A Preening Zou

I was thinking of starting a post with general preening pictures from earlier tonight but when I really looked at these of Zuri - I couldn't resist but make a post only about him (it did help that his were all in focus whereas the others..not so much as they moved quite a bit).

What a gorgeous bird! He does truly have amazing colours.

Pixel Bloopers

I set out to take some pictures of the bird this evening and was met with very little enthusiasm on their part. Either they would start preening the moment I put the camera in their face or they would just keep moving, making it very hard to focus.

However, I did get a bit of cooperation from the Red bellies and I actually managed to get the silly side of Pixel. Although like all Red bellies I've met and heard about she has a very clownish side to her, this rarely shows in pictures of her as she just poses in a very dignified way when she sees a camera. Not so much tonight - she was yawning like crazy and I have to say, that will make for funny pictures...

The "slightly annoyed with squinty eyes and a bit of tongue showing" look


The "not so sure if I should scratch..err what was I doing?" look


The "crazy wanting to kill an itch" look


Finally, the best of them all I think, the "possibly drunken yawn" look - the one closed/one open eye just makes the look!

The importance of weighing your birds

Birds don't show that they are ill often until it's too late.

And while in the past I haven't been as thorough as I am now about actually weighing the birds, I would do it a few times a month, around the same time of day, so that the values would be taken around the same time.

A few months ago I decided I wanted a more precise baseline - while I had a general idea of each birds weight, I wanted to have more values in a smaller amount of time so that what I knew as their weight would be more precise.

I now take their weight every second day, and always after diner once I let them out of their cages. This might vary by half an hour from night to night, but it generally means they would have had diner earlier or later so the amount of time between when they get food and come back out is about the same.

The main reason I wanted to more accurate baseline was Piper. The last few times that I left him in the care of someone else for a few days he always seemed to be lighter when I got him back. Didn't matter if it was two days or a full week, he would loose weight.

I am actually keeping a spreadsheet with all the data - have been since I started weighing my birds somewhat regularly from 2008 onwards, and I have, for this year, added a comment column so I can take notes of things that might explain a variance in weight - being birdsat, an injury, a delay in when the birds were weighed - anything.

While there are very expensive scales for sale specifically for birds/parrots, you don't need to purchase one that costs so much. In fact, I got mine for sale for $10 (regularly $30). I've had it for years and it works great. It's only precise to the gram but that is plenty.

Link to the one I own - The scale.

Sometimes, they can be stinkingly cute!

Joey is being beyond adorable right now.

He's sitting on the Boy's shoulder and for the last hour or so, he's been softly mumbling, entertaining his own conversation, but in a very low and cute voice.

I LOVE it when he does this. And I might not be able to understand what he's saying, it's all Red-bellied gibberish, but I think I like this even more than if he were using human words.

And now he just blew a raspberry and laughed at himself.

Absolutely adorable!

Canada Post back to work!

Which means I'll finally be able to receive a few parcels I've been waiting for!

Canada Post and the worker's Union had been unable to come to an agreement for the new collective agreement and while things were still running while the Union had put in place rotating strikes, earlier this month Canada Post decided to lock out all employees, forcing the Federal Government to intervene.

Long story short - we were without mail for a little while.

Timing for me was bad - just as the Sidewalk Sale crept along on Avian Avenue. Not that I ordered much, but I have five parcels which either got held "hostage" or weren't shipped, waiting for the whole situation to be over.

I should be getting a Things for Wings package in the next few days, as it was close to getting here before the lock-out happened - combination of some items from a sale that happened a while ago as well as some items purchased during the Sidewalk Sale.

As well, I'm looking forward to a package from Oliver's Garden; I should be getting two new swings, one for Zuri and one for Petey as well as getting some toys for Piper, Pixel and Shade and finally getting a platform perch for Léa as well as a U Crabby toy, which I have loved the moment I saw it. It's adorable - as far as toys can be adorable.

But not only bird stuff had been purchased during the Sidewalk Sale - Quaking Canopy, which is a small business based in the United States, participated and was having an incredible deal on homemade goat milk soap. I got a few things to try out and am quite looking forward to receiving the package as I've heard good thing after good thing about the products.

That is only three packages..

