Walter update
16For those of you who are wondering what Walter has been up to-he had a busy day today as the mess on the bottom of his tray indicates.
On the left you can see the eggs, cantaloupe, and string beans he had for breakfast. Besides that is what is left of the pizza he had for lunch, and at the bottom he was busy shredding one of this wooden toys hanging on his perch. 
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Hi Walter!
We have created a monster. We have been leaving him on the perch in the great room all day until around dinner time when we put him back in his cage to have dinner. After he ate, three times tonight he climbed down from the cage and walked into the great room to be with us where we were watching TV. Finally put him back on the perch in the great room were he seems to the the happiest, I guess because we are in the same room.
@Felton10 So I went in the den and left him alone and he flew down to the ground and walked back into the den and climbed back up his cage and went in it to get more food. I then went into the bedroom and was in the master bath and here comes Walter again. Time to lock him up for the night.
Does Walter talk? I just read a story about an African Grey that made life interesting because he talked.
I kind of wish my cockatiel talked. He just whistles. But I can whistle his song to him and he’ll sing it back.
@Weboh Not as much as a bird like him should. He has picked up some sentences and one 4 letter word which at different times he goes through his whole vocabulary. We have kind of given up him doing anymore talking than he already does. As I have said before he is either lazy, stubborn or has a learning disability. He is and we have had him for 25 years.
@Felton10 Have you tried having him binge watch Einstein parrot on YouTube? Maybe it will inspire Walter.
/youtube Einstein the talking Texas parrot has a lot to talk about
@Weboh @Felton10
My Sunny Doodle, a parrotlet, would follow/repeat any whistle too, any tune he’d pick it up! I really thought he was going to be a talker but he only opened up his throat a couple of times. He was a awesome bird!
POPSOCKETS! COURT DOCKETS! FOLK ROCK HITS! AWESOME!
@msklzannie We showed him Alex who was the gold standard for African Greys in terms of intelligence and what they could learn. Goggle him.
@Weboh Just read the story you sent me the link to-very funny. Walter calls my name in my wife’s voice and I don’t know who is calling so I just ignore anyone calling my name in the event it is Walter and not my wife.
My heart dropped for a second when I read “Walter’s update”. I thought maybe I missed that something happened to him. Glad to hear everything is fine and he’s still spoiled as ever. Keep up the good work cuz as we know… happy bird, happy home!! Lol
On second thought should called the thread “Walter-the saga continues.”
For some reason my wife gets upset when I ask her in the morning that since I am making an egg for Walter, does she want one also. Have no idea why.
And then there are the ongoing discussions about who should clean up after Walter when he leaves his presents on the floor after one of his walkabouts. Luckily we don’t have any carpet in the house, but dried poop is a bitch to clean up. So far Walter has showed no interest in cleaning up after himself.
@Felton10 We keep chickens and we let them out of their pen a couple times a week to free-range in the yard (makes for better eggs). As they wander they tend to leave nasty gifts on the driveway and sidewalk - very annoying.
Last summer, we adopted our daughter’s dog when she could no longer keep him. He considers the chickens’ deposits delicious candy and is happy to do clean up. Nice little synergy, but you really don’t want the dog to lick you!
@macromeh I don’t know how to respond to your post other than ewwwwwwwwwwwwww LOL
So he’s making modern art? When’s his gallery opening?
@unksol No he’s making a mess.
@Felton10 eh. Tiny dinosaurs be crazy
This made me think of Walter.
Walter is very curious and always looking for ways to explore new things and get into trouble. So one day he started looking underneath the pan where all the mess drops.
And low and behold, he tried to climb under the pan. Took him one of two tries to figure out what to grab a hold of and now he goes underneath it everyday and starts banging on the underside of the pan to get our attention. We wrapped a towel around the bottom (see mess
pic above) to keep him from climbing down which he did initially.
Evidently he doesn’t completely understand that you are supposed to be on the perch instead of underneath it.
@Felton10 he is a rebel!
@tinamarie1974 He told me he was jealous of all the attention the inflatable corgi float was getting since he said he could do everything that float could do and more. So he said to post something else about him.
@Felton10 @tinamarie1974 it’s cold out and the weekend. I’m bored. I’ll take pet stories inflated or otherwise.
Once I put Walter back in his cage in my office (the den) then the games begin-he climbs down and walks toward the door.
He walks out, my wife catches him and walks him back into the room.
He walks toward the door again and stands right on the strip separating the room from the hall.
This goes on for several times with me watching and enjoying it and finally my wife gets pissed and locks both me and Walter in the den.
But can’t he fly up and over? Or at least climb up the gate?
@tinamarie1974 He’s never tried to climb over the baby gate and if he did it would fall backwards as it is just leaning against the wall.
As far as flying, his wings are clipped so he can fly down to the floor and land without injuring himself although his wings have grown out now so he could probably fly over the gate from the top of the cage. But since he has never done it, he probably wouldn’t try it.
@Felton10 @tinamarie1974 I assume that’s a pocket door? Funny how he’s checking the hall on the line.
@tinamarie1974 @unksol Yes-it is a pocket door. He kind of goes up to the molding on the floor to look for my wife and if he doesn’t see her, he heads on out. Its sort of a game with him and her. He then heads across the great room into our bedroom and ends up in the master bath where he just stays.
For some reason he likes bathrooms-in our old house he used to end up in the master bath also after his walkabout.
All this freedom for the bird does comes at a cost-poop on the floor is a regularly occurrence during his walkabouts the sooner you get to it the easier it is to clean up. Thank god no carpet-that is a deal breaker in letting a bird roam free.
And with him perching on top of the cage and pooped on the outside, it doesn’t take long for the cage to become disgusting. Walter is on his 5th cage-the other 4 were regular ones with paint which when pressure washed the paint came off, but it was the only way to easily get the poop off. Finally bit the bullet and went out and got him a stainless steel cage (at about 5 times the cost of a regular one for the same type) and you can do anything to that to clean it so I guess in the long run it is worth it.