"he's gone full popcorn!" (birds puff out their feathers when fierce and a puffy cockatoo=popcorn)

[cimorene]

me: [SHOWING MY WIFE MY NEW SULPHUR-CRESTED COCKATOO PHONE BACKGROUND AND PALM COCKATOO LOCKSCREEN]
waxjism: So are you in parrot fandom now?
me: [SHRUG EMOJI]

Specific parrot species that I am especially fond of include the palm cockatoo, the umbrella cockatoo, and every other kind of cockatoo; the caique; the budgie; the cockatiel; the rainbow lorikeet; and most recently, thanks to krait for informing me of their existence, the pacific parrotlet (but I also spent a long time looking at pictures of other types of parrotlets).

Specific individual birds that I am a fan of include Gotcha the cockatoo, Harley the cockatoo, Pedro the talking budgie (there's several videos of him talking nonstop for 20+ minutes 😂), Alex the honking cockatiel (his 'honk' is more of a squeaky toy squeak), and Charlie the parrotlet. Finally, allow me to include this parrots swearing compilation, because it's a beautiful and amazing thing when the tiny budgie says "Fuck off".

Comments

[lazaefair]

because it's a beautiful and amazing thing when the tiny budgie says "Fuck off".

THANK YOU.

[krait]

Yesss!!

Another convert for the flock. So to speak. :D

...Now I need a parrotlet icon, I suppose.

Oh, and a drive-by fun video rec: Mikey the Macaw and his owner: Don't buy a Macaw! Unless

Their aviary setup is excellent - especially for a couple living in a flat! - and a few excellent clips of recall training. They also make some sobering points about parrot ownership (Mikey's owner now effectively can't move back to his home country!) with good humour. :D

[cimorene]

Haha, wow... that's a bit worse than I realized. The idea of impulse-getting a macaw is pretty impressive though.

OMG have you seen the video of Charlie the parrotlet putting his money in the bank??????

[krait]

Yeah, the casualty count of TVs and sofas was even higher than I had thought! :D But good on them for resigning themselves to destruction, and having a laugh at it. "But hey, if you thought, I've been meaning to start a very very slow demolition of my house and just don't have the money to do, that, buy yourself a macaw."

That. Parrotlet. Is. Adorable!! HE HAS A DARTBOARD! HE SORTS THE BUTTONS BY COLOR!

[cimorene]

Omg, the tvs. They need like a plexiglass box around it, like a museum display! 😅

[krait]

Yeah, I kept thinking, is there any way to build a niche into the wall with a sliding glass front, or something?

Though who am I kidding, TVs are now as disposable as anything else; people get rid of them after five years anyway, even if a parrot hasn't been gnawing on them.

[cimorene]

Not EVERYBODY does, but yeah, they definitely break much faster these days as a rule.

A glass-fronted cabinet, or plexi for that matter, would actually probably be really tough to watch through because of the glare. It might actually be easier to watch through like, a layer of chickenwire... ?

[krait]

Oh, yeah, they're designed to break in five years! It's so annoying.

A birdie-beak would snip through chicken wire like thread; your TV might last an extra two weeks behind chicken wire, but I don't like its chances. :D Unless you wanna put your TV in the birdcage you're not using, with solid quarter-inch bars, I don't think anything short of a solid sheet of glass (or maaaybe thick plexi? But if the corners are exposed I think that would eventually get gnawed to the point where it's hard to see through due to scratches or cracks) is going to save it.

Maybe some kind of anti-glare coating could be applied to the glass? Or hanging blackout curtains in the room to block any glare sources? (You'd have to watch in the dark! Which actually might discourage the bird from wanting to be in there, or make him a little calmer? Hmm...)

[cimorene]

I love Charlie 😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️