A little while ago Coco, from Coco's Flock, posted about how to get a great discount from Wingdow for a Wingdow unit. It kept bugging me and I spoke about it to the Boy so he could tell me that it wasn't worth it for whatever reason and he decided to get a medium sized unit as a gift for me! So that should be on it's way too.

Finally, I felt the need to get skewers but failed to take advantage of the Mother Pluckin' Sidewalk Sale discount. But, everything happens for a reason, as I found out a few days later that Expandable Habitat was having a sale (which I believe is still on until the end of June) on their skewers and toy hangers - buy three get one free. So I got a few of those, in the 6 1/2" and 11" models.

I'm looking forward to receiving everything!

More Léa pictures

I emailed the breeder yesterday to get an update on Léa's weight and with her answer came more pictures.

First things first though, in about a week or so, Léa went from weighing 282g to weighing 326g. She's growing!

So here is Léa with a pair of baby Greys, also being raised by the breeder.





And here she is enjoying a cheek scratch - which apparently is one of her favorite things!

The Evacuation Bag

This has been something I had been pondering on and off for the few years we lived here. But given how many false fire alarms there was this past spring and the fact that getting a Cape was becoming a reality, it was something I had to put into place. To boot, Léa or no Léa, although the multiple fire alarms had given us plenty of practice of how to handle evacuating all the pets in case of a real emergency, we were prepared for a two-person evacuation and the reality is that there was also a possibility I would be stuck doing it alone given the Boy is often gone on business trips and that, I couldn't manage with our system.

So it got me thinking - how can we do this better? I could not, as one person, drag every individual carrier, and big carriers they are, downstairs. And with the addition of Léa, our two-person system was no longer going to be good enough since we could only manage what we had then. Finding a solution was actually a big part as to why I said ok to getting Léa - not being able to evacuate all pets wouldn't cut it.

I had a few ideas going through my head but since the Boy was going away for two weeks in the beginning of June, I had to actually make one of these ideas a reality.

And here is what we made - the evacuation duffel bag.



I was basically thinking this would only be used in case of an emergency so there wasn't an absolute need to provide as much space as the cat carriers provided. So I looked at the two "Take me home" carriers I had from early days, the smaller one being Piper's and the bigger one Shade's and thought that using those carriers in case of an emergency would work. As well, I tried putting the Pois in the smaller ones and while it's not ideal, they still were comfortable within it. I liked the idea of keeping the bigger one for Petey, as it would be easier for me to put him in that one than in a smaller one. And to ease transport downstairs, putting these carriers in a duffel bag or something similar that I could sling across my shoulder made sense. So we then had to figure out the configuration of the smaller carriers to figure out what size bag to get. In the end, we got an extra 3 small carriers (for a total of 4) and 1 medium carrier (for a total of 2). We had a few configurations in mind and it all came down to what size bag we could find that would allow all the carriers in it but tight enough that they wouldn't be moving about.





Additionally, the bag itself is made of a material to allow it to breath, but I'm happy that if I need to use it in case of a fire, the outer shell will provide a bit more protection from the smoke to the birds. I love the dual purpose - easy to carry multiple birds at once and extra layer of protection.

In the end, I think this will work well for the purpose it's been designed. However, I really do hope that I will not have to use it for that purpose - ever. But it's nice to know it's there.

Capes, UnCapes, is there a difference?

If researching about Cape parrots online, you will sometimes find them being referred to UnCapes, sometimes Capes, Grey headed parrots and Brown necked parrots.

So what's what?

Well, it all started out as three species being referred to as Capes; Poicephalus robustus robustus (P.r.r.), Poicephalus robustus fuscicollis (P.r.f.) and Poicephalus robustus suahelicus (P.r.s). So they were all commonly called "Cape parrot".

However, they recently went under a re-classification and only the previous nominate Poicephalus robustus robustus remained a "true" Cape - the other two were renamed Poicephalus fuscicollis fuscicollis (P.f.f.) (or Brown necked parrot) and Poicephalus fuscicollis suahelicus (P.f.s) (or Grey headed parrot).

I believe when the changed first happened, Jean Pattison of African Queen Aviaries starting using the term "UnCape" to refer to the Brown necked parrot and Grey headed parrot and differentiate them from the true Cape parrot. But from my experience on online forums, this term didn't really "stick" and most people still refer to their Brown necked and Grey headed parrots as Cape parrots.

