[nanay]

I thought I would start a thread about my son's linnie, Elisa. She will be two years old in June. She has been with us since December. I know that all linnies are not like Elisa, but she has been with us for four months and has never once bitten anyone. She talks a lot, not much variation in what she says, but all the time. Her voice is very deep for such a small bird, and she is fairly clear, though definitely you can tell it is a bird talking and not a human.

She loves to be on a shoulder. She will sometimes play in hair or rub her face against us. She doesn't allow herself to be petted very often, but the longer she is with us the more she seems to like it.

She loves our bourkes, Stanley. The two will preen one another whenever they are together on the play stand.

If I am observant of her needs, she will go potty on command on a towel instead of on me. Once she learns something, she is a very obedient bird.

Jenny once said that her mom's blue headed pionus is just like a big linnie, and I have to say that Elisa is just like a little pionus, too, because she is very, very similar in personality to our Maximillian pionus, Daisy. Perhaps she enjoys her toys a bit more than the Miximillian, but the Maximillian may begin to play with toys more later.

Elisa is a wonderful companion bird whenever we want someone to just hang out with us. She is non-destructive and calm, yet playful and interactive. She is one of my favorite birds.

 

[The Brute Squad]

I have only seen a linnie in person at one store way across the bridge. They are so pretty. Very spendy though, I thought a bit high for such a little bird. They are different for sure. I would love to see a picture of Elisa!

 

[nanay]

I honestly thought I had posted pictures of them all in here, but perhaps I am wrong. At any rate, I'll have to ask my son for instructions again.

I almost didn't buy her because of the price, but I'm certainly glad I did. She is so entertaining and sweet.

 

[Eliza]

Elisa sounds like an absolute sweetheart, Nanay! What a special little parrot

 

[nanay]

She is as sweet as can be. I took her to school the other day. I have a student who is totally blind, pretty young. She wanted to hold her, but she is very ticklish and kept jerking back. Elisa crawled up on her shoulder, but got stuck in her sweater. (I was taking her to have her nails trimmed that evening.) The girl, tickled by the bird on her shoulder, kept putting her head down on top of her, and I couldn't get Elisa off of her shoulder because she was stuck in the sweater. I cupped my hand over her so that the girl couldn't crush her accidently with her head and so that Elisa couldn't bite her if she became terrified by having her foot caught, and it took some time to get the sweater unbuttoned so we could just take it off the student and then free Elisa's toenail, but Elisa never offered to bite. She surely had to be terrified.

I can tust both Elisa and Stanley, the bourkes, at school. Stanley is quieter, Elisa can get kind of loud, but they both do great with the kids. It is a great blessing to have two such gentle birds. Actually, it just occurred to me, but I would expect Daisy (Maximillian pionus) to also be trustworthy at school.

 

[Sharon]

Your students must really love you....it sounds like fun!

 

[nanay]

We enjoy one another - most of the time

 

[Apple]

Awww what a great story. I have four Linnies & just love them.

 

[nanay]

Elisa: 60 1/2 - Roni: 1/2

I didn't know whether to put this in Elisa's thread or Roni's (senegal) thread, but seeing the score, I decided to go with Elisa's thread.

Elisa might be small, but Roni has nothing on her in craftiness and reasoning powers. Of course, Elisa is nine months older, so maybe that gives her an edge.

I'm very strict with Roni's behavioral guidance. It took me a while to learn, but she needs consistent consequences the first time she misbehaves and every time she misbehaves. Sometimes it is harder on me to carry through than it is on her, because the only consequence that works with her is to totally ignore her, so I always just put her back in her cage when I have to disciplin, and sometimes I'm not ready to stop playing with her.

Elisa and Roni both love to be with me. I can't let them out together because neither will stay put on a play stand and I can't let them be on me at the same time because I'm afraid Roni will hurt Elisa, either intentionally or unintentionally. (I'm planning to get Roni a new playstand in early summer, so maybe this will change with her when I do. It is a lost cause with Elisa.)

Elisa has learned that if she contact calls, Roni will usually answer her. If Roni makes a contact call or other obnoxious noise in my ear, I put her back in her cage. Elisa has managed to get Roni to make noises which get her put up on countless occasions. I get Elisa out when I put Roni back. I know that sounds cruel since I really think she does this on purpose, but, honestly, I have to be very strict with Roni because her noises can get out of hand if I don't, and I can always get Elisa to stop contact calling and start saying, "pretty bird" just by talking to her.

Today I had Elisa out, and Roni was ready for her. She tried making contact calls, but Elisa wasn't falling for that. You could see the little wheels in her head spinning. She kept looking at me with this knowing expression. Sooooooooooo, Roni starting making all sorts of other pleasant noises, and in the end she started talking. The talking finally got to Elisa, and she made a contact call right in my ear.

Now Elisa's contact calls don't really bother me, not even right in my ear, but I had to be fair to Roni this time, as she had worked so hard to figure this out, so I started to take Elisa back to her cage. She started immediately contact calling as wildly as she could, and I guess the thrill of victory was too much for Roni, because she started screeching and showing off. Poor Roni, I really wanted to take her out of her cage, but I knew I couldn't when she was acting like that. :shrug:

So Roni won only half a victory today.

It now stands at Elisa: 60 1/2 - Roni: 1/2

 

[Sharon]

:rofl::rofl::rofl:That is so funny!

 

[Sensfan]

:lol: Linnie are so special yet they all have their own personality. :biggrin5:

 

[nanay]

Elisa was practicing her numerous renditions of "pretty bird" this morning. She has a wide variety of them. A few of them didn't really sound like "pretty bird". I think she is trying to say something else, but I can't make it out. At one point I thought she actually said, "stupid bird" instead of "pretty bird". My kids say that to Roni a lot, so it could be that. I hope she doesn't get any clearer with that one if that is what she is going for.

