How are you today, Yaz?

As a follow up to the narrative on how quickly Yaz destroys pinatas (I removed another one today, or at least its pitiful remains) I have finally managed to get a video of him in action on his playtop, in the final stages of destruction.

It is easy to see how obsessed he is with pinatas. If your volume is up loud enough, you can hear his cute little squeaks and grunts. Another clue is how red the bare patches around his eyes get!

I was actually trying to get a video of him dancing and snapping, something he does almost non-stop. Despite that, I have very few good videos of it, as he usually stops when he sees the camera. He is not particularly camera shy, like some of my birds, so I am not sure why he won't dance or snap for the camera readily. Every time I tried to take a video today, as usual, he started doing something else. Here is a video to show you just what I mean:

I did finally manage to get a short one, showing some of his beat skills. Not the best, as he can really get into it, but at least it was something! And after trying so hard to get it, I was not about to leave it out!

History of a Pinata + Yaz

Just a note to anyone that is considering a parrot as a possible companion - when you read "toys are meant to be destroyed", "you will spend a lot of money monthly on toys", "birds live to chew, it often seems" or anything else along those lines, don't discount it. It is absolutely true!

Below is a picture narrative on what happens to toys in the beaks of parrots. Keep in mind that this pinata was destroyed by a parrot less than 1/3 its size, a Nanday Conure.

Lovely $16 pinata, before being placed in Yaz's cage
(though he had chewed a bit on it when he found it in the toy hammock)

Poor pinata remains after just 3 days of Yaz's beak.

Poor pinata remains made into an entirely new toy!
Even with blocks of wood it will not last very long with Yaz.

The party guilty of above destruction, trying to hide
behind yet another destroyed pinata.

I did manage to catch him mid-dance, as he was playing
with the stick.

However, he stopped upon noticing the camera,
and ran behind the pinata remains,
though not before giving me an irritated stare!

Happy New Year!

I hope 2009 is a wonderful year for everyone, including Planet Earth and all her creatures!

Watching TV last night, like every year, I got my year's dose of many types of music, you might say. Nothing against them, what music you like is very personal, but most of what I heard last night really wasn't for me. So, as I wondered why anyone could go through an entire song without saying an intelligible word, I got to thinking about what type of music my birds like best. Their taste really varies, in fact, the only way I know some of their favorite song types is by soundtracks. Soundtracks are big pleasers around here! On the average soundtrack for the average happy movie, you usually have orchestra music, an upbeat song, and a quiet/sad song, along with whatever else they felt the need to throw in. The whatever else is where I find out the distinct tastes for music types some of my birds have!

Peter- Peter is tricky. He loves any happy, bouncy music, but what he really likes is Latin American music, or something electronic, with very fast words in funny voices. Not very many songs here fit that, but again, soundtracks can be amazing crowd pleasers!

Ava- Ava usually prefers nature sounds, or soft piano music, though if she is in the mood she will also sing and dance along quite happily to the same fast word songs Peter likes.

Yo-yo- Yo-yo loves music! I believe this is because he is actually a composer in disguise. This is evident by the whistled concertos he composes, and his favorite Patriotic mix, an original blend of Yankee Doodle, 1812 Overture, and several marching songs. He loves listening to happy, bouncy music. However, his favorite type of music to listen to are big Orchestras. As soon as I put on a CD of waltzes or Beethoven, for instance, he immediately starts whistling along right with the music, in the most remarkable fashion. You may have heard of the dancing Snowball, but the whistling (and dancing the whole time, of course) Yo-yo has him beat!

Miss Patty- she is a tuff one. I have not found a song she really seems to enjoy, though she does calm down quite a bit with the nature sounds. She is not very fond of any music Yo-yo likes, as she doesn't seem to like the way he starts dancing around, walking away, and then walking back to whistle right in her ear!

