Sidney - Amazing Amazons

Name: El Cid (Sidney)
Species: Yellow Naped Amazon
Age: Born 1989

History:

Sidney's owner contacted me and said she would sell Sidney to me for $500. I remember Sidney as I saw him when he first arrived at a pet store in Anchorage, Alaska. He was an exceptionally beautiful baby and even at 4-5 months of age he was already talking and singing. I told the store he wouldn't be there long as he was a really great bird. However, he had one problem. He bit like a maniac. Not just nip but full fledge biting. He began the first day he arrived and continued until the day he left over a year later. He remained at the store until a woman came into the store that he absolutely adored. He did not try to bite her and she bought him.

A year later she contacted me. Sidney was a two year old and had a few problems. She had taken him to be groomed by an "expert". This person kept him wrapped in a towel for over an hour while she clipped his nails and berated the person for taking such poor care of the bird. Every nail bled and when she finally took him out of the towel he could no longer stand. The owner felt that she was a horrible bird owner and loved the bird very much so she wanted him to go to the best home she could find for him.

She told me the "expert" stated her the bird was full of stress feathers.
I was not in the market for a Nape as I had been saving money for a Blue Front male for my female, Azure. I didn't want to get a bird that bit and had lots of stress feathers but I remembered this bird well. I decided to just take a look. When I arrived at the house, there was a bird in glorious feather. The stress feathers were not stress feathers at all but the natural dark scalloping some Napes have on their head and nape. He did have one stress feather which I thought came from the nail clipping. I tried talking her into keeping the Nape and told her the bird looked very good. The bird was very healthy. There was no changing her mind. She was convinced she didn't know how to care for a bird. The bird was in such great shape, was a beautiful guy and a talented talker so I decided to add him to my group.

A Cute Moment:

Maggie and Sidney have hated each other since they first met. I have to rotate their times out of the cage. I had just put Maggie in his cage and Sidney was on the Parrot Tower for his playtime outside his cage. Maggie was in full display and pacing back and forth on his perch. Maggie said, "I'm bad. I'm bad." As he marched up and down the perch. Sidney replied, "Hi bad."