" me, but when i enter the room, pico has a thing where he will drop whatever he is doing, run down to the bottom of the cage and charge at the box at the bottom of his cage, biting it up sometimes quite forcefully. i think this is due to the fact that he doesn't like me there. (i have been working on this by just walking into the room and walking back out. and then spending a little more time in there until pico starts to move and i leave. but, well, their cage bottoms need to be cleaned every evening, so this can't be solved at once.) and herki picks up on that, so when i go over to his cage to clean it, he runs to the bottom of his cage and tries to get a bite of my fingers. i usually just ignore his movements. sometimes i stop and talk to him softly. sometimes he will fall into a trance-like state where i can stroke his toes and he'll just stay in place and not move or make a sound until i've stopped.

2008-05-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

Herki has decided that he now likes my husband...it was definitely not an easy thing (we've had him for about 6 months now) but my husband did make a point to spend some quality time with him and it has paid off. herki allows him to scratch on TOP of his wing and UNDER it. it is very cute! herki just stands there and almost falls into a trance.

Funny thing is that, while Herki doesn't honor me with this act, i can enter his room (after allowing him out of his cage) and have him step up onto a stick and transport him to his cage or wherever (of course he sometimes bites all over the stick out of frustration) without trying to launch himself at me. BUT, if my husband tries this, herki would still try to launch himself at him.

anyways, i think progess is still being done. i believe that most of this aggression comes from fear because he has a blind side, and because he turns his head this way and that so quickly, its difficult to stay in his field of vision. we just have to move calmly and slowly so that he can keep his overview of everything in the room.

2008-03-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

we just got official word back from the vet...

Herki is DNA-sexed MALE. i guess our instincts on his gender was correct! :-) this means it will be a while before he will go to a sanctuary, but i think i will continue to try and work with him.

because he seems very curious and loves various treats, i am going to try some target training with him. maybe this will help deflect his energies to something positive instead of launching himself at me... :-/

2008-03-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

we took herki to the vet this past friday to get him dna-sexed. if herki turns out to be female, "she" would possibly be taken to a sanctuary soon, but if he turns out to be indeed a "he", he would be taken to a sanctuary later in the year. (we think he would be happier at a sanctuary where he can spend the rest of his days around other amazons).

at the vet, the vet tech there said that herki was really a great bird. she thought he might have been a bit intimidated by all the activity around the office and kept to the "charmer" personality. we will find out about the results of the test later this week or early next.

i had herki at my workplace for about 30 minutes before we left to go to the vet and he started to put on his charms there. he said "hi" or "okay" to everyone who passed by. he didn't make any of his loud noises (which i was a bit afraid he would start doing). people peeked around to see him, thinking he was a child.

after that day was over and we were driving home, herki was fighting to keep his eyes open. that poor guy probably was exhausted from all the new activity that day. he rarely gets out of the house nowadays. at most, we sometimes roll him out in a cage outside in the backyard to get some fresh air and sunshine.

today, i gave him a shower (he doesn't really care for showers, but doesn't fight it either. he sits there and takes it. after that, i decided to keep him out of his cage (all the other birds were out in the living room anyways) so he had the whole room to himself. I closed the door, but keep coming to see how he was after a few minutes. he kept to the top of his cage. he didn't try to jump at me when i peeked in the door or even when i stepped in to the room, but when i went into the room with the intentions of putting him back into his cage so that we can put our birds back into that room, he knew something was up (or he heard is amazon buddy just outside the door) and he tried to fly at me. i closed the door slightly and he fell a few inches from the door. i just asked him to step up on a stick and i got him easily into his cage.

i have been thinking lately that maybe its not that herki doesn't like humans....i think its because he just recently (i think it has been about a year or a little more) lost his eyesight and is still coming to terms with moving around and seeing things. im thinking maybe i approach him when he doesn't see me and when he does turn his head to see me, i frighten him because of my close proximity to him. and therefore he does what he thinks is his last resort - to fly at me to fight me off. with this in mind, i am making sure he sees me and i move slowly toward him. i will see if this makes a difference and I can gain his trust again. i may try to more often move the other birds out of the room and see if i can interact with herki out of his cage.

2008-02-04T11:21:00.000-08:00

Our flock has moved with us to our new house! Things have been rather busy lately, but Herki has really gotten settled in.

