 My name is Marlene McCohen and this is Picasso, my mustache parakeet, and today we're gonna talk about none other than my little Picasso and what it's like to have a mustache parakeet. Picasso, what do you have to say about this? He seems kind of in a daze, doesn't he? Like, totally mesmerized by the light or something? Picasso, you've been in these videos so often, what's your problem? Let's talk about you. Now, Picasso is not my first mustache parakeet. If you guys remember, I talked before about my mustache parakeet Malibu. Picasso is a lot different than Malibu, actually, in personality. Since they're a little bit different from one another, I'm gonna tell you what it was like having Malibu as well, just so you can gauge, because you never know, birds have their own personality. The first thing you need to know about Picasso is that he's my angel. I say this all the time. You guys know that he's the best little snipper, he's absolutely 100%, that's like a fact. I just adore him, I love him so much. However, Picasso does have his naughty moments. Now, I'm just for real talking to you guys about what it's like to have Picasso or what it was like having Malibu. I'll go over a little bit of what it's like in general to have these birds, but it's always important for you guys to remember that although there are underlying traits that are common in most birds and parrots, they really do have their own personality. Picasso has been really naughty as of late. He has been pretty temperamental, he's very bossy, this is something that you guys might not know, especially since he's like the sweetest, like when he's on my shoulder, he is the cutest sweetest bird and he's pretty good at just chilling on my shoulder. But the other side of Picasso, the Picasso you guys have heard about, the shredder that flies all over the place. That is also very Picasso. Picasso is very active, he loves to play and fly around, but he also doesn't mind sitting and chilling. So if I'm watching a movie, Picasso is the bird that I want to be with. He just sits there and lets me sniff him, but I think that's because I trained him to give me sniff, I swear. If you guys haven't watched my movie Sniffers, you have got to watch it, I will put it in the link below. However, during the day when he wants something or he's really excited, he just flies wherever he wants. Now of course that's because he is a flighted bird, but what I learned from having Picasso both flighted and not flighted is, like most birds, Picasso flighted really shows off his personality. You can really see how intelligent he is when he's flighted because flighted birds have more of an ability to take care of themselves. So Picasso, when he started flying, started really showing me his survival tactics. For example, every morning Picasso flies over to the fruit bowl and he eats whatever fruit he wants. He's like, oh, I want an apple or I want this mango, so I'm going to get it for myself now. Before he used to have to scream and I would have to guess what he wanted and give it to him. Obviously, I cut up all the apples for him, but I just love how he goes and shows me what he wants. Let's say, for example, Jersey went into his cage and threw out all of the seeds in his bowl. Then Picasso, really smart, would figure out a way to fly over to Vinny's cage and enter the cage himself and then go eat Vinny's food or go over to Cody's cage and get Cody's food. The only thing is that Picasso has learned to use his talent of flight for bullying. Not to bully anybody else, but Cody. Picasso totally bullies Cody. And that's why Picasso's been pretty angry at me lately. Picasso's upset for two reasons. One, he's a little bit upset at Cody and my relationship, even though I always abide by the pecking order and greet Picasso first. He is really jealous of Cody and I think it has something to do with how important he knew George was to me or he's afraid that I am confused about Cody. He is to be George's best friend. So maybe Cody is kind of like an imposter to him or maybe he thinks Cody is secretly George like in the video where I told you the secret story of Cody. Maybe he knows something about that and he's mad. But another reason why Picasso has been very angry is because you know that he's in love with Jersey and as the season goes on, he gets more and more in love and more and more invested in their relationship. So this means that anytime I approach Jersey, he's very protective over her and he is really cute with her too. He is her bodyguard. So the other day I was vacuuming and he didn't like me vacuuming. So he was scared. He wasn't really scared. He just was like not into it. He sees me vacuuming all the time but he flew away and then the vacuum got a little too close to Jersey. She got a little scared more than she normally would because she's used to the vacuum. So he flew back to see if she's okay. Like he flew back to be next to her even though he didn't really want to be next to the vacuum himself. He is a little Casanova. He's got a lot of man in him for a little bird. Don't you Picasso. Yeah. He has the guts to chase her around every day. He doesn't leave her side. Sometimes he won't let me take him out of her cage at night. He wants to sleep with a Jersey. If he insists really hard, I will let him and he likes