Just A Swingin' ! ! !

Poor Conrad!....

That was my original impression of the situation, but he quickly let me know that he had control long before I thought he needed my assistance.

Besides intimidating the crap out of anybody he can, one of his favorite hobbies is to swing on the swing in his cage. I'm not talking about 'patty-cake, Sunday-afternoon-on-the-porch swinging.  This little man swings FEVERISHLY on that thing.  

Considering that he doesn't have legs dangling over the side of the seat so he can 'pump' them to gain more altitude, the fact that can move at all on that thing amazes me.  The fact that he is a Gold medal winning athlete on that thing amazes me.

Any who, several months ago, I noticed that his swing had worked it's way over to the side of his cage, and I *thought* he couldn't get it going again because the large wooden dowel that makes the swing's 'seat' was too close to the side of his cage, and it was stuck against the cage's bars.

Being the Good Samaritan that I am (!!), I reached above the cage to move the swing, and give it a couple inches worth of clearance between the dowel and the cage bars.  What could go wrong?  In the past (when he wasn't on the swing!), I had moved it away from the side of the cage, and this time I helped him out shouldn't have been any different than the previous episode.  Right?  The difference:  THIS time, Conrad was on the swing when I tried to move it back towards the center of his cage.

Without so much as a glance in the direction of the action OR without looking at me, and without giving the situation a second thought - and by sheer instinct - one of his feet shot out from his side at a 90 degree angle.  He grabbed on to the bars of the cage (immediately adjacent to the swing), and held on as if his life depended on it.  I tugged on the swing, thinking that he would release his death grip on the bars, and let me move the swing.  Nope.  Not gonna happen.

Sometimes, I'm a bit slow on the draw, but I do eventually pick up adequate speed.

I decided to leave him to his own devices.

A few hours later, I noticed that the swing was back as it should be - at least a couple inches away from the side of the cage.

The mystery was solved.  At-will, Conrad can move the swing to the sides of the cage (so it can be used as a stable perch, rather than a swing, and while sitting on the perch, he can push himself away from the bars of the cage so he can swing his little birdie heart out.

He also uses the bars as a brake for the swing.  This crazy bird can be swinging 100 MPH, and suddenly reach over and grab the bars of the cage with either his bill or with one of his feet, and stop on a dime!

I know....I know.... tool use by birds (and at least 9 other species of animals) is no scientific break through.  I just like to see it in action!  :)

- Michael