Escape-artist parrots … or, my parrot is smarter than your honors student
By Gina Spadafori
July 30, 2007
As I’ve written about previously, I got a little cocky with my darling young cat, Clara, letting her hang out on the deck with me in the evenings — until she shot 20-odd feet up a tree. She’s now completely an indoor cat, which she was before except for sitting out with me in the evenings.
That was my second pet scare of the summer. A couple months earlier, my caique parrot, Eddie, had walked out the front door while I was unloading groceries. (His wings are clipped, but he can still move quickly!) I didn’t even realize he was missing for an hour. Fortunately, he and I play a call-and-response game several times a day, so to find him I just stepped outside and whistled. He whistled back. We kept this up until I located him up a bay tree nearby.
I finally got him back — here’s the story — but it was a wake-up call to be a lot more careful with open doors and windows. Yes, I know better.
Sometimes, though, you’ve just got a critter who’s too determined and smart to stay where you put him. Like this citron cockatoo featured on Diana Guerrero’s excellent blog, Ark Animal Answers. Perfect (if obvious) name for this bird: Houdini.
The video will put a smile on your face for a Monday. Go watch.
Oh my god. That parrot is way smarter than my honor student, and my dog too.
Comment by KathyF — July 30, 2007 @ 12:06 pm
Something you don’t want - A Tarantula named Houdini…
Years ago I worked at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. One of the buildings had a number of animals, incudling the escape-artist tarantula…
So I am working a late night and need some supplies from an ajacent office. I don’t turn on the lights because there is enough to see large objects from the various cages warmed by incandescent lamps… I find the desk I need and flick the switch on at the bottom of the base of the desk lamp…
My heart skips a beat as the desk lamp illuminates a very large, non-native spider about 3 inches from my hand…
One more lesson learned - well remembered in this case, for I had seen this before - they shed. Houdini had not actually escaped that night, but had shed a couple weeks ago… ;)
My theory is that the rumored escape arist tarantula was a legend designed to make sure new employees properly secured critter cages after handling…
The various sheds around the office from a number of different critters certainly make for a differen sort of decoration than in most offices, too.
Comment by steve a — August 2, 2007 @ 11:36 am
Thanks for the mention! I have an escape story to share from just after I rescued my Amboina King Parrot…
CE was in her original cage right after confiscation and managed to opened the door—flying to the top of the trees.
I called my local zoo director pal for a special netting but we ended up showering her with water so we could disable her temporarily.
We got her back and needless to say, she became my bird, got an upgrade in caging and still managed to figure out a way to test me and get out to play on top of the cage!
Is this a case of good environmental enrichment or…?
Comment by Diana Guerrero — August 13, 2007 @ 2:57 pm