that. They actually have such a huge space in Jersey's cage but he insists on sleeping right next to her. It's the cutest thing. Overall, I would say that he is extremely loving. Loving as a companion to me and loving as a companion to Jersey. Picasso has a sense about feelings a little bit better than most of the other birds. For example, if I'm sick and Picasso is sitting with me, he'll just relax and sit with me. It's very interesting. Even if he's interested in chasing around Jersey, he will put that time into me. He has a sense of how comforting he is as a bird. One day, my uncle came over and we were talking and I just sat sniffing Picasso and my uncle asked me a question. He said, do you think the bird is getting more out of this or you? I said, I don't know. What do you think? Because I had an idea and my uncle who is purely an observer to the situation said, I think the bird knows that he's comforting you. I was like, that's so right. Picasso is like that. It's important to know one thing too. One of the main differences between mustache parakeets or even ringnecks and let's say conures is that conures will accept a lot more cuddling. I can't exactly cuddle with Picasso. Picasso doesn't ask for head scratches. Malibu didn't either. He wasn't into like cuddling and getting up into his feathers. Mustache parakeets and ringnecks have different feathers. They don't exactly need you to be up in there. Picasso will let me gently stroke him and pet him like this, but he's not going to be like the cuddly get in the feather bird like a cockatoo or a conure would. So that's something to think about when getting a mustache parakeet. My mustache parakeet Malibu wouldn't even let me touch him in any which way. I could hold him and I could put him on my shoulder and he wanted to be with me all the time, but sometimes he didn't even like my hands. He didn't want to step up. So when he was on me, he was fine, but he wasn't really interested in that kind of interaction. And some birds are like that and you can get them used to you and always tame them and get them better like Malibu got. But I had to accept that that's the type of bird that he was, right, Picasso? These birds can be extremely bossy. It's amazing how bossy they can be. As cute and innocent and as tiny as Picasso is, you know if Picasso doesn't want you to do something. He's got like his own little feistiness about him, which is so funny because he is so sweet. And when he flies, he knows too where you're going to put him. So if he's flying around and I want to put him back in the cage because I need to leave, Picasso will sense that and he won't let me catch him. He'll do it on purpose. He'll let me catch him and get all the way to the cage and then he'll fly away. And I'll be like, oh my God, and he'll fly to where he knows I'm going to go and then jump around and fly away. It's really cute. It's kind of entertaining, but he's just so talented at flying. My bird Malibu was an excellent flyer as well. That was in the end how I lost Malibu. It was due to someone else's mistake. When these birds can fly, they fly amazingly with extreme precision. They just fly incredibly and very fast too. So it's very, very interesting having a flighted Picasso. If Picasso doesn't want me to do something, he'll tell me. For example, see, he's pushing me away. He's like, do not, he doesn't want to be picked up right now. And then you might hear his little sounds. Hold on, I'll be quiet so you can hear him. He's very angry. You can see it in his eyes. He's like, I don't want to do that right now. Why are you telling me what to do? I can't even. What about talking? Picasso does not talk, but Malibu actually did talk. He used to say pretty bird and hello, and he was able to learn things. So there are mustache parakeets that talk. In fact, some people say that their mustache parakeets talk a lot. Picasso does not talk at all. He doesn't talk and I don't care. And in fact, you want to make sure that you never ever get a bird because you're expecting them to talk. In fact, Picasso is one of the quieter birds that I've ever had. Malibu was like that too. Malibu was a quiet bird. If you are looking for a bird that you could have in an apartment or a bird that doesn't make so much noise, then this is a great bird. The only thing to keep in mind is that when these birds do scream, it can pierce your ears. So Picasso has been on me and screams in my ear and it was ringing for a minute. But like I try to get you guys to understand, there you go, that's a good demo right there. That's basically his... Did you guys see that? He went potty on me. But because I was making the video, I didn't stop. That was the scream of like, I'm gonna go potty. So you guys can see this is basically what he says to me before he wants to go potty, right baby? So he was a good bird. He told me, but I'm making the video so I didn't stop. But yeah, you're so cute. So this is kind of how he's potty trained. He usually screams in my ear and then I know because he is usually so quiet. That's something that he wants. A lot of you ask, how do you potty train a bird? You can watch my video on potty training, but mainly you learn to pick up on their cues like that and know what it is they want and then you have to learn when they're giving you the cues. So