not much new to report about zeba. from the past few days. we have brought in another foster amazon, which has peaked zeba's interest, but they will not be meeting face-to-face for at least 2 months (quarantine!).

zeba continues to be very mellow with me. he preens my hair, he loves to just hang out on the back of the sofa while i sit next him. he eats well, poops well...he still doesnt really play with much of the toys in his cage, but he does seem to like to chew on shreddable things.

zeba still doesn't seem to mind when my husband moves slowly around the living room. just when my husband shows some excitement when talking to another bird, then zeba tries to swoop down on him.

zeba will also try and attack toes - it doesn't matter if its mine or my husbands. it maybe a warning to make sure that we keep away and not accidentally step on him. i keep him at bay by placing the "step up" stick between me and him, which he usually ends up stepping up on, and i can take him back to his cage or somewhere less tempting for him to chew off my toes. :-)

ps: zeba has a really good wolf whistle now. whenever he gets excited and starts talking up a storm with the other birds, he sometimes starts to whistle. i have been whistling the wolf whistle back at him and he has been imitating me very well.

last night, zeba was in a "cuddly" mode. i opened his cage and he came straight to me on the couch and gently preened my hair. since my hair is a little long, i had to help untangle him from it a couple of times, but he just kept preening. lol. and i got to preen him a while too.

zeba did not attack my husband this time, although i stood between zeba and my husband as he went to clean our amazon's cage (just in case).

zeba has also been eating like a PIG lately when it comes to the pellets. upon coming home, i saw that he pretty much ate this whole bowl empty! i've never seen this before with him.

not much else to report.

p.s. zeba loves peas (fresh, in the pod) and fresh edamame (i get them shelled).

this past weekend showed more progress with zeba - to an extent.

zeba still allows my husband to scratch his head. whenever my husband is calm and moves calmly - on staring at zeba eye-to-eye - zeba is calm. zeba will allow my husband to move around the living room without getting ready to attack as long as my husband shows no excitement.

once my husband talks in a excited tone with other birds, or even at the tv, zeba gets into position and launches himself in my husband's direction. once on the ground, zeba shows no mercy and tries to latch on to his feet.

one such occasion happened during the weekend. my husband forgot that zeba was lounging with me on the sofa and he got up from his chair at his computer, walked up to his amazon and started to talk happily with him. well, zeba did his thing and launched himself in the air, flapped furiously and tried many times to run and attack my husband's feet. my husband agilely dodged most of zeba's attacks. zeba did get hold of his house shoe and held on as my husband jumped on one foot with zeba hanging off of the one in the air.

anyways, i offered to get zeba, but my husband wanted to handle this a bit. so he put up a towel barrier between his feet and zeba and talked to zeba for a few seconds. then after a little bit he allowed me to go and get him to step up on to a stick. zeba still looked a bit aggressive with his tail splayed and his neck feathers on-end, but he didnt try to jump at my husband again. i placed him in his cage to cool off.

this may just be something that can be worked out with time, but zeba sure needs patience and dedication for him to overcome this aggression. i can't say whether this aggression comes from fear (due to his previoius owners he has had) or from pure hormonal rage (since it is spring!)...to know this is to be able to live with him for at least a full year and see how he is during each season.

after-bath zeba pics from today...

Monday - zeba jump-attacked my husband, fortunately zeba didn't reach him with his beak. husband doesn't blame zeba for the attack tho. there were some movement going on when it happened, probably a little too much for zeba and he lashed out at the closest person - my husband. i was getting up from the sofa where zeba was to put the conures on their play stand, my amazon was making some noise on his playstand, and my husband was sitting at his computer and was moving his chair backwards (towards the sofa where zeba was) to get up. a very minor "set back" considering just a few minutes earlier, my husband - for the FIRST time - tried to give zeba a piece of walnut while zeba was OUTSIDE of his cage. zeba accepted the nut very calmly and nicely. YAY!

Yesterday i took my conures out on their playstand and i put my amazon on his playstand. then i took zeba out of his cage and set him on top. but all he wanted was to be near the other birds, so i got the idea (not sure exactly if it was good or bad....) of putting zeba into my amazon's cage with his much closer to the playstands so he can actually be around them, plus that cage is so big (its more of a macaw cage: 40" wide, 70" tall about 24" deep) that its like a play area). oh my, it was yelling, talking, noise-making all around. i dont think my amazon liked the idea of the intruder in his cage, but he soon quieted down and just enjoyed being on his playstand. zeba was climbing all over the place in the cage. i think he enjoyed it, especially being able to be so close to the other birds (at least to the other amazon, anyway).