 

[nanay]

Here is a picture of Elisa. I may have posted it before.

 

[Sharon]

She's gorgeous....:lovehearts:

 

[nanay]

Thanks, Sharon. She's not a very bright blue. That particular picture shows close to her true colors. Many times pictures make her appear brighter than she really is. This one doesn't. In fact, Roni saw the picture on the computer and I think she recognized her, lol.

 

[The Brute Squad]

Nanay, she is very pretty. Thanks for posting her picture!

 

[nanay]

Elisa has been an absolute MESS the entire day!

In her defense, I suppose since she was the last bird to join our household this is her first new addition, so perhaps that is why a new bird is stressing her more than the others. Additionally, all of the birds have had some caging changes today.

She has been making her contact call since noon! It is now 11:27 at night. The lights are out, and she is still at it.

The change was big for her, but I never dreamed she was so sensitive that it would stress her this way. First of all, because Roni was getting the new cage and Daisy was getting Roni's former cage, I moved birds around before going to pick up Daisy and the new cage. Elisa had been living in the large cage for small birds with the splendid, Isaac. I have been changing the three little birds around every month or so, giving each bird a month in the smaller cage by itself to evaluate whether or not the bird seems most comfortable alone. At least when she had her other turns in the smaller cage alone, she seemed somewhat happier alone.

I ended up putting Roni in the 22" X 18" cage, which is the smaller of the small bird cages, while we went to get Daisy. This way I had Roni's former cage all cleaned out and as close to ready for Daisy as it could be when she came in our home, because I thought that would be important for her.

Stanley, bourkes, was just finishing up his latest turn in the 22" X 18" cage alone, so after cleaning out the 24" x 22" cage for smaller birds I put Stanley and Isaac in there for a month together. Stanley immediately took to being back in the larger cage. Isaac seemed a bit nervous at first, but within 30 minutes they were sitting next to one another. They'll be feeding one another by tomorrow, I'm certain. They really like each other - except when they bicker. Which occurs about two or three times a day when they are together.

I put Elisa in the school cage, which is home for the summer. It is pretty close to an 18" cube, which is actually the smallest size cage recommended for a single bird of linnie, bourke, or splendid size to live in on a regular basis, so it doesn't hurt any of those three birds to be in there for a day. Elisa didn't read the recommendations! She griped the entire time she was in that cage.

When we got home with Daisy, Elisa really picked up the contact calling. Now, I can understand that because it was a new bird and all, but after a while wouldn't you think she'd realize that Daisy wasn't going to respond? Daisy actually did respond with one short pionus greeting right at the beginning, but after that she just kept looking at us like she thought Elisa needed some professional help.

The one cute thing Elisa did was to dance to a few songs that came on the radio. She even chirped along with a couple of the songs' background beats. Perhaps her former owner listened to that kind of music. Cannary will listen to any kind of music on the radio for a while and then switch the station. I let her experiment, as long as it is not something I just can't tolerate. Elisa seemed to really enjoy one particular station.

Elisa was the last bird settled into her cage for the evening. I will give her that. It took me a long time to set up Roni's new cage and move her into it. Then we had to reclean Elisa's 22" x 18" cage and deck it out for her, so she got in there late. She seemed to like being back in a separate cage well enough. She explored everything and gave each of the toys the once over. She wasn't contact calling the other birds. She was screaming at us!

When I turned off the lights she kept falling to the bottom of the cage. I turned the lights back on for quite some time, hoping she would just go into her sleeping hut and fall asleep, but she refused. She didn't fall to the cage bottom as long as the lights were one, but she wouldn't shut her beak. This is unusual for Elisa, because she almost always puts herself to sleep talking, but she is TALKING, in English. She seldom makes a contact call directed toward a human. She saves those for birds and speaks to humans.

Finally, I turned off the lights again, and she started falling to the cage bottom again. After she'd fallen and climbed back up and fallen about six times, she finally just started making linnie noises to herself. She went with a quieter beep for about half an hour, then to some quieter linnie noises, and now she is quiet. It is 11:53!

I hope she is in a better mood tomorrow. I never dreamed Elisa would be the one so adversely affected by this change. She is as obedient and sweet as ever. She never once refused to step up to go into a new cage, nor did she become aggressive. Nevertheless, this was a very hard day for her. Poor baby.

I hope she knows that tomorrow is another day.

 

[nanay]

Elisa seems pretty normal today. I don't think she's made any contact calls. She talked a little bit and made other bird noises. She is eating normally and playing normally on the playstand with Stanley and Isaac. I hope she is feeling as relaxed as she is acting.

 

[Eliza]

How is sweet Elisa doing today, nanay? I hope that she is adjusting well!

 

[nanay]

Elisa is acting normal except for one difference, she won't throw herself off of her playstand to walk across the floor, up my pants leg, up my shirt, and onto my shoulder. There could be many reasons for this. First, I moved the playstand and it is up higher now, so maybe she won't do that any more. We had planned to get her a ladder. Had it all picked out. It had been in the store for months. We had picked it out last week while we were visiting Daisy, and I intended to get it when we brought Daisy home. (Ok - I had more money then.)

Of course, when we went to pick up Daisy, it had sold! It was in that store for over eighteen months! As long as I wasn't interested in it, it did not sell. Well, that is my life.

The other possibility is that she is scared of these crazy cats my son is boarding here. They should go home soon.

Lastly, perhaps she is mad at me for bringing home Daisy. Now I don't play much with Daisy because Cannary always wants her, but Elisa could still be upset with me for bringing another bird into the home. Who knows?

She seems as relaxed as ever, but she isn't seeking out attention. :shrug: