Dusty Waves Hi!
Welcome to the Dusty, the Dusky Conure site. In it you'll find a lot of useful information and some pretty good pictures about dusky conures.
Dusty is three years old and lives near Tomahawk, WV. She is a native to the state as she was originally hatched on March 25, 1999 in West Virginia.
And Introducing
Tanger
The Sun Conure
About Tanger
We recently acquired Tanger (short for "Tangerine") who is a year and a half old sun conure. He came from a house that had 4 dogs and 4 cats so he was a little jumpy and nervous at first. He's since calmed down fairly well and has taken to pestering Dusty for much of the time. Tanger appears to have raging male hormonal influx syndrome (a.k.a. puberty) . He gets amorous around Dusty, but she won't have anything to do with him and generally gives him a good bite on the tongue if Tanger gets too fresh.
Together (relatively peacefully)
We're working on potty training him and he's coming along nicely with that. Tanger seems to be a more hands-on bird than Dusty and is quite the acrobat.
Chillin'
Dusty
and Tanger Comparison
|
3-Yr-old Female Dusky |
Type and Sex |
1-Yr-old Male Sun |
|
Likes to sit still and preen a lot. |
Athletic Ability |
Regularly hangs upside down often by one leg. |
|
High-pitched two beat scream. |
Noise |
Lower-pitched one beat scream. |
|
Says “Dusty” and “Hey Dusty” Laughs when we laugh. Does the “wolf whistle.” |
Talking |
No words so far... |
|
Loves to crawl into my clothes (sweatshirts are the favorite). |
Playfulness |
Will play fight almost like a puppy. |
|
Pretty picky eater. Doesn’t like fresh fruit. Prefers dried. |
Eating |
Will eat almost anything. |
|
Non-aggressive. A real lover. |
Aggression |
Can be aggressive at times. Doesn’t like strangers and can bite them hard. |
|
Calm and gentle. |
Temperament |
Jumpy at times. Can be pushy. |
|
Doesn’t use them much. |
Toys |
Will investigate and play with almost anything. |
Dusty is a Velcro-bird poster
child. Given a choice, Dusty would
spend nearly all her time hanging around on me. She would leave only to go and
to eat. My choice of clothing has become extra ratty, as she loves to chew my
T-shirts to bits.
She has big emotions in a
small body. If she gets frustrated about
something (like not being able to open a jar) she'll emit a high pitched shriek
and then rapidly rattle her beak against it. If I put her in her cage before
she's ready to go, I get beak rattled. What a temper!
Flock Tracking Radar. Dusty
constantly looks for me. As soon as I go out of sight she gives the flock
scream, as if to say "Hey flock, come back here!"
Dusty is a great "watch bird." From her cage she can see the length of our driveway and she gives out an impressive warning call if a vehicle drives by. She's also a great "bird watcher," but only for birds of prey. When she spots a hawk or buzzard circling overhead, believe me, Dusty lets you know.
Beak Walking. Sometimes Dusty will put the tip of her beak on the ground and run full tilt for several steps. This action gives a new meaning to the term "nose gear". She does kind of remind me of an aircraft taxiing for takeoff.
Feet Staring. Dusty will suddenly stop and appear to stare intently at her own feet. Why? This is just one of those UBE's (Unknown Bird Event).
Liquid in a see-through bottle drives her crazy! For an unknown reason, Dusty hates seeing water move in a see-through container. She get really worked up...lots of beak rattles and screaming. Another UBE.
Conure Thai Chi. At times Dusty will stretch her neck and head straight up and then ever so slowly bring her head down in graceful arc until she touches the surface she's on with her beak. It really does resemble the slow-motion actions of Thai Chi.
Ceiling Fans are not her friend! Although ceiling fans pose no threat to her since she's clipped, Dusty hates them when they're slowly rotating. She'll look up at the fan and make a motion to bite it and actually hisses at the blades. If she's on my shoulder and I walk underneath one Dusty will actually hit (not bite) me on the neck with her beak to get me to move away from it. My best guess is that the large slowly rotating fan blades remind her of the wings of a bird of prey.
Doing "The Wave."
I got Dusty to do "the wave" (see the opening picture) by saying the
word "wave" just as he/she was raising its foot to step onto my
finger. I then progressed to saying wave and reinforcing the action by raising
my index finger at the same time. Pretty soon Dusty caught on and will wave on
either verbal or visual request. The reward for her action was that I would pick
her up to be with me. Dusty, of course, can put two and two together and in her
mind "the wave" means, "pick me up." So sometimes, when I
pass her play gym she will wave at me trying to get a ride. Who's training who
here?!
