About Ozzie...

OK, so tonight we’re testing out Blogger for Word. Supposedly, you can publish right from Word, so we’ll see.

I’ve decided to write about Ozzie tonight since she’s been the most persistent of the birds lately.

Ozzie is a Senegal Parrot, sex undetermined at this time, but we call her a “her”. I truly suspect that she’s a he, but we won’t do her DNA test until after the first of the year. She will be 2 years old in March.

We picked Ozzie out when we got to our breeder’s house to pick up Lucy, who we had already committed to buy. Ozzie was in her own cage next to Lucy. I leaned down to say hi to her and she kissed me – and it was love at first sight for both of us. ;)

As far as the noise level goes, Ozzie is the quietest of all the birds. She frequently does “contact calls” when I’m out of the room, wanting to know where I am at all times, but her “voice” is pretty quiet. She doesn’t talk, other than “Hi Sammy”, which she has picked up from the Sammy the cockatiel (who also says “Hi Sammy”…and nothing else). She has, however, starting imitating sounds around the house like the microwave beep and the refrigerator door squeal, Sammy’s chirping sounds, and she makes kissing sounds…all of which have only appeared in the past 2-3 months.

Ozzie LOVES her mommy! She doesn’t want to have much to do with Scott and only quietly tolerates him holding her or feeding her. But where I’m concerned…I’m the bee’s knees! As mentioned above, she whistles contact calls to me all the time I’m out of the room. Her favorite place to be is on me or on my desk chair while I’m working. On a daily basis (and several times a day), she quietly manages to get off the cage she shares with Lucy, and walks across the floor to my desk. If Scott sees her before I do, he’ll do the shark-getting-ready-to-attack theme from Jaws and I’ll know she’s coming my way. But more often than not, I’ll hear a peep (or worse, feel a touch on my foot…she’s gone flying more than once!!) and look down to find her under my chair, looking up at me and waiting for me to pick her up and put her on my chair.

Last night, Ozzie managed to get from her cage to Sammy’s cage. She figured out how to open his door (NOT an easy trick!) and was sitting inside his cage…she’s a pretty smart little girl ;)

Ozzie is definitely the most picky of all the birds, as far as food. She has no interest in pasta, chips, crackers or bread, and she despises fresh fruit and vegetables. She wants only her seed mix, peanuts, and the occasional pistachio.

If you’ve ever thought you’d like a parrot, a Senegal is a good place to start. They can be bought for $250-$300, and are a medium sized bird – larger than a cockatiel, but smaller than a cockatoo. There are some Senegals who are very good talkers, and some who never talk, and I don’t think there’s any way of determining who will or won’t. If you can live with the fact they may never talk, they’re very sweet companions, and I wouldn’t hesitate to get another Senegal.