Caique

So...fast forward to almost a month living with a Caique. I think FC is one of the strangest birds I have lived with. If a bird could be bi-polar, this bird is. From everything I have read though, this IS the nature of black headed caiques. She makes Mr P seem like a very calm, quiet, easy going bird when compared with her. Think about THAT for a minute! LOL

One thing, that I didnt know is that she talks. A lot. All day. Even at night. When she is covered. Or gets up to eat in the middle of the night. She never seems to stop talking. Ever. If she is not talking, she is beeping like the microwave, making noises similar to R2D2, whistling, or doing her Caique flock call which can be loud although not like Daisy the Goffins' was.

She bites. HARD. Harder than a quaker. When she bites, she digs her beak into whatever she has bitten and crushes down as hard as she can, then she twists. She does not let go. She will hang there biting the chosen body part as hard as she can. It bleeds. All over everything.

She has conversations with herself. I am guessing she was in a main room in her last home and the couple who lived there would have conversations and she would hear them, but they'd be distant and muffled because maybe she was in the dining room and they were in the living room. The couple apparently got along fine, because the conversation contains a lot of laughter.

It normally goes something like this (many times throughout the day)

oh. I know, I know, I know!

Fine. Fine. Fine. I hear you (or something about hearing, I can't quite make it out)

then both male AND female laughter. She definately has 2 different laughs and voices she is imitating

Then, she starts over. From the beginning. She always laughs in the same place.

When I walk into the room she is in , she says Hi Mommy, throws kisses and says Pretty pretty pretty bird. She changes the amount of times she repeats the word pretty. The more excited she is, the more she says pretty.

At night, she goes into her hut until you get the cage cover. As soon as she sees you with the cover, she runs out of her hut so she can chew on the cage cover after you cover her. She also likes to shred the newspaper in the cage which I have started leaving down there on purpose so she is shredding clean paper. When shes shredding paper and chewing on the cage cover she says (the entire time) FruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuitCaique, with a huge emphsasis on the FRU part of fruit. This is the only time she says her name that way, most of the time she says like you or I would.

Although I wouldnt say she HATES women, which is what I was told, she prefers men. We have gone (with quite a bit of work on my end) from maniacally attacking the woman when the man is in the room, to tolerating the female's presence and maybe stepping up onto the females hand without biting her. When a man isnt around, she will in fact bond to the woman that is her primary caretaker if the woman goes out of her way to feed her yummies and give her a LOT of attention which are the 2 things she likes best.

When the man isnt around and she likes the woman, she is a clown. She whistles to get the woman's attention and figures out what to say to make the woman look at her and laugh. She will sit on the woman's hand for short periods of time even without a bribe. Today she actually rubbed her cheek against my finger when I asked her to step up, then wanted to climb up my arm (first time she has tried) which of course, due to her bi polar nature, I would not let her do

Anyway, it has been an incredible learning experience for me. Her moods can turn in an instant and you have to be constantly aware of what she is doing if she is within beak's reach of you.

We have a potential adopter for her but I'm not sure she is ready to go to a male/female couple without a little more work. We'll see.

I will say this. IF I was considering another bird to adopt (which I'm not), it would not be a Caique, no offense to anyone out there. We just had one come back into rescue. He lasted in his adoptive home like 3 weeks before he bit both his parronts hard and repeatedly that they brought him back. The original meet and greet that all adopter do when interested in a bird from the Rescue, went really well. The bird was fine for a week before he started his agression.

You are sure working hard, and it must be exciting to see some progress. Hopefully any new owners will understand there is lots of work to continue.

I've only seen caiques in photos but they sure sound like quite a handful.

Wow, the caique I took care of wasn't aggressive at all. He was a clown and would hang upside down in his cage and scream when he wanted out of his cage. He never bit me though. I'm glad you're working with her though. You're a saint!!! He was a white belly, wonder if that makes a difference?

Wow, I'm sorry that this one is so difficult!

Wow, Sharyn. You've got quite a project on your hands here! I've only played with some Caiques briefly at the parrot store nearby, but they were fun at the time... This one sounds like quite a handful. Sounds like you're doing great though. The imitation of both parts of the conversation is pretty cute too