Only the true Cape parrot is critically endangered at this point (and I would suggest reading at The Cape Parrot Project for more information as to why) and is not, to my knowledge, available in aviculture in North America. And I believe that here in Canada, the only subspecies out of the other two present is the Grey headed parrot.

So therefore, Léa is *truly* a Grey headed parrot or Poicephalus fuscicollis suahelicus but no matter, for shear convenience in every day conversation, she will still be a Cape parrot to me.

Some Léa pictures!

I had an email from the breeder with a few pictures waiting for me when I got up today. These were either taken last night or early today.

She's 41 days old today - what a difference 12 days or so made in her appearance!

Just look at her face - I think someone will be trouble ;)

More Léa news!

I asked the breeder if Léa would get a chance to grow up in company of other parrots, seeing how both her siblings stayed at the pet store. Léa will get to interact with two baby African Greys, as well as an adult African Grey and an adult Cape parrot. That Cape parrot actually was the first baby Cape that the breeder who has the pair raised.

As well, I had asked if it would be possible to get Léa used to a harness as a baby and the breeder will be using the Aviator harness and will be having a few around in different colour so that Léa (and other babies) will be comfortable with all.

She'll also get weaned on a mix of sprouts, veggies and fruit, as well as some nuts (and NO peanuts) as well as a cooked mix of legumes/rice/quinoa/barley. There will also be some pellets and a high quality seed mix. As well, she'll be introduced to hard boiled eggs from time to time.

I had mentioned in a previous post that the breeder intended to give Léa a small skewer with some fruits but ended up offering some sprouts instead. Léa didn't eat any but she did play with them. All in due time.

Oh and I should be getting some pictures soon, possibly tomorrow, as the breeder will be having a day off.

It's Sidewalk Sale time - first order has arrived!

On June 10th until the 12th, Avian Avenue held their bi-annual Sidewalk Sale (SWS).
As on previous occasions, I did participate although I didn't really go overboard.

Given the actual strike/lock-out situation with Canada Post, I am forced to wait for most of my packages since there is no mail delivery (my Things for Wings package had been mailed out and set to be arriving on Monday, but is now somewhere in transition, waiting for deliveries to start over). Luckily, I did place an order with Crystal Bird Toys and since she's in the Ottawa region, I was able to get my order by hand delivery! What service!

Crystal had one of the most generous sales during that week-end - a combination of 30% off all items, buy three get one free, a free snack bag with each order (a snack bag contains foot toys) as well as a pretty good shipping deal for anyone to whom their orders were shipped.

So what did I get?

I got the Biscotti toy...



..and the Fred's Forager toy.



A close up of the Fred's Forager toy, so you can see the pine nuts included in the yucca pieces.



Apparently I did my math wrong, only getting four or each when I had 5 Pois to go around. But when I saw them in person, it also hit me that given the quantity of nuts on each toy, I'll probably keep these for out-of-cage toys, which means everyone will share, given that I'm sure Zuri, and possibly some of the others, would go through all the nuts in one day if I did leave the toys in their cages.

Finally, here is the content of my free snack bag.

So the Boy is back...

...and Petey has reverted to his old ways it seems.

He's been back for a day and a half or so and already, Petey had dive-bombed me 3 times - twice yesterday and once just now. He does generally wait for there to be some type of kerfuffle to happen and then takes advantage of a few moments of confusion while we assess which bird is where to make his move. It's calculated. Unfortunately for him, both of our attention when we try to figure out who's where is mostly put on him.

It's sad that he came back to his old ways, but I guess in his head he no longer needs to be extra nice to me to get what he wants since the one he wants the most is back.

Léa news - take 2

I had said in my introduction post that there is two breeders involved - the one who has the pair of Capes and another who will be doing the handfeeding (being more comfortable doing it).

Update provided below was from the first breeder. The second just wrote.

Léa has taken on 50g since I last saw her, which is close to being the equivalent of Piper in weight! Her feathers are also much more apparent.
She also mentioned how much of a little pig she is - the first breeder had told her that the Capes normally eat slowly as babies but apparently Léa didn't get that memo. Apparently she's trying to put everything she can in her beak so tomorrow she'll be presented with a small skewer of fruits and veggies and the breeder is pretty sure Léa will try nibbling the food.

