I had originally taken a picture of her as the sun was setting, making some patches in the room very bright and others very dark (the blinds didn't help). I had to use the flash to compensate and try to even out the lighting but even then, it looked a bit awkward. So I waited for the light to be uniform again and took some more pictures.
Earlier this week I received a package in the mail for Léa.
Her breeder sent her a gift for her first hatchday. It's a nice (large) toy. The wicker balls can provide some foraging opportunities and the wood pieces are made of Java wood - which is great as Léa has developed a very strong liking for that type of wood (I have other toys that include some smaller pieces and she's also tried on many times to chew on the stands/trees...)
Oh and I have an atom up!
I figured the yellow and orange PVC structure I used to hang this particular atom at the apartment would fit right in the orange room so I set it up tonight. Léa immediately went on the atom.
I guess doing her nightly nap on the nice cotton beats the other perch alternatives in the room.
I have other pictures of Zuri and Léa in the orange room, but figured I'd tone things done a bit on the blog with some pictures taken in my living room downstairs (which has a nice neutral colour on the walls).
I have heard from a few owners of Capes who are older than Léa that they were a bit crazy as young ones but suddenly, when they turned 1, they calmed down a bit. I was somewhat skeptical about this sudden change in attitude, specially given how Léa was particularly "active". However..it seems like she has become calmer since turning one.
Now, whether this is really due to age or if it has something to do with the move (which coincidentally happened on her first hatchday), I can't know for sure although I'm highly leaning on the second option. It's quite likely that being in a new environment and not knowing all the flight paths yet and being moved from room to room every time she comes out of her cage has made her more cautious. In any case, I'm enjoying this new Léa which has all that I loved about her before, but easier to keep up with.
Finally, the aforementioned pictures - she looks particularly tuckered out on these as they were taken just before bed time and I do think she ended up taking a prolonged nap on the tree..
And thus begins the week of daily pictures with the orange backdrop.
If you look closely at his right foot, you can see the scab on his shorter toe there - it's starting to peel off slowly around the edge, which I hope means it'll come off completely on it's own very shortly.
Yes, one room in my house is orange - and not a light orange, it's BOLD.
No, I wouldn't have had the guts to chose such a colour had I done the painting. But I did not feel the need to paint over it before the move, because it's a fun colour. The room is quite light so it can handle the dose of bright colour and against the white trim in the room, I find it looks rather nice.
All other wall colours in my home are muted in comparison, and that is quite ok. I'm not sure I would have liked it painted entirely in orange...
So after the cool, refreshing green of the birdroom, the birds will have their picture taken in the orange room this week for the 365 project, hence "Orange Room Week". I actually already took two pictures and it will be a challenge as it affects my camera's white balance. Thankfully I shoot in RAW so I can easily play with the white balance to bring it to more realistic temperatures.
As for the purpose of this orange room, it initially was going to act as office/guest room (with a futon or something of the likes). This morning I brought most of the littles in here with me (as there are java stands in the room for the time being) so it might just loose the designation of guest room and have a permanent bird play area.
It seems the birds have deemed it to be bath day today.
I went to the birdroom to check up on them and was met with quite the sight. Seems everyone but Zuri (limited in what he does because of his collar) and Joey have decided to take a bath in their water bowls..
Shade was wet all over her front side, up to her head.
Léa had obviously dunked her head in her bowl and it was drenched but otherwise was dry - guess the bowl is just too small for her body.
Piper had a very wet tail, somewhat wet underside and wet head - a shame because I think the top of his wings would need it more than anything else.
Petey was wet all over - and this is the only way to get him wet. A shower will do nothing for him since he just totally shuts down and seem to repel water. He needs to want to get wet to do so it seems..
Finally, Pixel had a very wet belly - it was rather funny to see that totally dripping and the rest of her dry as a bone.
