Dusky conure photos!

[asterroc]

Tuesday I put down a deposit on the dusky conure I'd been visiting with. It will be at least two weeks before I can take her home, as they need to do a throat culture first. Today I visited with her before work, and I took a few pictures. She was absolutely terrified of the camera, so I didn't take too many, I didn't use the flash to scare her more, and I didn't zoom in. The photos came out slightly dull in color, and slightly blurred (since I and she were both moving), so I (unlike usual) actually edited them a bit for color, sharpness, and cropped. Below are the two I like best.


This is my new dusky conure from the back. Her back/wings are actually slightly iridescent, though it doesn't show in the photo.


And from the front, kinda. I can tell her from her "brother" because above her nostrils is a little more tan, and her belly is a little lighter a green. That and they "squared off" the very tip of the other one's tail. :-P

Edit:
Forgot to mention, I'm looking for naming help! Some of my ideas include Sushi, Dragonfly, and Kappa. I'm currently leaning towards Sushi or Kappa - the latter was suggested by "Foxtrot" (CTY friend), in reference to cucumber maki (sushi rolls), and also reminds me of κ (Greek letter).

Comments

[calzephyr77.livejournal.com]

Cool! Have you picked a name for your new beeb?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Oh duh, thanks, I forgot to include that in the post. See above.

Edit: Since her gender's unknown, I've been leaning towards gender-free names so far. I also don't know her personality too well, so whatever I choose temporarily I may change later.

[calzephyr77.livejournal.com]

Ah :-) I like Sushi...because than her nickname could be Sue or SuSu, but Kappa is good for a gender-neutral name.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Funny, I expected most people to say that Kappa sounds more female b/c of the ending A.

[l0stmyrel1g10n.livejournal.com]

how do you convince a bird to open its mouth for long enough to get a throat-swabby-thing in and out? especially if it's not the first time she's had a throat culture--i'd imagine she'd learn quickly that it's uncomfortable.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

It's her first time. I haven't done it myself and wouldn't, but I imagine it's not to dissimilar from other things they do. You wrap her body in a towel, pin her head between your pointer and middle finger knuckles, and pry her beak apart with the tip of your pointer and your thumb. Pinning the head is a bit hard, I'm not good at it myself. Only the owner of the shop (and owner of the conure's parents) does the throat cultures (and then the sample is mailed out for analysis) so that's part of the delay in bringing her home, as the owner's only there every couple weeks.

Basically, with smaller birds you generally just force them to do whatever it is that you need them to do for a health check. Bigger birds you train to cooperate with you as they're big enough to put up a significant fight, and because it's *possible* to train them to work with you. Conures are at the border between the two, and I'm pleased to note that she's been letting me rub her feet and toes, which means that I should be able to acclimate her to nail clippings instead of having to towel her for it. ^_^

[ayashi.livejournal.com]

Aw I really like the name "Sushi" :D

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

^_^ It's what I'm using temporarily until I decide something for certain.

[cosmicwonder.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on finding a bird!

As for names, I really like Dragonfly because the color of the insect is similar to the color of the bird. Kappa could be kewl too, especially with the cucumber reference. Not a fan of Sushi - mixing a food name with an animal is disturbing to me. However, I do find it funny that my parents' friends named their fish Sushi and Sashimi.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Hee, before my friend "Foxtrot" came up with Kappa, I told him I was thinking of Sushi, and he said "nah, it's not a fish." :-P

[meig.livejournal.com]

She's beautiful! And I love the name Sushi.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I really like how subtle her colors are; they're just a slight bit different from her clutchmate's. The women at the store said that's why they weren't selling though, that they weren't flashy like sun conures, and weren't famous for talking like Quakers.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

She's really lovely :) I like the name Kappa, but probably because I think it's more fun to say than Sushi.

I'm thinking now that choosing a name that would be easier for the bird to pronounce might be clever; my Claude can't say "Claude" very well - it comes out more like "Clird" (or maybe that is a mashup of "Claude" and "bird," because I say "Hey bird!" to him a lot).

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Which would be easier for a bird to say? I understand they can do a K easily but can't do a P to well, and I don't know about S/SH sounds.

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Hmm, yeah, the P sound might be the trickiest. S/SH sounds might be pretty easy, since hissing/whistling sounds certainly seem to come naturally (at least for my conures). Er. Unless they're interpreted as threat/anger sounds (I get hissed at for misbehavin', or at other times when someone's just plain mad at the world or feeling fiesty - but that hissing is more of a buzzing than a sssss or ssshhhh like you'd get in Sushi . . . so I dunno). Hard sounds like K aren't a problem, either, at least for Claude, who has recently become very fond of saying "Okay." (and Edgar does a quite passable "Hey bird," so B sounds can be done, though I think she kind of swallows the terminal D). Not that either of my beasties has a very clear voice at the best of times.

This might be a really interesting sort of question for p_l, though I know conures are not known for ability to mimic human speech. I saw a really cute video on YouTube a while ago of a green-cheek saying "Jack you're all wet," and he was pretty easy to understand, though he ran all the words together as one.

[demigoth.livejournal.com]

Another source for Kappa:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kappa_%28folklore%29

I like Kappa better than sushi as a name, but maybe that's because I don't like the way my mouth says the "sh" sound. :)

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

they are also considered to be a part of cryptozoology, due to apparent sightings

I'd caught the part about them being water sprites before, but adding the cryptozoology part means that T$ will definitely approve. ^_^ I think we have a winner.

[framefolly.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous! Oh -- what a beauty! Have you settled on a name yet? I think Sushi and Kappa are both great, esp. since her color reminds me of wasabi and avocado ;) .

(hugs) so glad you have a new bird.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I haven't brought her home yet though, probably two weekends from now.