Piper fascinates me in many ways. It makes sense, after all, he is a parrot, I am not.
Piper can sometimes be territorial over his favorite toys. For example, he may attack your hand if you are replacing the sticks he has pulled out of his hanging wood toy.
At other times, he is a fraidy bird. We bought a new broom about a year ago and he is terrified of it. We use it every night to clean up around his mansion. He knows the sound of the basement door where it is kept. He will run to the farthest corner on his top deck to get away from it.
Yet he will assault the large vacuum cleaner.
Piper loves bottles of any kind and when he is not cozying up to them, he is charging at them to knock them to the floor.
I have a few small stuffed parrots and presenting one to Piper can go any which way. He could be afraid, he could lunge, biting its beak, the ultimate goal to grab it and fling it.
Most of the time, however, he is relaxed about us handling his things and life in general. The very early months of aggression are long gone. He is a different bird than he once was.
I share all of this with you to give you context before I reveal what is Piper’s biggest fear / worst enemy:
PEOPLE FOOD
Piper is very curious about ice cubes. If I hold one up to him, he will initially be fearful. A few seconds later, he will then tentatively bite at it. As he gets some water in his mouth, he will drink it. The finale is that he will grip the frozen cube with his beak, pulling it out of my hand and tossing it to the floor.
People food. (DUN, DUN, DUN sound effect.) Our first bird, Cato, a cockatiel, ate scrambled eggs (I know), chicken (uh huh), mashed potatoes, corn, the seeds inside green beans (which I would pick out for him). He loved popcorn and we allowed an occasional potato chip.
The only human food that Piper has shown any interest in is Tostito tortilla chips. He basically will just lick at the salt which I know he shouldn’t. We limit it, only rarely permitting in the hopes that it will be a gateway, giving him confidence that people food is not scary.
The way Piper recoils from the presentation of a food item is hysterical. If he is perched on my left pointer finger and I have a piece of banana in my right hand, bringing it close to him, he will lean back as far as he can, holding on to my finger for dear life (see photo above the title of this story). Eventually he will bite the fruit, not for the purpose of eating but to hurl it away. It is as if I am trying to poison him. I will eat the food myself, making a fuss, giving a little moan and several,”YUM, YUM, YUMs.” Piper is not impressed.
I have purchased fruits and vegetables. I have made the infamous birdy cake. No, no and no.
Rest assured, Piper gets the nutrients he needs from the avian food we provide. One of his mixtures contains dried fruit which he will dunk in his water bowl before eating. Knowing this, we bought him dried fruit of all kinds seperate from his bird food. You can guess how that went.
Yes, after 12 years together, Piper still keeps me guessing. The one thing I know for sure? He eats like a bird.
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