i have been continuing zeba's target training (he is doing very well on that...i will have to think of more complicated tasks somehow) and i have also added a wooden ring into the picture. at first i rewarded zeba when he touched the ring with his beak. now i just reward him when he holds on to the ring for at least 3 seconds. he is quite a fast learner. the main thing is getting him used to the object. he is VERY wary of new things. once he gets over the initial fear of something, he does really well in learning. what i hope to take this (the holding of the ring) to the level of him placing the ring over a stick...something like a ring toss for birds, only he doesnt have to toss it, he just has to place it over the stick.

zeba doesn't really seem to be a forager. i have a pretty "simple" foraging toy in his cage where he could actually see a little of the goodies in the wooden foraging toy, but he doesn't really touch it.

zeba has shown a LOVE for the birdie kabob - soft pieces of balsa wood threaded on a sisal string. after beaking it a few times on the first day, he has now ripped it up pretty well. i think i will have to give him a new one today.

zeba likes apples, carrots (cooked), corn (what bird doesnt!), pizza crust (as a treat..shouldn't be part of the staple diet), pasta, rice...i put in a whole bunch of shredded veggies (i love my new food processor) in his food bowl for breakfast and dinner, so i dont know what else he loves from that. this week in the veggie mix is:
spinach
jalepeno pepper
carrots
broccoli
zucchini
red bell pepper
parsley

in addition to a beak appetite/various cooked beans mix.

just to make sure they take in some vitamin A, i also mix in some organic baby food pureed carrots or sweet potatoes.

next week, i'll probably give some brussel sprouts and collard greens instead of spinach in the veggie mix. its good to keep changing things so that they don't get bored with the food.

what i also do, if i do have the same stuff to give them is to play around with different condiments...italian seasonings, oregano, crushed dried red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, or a little dab of honey. i also sometimes sprinkle some regular quaker oatmeal over everything.

this whole weekend was a BREAKTHROUGH for zeba, i think!

on saturday and sunday, i was actually able to have zeba out of his cage, sitting with me on the couch in the living room AND have my husband seated at his computer (also in the living room) at the same time with NO attacking from zeba! zeba is more comfortable if my husband is facing his computer monitor (he can't really see my husband then), but every once in a while my husband would peek around his chair and say hi. zeba would become more alert, but won't try to run and attack him.

that was absolutely wonderful! we also took our amazon out of his cage and set him on his playstand about 8 feet away from the sofa where i sat and they were completely fine, just eyeing eachother a little. i think that just having zeba out in the living room, makes him more aware of the "flock" that lives under this roof and just feels more comfortable around everyone.

as each day passed after i introduced zeba out into the living room, i can see that he is feeling much more comfortable. his eyes pin less, his feathers are more fluffed and relaxed...

today, zeba even started playing around with me. he will put a foot on my hand as i scratch his head and he would gently beak my fingers, then push his head into the palm of my hand to get a good rub. its something like a gentle and playful wrestling. he used to want to play around like this in the bedroom and i was actually able to flip him onto his back while playing and he didnt even notice. lol.

im really happy that zeba is such a happy, adaptable, friendly and playful bird. and i can finally have him out of his cage most of the time in the living room with the rest of the birds AND my husband, instead of being isolated and having to go to the bedroom to have some out of cage time. this is SUCH GREAT SUCCESS.

zeba still shows his head/wing-flit every once in a while, mostly when he is completely contented and a little dozy and i try to excite him a little with some talking and noise-making. its actually kinda cute when i know that it isn't a health detriment. :-)

more zeba pics! yipee!!

oh, i guess i should explain some...most of these pictures were taken this past friday. we enjoyed some sun in our spare bedroom. (i offered to take zeba to the beach, but he didn't feel like getting in to the travel carrier so we did this instead). the pics where zeba looks a little brown on his stomach was taken after his bath today (sunday).

more zeba pics! yipee!!

more zeba pics! yipee!!

more zeba pics! yipee!!

zeba talking in the shower:

actually, in the beginning of this, im making the most noise (keep in mind that we were in the shower a few minutes already before this film was taken, so he WAS more talkative before this and picked it up later in the film. :-)

ps: i swear, i was just giving him a shower...even tho it might sound like i am killing him or something by the way he moans. lol...silly bird!

okay, so zeba is not perfect. lol

i just realized that most of the stuff i have written tells of a cuddly, lovey side of zeba (except for when i talk about him and my husband..).

well, yesterday was a case where zeba just didnt really want to interact with humans much. i think it was the hormones raging in him.

