Taming Fig

Taming Fig has been a challenge. I have all the usual time constraints of a full-time worker, and parent. I have a young kid, and a cat in the house. And Fig by her very nature, is the most wild, crazy, neurotic animal ever in existence.

So, while I am my own worst critic, I feel I must congratulate myself on the progress Fig has made considering less than ideal circumstances for taming a wild Jungle Crow. Fig is certainly deserving of tons of praise for how far she has come. Integrating into a human family is no easy transition for a wild bird, and she has the additional, and unusual reality to face, that her bird family is right outside with her, every day, tugging away at her heartstrings, creating what must, at times, be a sea of confusing emotions for poor Figgy. 

Yet she manages to thrive. 

Outside she elects to stay and chat with family as much as she likes. And that is nice for her. And when she comes in, she simply switches gears completely, to life with humans, and a cat.
She seems to live this dual life successfully. 

Recently, Fig has much more confidence with the cat. She deliberately engages in chases around the house which rarely result in much fearful squawking, usually none at all. But it is scary to watch! It is very hard to trust a cat. If the cat ever does scare her a bit too much, I am always there to intervene, and Fig just leaps to me for immediate safety. Quite often the two of them pile up face to face, and the resulting awkward silence, and stunned faces is just hilarious. Neither can figure out what to do next. Fig very deliberately goes looking for the cat, to get a good high speed chase going. And she has virtually  no issues coming to the living room to sit and watch TV now either. She can sit on her own on the back of a chair, or snuggle in my lap. She never poops on me. She will easily sit an hour before asking to go to the bathroom.  Her confidence is way, way up compared to six months ago. And it keeps on improving, which is good, because she can still improve quite a bit. You cannot push it, you just have to wait for her to decide she is ready for a new comfort zone boundary expansion...and then one day, it happens.  I just hold her loosely, and let her wander out onto my knee or a chair, or my shoulder, then gesture her to come back, and she does, or maybe she doesn't, being rascally and playful. She obviously understands that pooping in the house is a no-no, but she can still do it from time to time if something startles, or scares her.  She has jumped on my wife's things many times, but never once had an accident on her things, probably because my wife goes, 'Oh no, Figgy, no, no, no...Please.' in that gentle voice of hers which Fig likes. Fig is a very good listener, and she understands what stuff is whose to an amazing degree. I assure you, if Fig had pooped on my wife's things, that would be the end of her living room adventures, and probably my life. I have a lot of confidence in Fig. Teaching a young boy, and a cat to move slowly is the truly hard part, so Fig usually comes out to sit with me. More and more she understands that I do, and will protect her. This is obviously more a human than a Crow thing, but it is very welcome to see that she understands this to a greater and greater extent as time goes by. This aspect of our relationship carries over to the world outside as well, though she tends to be more independent when we go to the park, because she wants to chat with her family, play on her own a bit, explore, and push boundaries, or hang out with utter strangers for some reason. She is a kid. 

Her affection has blossomed too. She snuggles, and sleeps in my lap. She is fine with dry pets now, not only being given affection while having her face washed in the shower anymore. She likes to sit in my lap, put one foot in my hand, exactly as though we are holding hands, then she will nestle down into the cup of my hand and chill. She enjoys TV, or Chess, and plays with Go stones a bit, and she is not afraid to help herself to any snacks that happen to be out. In the shower she baths herself in her bath right next to me, and chats away heartily, and singing a wide array of calls, and dancing a bit. Her array of songs is amazing, and from time to time she does a call which I have not heard in months. More and more, she asks for affection time together out in the living room, though. She does this by tearing away at her perch cover, pecking it, pulling it, tugging away at it, and leaping back and forth while elevating her chest, which is clearly the bird version if waving one's arms. That means, Hey, someone come and get me! She won't usually vocalize a desire for affection. I wonder if that is because there is no Crow vocalization for Hey, come cuddle me? She will vocalize annoyance or irritation however, if ignored. This gestural communication seems somewhat universal to animals including humans when we are at a lack for words. Dogs and cats do the same, as will parrots, hamsters, or even fish pacing back and forth to indicate uncontrolled anticipation. 

Fig has become much more forgiving, too. For example, from time to time, I trim and file her eight toenails down because she cannot have natural wood perches. This makes it easier for her to jump about on fabric covered perches without accidentally snagging a foot, or toe and breaking a leg or a wing. Fig is not a big fan of this maintenance. If I am not careful, I can really upset her. But she forgets all about it once the deed is done, and she returns to her usual trusting, affectionate self. There are no longer two weeks of grudge, resentment, and anxiety over a bit of what amounts to a seriously gentle manhandling. More like two minutes, if that. Oh, she will growl, and maybe bite, or peck if she thinks I want to start all over again  but once I tell her, don't fret,  it is done, she goes right back to being a lovey dovey, fluffing up in relief. 

All this progress is fantastic to witness. Fig is finally settled in. She just needs a bit more confidence before she'll have achieved full autonomy as a mobile member of the family with run of the house.  One must be very aware and careful as a hot stove, mirror, and windows present a constant danger. It is very important to teach a bird about hot places, mirrors, and windows. I have even learned that screendoors cannot always be seen, and after many years of being a bird person, I did not know that.

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