Frank- Frank likes anything, absolutely anything, though he prefers it to have words he can sing along with. Lacking words, he will hum happily away, or add his own words (usually a mixture of "Fraaaaank, Good Booooy, Frank!" and "I'mmmm a sweeeeet Fraaaank! Good Birddddd!" None of these phrases is usually true, however much he wants to sing them!) He loves singing along to just about anything, though he usually prefers female voices, with a few exceptions, since they are easier for him to sing with. Or easier for him to think he is singing with, Frank is pretty much tone-deaf, though no one has the heart to tell him.

Lola- Lola loves Christmas songs best, hands down. It doesn't seem to matter whether it is a piano, a choir, or just one person singing happily, they are her favorite. Besides Christmas music, she likes anything with a strong beat she can dance with.

Yaz- Yaz is not picky about his music, period. He likes strong beats, but lacking a strong beat, he will create one. He dances to anything and everything, and makes his snapping noise along with the music. The only problem for onlookers would be Yaz's inability to keep the same tempo to save him!

Claudia- Claudia loves just about any music, as do most of my birds. However, she does have some definite favorites. For one, she calms down considerably, and sometimes even softly sings along with, nature sounds and soft piano music. She also sings along wildly with waltz music. This annoys Yo-yo no end, as Claudia, sweet as she is, is the "worst singer" here. Beeps, whistles, words, and any other noise she can make are all over the place, at all different volumes, with the occasional fire alarm thrown in for good measure. She is so joyful, it is hilarious to watch her sing, and even funnier to watch Yo-yo get all huffy trying to correct her!

Chester- Chester really shows very little preference. I think I might have heard him singing along with some of that ever favored happy, bouncy music, but I cannot be sure. As with most my birds, he does calm down listening to nature sounds and soft piano music, but not to the degree the others do.

Really a great variety of tastes!

Yaz and his new bell toy

I like to redecorate the birds' cages totally at each big cleaning, for the different seasons, or in this case, holidays. Yaz loves his bells, so his Christmas bell toy is just simply three bells on chains (stainless steel), with some green plastic chain. This really simple toy, I have found out, is far more popular with him than his other (bought) bell toys. Yesterday, I came upstairs running, fearing he was caught on something, because of all the flapping and yelling. Upon entering the bird room, I find Yaz hanging upside down from the toy, fluffed beyond recognition, with his wings out, flapping, swinging all around. I have never seen him play this hard with anything! There were feathers all over, of all sizes (he is molting). He got back on the on the perch when I came in, danced a little, and then climbed back up on his bell toy and started flapping. Next step - try to get a video, which will always be easier said than done.

Yaz, Nanday Conure

And Mister Yaz Man, the last addition to this feathered family. He is such a sweet little conure, with relatively few behavior problems, other than the very obvious plucking issue. He also has learned to yell for attention, but that is slowly getting much better.

Yaz came from a lady where he was the only bird. He had lived with them for many years, and was always out with them, getting attention. Until they brought home a dog and cat, that is. After that, Yaz was put on the back burner. He slowly got less and less attention, and spent more and more time in his tiny cage, with little to do. He is terrified of cats, so I can only assume the cat in that household hunted him. After ten years of Yaz living there, and after Yaz had plucked all the feathers on his chest down past his vent and his legs, as well as all of those under his wings, and many on the top of his wings and around his neck, they decided to rehome him. After I saw how unhappy he looked, very quiet and subdued, he just had to come home to live with us.

He has always been very tame, after given a couple of weeks to get to know us. He is very sweet, and his plucking is getting much better. He plucks very little now, so we are simply waiting to see which feathers will grow in. He loves playing and dancing. In fact, one of his favorite things to do is to dance around with you, turning and waving, while making snapping noises. He has also learned to accept our other birds, though he is still definitely a people bonded bird. Really, I don't think I will ever regret bringing him home.

The Yaz Man, enjoying some window watching.

Getting a little closer to the window, gotta
keep an eye one everything out there.

Yaz, making sure my fingers are very clean.