after he started teaching your parrot, he will start teaching you. So there you heard Picasso's voice. What I was trying to tell you before that was birds scream when they want something. So if you have a bird that is known as being a quiet parrot overall, but he's screaming a lot, there's something that the bird wants that you're not giving him and you need to become a little more in tune with your bird. Usually a screaming bird is actually a good sign because it's a bird that wants to be with you or wants something that you can give to them and use that as leverage for training them, for them to bond with you. So that's always important to know. Like what happened here? Is this bird becoming cody? Why do you guys all want to be on my head? Now he's, see how he's bossing me around. So yeah, they do have their own personality. These birds are very strong. The reason mustache parakeets are illegal in some states like New Jersey is because they have incredible survival techniques along with ringnecks. So you'll notice that in a lot of cities they have flocks of ringnecks or mustache parakeets. And that's because of all the parrots that were ever released into the wild or got loose after people owned them. These birds and quakers have an amazing ability to adapt to city living. Where I live in California, we have a lot of ringnecks, a whole entire flock in so many different areas. They're in Malibu, they're in so many places. It's amazing. Even where I lived in Israel, there was an entire flock of ringnecks flying around and that's not because they're native. That's because so many of them got loose and they were able to adapt to city living. That's why a lot of these can be illegal in certain areas where they don't want these birds damaging the phone wires or phone poles and things like that. That's exactly what becomes the problem when these birds that are used to chewing everything up suddenly start taking over the city, right baby? Picasso has amazing capabilities to climb things, to hang upside down. I'll do a lot of exciting things that a lot of birds don't necessarily get themselves into. As for what Picasso likes to eat, he loves to eat fruits and vegetables. I'm telling you Picasso goes crazy for carrots, right baby? You like carrots? Look, he heard me and he's like, am I getting one? I better be getting one. Picasso is willing to try out a lot of different foods too. These birds aren't exactly known for being the pickiest eaters. That's what I love about him. I can give him a lot of different foods to try and I always feel happy knowing that he's going to eat. So I like that about him. Here's something interesting. I don't know if I ever told you guys, but birds get car sick. Not all of them, but some of them. Jersey gets really car sick and Picasso does too. I didn't take Picasso in the car so often, but the few times that I did, I was surprised to learn that he got a little car sick. So he didn't like the car. I also like Picasso's size. It's so easy to have a little bird like Picasso on my shoulder. Sometimes I don't even know he's there. He just flies to me and lands on me and everything is so smooth and easy. So Picasso's a really nice size bird. Now, is Picasso a good bird for a first time owner? Well, I've said before that mustache parakeets are. I really do think that if you are looking for a bird for the first time, they're great because you can have them in an apartment. They're quieter. The only thing to note about a mustache parakeet, again, versus a conure, is that a mustache parakeet has those icy behaviors. They also go through a bluffing period where they can seem angry or hormonal at you. And you have to get past that and hang out with them no matter how they behave towards you. So in that aspect, they can kind of be hard for first time bird owners to get used to it and to listen to their instincts and know that the bird really does need time with you no matter what the bird is acting like. A conure is a little bit different. Conures can be like warm and fuzzy right away, whereas these guys, they take a little longer to bond with just like a ring neck parakeet sometimes does. So that's what it's like having a little Picasso. I hope you enjoyed this hair tip Tuesday. You guys heard him screaming just now. That's him telling me that he wants something and actually he wants to go to bed. Picasso is really great at his bedtime. He's like, hey, it's time for me to go to bed. So this is your warning. They're really great with routine and really great with letting me know and communicating whether or not he does talk. You see him right now, he's letting me know. So that's my cue. I love that you guys get to watch that. On that note, we are going to go. Thank you so much for tuning into this Storytime Sunday. Remember, if you guys are interested, check out my link below of products that I love. This will save you time so you know what kind of things are great for birds and just go on and have a look. I try to put together everything that I use for my birds and things that I know have good reviews. Also, come join Parrot Station. It's our Facebook page for Parrot Lovers. Check it out and follow me on Instagram. And please subscribe, of course. We love new subscribers. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We love you. Bye.