Kiki has coming to 11 months old and soon be turning 1 year old by late June this year. Kiki was merely with us since August 2007, with a short 9 months companionship she had learned a surprising numbers of tricks.

Last night, I was updating the “About” section, suprisingly I notice I’ve taught 16 tricks and commands in total. Till date, she’s able to perform each and every tricks and commands with no problems at all (although at certain occassion there might be hiccups here and there, but minor mistakes can easily be fine tuned).

I do hope her enthusiasm in learning tricks never ends!

Kiki did it again! Remember on my last post, I mentioned that Kiki is a boy when “she” was caught doing “that thing” again. Perhaps the right word to use to explain “that thing” should be MASTURBATION!

Last Evening, I caught “her” on tape, doing “that thing” to a face towel. “She” has been doing that so frequently, partly due to maturity and triggered into breeding behavior. High sexual drive and simply hard to stop for “her” from doing it, I guess. “She” just one horny freak!

Till now we still assume “her” as a female and still calling her Kiki, although should be time to rename “her” to boyish name. We are so used to calling “her” Kiki. I’m also sure that “she” is already conditioned to the name, Kiki for so long. Changing to a new name, will just make “her” more uncomfortable.

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Kiki might be a Boy!

Kiki is a real talent in becoming one of the best Escape Artist. Don’t be surprise, she’s able to open the cage and free herself in less than 20 seconds. Totally no joke, I caught her on video this afternoon doing the stunt:

She still challenging herself in setting a record of shortest time to free herself. Not only is a challenge for her , but also a challenge for me and my mum, because we have to be extra careful to ensure the cage is fully secured with an additional lock/cable tie before leaving the home for work.

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Kiki’s attempt to lift open the cage door

Have you ever thought of why parrots love to wipe their beaks on their perches and other hard objects?

I happened to capture another a short clip of Kiki, my lovebird wiping her beak after a water bath earlier on. It’s really funny to see her doing it.

All parrots do this. It’s a normal behavior and a natural thing to do, usually happens after eating and bathing. Wiping their beaks on the perch will help them wipe off foreign objects (like food) that stick on their beaks. They also do that to wipe off excess water when their beaks are wet.

I had read before an article highlighting that wiping of beaks can be an indication to mark territory for some parrots. It usually happens when parrots are introduced to new faces and new bird in their area.

Never knew that such simple action of beak wiping can interpret so much meanings.

By the way, did you notice something at the end of the video clip, when Kermit, my Senegal Parrot in the background?

He doesn’t seem happy at all, because the food bowl on the play-stand belongs to Kermit. Furthermore, Kiki is happily rewarding herself with the premium seed mixes on the play-stand. You can’t blame him for giving the stare. Poor thing!

What a deliberately “hijacking” of the food bowl by Kiki. That’s really daring stint from her. However, indeed an adventure for a hot sunny afternoon!

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Warmer Climate = Frequent Water Bath

The weather has indeed changed a lot due to global warming. Not only the entire human race has realize the changes in climate, but animals like parrots also notice the big difference.

The frequency of water bath taken by Kiki has seems to gradually increase from one to twice daily. It’s a natural instinct, that Kiki will dunk herself into the water bowl once in the morning and the other time in the late afternoon. I have to change her water bowl frequently, couple of times a day, to ensure she has clean water all time.

I happen to capture Kiki bathing in action during the late afternoon after her “tea-break” treats to premium seed mixes.

Kiki initially was water bathing in the water bowl at Kermit’s play-stand. Soon after she was chased off by Kermit, and she gladly returned back to her own ceramic water bowl continuing her water bath.

I’m sure the water bath helps to cool down the rising heat. Kiki must have enjoyed it.

I can strongly feel how much Kiki appreciates her roosting box that was erected for her two months ago. Basically it’s made out of a plastic container (widely available at any tupperware store, even a used ice-cream tub is suitable), with a cut-out at the top lid as entrance.

I’m planning constructing one for Kermit. Of course, this round it won’t be made of a plastic container, because of the vast different in physical size between Kiki and Kermit. Most probably, I will need to customize a roosting box that is with a dimension of 9-10inch square base and 15inch in height. The following dimension should be sufficient enough for Kermit to move without much limitation. More research has to be done, before commencing the DIY Roosting Box project.

Many might wonder: What’s the different between a roosting box and a nesting box? What’s the need of furnishing the cage with a roosting box?