Caught in mid-blink while eating wheat bread from her "dog dish"
Dusty endorses the following products:
 | Zupreem and Harrison's pellet diet |
| Happy Hut (that's where she sleeps, usually on her side or back) |
| Lafeber's Nutri-berries (reserved for treat time) |
| Wooden Popsicle sticks (great beak exercise) |
| Shredders (Woven Palm Leaf toy, she really loves 'em) |
| Feathered Friends Ostrich feather (loves to preen it) |
| Corks (loves to destroy them) |
| The Human Play Gym.
You can buy all the toys in the world but Dusty really likes the human
play gym the best. She particularly likes it when I sit cross-legged on the
floor. She'll jump down in my lap, then crawl under my legs. The tighter the
space to squeeze through the better. Then she'll push tightly against a leg
then flip upside down and grab onto a finger with her foot. What a
schmoozer! Lately she's been burying into my armpit head first and staying
there for minutes at a time. Sounds kind of strange, but she likes it. |
| Dusty likes a good beak rub. I lightly stroke her beak between my thumb and forefinger. She
will respond by sticking out her tongue and touching my finger. The conure
equivalent of shaking hands! |
| The cranial massage.
When Dusty starts preening and scratching her head, I chip in and
rub her on the back of her head. Often a brief trance-like state ensues and
she'll hold absolutely still. |
| Throwing anything off a table. Conures aren't the only birds that like to see things fall and
Dusty really likes this activity. If whatever she throws makes a lot of
noise on impact, so much the better. Favorite object to toss: An empty
half-liter water bottle with a marble inside. |
| Shredding a newspaper while you read it. Particularly
the bit you just happen to be reading. |
| Taking a shower.
Conures are real water lovers and Dusty loves her shower. She'll either
sit on her shower perch looking contented or madly flap her wings in the
stream of water. Being in the shower with your bird allows you to see its
third eyelid or nictitating membrane. Dusty uses her when she gets too much
water in her eyes. Caution
- Showers magnify sound and
Dusty gets pretty loud while getting wet. If you want to keep your hearing,
investing in a good pair of earplugs would be a good idea. |
| Jousting with a ballpoint pen. Lately Dusty has taken to play fighting with one of those pens
with a rubberized tip. She emits little squeals of delight when she
"wins." |
| Bowling with Marbles.
Marbles seem to be the perfect size toy for Dusty to play with. Small
enough to pick up, big enough so they can't be swallowed and virtually
indestructible (for a conure). Dusty will run around with a marble in her
beak and then madly shake its head and throw it. Lots of squeals of delight.
Caution
- if you have a bigger bird watch out for the choking hazard! |
| Tearing apart Q-tips.
Dusty really likes stripping the cotton off the end of a Q-tip. Lots of
fun. |
Make no mistake...Conures can
be seriously LOUD!
Dusty is loud:
| In the morning (flock greeting) |
| If stuck in her cage and she knows I'm around |
| When trying out her voice (around midday) |
How loud is loud? Well, to me, if Dusty is
at full volume I can't get closer than about 3 feet without my fingers in my
ears. It's interesting to note that Dusty gets the loudest when she hears me and
I'm not with her. When my wife is around her Dusty doesn't make much noise at
all. My guess is that I'm considered part of her flock and my wife really isn't.
So my wife gets basically ignored while I get the screams demanding attention.
How do I cope? If she goes into a screaming fit I tell her "Bye!" and
close the door to her room and ignore her. She eventually quiets down.
Conure owners are usually very opinionated
when it comes to what they feed their birds. It's generally accepted that an all
seed diet is unhealthy to a conure. Conures are omnivores, not herbivores. So an
all-vegetable diet isn't prudent either. For example, although it might sound
strange to some, Dusty really likes scrambled eggs (with hot sauce, I might
add). Eggs are an excellent source of protein and are rich in minerals, vitamins
and essential amino acids. Additionally, eggs are one of the richest sources of
choline. Choline acts like a fat and cholesterol dissolver. So, even though eggs
contain a large amount of cholesterol, they also contain the ingredient that
prevents the cholesterol from attaching itself to arterial walls. Seems conures
are pretty smart about some foods.