For a few weeks now, Herki has changed his mind about me. I don't really know why, but if Herki is out of his cage, he will try to jump off his cage and attack me. He will do this to my husband and myself. It could be because I spend some time with his best bud Ellis (who is not very interested in Herki) or maybe I pushed him too much in a training session or something. So, because of this unfortunate twist of events, I have not been able to allow Herki out of his cage very much. I do interact with him through the cage bars, but only if I have about an hour or so to spare I would then allow him some out-of-cage time and see if I can actually stay in the same room with him without having him attack me.

Since he is now in a room with 4 other birds, I am not able to just have him come out and wander about in the room (which he was able to do at the apartment). If I do allow him out-of-cage time now, I will have to remove all the other birds first. I may do this.

Herki will wave a foot at you for just about any nut. he does get bored of pumpkin seeds really quickly tho. i guess it is not as yummy as other nuts such as walnuts and almonds.

I do try to give Herki a shower every other week. I take him in the shower with me, where he is quite content at standing on a hand-held perch without trying to attack me. He doesn't like it very much (he doesn't get excited or tries to preen during the shower - he just sits there), but i think it is necessary for him to keep his feathers healthy and shiny.

One thing is good since moving to the new home, we finally got a bigger cage for Herki! It is MUCH bigger than his old cage and it has a dome top, so he can crawl all over that thing if he wants to get some exercise. Since he loves bells so much, I have also put in a boing that has a bell at the bottom of it. once Herki realized this, he went straight for it. I also put in more bells into his toy basket. Since moving into his new cage, he looks ALOT more calm and just plain happy. I don't know if that changes anything between himself and I, but we'll see. I'm taking it slow.

2007-11-14T17:19:00.000-08:00

well, we are coming up on the 6-week mark of Herk being in our home, which means he will technically be out of quarantine. yay! what we won't do, however, is move him into the living room. i think that he will become really close to my amazon and attack both my husband and i (i've had this happen with another amazon that i fostered).

from what i have learned from Herk, he is VERY intelligent (heck, what bird isn't?!). I am training him to do things, stuff that he normally does, on command. for example, he LOVES ringing his bell. i give him the command "ring your bell". when he does it, i reward him with a piece of walnut (loves walnuts, doesn't like almonds). i am also training to wave (say "hi" with a raised foot) on command. and i am continuing my training with a target. he seems to learn really quickly. he knows what "bell" means. the wave thing...not sure if its just coincidence, but i think with enough repetition of using the command, him doing the motion and me giving him a treat, will help fuse the whole process together.

i may teach him to tell the difference between colors. on one playstand he has a green wiffle ball and a yellow one. that may be once i feel he has the first few tricks down. :-) Herk really offers a lot of great behaviors that you can try to put on cue. i am trying to work on each one. he has a cute stretch-wings gesture that i may be able to get with a command. he also has a weird head flip that he does some times.

i don't think he and i are on touching basis just yet. i havent even tried...well, i have touched his feet, but even then he kinda looks at me with a wish to bite me. but sometimes he just stands there and takes it. i have not asked him to step up on my hand nor do i usually offer treats to him by hand (not unless he is in his cage). when i do offer treats, i do it in a cup. once he sees the cup and hears the rattling of a piece of nut inside, he gets really excited and wants to start training. our training usually goes on for a few minutes (mainly because i don't want to give him too many nuts), twice a day. i enjoy seeing that he is excited to start. its a great step in the right direction. the power of positive reinforcement!

2007-11-11T16:11:00.000-08:00

Herkimer has something against my husband. I don't think it is what he has done, but more like what he hasn't done. My husband doesn't really interact with Herk. Ever since Herk realized that there was a bond forming between his buddy (Ellis) and my husband, Herk has tried to attack my husband. Right now, its not too bad (mostly because my husband greets Herk from afar).

Well, the following movies show his behavior after my husband comes into sight. (I am in the room with Herk). I was talking to Herk atop is cage, but once he saw my husband, he raced down his cage and came rushing towards the entrance of his room. We have put up a barricade which Herk doesn't try to get over. This is Herk after running down is cage...

2007-11-11T14:08:00.000-08:00

Herkimer again talking to his bell...

Herki and I doing some targeting practice...

2007-11-11T11:51:00.000-08:00

Herkimer talking and laughing to his bell...

