Monday, October 31, 2011

Happy Halloween!



You can also view it larger by clicking here.

As well, past versions can be viewed by clicking on the year.

2010

2009

2008

Thursday, October 27, 2011

If the Boy heard it...

..then it must be true!

Léa said her name!

Amongst the usual greetings of "Hi Petey's" and "Hi Joey's" that are heard, often on a loop, as we enter our apartment, there was a loud "Léa".

I wasn't sure, but the boyfriend pointed it out as well without me saying anything...and if he heard it, than it's very likely that she did indeed say her name!

The birds enjoying an Oliver's Garden Toy

I initially thought it would be the best fit for Léa given it's size, but she was only mildly interested in it..


(it's definitively NOT as appealing as forbidden stuff...)

So I figured I'd try with the smaller guys.

Obviously the size did not matter at all..





Nice preening toy!



But the one who enjoyed it the most was Joey!

Crazy look and lots of tongue action!





Toy surfing!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Playing side by side



Given the where they were playing and the angle I managed to to get the picture, it might be hard to see, but I assure you they were playing very close together.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Léa loved her diner!

Her beak is a mess (although when I tried taking a picture earlier she wiped her beak on cage bars) and her feet are too!

Tonight the birds got Mayan Gourmet Mash from Avian Organics and I gave Léa quite a bit of it - she cleaned out her bowl and barely anything could be found on the floor of her cage so..

I feed the birds around 6pm. Léa normally comes back out between 8pm and 8:30pm, and I weigh her then, which is at least an hour and a half after she's done eating or so..

Her weight at that time has been around 303g on average. Tonight? 311g!


A picture of her messy beak, post-wipe though. You can also see some food on her foot..

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Identity Crisis

Seems like someone might be thinking that she's part Hawkhead - she stuck those feathers up all on her own but they make for a pretty bad crest..



..and another picture because she's cute!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

My handsome little guy

I think I haven't posted pictures of Joey in a while so here he is!





Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Quotes

"What are you doing, singing Jingle Bells?"

~The Boy to a rather upset Léa who he had left alone in a different room for a few seconds and who started to "scream" (I'm sure she's capable of worse). The best part? It kinda did sound like Jingle Bells!

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Did someone say beads?!?

We are swimming in beads!

Yesterday, I received my order from Woodworks.

2300 beads of all kinds!

I didn't open all bags (they were packaged in bags of 100) since my container of loose beads was filling up to the brim rather rapidly!

All 500 oval beads (1/2" x 3/4")


200 of the 500 of one kind of small-ish round beads (5/8")


200 of 500 of the other kind of small-ish round beads (1/2")


100 of the 500 small bee hive beads (5/8")


All of the 100 small spools (5/8" x 1/2")


I also got these much larger beads for Léa, hopefully she'll like them (and they are in a different container than the rest of the beads)

All of the 100 very large (1") bee hive beads


All of the 100 very large (7/8") round beads


I should be good for beads for a while!

The only "drawback", and this is in quotes since it's more for me than the birds I'm sure, is that only come in natural, not coloured. I briefly thought of attempting to colour them myself, but the mess and time consumption that would surely come with that attempt probably isn't worth it, specially since the birds probably don't care when they are snapping away.

So natural they will remain!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Fall & Halloween order from Crystal's Bird Toys

Crystal from Crystal's Bird Toys recently had a sale on her Fall and Halloween toys. I had wanted to order a few of these toys since they came out, but wanted to wait a bit before putting in an order. However, given the sale, I couldn't help but order then, even if it was sooner than I had planned.

What I got -

Witch Brew - one for Léa and one for Shade, my two biggest bead fiends!



Fall Harvest - Got 5 of these, one each for Shade, Zuri, Pixel, Joey & Petey



The Great Pumpkin - Got 4 of these, one each for Zuri, Pixel, Joey & Petey



Cornucopia Feast - for Léa



A freebie - might give it to Piper since the yucca and small popsicle sticks might be something he will destroy and lately he's showed that he loves to chew on seagrass.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Léa is 5 months old today!

..and she's slowly started to molt out of her baby feathers, just the other day one of her head feathers fell out!



I've read that the coral on the wings and ankles normally come in around 6 months so we have one month or so to go before more colour comes in!

In the mean time, here are some pictures of her at 5 months!





I like how the following two pictures show the iridescence and subtle hues of some of her feathers.





This last one was taken when she apparently had enough of the flash I think and decided to fly onto the camera shortly after...



..and luckily for her, not me, my battery died at that moment meaning no more pictures. However, nothing stopped me from taking some video and I did just so after I gave her a piece of apple to munch on. Notice how she's really just juicing it and spits out the pieces after she's done so!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Oliver's Garden Loot

I recently placed an order with Susan at Oliver's Garden. I think this was the fastest I ever got something from out East - shipped on the 6th, it arrived at the local post office on the 11th and there was a three day week-end in the middle of that!

Got a nice sized box filled with the following goodies!

More Chunky Monkey toys - this time all in the medium size. Shade should be thrilled (specially with her wood chewing tendency of late!). Joey should also appreciate these!



The Baby Anchor (for Piper) and the Fledgling (possibly for Shade or possibly for some communal perch, all I know is that I'm not putting it out quite right now..yes it's because it's too cute.)



I also got a small Grab Bag - which is essentially a bag filled with foot toys and here they are!



As well, in the foot toy category, I got a few Maurie Sticks, a favorite of Shade's and I could see Joey, Pixel and Zuri liking these as well!



Finally, the biggest piece I got, a Skywalk. I saw the name on the website, there was no pictures associated with it though, and inquired about them to Susan. They are somewhat similar to the Platform Perch, in that they are made from a section of a tree and can include those plastic beads. But it is different in it's own way, being more of a boardwalk kinda perch - and yes, the gap on the back side is large enough to let Léa (for this is the one item of hers in this order) go through without getting stuck.



Another angle -



I obviously got more stuff here for the little ones this time around than for Léa. However, I recently entered a photo competition on Avian Avenue that was sponsored by Oliver's Garden and won second place (off by one vote!) and Susan, who's always been very generous, offered second and third places prizes as well - mine being $30 off on my next order, as well as offering 10% off all who have entered the competition! So there will probably be another order with Léa in mind (after all, the entered picture was of her!) in the near future.