Avian Organics is currently holding a picture contest - birds enjoying Avian Organics treats. Winners will receive free shipping on their next order. Details were available in Avian Organics' Newsletter (I suggest people subscribe to it to also get insider special on Avian Organics products), on their Facebook page as well as on the Avian Avenue forum. Essentially, participants are allowed to send two pictures each before May 30th (or until the secret number of submissions has been reached) to be eligible.
So of course I staged a photo shoot with some AO goodies with a few of my guys - Shade, Pixel and Joey. Zuri with the collar is unable to hold food to his beak making the whole thing rather awkward (but without the collar he would have been included!), Piper generally goes for crumbs the other leave behind rather than a complete item and Petey is just a picky eater. Since I don't have Léa out with the others and that I had more pictures than I knew what to do with them from the first photo shoot, I didn't think it was necessary to start over with her.
In the end, I did submit one picture from that shoot and one older picture that I really liked depicting one of the birds eating AO product. These I might share later on, but for the time being, here are some of the pictures that didn't make the cut although I do like them quite a bit as well - it was hard picking one picture from all of them!
Starting with some Mango Ginger Minis..
..we then moved onto Truffles...
You can see a blurry Pixel in the back with her own Truffle
Always meticulous Shade - taking small piece by small piece, not wasting anything.
*Total Truffle annihilation!*
..and finished with some very coveted Veggie Bars!
At one point, I had the set-up that would have been the *perfect* product shot - as Shade was finishing her Truffle, I handed her a piece of Veggie Bar, which meant she was holding the Truffle with one foot and had the Veggie Bar in her beak. She remained that way for a few seconds, unfortunately by the time I got proper focus with my camera, she let go of the Truffle.
All three items were gobbled up by the birds (Shade eventually finished the Truffle she let go of). AO items are really loved by most of my flock - Petey being more of a fan of the soft mashes.
Talking about soft mashes, here is an older video of their messy beaks after having eaten some AO Andean Ambrosia mash (please excuse my voice..)!
Pixel had found a piece of Avian Organics Truffle earlier this evening (which might have been from a photo shoot I did earlier this week with part of the flock, more details about that tomorrow (maybe)) and she wasn't too happy when Shade came in, quite likely to try and steal the morsel of food away..
He went back to the vet last Tuesday.
She said everything was looking fine, healing was progressing nicely, no sign of infection on his foot.
It's at the point now that we are just waiting for the scab on his toe to fall. Once it falls off, I give Zuri an extra week in the collar and then I can take it off. Planning to do this on a week-end, regardless of when the scab falls off, even if it means waiting slightly more than a week, just so I can keep an eye on him. Although, ever since his bandage came off, he hasn't tried getting to his foot, so that is a good sign no doubt.
He's been on a look out for anything resembling a cavity lately - very nesty.
It seems that going under paper has been a good alternative to anything he's found out so far. He looks so happy there!
I did turn the hook with the toy around, so that the toy would dangle above the perch, when it was apparent that he couldn't figure out how to climb the pole to get to the toy.
We wanted to finish up our raised boxes for the vegetables I plan to grow over the summer this morning so Léa got to come outside in her travel cage when it was her time to come out of her cage, while we took advantage of the fleeting shade on that side of the property to get what we wanted done.
She was fairly quiet, only did her phone noise a few times and that was about it. She seemed to observe her surrounding (was a bit concerned when a giant crow landed on the neighbour's roof, which I kept an eye on until it left) and even felt comfortable to play with a wooden toy that was in the cage at one point.
The plan was to get things ready to be able to bring the little ones out in the evening when it cooled down a bit out there (our backyard has a southern exposition - it gets hot!), however, clouds are coming in rather quickly and there are some drops of rain at the moment. It'll be for another day.
It's so nice to be able to do this now. I was reluctant to bring the birds out in small cages on the balcony at the apartment as there were a number of pigeons around (including two who seemed to want to call our balcony home) and with their feces around..I didn't want to take a chance with any disease transmission. Next year we do plan on having a proper deck installed in the back and I'd like to have it enclosed to act as an aviary and won't have to bother with bringing the birds out in cages at all.