i took him into the bedroom so that he could roam around freely, and i did my thing as zeba did his own thing. well, after a few minutes, zeba usually wanders over to me for some companionship, but that night, he was checking out a small hole (that i mostly covered up with my night desk, but you could still see a crack of the hole) and im sure just seeing that dark, small opening made him want to nest. when i tried to approach him, he occasionally lunged at me. i gave him a firm no, backed off a little and he stopped and went back to whatever he was doing.

so to avoid anymore lunging that night, i covered up that little hole he was seeing and he wasn't soooo hormonal...but the funny thing was that when ever i looked at him, he would show displacement behavior - he would look at me, then, realizing i was looking at him, he would nibble at his feet. its like him saying "what? im not doing anything....see? im just nibbling at my feet...". lol its like he knows he is doing something that i might not like and he is trying to show me that he's "innocent".

zeba still shows my husband that he is not allowed to interact with him outside of the cage. inside the cage, zeba gets initially excited when my husband first approaches him, but soon calms down and allows him to scratch his head while my husband calmly talks to him.

when zeba is roaming around the bedroom, though, zeba runs with an open beak and flayed tail towards my husband, fully intent on biting him. this happens whether i am in the bedroom or not. we will have to find a way to somehow try to get them to interact with eachother in a completely neutral room with me out of the picture (zeba might be more on alert to protect me if i am present).

zeba is progressing nicely. ever since we moved him out into the living room, zeba has a chance to interact with my husband every day - whether it is ambient or one-on-one. this has been a VERY good thing because zeba is slowly accepting my husband's presence and doesn't get anywhere near the level of excitement/aggression he used to be at before.

yesterday, i cleaned zeba's cage before putting him to bed, so i placed him on a playstand about 10 feet away from my husband's desk. well, while cleaning, my husband had to go to his desk, so he slowly approached it. before, zeba would've jump/flown at my husband just at the SIGHT of him. now, my husband was able to sit at his desk as zeba watched on. i also had to pass my husband's desk to get to zeba's cage, so when i got zeba and moved to his cage, i gave him a small piece of walnut while passing my husband and zeba didn't even look for my husband - he just ate happily on his piece of walnut.

needless to say, i lavished him with praise and a few more bits of walnut!

this change could've also come from us clipping his toenails and 3 more wing feathers on each side. zeba could easily clear 20 feet (or more) before landing on the ground, and i've seen him flap his wings and actually keep his distance from the ground for a second or two. so we thought he could use a little more wing trim. now, he doesn't fall like a rock, but can only clear about 5 - 10 feet at most.

you can also tell that zeba is getting used to my husband's presence by seeing how zeba will come to eat from his food bowl while my husband and i are seated next to his cage, at the dining table. when we brought him out to the living room, he rarely went near his food bowl while my husband and i sat so close to him, but now, he will eat with his "flock". its sooooo cool to see him progressing so well!

note: zeba loves cooked carrots. raw carrots he doesn't touch, but steamed ones...mmmmmmmmmm....

he also likes cheese (stay away from mozzarella tho...this can lead to problems with the crop).

zeba continues to be a funny, cute guy, for me anyways.. (once the weather gets warmer, we will have to take him outside (in a carrier) and see how he does with other people). while i sit on the sofa (which stands right next to zeba's cage) zeba will occasionally make these cute sounds, its not a constant thing, but every once in a while you'll hear something like a squeek or low grumble from his cage. i guess you could say its his own way of purring. LOL. i'd answer him back and it will become an back-and-forth thing. my husband is in the room and he would just start laughing because his sounds are so adorable! my husband lovingly calls him an ewok (from the star wars film) because of his little sounds, but i think he sounds more like an r2d2. lol maybe i can catch some of his noises on film.

zeba's after-dinner face!

tuesday was the last day i wrote in this blog, so i feel its time for another entry.

not much has changed since the last report. i think i will have to towel zeba and cut his nails. ugh...NOT looking forward to it. i haven't been able to get too close with the nail file.

zeba, i believe, is getting better around my husband. whenever i see them interacting, zeba allows him to preen his head and neck feathers. its so great! we will have to work slowly on introducing zeba and my husband while zeba is outside of his cage.

i do have to work on zeba stepping up on my hand. he has been doing very well on stepping up to a stick (big difference from when he used to be chased by a broom and being REALLY afraid of sticks).

when he has out-of-cage time, i just let him do what he wishes and roam around my bedroom. he usually ends up on me somewhere to get some attention.

and i am happy to report that zeba is slowly starting to play with his toys. i put in a birdie kabob and i saw him yesterday beaking it, unsure of what it is. but he sure seemed interested.

zeba LOVES to hang upside-down when he goes into his talking mode. not sure exactly why, but i think it just attracts more attention to himself.

what i learned from zeba #1:

To forgive is not to forget, but to learn and move on.