2007-10-26T23:05:00.001-07:00

it has been a little over two weeks since Herk came into our home. he has been quite a handful at times, but i think it has mostly to do with my decision to separate him from his friend, Ellis.

i decided to split them because 1) Ellis was not into Herk as Herk was into him, 2) Herk always seemed to be be preoccupied with protecting Ellis and it hindered my interaction with Herk himself, and 3) if these two ever become adopted, i don't want them to be very bonded with eachother. it will make finding an adoptive home for both birds quite difficult.

since moving Ellis (this was done last weekend), Herk was mostly calm and quiet. i did think he would start screeching for Ellis, but that wasn't the case. Herk has, however shown a dislike towards my husband, because Herk saw a bond forming between my husband and Ellis. my husband has been having a harder time approaching Herk to give him food in his cage - Herk will climb onto the side of his cage closest to my husband and try to lunge for his fingers. it could also be the level of energy emanating from my husband. he just needs to calm down a bit.

Herk has also tried to do a few fly-attacks at me and has bitten me on the outer edge of my right hand. not the worst bite i have ever received, but it did draw some blood. i have realized that now that Herk is alone (he is still in quarantine!) he may feel a little more exposed and unsure. i am pulling back and approaching him slower and offering more ambient attention from afar, working my way slowly nearer to him and his cage when he starts exhibiting calm behavior.

Tonight, no attacks or bites. i spent an hour just reading a magazine near the door to his room and occasionally talking/mumbling to him. he would return the favor some times and discuss the day's events (see the movie my husband made below - unfortunately he had the camera flipped on its side....grrr!). once he started to preen himself, i placed a piece of almond into a container and offered it to him. he took it happily and i praised him for being a good bird. no aggression at all. im glad....one good step towards gaining trust. i may start doing some target training with him. not sure if he is ready yet for this, but i will try.

2007-10-26T23:03:00.000-07:00

Here is Herk mumbling and talking with me as I mumble back to him. I'm thinking he is telling me about his day and all the things he has done. Since Herk only has one working eye, he turns his head upside down some times to get a better view of something.

2007-10-14T16:07:00.001-07:00

Herkimer is excited at seeing my husband, who is holding the camera.

2007-10-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

Herk seems to be a great bird. Loves to talk and babble. So far, I've heard him say wwwhhhooooooaaaa, okay, hi, hello, what's up, ooohhhhh. he also does a lot of mumbling that i cannot identify. he LOVES broccoli. so far, i have given it to him uncooked. he enjoys starting from the stem and work his way up to the top. Herk also loves corn, banana and apple juice.

Herk doesn't seem to be phased by the damaged eye. when he feels he needs a better view of you, he turns his head upside-down and stares at you. i wonder if this gives him a better spatial view of what he is viewing.

he is very curious and likes to explore. it didn't take him long to decide he wants to travel down his cage, on to the ground and take a look around. he has shown no interest in hunting down toes. he usually just walks right past me (toes showing) and goes either over to Ellis' cage (his roommate and friend) or somewhere else. Herk has shown more interest in my husband (i will put up the movie that shows it) but so far, he doesn't really want to have any physical contact from either of us.

Herk has stepped up onto my husband's arm that was padded with a sweatshirt sleeve, but lunged out when my husband asked him to step up on to his hand. a week has barely passed, so it could definitely be a matter of trust and time. we have not pressed anything on them - everything has happened at their own pace.

as with his roommate and buddy, Herk eats parrot mix - which is seed, nuts and dried fruit. i have been mixing in some zupreem fruit blend pellets in with this parrot mix and i've seen Herk nibbling on them. this is a good sign. maybe in a couple months, we can wean him onto pellets and use the nuts for treats and training.

below are some pictures we took of herk. i gave him a bath today and it seemed that he actually started to like it. under the water, he puffed up, opened his wings a few times and rolled his head on his back.

2007-10-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

2007-10-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

Herkimer arrived at our home yesterday evening, and has traveled quite a bit to get here. The background story for him is that he was hit by a truck before being taken in to Mickaboo. From that he lost use of one eye and a wing.

Although he has been through a lot in his life, he is a very active, talkative and playful bird. Below, we have pictures, movies and sound files of Herk, either from myself or from his previous foster parents.

Herkimer, so far, has not shown any aggression or anxiety around either my husband or myself. He eats like a pig! and he talks, mumbles and makes other funny noises a lot. It's like he is carrying a conversation with himself.

I will add more as days follow.