Apparently when she opens the top of the container she has her in at the moment, Léa always sticks her little head out to see what is going around her. She also likes to have her head/cheeks scratched.

She will try to take pictures this week-end, but as she's working, it might wait a bit but she's pretty sure she'll probably find a moment to do so.

Léa news

Just got a few lines back from the breeder. Apparently miss Léa is a real pig and has a very very healthy appetite - she sounds like Shade. She's also apparently very nice and very cuddly.

Just hoping for some pictures later.

Bat bird

Petey - hanging out.

Grumpy Shade

These last few days Shade has had a few grumpy moments.

I actually should have clued in as to why earlier because this exact thing has happened in the past.

What did trigger my memory was that a few nights ago, when I went to take her off my shoulder to put her in her cage she didn't step up but rather put a lot of pressure on my finger with her beak(without actually biting). I didn't really look as to what I was doing, just offered my finger and accidentally lightly touched her on her wing in the process.

That's when I thought that it was possible that she had new flight feathers coming in and they were probably painful. A quick glance proved that it was the case on her right wing.

More so than the others birds, she seems to be in pain when these grown in and is very sensitive and if you even brush her slightly she'll let you know that she's unhappy.

Does anyone else have birds that seem to be extra sensitive to this?

Third wheel anyone?

It's funny to see bird relationship evolve in a flock and it seems like lately, everyone wants a piece of Zuri.

And by everyone I really mean the two hens, Shade and Pixel.

I believe I have said in the past how Shade and Zuri were closer than the other birds and that would entail preening sessions and the occasional feeding session, in which Shade was only interested in the food given to her and the moment Zuri might consider skirt dancing, she goes away. That still holds true, it's still all Shade wants.

But now there's a new player in this, making it appear as weird triangle of birdie relationships. And this one, I'm keeping my eye on a lot.

Pixel also wants Zuri time. But contrary to Shade, she doesn't seem to want to preen Zuri (which it appears to be what Zuri wants most of the time) she's more into the feeding portion - and if that goes on for too long, she's the one who starts doing the skirt dancing. Which is why I don't let them do it. I don't want her to feel nesty. I don't want any eggs.

This new turn of events makes Shade jealous it seems. If Zuri and Pixel interacts when Shade is on me, when she'll see it she will fly away to try and get close, which is generally when I move in to separate Pixel and Zuri just in case Shade would try to interfere - she's a stubborn one.

I'll definitively will have to keep an eye on this.

Petey observations

For a little over a week now I've been alone with the birds since the Boy is away on a business trip.

It has happened before and it's always interesting to see how Petey will act, since he really truly loves him and not me.

In the past, he wouldn't really act any differently towards me, still looking for opportunities to attack when he could, with the result that I would take him out of his cage but leave him most of the time in the birdroom where he could hang out. As well, he would give his usual "Hi Petey" greeting when I came home for the first two days or so and then clam up until the Boy would return.

This time, things have appeared to be different.

This time, he's much MUCH nicer towards me. No aerial dive bombs, greetings have continued uninterrupted and when left in the room alone while I carry the others out, he will flock call until I go and get him. He WANTS to be out with us - and he behaves too. The few times he has flown since the Boy left, it was either to exercise with no intent on landing on me OR he has flown from the atom I normally put him on to the couch in an attempt, I believe, to be closer. I don't like leaving him on the couch since Zuri will chase anyone who's there, but when I pick him up, I do talk to him and make him bounce on the perch (which he LOVES) and he'll bob his head and dance.

In the past, while I normally didn't have any issues with having him step up onto a perch, it was always a battle to have him step off - now, he does so without any issue. When I would put food in his cage in the past, he would immediately lunge for the feeder door so I had to be very quick. Now, he'll let me do so without any interruption and once the bowl is in, he'll go check what's in it.

Yes, I've been pleasantly surprised and yes, I really REALLY hope this continues when the Boy will be back. As I've said, he doesn't need to like me, but if he could be neutral and not attack, it would be good. And this seems like a very good step in that direction.

Little Léa..

..is one month old today!

Hard to believe it's been only a month and that it's been a little over two since I knew there were eggs.

She should be here by the end of August, early September. The breeder will be keeping her for an extra two weeks after she's done eating formula to be sure she keeps her weight on, which I'm more than ok with. I'd rather not have to deal with a bird that regresses.

