MAROON-BELLIED CONURE
"Kiwi is our 4-year-old Maroon-bellied conure. We believe that Kiwi has an imaginary friend, for he loves to put his head in your pockets or inside your sleeve and say, "Hey, Kiwi." and whistle. We sometimes take a shoebox and cut a small hole in the side. He will play with it for hours, just putting his head in the hole and talking to his imaginary conure friend."
Felicia McCaulley
GREEN-CHEEKED CONURE
"Chicken is our 5-year-old Green-cheeked conure. One day Chicken was sitting on my shoulder while I was listening to a heavy metal song. I looked over at her and discovered she was dancing! She puffs out all the feathers on her neck and face and bobs her head up and down while swaying back and forth to the music. She quickly learned to dance on cue if a person would dance with her. I started to say "Dance! Dance! Dance!" while we were dancing, so now Chicken even says the word "Dance!" to the beat while she is dancing. She also taught one of her avian friends how to do this."
Keith Guse
AFRICAN GREY
"As the owner of an African Grey, I can say that they are intelligent, adept, and affectionate, but also dependent on routine and suspicious of anything new. Placing a new toy in Solomon's cage will often cause him to leave and refuse to return until the intruder in his home is removed. I have to be resourceful to make us both happy. I place any new toy in another room where he can become accustomed to its presence. After he becomes accustomed to seeing it, I will move it to the stairs next to his cage where his natural curiosity will be increased. When he goes to the steps to investigate, I know it's safe to place it in his cage and he will put it to good use."
Logan Besaw |
BLUE AND GOLD MACAW
"One day, Jazzmine, our Blue and Gold macaw, was out of the cage and wandering around the house on his own. We saw him take a particular interest in the scratching sounds being created by our Siamese cat from inside her covered cat litter box. He waddled over to the door flap of the litter box and poked his head inside, shouting out a cordial and ear-splitting "Hi!" as only a macaw could. After that day, our Siamese cat seemed to take a moment to determine where Jazz was before doing her business in private."
Sean Huempfner
GREEN-CHEEKED CONURE
"Out of all the birds that I've dealt with, conures are the most eccentric. We had a Green-cheeked conure that was very antisocial and temperamental. Generally, we were unable to pick him up without a good chance of being bit. One day, while playing video games, I saw him dancing on the edge of his cage, acting like he wanted to be picked up. Apparently, the images on the video game were catching his attention. After cautiously picking him up, and not getting nipped for my efforts, he spent the remainder of the night on his play gym next to me, contently watching me play video games. He enjoyed this so much that this became our weekly "boys' time" for many years."
Shane McKibben
GREEN-CHEEKED CONURE
"Our breeding Green-cheeked conures had just given birth to a new clutch of eggs. Within the same week, a sheltie that we were to acquire was also born. Shortly after we got the puppy home, one of the baby conures bonded with her larger, furrier "brother." The sheltie, Oliver, would prance and nip at the conure, whom we named Chloe, while Chloe fended off her mock attacker. Surprisingly, Oliver treated all the other conures with indifference, choosing only to play with his "sister" Chloe. Even though three years have passed since they were both babies, they still frolic as such when they are together."
Paula Larson
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