Post by siobhan on Oct 2, 2015 12:46:49 GMT -5
Clyde has been preening me for almost as long as he's had me. His favorite thing is my eyebrows and hair, but he's also removed a mole (ouch). Benjy does a little preening of me but he'd rather sing to my thumb (I wish I knew why he does THAT). Maggie likes to preen my face. Even Jade has a go at my hair occasionally. Ringo generally just pecks at things she thinks need to be removed.
To me, having a bird preen you is what birds DO. But until the last few days, Rocky never made any attempt. He lets me preen him and enjoys it, and considering his beak, I wasn't too keen on having him preen me, anyway. But then the other day he noticed a pimple on my face (I am too old to still get pimples, Dear Universe!!!) and he was ever so gentle as he fiddled with it and decided it was okay where it was (unlike Clyde). Then yesterday he decided to rearrange my hair and again, was so delicate and gentle you'd never know he had that giant beak. It's as if he knows he has to be extremely careful. Last night he saw a scab on my thumb (piano playing injury; I was trying to channel Jerry Lee Lewis, LOL) and he explored it very, very gently. It's kind of amazing in two ways. One, that he's finally settled in to the point where he feels it's his duty to preen me, too, and two, that he can manage such a light touch and be so careful. He definitely knows exactly how hard to bite down when all he wants is to deliver a message (I have to poop NOW, Mom, and if you don't want it on your clothes, we need to go back to my cage. NOW!) without breaking the skin or doing any lasting damage, so I suppose it's reasonable that he can also ratchet back to preen. I'm kind of amazed that he WANTS to be that gentle. Clyde doesn't. Clyde's been trying to remove a scar on my eyebrow for years. He just grabs and yanks as hard as he can.
To me, having a bird preen you is what birds DO. But until the last few days, Rocky never made any attempt. He lets me preen him and enjoys it, and considering his beak, I wasn't too keen on having him preen me, anyway. But then the other day he noticed a pimple on my face (I am too old to still get pimples, Dear Universe!!!) and he was ever so gentle as he fiddled with it and decided it was okay where it was (unlike Clyde). Then yesterday he decided to rearrange my hair and again, was so delicate and gentle you'd never know he had that giant beak. It's as if he knows he has to be extremely careful. Last night he saw a scab on my thumb (piano playing injury; I was trying to channel Jerry Lee Lewis, LOL) and he explored it very, very gently. It's kind of amazing in two ways. One, that he's finally settled in to the point where he feels it's his duty to preen me, too, and two, that he can manage such a light touch and be so careful. He definitely knows exactly how hard to bite down when all he wants is to deliver a message (I have to poop NOW, Mom, and if you don't want it on your clothes, we need to go back to my cage. NOW!) without breaking the skin or doing any lasting damage, so I suppose it's reasonable that he can also ratchet back to preen. I'm kind of amazed that he WANTS to be that gentle. Clyde doesn't. Clyde's been trying to remove a scar on my eyebrow for years. He just grabs and yanks as hard as he can.
I'm doing my best to avoid becoming a sterotypical old geezer, but I do have my moments.