The difference between a roosting box and a nesting box, is that the roosting box appears to have a bigger entrance. The bigger entrance will allow sufficient daytime within the roosting box, thus this will reduce the possibility of triggering breeding behavior of the parrots.

Next, there are so much benefits of having a roosting box. A roosting box provide a place for parrots where they can withdraw and hide whenever they feel threatened. This gives parrots a sense of security and does build up their confidence in a way. It’s a one-stop in providing shelter, warmth cozy spot for parrots during cold weather. It can be an ideal solution to “block off” disturbance and noise from the household environments, thus I guess it perfect way to ensure our parrots, doing in busy households, have uninterrupted sleep throughout the night.

I’ve ever come across with an article written by a well-known ornithologist indicating that providing a roosting box in the cage is one effective method in combating excessive vocalization. Parrots will not make any loud vocalization or scream excessively whenever they are inside the box. I totally agree with this fact. Kiki seems to be rather quiet most of the time.

Since there are so many advantages, why not let our feathered pals have a roosting box of their own. I believe they will gladly appreciate it, rather than politely rejecting it.

I always identify Kiki as a female because of her aggressiveness and feminine behavior (like shredding papers in thin strips) which are more resemblance to the natural characteristics of a female lovebird. My mum always think that way too!

A recent footage of Kiki doing some actions might prove that my assumption might be wrong all while. Below is the footage that was taken this morning before Kiki’s breakfast. Just to warn you, this footage might not be suitable for minors!

Kiki has been rubbing her vent or maybe I should use HIS vent on HIS preening toys lately, and has been very frequently too. If I’m wrong, Kiki might be already triggered in breeding mode. Does that means it’s time to get a girlfriend for him?

Happy New Year! Finally we are all now in year 2008! In fact I’m introducing a new trick to Kiki to perform in a new year. Thanks YuFFie for giving the suggestion of this new trick, and yes it’s a simple trick called Cups Stacking Trick. The learning progress is absolutely good and Kiki had completely mastered the whole procedures within 3 days during the holiday seasons, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day respectively.

I’ve yet to get my brother to video it down and upload to YouTube. Hopefully I will be able to share with everyone the video on Kiki performing the Cups Stacking Trick. My mum and dad enjoyed Kiki performing this trick, it’s so amusing seeing her doing it. It’s so funny! I’m sure everyone will enjoy it.

Remember to stay tune!

Merry Christmas to everyone! It’s a festive season when everyone get to enjoy and relax during the holiday, but someone refuse to let me ease off during the day. Surprisingly when I got back home after lunch and going to the room to check out how’s Kiki doing, soon I noticed something is not quite right. Look at what Kiki had done!

I found the 2 parts of the chains and the bell handle were detached and dropped to the bottom of the cage. I have to admit Kiki is really getting on my nerves, she really testing my patience! Getting it fix was a challenging task, the chains of the bell are way too tiny that neither my tools in the toolbox are able to fit. I had to end up borrowing a tweezer from Mum’s sewing kit. What a Christmas gift from Kiki!

I missed Kiki alot without seeing her for about three days. I’m glad on the day I got back home from Thailand, she welcomed me with her high-pitch chirps. I’m totally elated by her overwhelming welcome “cheer”. Mum told me she has been well-behaved and eating well for the past few days. I’m glad that she lose appetite when I’m not around.

I’m also surprised she’s able to perform well all the tricks that she learned before, even for the past three there isn’t any training for her. It’s totally like a 3 days off for her from her trick trainings. I’ve conducted all the tricks accordingly and she did it with flying colors:

1. Turn-A-Round Trick
2. Hand-shaking Trick
3. Waving Hello Trick
4. Wing Flapping Trick
5. Fetching Trick
6. Ring Tossing Trick
7. Basketball Trick
8. Open and Fetch Trick (A Shell Game Trick Component)
9. Through-the-Hoop Trick
10. The Bell Trick
11. The Somersault Trick
12. The Coin Depositing Trick

Kiki crawling into the pocket again…

After dinner at 6.30pm, she started to cuddle in mum’s pocket again to take a short rest. She’s one lazy bum. *Haha* I think she truly enjoys herself today, especially when she completed the Coin Depositing and Ring Tossing Trick within a very short time. She’s really FAST! She really break her usual record for tricks.

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Pocket Love
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