Given the chance though, a conure will eat
an unhealthy all seed diet. For a conure, seeds have been compared to candy.
They really won't resist them. And will eat as much as you feed them, to their
detriment.
Conures definitely have a sweet
"tooth" and will happily eat ice cream, cookies and soda. This kind of
food is horribly bad for them and will kill them in a short time due to their
high metabolism.
It is essential that Conures get the proper proportion of minerals, amino acids and vitamins every day. Due to their high metabolism they are vulnerable to disease when their diets lack the proper elements. One way to ensure that a conure will get a good mix of the above ingredients is the pellet diet. Dusty is fed a mix of Zupreem and Harrison's pellets supplemented with uncooked pasta, scrambled eggs, grape nuts cereal, dried vegetables, a tiny amount of fruit, homemade wheat bread and a little seed (in the form of Nutriberries). For more information on pellet diets checkout the Kaytee Website or the Harrison's Bird Foods Website.
Don't forget that fresh good quality water
is very important to conures. Compared to say, a budgie, conures drink a lot of
water. I provide fresh non-chlorinated water. Most European countries recognize
the danger of long-term exposure to low levels of chlorine and no longer
chlorinate their water (they use ozonation and other methods). If you're stuck
with city water I recommend a simple charcoal filter to take out the chlorine.
Occasionally, I provide some apple juice, which Dusty will drink as much as she
can hold. I'm sure the juice appeals to her "sweet tooth" but too much
is not good for her due to the high amount of simple sugars in the juice.
Conures can't be house trained in the same
way as, say, a dog or cat. They pretty much are going to go no matter where they
are about every 15 to 20 minutes. The one exception to this (depending on the
conure) seems to be their own cage. They seem to view this area as
"theirs" and would prefer not to go there. What potty training can do
is to encourage your conure to go if she or he has to. Then you know you have
about 15 minutes of "safety" before you will need to take her to a
place you want her to go. You can watch his/her body language also and they will
usually indicate when the call of nature is about to happen.
Dusty is as potty trained as I think a bird gets. This is a critical issue since
birds in general eliminate often and conure poop is a very staining mixture
indeed. I started training by simply saying the word "poop" when that
action took place. Very quickly Dusty began to associate the word with the
action. Using a little mental timing, I would say the word when she was ready to
go and she would drop the bomb. This was immediately followed by lots of praise.
Before I take her off her play gym, I ask her if she's got to go. If she does,
...well, she does. If she doesn't, Dusty gives me an "all clear"
chirp. I don't keep insisting because I wouldn't want her to strain a gut, so to
speak, trying to please me.
Conures have to "squat" in order
to eliminate and you can use that action for training also. When Dusty is on the
floor and has to go, she will start to squat and I immediately say,
"Stop." She will stop and I'll immediately put her on her play gym.
After awhile, she'll go and I'll follow that with lots of praise and let her
back down on the floor. She's now gotten to the point that she knows the floor
isn't the right place to eliminate and she'll start to run around nervously as
if looking for a safe place to go. I will put her back on her gym and she's much
happier to go there.
Dusty doesn't like to go in her cage. This
is nothing I've encouraged her to do. She just seems to have decided on her own
that the play gym is her favorite place to go. After talking with others conure
owners, I discovered this particular Dusty behavior isn't unique. Many other
conures don't go in their cage either. When I first get her out of the cage,
that first one is a real 5-megaton nuclear weapon! Interestingly, if she
is on top of her cage she will go without any hesitation. Let's see now...she
won't go in her cage, but will go through the cage? Who's to figure...it makes
sense to her.
There is some concern among owners that
potty training can be a hazard to their birds...that they will only go when you
command them. This is not true in Dusty's case. She happily goes with
regularity while on her play gym or while doing activities like taking a shower.
No input is required from me. If I make her wait too long in the morning and
don't get her out of the cage in time...well a bird's got to do, what a bird's
got to do.
To
Learn More
Please visit the Frequently Asked Questions Page
Two books I recommend:
| The Conure by Julie Rach |
| Guide to a Well-Behaved Parrot by Mattie Sue Athan |
A good Internet Site is Birds n Ways. A good search engine for pet birds is The Big Bird Search.
To
Contact Dusty: Write
to Paul, Dusty and Tanger at
pdfromwv@yahoo.com
Here's a nice site from a breeder in the Ohio
and West Virginia area. Take a look.
If you're interested in horses, check out my other site:
What Horses Have Taught Us