Introducing....

..Lea (or Léa I haven't quite decided on the spelling yet).



So today was the day the babies were pulled out of the nest. Two would end up at a pet store while my little girl would be trusted to a friend of the breeder's to finish weaning. She's also a breeder who I have met before and trust - the original breeder is capable of hand feeding babies and in any case, the other lady has extensive experience doing so and they have operated like this for a while now. I knew this from early on so it's not an issue - I'd rather Lea be in the hands of the more comfortable person with handfeeding.

I did go and meet both people and the meeting point was the pet store where the other two babies were going to be sold. So this explains the bad lighting.

More of my little girlie.





Here is a picture of older sister and baby brother - there appears to be other birds around, this was a tank with four partition walls. Also in the tank but in different sections were White cap Pionus, Brown head parrots and Meyer's parrots.



Finally, one last picture which is not of the Capes but of the aforementioned White cap Pionus. The way they were standing just looking so happy to be under the heating light - one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

Zuri and the SS twirl

These were taken yesterday and made me feel better about Zuri being on the mend following the little incident with Petey.

At one point I was looking for him but couldn't find him - until I looked on the hidden side of the SS twirl and saw Zuri perched ON it - I think it's the first time I've ever seen any of my guys attempt that, they normally sit on the atom and chew the wood from there. Zuri probably get fed up with the atom moving in one direction and the SS twirl in another so he found the solution - and I don't think he would have perched on the twirl had his feet still hurt. You can see that at one point he was even spread out!

1 year with Pixel

Today marks Pixel's first complete year here.
Hard to believe it's already been a full year.

She's done a lot of progress in a short amount of time. Feathers look better, same with her feet. As well, she was a bit nippy when I first got her but now I can do pretty much anything I want with her.

Here is to many more years together!

Another baby picture

I got this earlier this week, I believe on Wednesday.
There seemed to have been some confusion around which baby is which, the breeder didn't want to give a definite answer until he pulls them out. He argues that it's hard to say when they are all huddled together and that mom and dad are just waiting for the right moment to charge at him (if you look in the shadows on the picture, you can see a very unhappy parent..), really leaving him with only a few seconds to look, which I can understand.



If I were to go just by looking at the feather growth, I would say baby #1 is the one at the front right, baby #2 (mine) would be the one in the back and baby #3 would be the one at the front left. It could be the picture although the breeder has pointed it out as well from in-person observations, but that front left baby, the one that I think is #3, is rather larger than the one I think is #2 and appears to be possibly a bit larger than the one I think is #1. Hence why there is a bit of confusion.

Accidents happen so quickly

It's been a very long week for me - deadlines, unnecessary stress and just sheer bad luck.

As the week progressed, by the time Thursday came I was exhausted. Finally things started to look up a bit on Friday; still a busy day but things seem to finally start to turn around.

Yeah right.

I came home in a happier state but still very tired. The birds seem to understand - the typical trouble makers (Zuri and Pixel) were really well behaved, Petey had given me some his "Hi Petey"s even though the Boy wasn't there and that typically makes him silent and had behaved really well and didn't try to dive-bomb attack me once. Shade and Piper snuggled extra close and Joey was standing in a protective fashion in front of me, on the computer desk.

I actually would have called this blog something along the lines about how they seem to perceive your mood...but then came diner time.

Wanting to get them in their cages quickly so I could feed them and then go lay down, I made a mistake. I brought Petey and Zuri in the room at the same time, both on a different perch which I was holding in different hands to keep them distanced. Normally, when I bring Petey in like this he behaves until I put him down in his cage where he might decide to turn around and "attack" the perch. Yesterday, he became antsy and when the birdroom dawned closer, he flew in and landed on one of the hanging gyms. This is normally what Zuri does and the moment Petey took off, he took off after him. And I then had a ball of two Meyer's stuck together. I managed to separate them really quickly, how I did so I don't quite remember. Put both of them in their respective cages and then went to inspect each of them for any potential injuries. Petey seemed fine, only in a huff. Zuri was holding a foot up. Upon closer inspection, there was a little blood. I rushed out and prepared a thick clay mixture with water and Clay-cal to put on his foot. That proved to be rather difficult as he wouldn't let me handle him so I ended up smearing some on his rock perch and having him perch on it and it seem to do the work. From what I could gather, there wasn't a deep cut, maybe just a little bit of the skin had been pulled away. During the evening I frequently checked up on him and he seemed to leave his foot for the most part alone, although, as expected, he wasn't putting a lot of weight on it. Of course all of this had to happen on a Friday night..

