History:

I bought Kodiak's parents, Azure and Kenai. Azure had been through many owners and for years never produced an offspring. His father was a very big, beautiful bird that unknown to me was extremely ill and would die shortly after Kodiak was born. Kodiak was the only offspring that Azure produced. Azure was one of the smartest animals I have ever known. Kodiak seems to have inherited some of her intelligence. He uses a stick to scratch areas he can't reach with his foot, he used a screw eye to make a hole in toy and then restrung the toy, he made a pouch out of a strip of leather to put pellets in so he could eat them from his top perch, plus many other things that he does to solve problems.

Kodiak became severely phobic (as was his father). He could not tolerate the sun rising in the morning, a phone ringing two stories above his room, any noise or movement from anything. He was so miserable that I seriously considered having him put down. After keeping an eye on his diet and working with him to accept things around him, he returned to performing again about 5 years later. Although he was not worked on any of his "tricks" during this time, when I put him on the training table for the first time after his years of rest, he did every trick perfectly. This shows the fantastic Amazon memory. He is now a big part of the performing group.

A Cute Moment:

Kodiak and Pepper have been friends for many years. When Kodiak was a younger they shared the same play gym. Pepper, being older, took over the top perch. Kodiak would have to take the perch a step lower. You could see that Kodiak really wanted to be on that top perch. He would look wistfully up at Pepper and tried to see if there was some way he could also be on that perch. Pepper discouraged any such move by growling at Kodiak.

Finally Kodiak stood in front of one of Pepper's feet and told him, "Foot." That is the command I give them to raise their foot. Pepper being the well-trained bird he is promptly lifted his foot. While his foot was still in the air, Kodiak moved in front of Pepper's other foot and commanded, "Foot." I guess he though he could get Pepper to raise both his feet thus falling off the perch and making it possible for him to finally get the perch.

Born August 1, 1990 he is the youngest of my performing birds. I owned his mother and father so I first saw him as an egg. He has been with me ever since. Kodiak is full of personality and keeps me laughing at his antics.

When Kodiak was about 5 years old, I gave him this plastic ring toy. He soon became very fond of it. I hung it next to one of his perches. Kodiak would cuddle up next to it whenever he took a nap. I never could understand why he wanted to cuddle with a hard plastic ring when he had nice soft stuffed toys.

Kodiak, now a ten year old, began putting the large ring over his head whenever he wanted to take a nap about six months ago. The strange thing is that he doesn't do this when he goes to sleep at night. He places the rings over his head only when he takes his afternoon nap. At night he sleeps in a swing made of a perch and two chains. He moves the swing over to the bars of his cage and holds it steady with his foot. This is the way he sleeps at night.

He has a similar ring that is slightly larger and yellow on his Parrot Tower. He never even looks at that ring. I never put the rings around his neck so I don't know where he got the idea. I think it is sort of a security blanket for him but who knows why he has decided to do this. I am certain in his own mind Kodiak has a very good reason for this.

Joanie Doss
The Amazing Amazons