|
- Blue Headed Pionus -
- The Blue-headed parrot is easy to identify.
They are about 11 inches with a short tail and stocky body. The
entire body is green with the head and neck a bright blue. Some
adults do have a small area of pink feathers at the throat.
Underneath the tail are the typical red feathers found in all
pionus species. The beak and feet of mature Blue-headed parrots
are black with a red area at the base of the upper mandible.
Immature Blue-headed parrots have several distinctive features.
Until about one year of age they have very little blue. The blue
that they do have is just blue edging on green feathers, and
then only on the forehead. By one year of age they will have
almost all of their blue coloring. However, the blue can become
slightly more extensive at their 2nd year molt. Right above the
cere (the nose holes) there will be a few red feathers. The
amount of red varies greatly between individuals. These red
feathers fall out any time between 3 months and one year of age.
When first hatched, Blue-headed parrots have flesh toned beaks.
The upper mandible starts turning black first, then the lower
mandible, and then the red spot on the upper mandible starts to
appear. The beak changes are usually complete by 6 months of
age, though the red may still get brighter over the first year.
One unique feature of all pionus is a wheezing hissing sound
they sometimes make when they are frightened. Your first
response might be to assume they are sick, as it sounds similar
to an asthma attack. However, if you back off the sound should
stop. They can also make a variation of this sound when being
petted. Usually in this case it is a much softer sound, closer
to hissing. The other thing to be aware of is when you bring
your pet to a vet or bird groomer. If they are not familiar with
pionus they might think the beak is overgrown. It does look
overgrown when compared to the beaks of some of the more common
parrots. Make sure you look at enough pictures so that you know
what is right for your bird. Remember that the fully adult bird
will have a longer upper mandible than a baby.
The average life span for a pionus is 25 years.
However, there are many that live longer, some as old as 40.
Remember, the main reason that birds die young is because of
either accidents or bad nutrition! Don't let your pet become a
statistic! Read as much as you can to make your home bird
friendly and bird safe, clip those wings, and follow good
nutritional practices.
-
Trainability
Seem to be good at training. They are
surprisingly obedient birds that will learn simple tricks. As
with any parrot *always* use the "up" and "down" commands. As
long as your pionus understands the rules of the house and is
raised in a very caring sensitiveway, with nurturing dominance,
he will be a wonderful sweet pet. Remember, for your
pionus to be wonderfully obedient he needs rules to follow.
Practice those "up" and quot;down" commands with him and make
sure he understands what acceptable behavior is. There are many
good parrot training/behavior books out there. Make sure you
take the time to read them.
Pionus are not know for their talking ability. If that is what
you are looking for in a parrot, then keep looking. With pionus,
talking is highly variable between Individuals. On average, they
learn to say a few words (as in under 10), but don't say them
with much clarity. Because of the high variability however,
there are some individuals who speak quite clearly and learn 20
words.
-
Loudness
Compared to any of the larger parrots a pionus
will always rate as quiet. Pionus also tend to be much quieter
than most conures. However, even though pionus are rated as
quiet birds, they can learn to screech, and can be louder than
some cockatiels. Most pionus screaming is because of their
environment and the way they are raised. A happy pionus does not
have to be a screaming pionus. Then again, a pionus that screams
is not necessarily unhappy.
|
|