This morning I got up really early to check on him, fearful that he would have decided to play with it overnight and there being blood all over the cage. Instead, I found a cheerful bird perched on both feet just waiting to be left out. I did take him out a bit, just him and I, and then put him back in so I could get a bit more sleep, feeling better about him. And when I let them out for their morning out-of-cage time, he wasn't as active as he normally is, but was still moving around quite a bit and was perching on both feet and also put all his weight on his injured foot when he was preening the other.

Hopefully he'll just keep getting better, I tried looking at his feet again and the bottom toe that seem to have been the problem only seem to have a little dry blood on it, the top had a little bit of skin lifted which I think went down to side of the toe. So mostly a scratch and not a bite as him and Petey might have locked together feet-to-feet.



A picture of Zuri from this morning. He's looking really alert, like his usual self. You can see a bit of the dried blood on his left foot (our right).

I had been looking forward to the week-end all week this week. When I got up the second time today, I thought things were be looking up until I found out that the cat had just thrown up in the living room...

How they like to confuse me

So, a little while ago Pixel had started showing interest for Zuri, but it seemed to be in a friendly fashion. Then earlier this week she was trying to attack Zuri - the body language in both instance was obviously different and I did have to intervene this week before things got a bit out of hand between the two.

Then this morning....

They were both sitting on the Java tree so I kept a real close look on them. Then they both showed some excitement to see each other and acknowledge each other from a distance. Still I let them be. Then they tentatively approached each other and then, when within reach of each other...started to feed each other.

It seems like they will be having a complicated relationship.

What my baby Cape will look like...

..in a few weeks time. I figured my blog could use a bit more baby cuteness and this picture is obviously from a previous clutch. I was told this what what they looked like at +/- 4 weeks of age, but I really think it's on the + side.



Hard to believe that my little girl Cape will be a month old, one week from tomorrow!

I am really wanting to burst out with the name I picked but I'm waiting on getting a clearer picture of her. Just to see if it seems right.

Hoping for another picture update this week!

More naughty Pixel

I have written in the past that Pixel has had spurts where she has wanted to attack Shade.

Well, she seems to have started over again, but this time not with Shade. She seems to be willing to try picking up fights with Zuri. While sometimes she gets close and seems to just want to be close and do the same as Zuri, sometimes it's not as friendly and they'll both try to attack, at which point I or the Boy has to intervene.

And this, like with her angry spurts towards Shade, I hope is only temporary in nature. Not sure if she's trying to ascertain her spot in the "pecking order" - she scarcely goes after Piper, maybe knowing he's out of bound, and doesn't really try to argue with Joey, probably because he's pretty easy going and doesn't try to be a dominant bird. Zuri, on the other hand, does act like he is. Well him and Petey - and Pixel is not above trying to get at Petey, but we are generally much quicker at separating any bird trying to get too close to Petey.

Petey is a Canucks fan!

The Boy is currently watching the Canucks-Bruins game and the Canucks just scored a few minutes ago.

Of course, Petey was on his shoulder and when the goal was made, along with the Boy's cheer Petey started dancing. Then when asked if he was a Canucks fan, he bobbed his head like you would do to say yes.

And now, he's intently watching the screen. Apparently he finds hockey really captivating.

Pixel is a hummingbird

The title says it all really.

She's getting much better at flying than she initially did when I first got her. But she was somewhat clipped back then. Her flight feathers have all grown in now I think.

She will fly to something she wants, hover mid air for a few seconds and then either land or just fly in another direction if she can't land.

I don't think any of my other birds can quite do that, the hovering part, at least not as well.

I'll definitively will have to try and get it on video but that might be tricky.

Her previous owner had mentioned that she had managed to fly and hover right underneath the ceiling at the point of having done quite a bit of destruction in one specific area. I have no trouble believing him...

Girl Poi / Boy Poi

Haven't done one of these in a while...





Don't let that sweet face of Pixel fool you - she was quite a bit of trouble this morning whereas Joey was quite sweet...