Gizmo came into my life seven years ago when I started dating my partner, Tyler. At the time, Gizmo was 28 years old and had been with Tyler’s family since he was a baby—before Tyler was even born! He lived in the sunroom at his parents' house and had quite the reputation for being grumpy and territorial.
For most of his life, Gizmo had been confined to a small cage, filled with toys that weren’t engaging or suitable for a parrot. His diet was the typical commercial parrot mix of seeds, nuts, and dried fruit. While his owners meant well and would never intentionally give him anything that wasn't good for him, like many other pet parrot owners, they simply didn’t know better.
After all, he looked healthy, ate well, and had a full body of shiny green feathers; why would they suspect anything was wrong?
When Tyler and I moved in together, we decided to take Gizmo with us. I had never owned large birds before. My only experience was with the parakeets I had as a child, and my pair of homing pigeons.
Gizmo’s arrival marked the beginning of a new chapter for him—and for us—as we began learning how to meet his mental needs and reduce his stress.
We gave Gizmo a larger cage and filled it with bright, colorful toys. Unfortunately, we'd come to find out later that they were all the wrong toys—plastic, bells, ropes, and fabric.We thought we were doing him a favor, but Gizmo didn't touch a single one.Instead of playing with the new toys, he would sit on his familiar perches, launching at us defensively whenever we walked by.
After a year, they all ended up in the trash.
Then, after a few months of living in our new house, Gizmo did something remarkable. I was sitting on the floor by his cage when he slid down the bars towards me and seemed to be happy, not aggravated.
Surprised but curious, I opened the cage and cautiously put my arm inside. He looked just about as anxious as I did, yet he walked over and thought very hard for a few moments before stepping one foot up onto my arm, and then the other. I couldn’t believe it.
The grumpy 30 year old bird that had been untouchable by strangers for longer than I have been alive suddenly decided that I could be trusted.
I was amazed, excited, and terrified all at the same time. I had no idea what to expect. At any second, he could decide he was uncomfortable or felt in danger and launched at me with the can opener on his face and decided to remove a finger.
But he didn’t - and he never did.
That day was the start of something incredible. Why he decided to come around to me that day I’ll never know.
Despite his grumpy tendencies and conditional love, he still has yet to bite me.
In 2021, once the world began to open back up, we connected with Jaime and Dave Womach of BirdTricks through social media. After some back-and-forth conversations, they made a plan to visit us to film and help address some of Gizmo’s hormone-related behaviors.
By this point, we had made several improvements in Gizmo’s life. He now had a larger cage with a variety of toys (both good toys and not-so-good ones), natural perches, and he was on a decent-quality, pellet-based diet.
But we still had a lot to learn.
During their visit, Jaime and Dave identified two particular items in Gizmo’s cage that were likely exacerbating his hormonal behaviors: a fleece toy that he would nest in when hormonal, and a large bell he rang obsessively when agitated, as well as several plastic toys that may have been exacerbating his frustration.
We removed these and replaced them with destroyable, shreddable toys made of natural materials. We also upgraded his diet to a high-quality, cold-pressed pellet to help lower his sugar intake and increase importance surrounding treats.
While the changes didn’t bring an immediate shift in Gizmo’s behavior, we did notice a reduction in his stress levels. It took time for him to adjust to the new food, and initially, he still ignored the toys.
Frustrated, I decided to try something new.
Hanging in place of his old bell was a chunky toy with slabs of Yucca, braided sisal, and a strip of leather. Gizmo still gravitated to this area when he was upset even in the absence of his beloved bell.
I started moving the toy with my fingers to see if it would pique his interest. He approached cautiously, wary of the new toy, but after a tense moment, he opened his beak and touched it with his tongue.
Then, to my astonishment, he sank his beak into the Yucca and bit off a chunk. I held my breath as he bit off another piece, then another.
I was thrilled—it was the first time I’d ever been happy to see such a mess!
From that point on, Gizmo embraced his newfound love of destruction.
Over the next several months, he destroyed nearly every natural toy in his cage. He foraged for nuts in his foraging toys, shredded dried leaves, gnawed on strips of leather, and eagerly chewed through various types of wood.
Now, at 34 years old, Gizmo is still set in his ways and quirky about certain things, but he’s a much happier, mentally fulfilled parrot. He has taught me so much about living with large birds, and in return, he’s given me one of the most cherished relationships I’ve ever had with an animal.
