At least the ER staff got a good laugh

[mathnerd]

I have a tiny hairline fracture in my arm. How did this happen? Parrot bite. Im certain the ER staff is still laughing at me.

[BeeMused]

When I saw mathnerd and ER I thought: mathnerd + ER = tomato attack, but no now it's parrot!

Parrot beaks are nasty weapons, I hope it's not too painful

[Aragarthiel]

My mom has a Senegal parrot that used to be abused, and while Senegals are small parrots, everyone knows that she'll take a chunk of skin out of you given the chance. I think I'm the only person she's been around that hasn't been bitten, but I'm just that careful. My mom has a permanent notch in her ear and one of my sisters is missing a small chunk of thumb.

[XCashier]

Parrot beaks are nasty weapons, I hope it's not too painful

Yeah, a large parrot can easily take off a person's finger. Animal bites are nothing to laugh about, no matter what species it is.

[mathnerd]

We have a senegal and an amazon, as well as an elderly cockatiel. The particular bird who did this was a military macaw (the green ones). I was visiting the adoptable birds at the bird store (we're looking to add to our flock) and was paying attention to a cockatoo on one perch and the macaw on the next perch thought I should be paying attention to him. He grabbed my arm to pull me over to him, but he wasn't quite aware of how strong his beak is. His body language wasn't aggressive at all. He was just lonely and wanted attention. He was just trying to play. I shudder to think what he could have done if he was trying to hurt me.

[mathnerd]

My mom has a Senegal parrot that used to be abused, and while Senegals are small parrots, everyone knows that she'll take a chunk of skin out of you given the chance. I think I'm the only person she's been around that hasn't been bitten, but I'm just that careful. My mom has a permanent notch in her ear and one of my sisters is missing a small chunk of thumb.

Oh, and adding to this, Senegals are the bullies of the parrot world. They can be very aggressive and have been known to back amazons and macaws into a corner despite their small size. Leo, my Senegal regularly bullies Goofy, my Amazon even from across the room and in different cages. They are also wicked smart and can use tools to solve problems. I have to keep a lock on Leo's cage because he can undo the door latches and escape whenever he wants.

Birds are amazing creatures and are really wonderful and full of personality. It's taken me a long time to learn bird body language, but it was worth learning. They are different from more traditional pets, and I think that's where a lot of people get in trouble with them, as they don't understand what the bird is trying to tell them. This is also part of the reason I'm spending so much time visiting birds before I decide on a new one to bring home. I have to make sure the bird likes me too.

[AccountingDrone]

I was visiting the adoptable birds at the bird store (we're looking to add to our flock)

I have a lonely peach faced conure that I would love to find a friend for but I understand they are very difficult to match once they lost their mates ... not to mention no idea how much a companion bird would cost. Though I suppose getting a second cage wouldn't be out of the question and letting them live next to each other so they could talk to each other ...

[NecessaryCatharsis]

I have a tiny hairline fracture in my arm. How did this happen? Parrot bite.

My mom has a Senegal parrot .... My mom has a permanent notch in her ear and one of my sisters is missing a small chunk of thumb.

Yeah, a large parrot can easily take off a person's finger.

Yet the people I work with (grown men who run screaming from tiny spiders no less) make fun of my bird fear. Yeah, I'm the silly one alright

[Ophbalance]

We have a Quaker (technically in the parakeet family) but I've had friends with African Grey's. The quaker is fairly docile but his nips at most draw blood. You will never find me owning anything larger though given how strong a given parrots beak is.

[mathnerd]

I have a lonely peach faced conure that I would love to find a friend for but I understand they are very difficult to match once they lost their mates ... not to mention no idea how much a companion bird would cost. Though I suppose getting a second cage wouldn't be out of the question and letting them live next to each other so they could talk to each other ...

All of ours are different species and live in different cages in the same room. They interact each other and entertain each other quite well with that set up. It's not a bad option.

[Akasa]

When I was in high school there was a pet store in the mall. I was in there so much the store African Grey got to know me and would let me stroke and scratch him.

One day I was scratching him and a family came in and saw me loving on him and he's practically purring with pleasure. When I stopped and went on my "What new animals have you gotten in?" rounds the family tried to touch him and he almost took off fingers.

[Aislin]

My mom rescued a love bird that was dumped in a walmart garden center. It's mate had also been dumped but it was not caught. It died sometime later. Everyone warned her that the poor little thug would die of a broken heart. Not that little dude. He has 10
Mirrors and she plays lovebird sounds and talks to him and the torments my fathers cat in his huge, made for an African grey cage and lives the highlife spoiled beyond belief.

[Dreamstalker]

We used to have cockatiels and an African Grey, and my stepfather now has a Senegal (rescued from a pet store that had only dogs and cats)...the poor thing seems neurotic and depressed. He's the only one who pays any attention to it but doesn't really engage the bird at all and very rarely lets her out of the cage because his housemate hates birds.

When I was a pup, a local pet store had a hyacinth macaw that for some reason became 'attached' to me (I was too young to really interact beyond supervised feeding--the bird was bigger than I was--but I would be able to get him chattering away when nobody else could).

[mathnerd]

my stepfather now has a Senegal (rescued from a pet store that had only dogs and cats)...the poor thing seems neurotic and depressed..

The neurotic part seems just like a normal senegal to me! Too bad he doesn't get attention. I let mine out every morning and he spends the day climbing all over his cage or getting passed around to various people in the house. We've got perches all over the house to stick the birds on so we can hang out with them in whatever room we happen to be in.

Birds really are great animals. They've go so much personality, but they're so misunderstood that so many of them wind up in less than ideal situations.

[Cecily]

I have a sun conure (she's close to 20 years old), I got her as a baby. She was raised with a flock of budgies. When my last budgie died, I decided that I would not renew the flock, but my daughter found a free budgie near my house and told me to get it. I thought she wanted it, she didn't, so I ended up keeping it.

The sun conure was so happy to have another budgie in the house, they decided to be a multi-species couple. Both are females and both are laying eggs. Now they are not interested in dealing with me, unless there is food involved .

My worse bite was from a lovebird, I had a scar for the longest time. That bird was a terror, no wonder an acquaintance gave it to me.