Petey Blog

Petey is content sitting on most people's shoulders, but for a select few he is not satisfied until he burrows down your shirt. This can be a good thing. For example, if you are on the phone, most of the time he is fairly quiet when he is inside shirts. If you have ever had a Sun Conure near you, you know how hard it can be to conduct a phone conversation when the bird wants your attention. For the people who haven't had the pleasure, between the noise he makes when he is not on your shoulder trying to get on your shoulder and attacking the phone randomly when he gets on your shoulder, it makes it virtually impossible. Getting back on topic, sometimes he even peacefully sleeps on your belly for extended periods. But there is an ugly side to bird shirt burrowing, one or two of the follow may occur if you are only wearing one layer. If you are ticklish, expect the bird to exploit that and use his beak to tickle you if he is in a calm but not sleepy mood. Or if if the bird is full of energy expect to have scratches from his claws as he explores, and gets stuck in your sleeves. One solution to the problem is to wear at least two layers and only let the bird in between the layers.

Comments:
blueyes : Never seen a bird do that but I guess he's gotta really like the person to do it.
Carwyn : Love this picture!
moirana : our sun conure girl bella does the same thing.... she spends hours sitting in the shirt enjoying the world...great pics of petey... have to say, i LOVE the flight pic...
Bruce -- Harper Blue : Actually, I can think of a third, rather alimentary problem....
sweet_wolf : I have a Fallow green conure that loves to burrow in clothing, she will fall asleep when she is that close to myself and her papa
katrina : can we please have more petey???
Christine : That is funny my sun Conure loves to climb in my sweatshirts when I am holding her. When I hold her she leans back against my chest or shoulder. she does not like to sit on my finger.

Petey is able to fly pretty well now, but his ability to fly is a double edged sword. On one hand he gets quite a bit more exercise and seems very happy. But on the other, he can get in to more trouble than before. Although he only flies between people and his perches, even that can be a nuisance as he does not like to be left behind. Even if you just want to sit on the couch a few feet from his perch without him for a moment. Then there are the obvious arguments against flighted birds. They can have fatal accidents with windows, fans, or other hazards. They can also get loose and lost, although this can happen even with clipped birds too. Some people report that birds also become less social and more independent. Petey does not seem to be any less social or independent than before, in fact other than flying back to the people he is used to when handed off to a stranger, he is more social now that he can fly back to us. I guess the big question has not been answered yet.

Comments:
Pete : Glad to see Petey back! Fantastic pictures. Quetzal says, "Hello".

This is Petey, he is a Sun Conure (Aratinga solstitialis). He was hatched on March 2, 2005. I got him in December after doing extensive research. It was between Petey and an African Grey, but the African Grey was sold at the time. Petey is a quite active and social bird. Overall besides waking up early, most of the house gets along with him very well.