Lobsters, and crabs, and bugs, oh my!

What does any of that have to do with parrots?

Well everything, when ordering ("too cute I probably won't want to give it to the birds") birds toys from Oliver's Garden!

The plural is a little much, as in most cases I only got one, but it sounded better and it made for a somewhat creative title!

Susan was having a 10% off sale. And while the title of the blog post is somewhat descriptive of what I got, here are some pictures!

"Jimmy Halfa Lobster"

A toy I've wanted for some time - I mean how could you not want this? - and I finally gave into the temptation. If I ever concede about letting this one go (and I will try very hard to do so), I think he'll end up in Joey's cage. That just seems like the right match!

"U Crabby - Medium"

I have a large version of this toy, bought for Léa. I still haven't given it up. I'm not sure I'll be able to part with this cuter and smaller version. Although the wood is a little thick for them, the bright yellow and blue combination makes me think this should end up in one of the Meyer's cages. Actually, the fact that the wood is a little thick might be a good thing because I could give it to either of those birds and U Crabby will last a little longer and I won't feel guilty about holding onto it!

"Bugs!" (and some other foot toy)

I believe these are the newest addition in Susan's every growing collection of adorable toys - and yes, I just said bugs are adorable! One is called Centipede (left) and the other Housefly (right).

That covers the title of the post, but I also get a few more items.

Ring Swing 5"

Piper needed a new swing. His old one was yellow, we went with blue this time. A nice bright blue.

Chunky Monkey - medium

Of course, can't make an order without getting few additional Chunky Monkeys, a favourite of Shade's.

Hey!

The alternate from day 116.

Her expression and general posture make this a very funny picture!

120:365 - Speed skater position

We have two Joeys!

There was a recent celebration in our house and, since it hasn't anything to do directly with the birds, it generally wouldn't be shared here. However...this was the cake.

Yup, the Boy decided to get a cake topped with a parrot, and not just any parrot, Joey. 

Initially, it was apparently supposed to be two-dimensional (as in the decoration flat on top of the cake), but then the person who made the cake went all out.

There was even details on the wings and, my favourite part, the "Joey feathers" were there on his head! (aka those little orange feathers).

Joey wasn't too sure what to make of this larger version of himself.

119:365 - Petey

Those are eyes of an excited bird!

118:365 - Léa

117:365 - Beak grindin'

He also looks quite interested in something!

Oh jealousy...

I've been dealing with jealous birds lately, and the biggest case of "jealous bird" is Piper.

It appears that if I'm scractching another bird's head, he feels he must get his head scratched to. If I'm remotely paying any attention to someone else, he'll try to put himself in the middle. I think he's also started to do this with the Boy, although in the past he recognized that Petey and Joey might get more attention.

Latest example of his jealous ways? Came this morning. He originally was on my left shoulder and Shade on my right. Shade moved onto a glass of water and Piper placed himself between Shade and myself, on a pillow I keep handy between myself and the desk. When she was done with perching on the glass of water, Shade was coming back towards me, so I scooped her up and placed her back on my shoulder, as Piper was getting agitated. She wanted  back down so I moved Piper back on my shoulder while I tried to deal with Shade. She made it to the pillow, which made Piper go nuts and determined to go back. I had to move him three times before I finally could Shade (who was peacefully sitting whereas Piper was intent on attacking). The moment Shade was removed, he didn't want to be on the pillow anymore. Absolutely no interest.

Silly birds.

116:365 - Up and diagonal!

Also no realy prompt required for her to lift her wings this time. Her face isn't as sharp as it could have been, but once I saw those wings go up, I just took picture after picture, never really taking the time to reajust the focus.

It was a toss up between this one and other picture as to which would get selected for "picture of the day". Both are funny, and while the one might be funnier, this one is more endearing and cute. But I will definitively post the other picture as an alternate.

Handsome Petey

A tired Lovebird

I was looking back at pictures and couldn't believe I didn't share this one! And there are more of Piper from this series that will have to be posted! Adorable pictures!

He was really falling asleep in my hand there - gentle head scratches will do that to you!

115:365 - Up!

I know, totally not an original title. But I think it's only fair to keep using it, since I've done so for every 365 shot I've taken so far where the wings are up.

While I might have tried to coerce Zuri a little bit to get his wings up on the previous picture, Pixel needed no cue from me for this one. In fact, this is the picture for yesterday, but I only took it this morning. I'm actually surprised I got anything worth posting from Pixel since she is in a very flighty mood. This was the third picture I snapped of her, and she was essentially stretching prior to taking off and flying around the room.

And this makes seven

And therefore my "collection" is complete.

What am I talking about?

Aluminum travel cages!

Except in my case it hasn't so much to do with travel as it has to do with bringing the birds outside when it is nice and warm so that they can enjoy some sun while being safe. The addition of this new silver cage means I now have one for every parrot I own.

Unlike most of the others, I didn't wait for a sale. When we moved into the house, I originally was still toying with the idea of having an enclosed deck outside where I could bring the birds out without having to put them in cages. However, now that we are actually going forward with getting something built right there, given the small space we have and comparing cost between a stone patio and a deck, the stone patio is the option we are going with. Which means no enclosed area that could act as an aviary, which means I'll need to continue using cages.

It is actually better this way; had we gone with the enclosed deck, there really wouldn't have been enough space for the birds to fly and I would have had to continue with only bringing a few out at a time; with the travel cages, everyone can come out together.

Because I wasn't ordering when there was a sale, I asked for a specific colour. It works out so that all my female birds get a silver cage and the males all get a blue cage. I didn't want to wait for sale, not because it would have meant likely another blue cage, but rather because of increasing rumours that what stock there is of the cages now is what is left, until Kings Cage can find another manufacturer to replace the one they used to use. In fact, I paid less for this cage than it is being sold on King's website (if you factor in currency conversion) and was told by the vendor I purchased it from that prices will have to go up for these cages - so even if it wasn't a sale, I beat the price hike!

So all I need now is some warm weather to bring the birds out!

114:365 - Up!

Again, it appears Blogger is making the picture appear more blue than it is and this is starting to annoy me a little.

As well, that bit of vet wrap is now off the branch. It was old and I had to take it off, little by little and it finally came entirely off.

I was also almost left with the only option of posting another picture of Zuri's rump - because for most of the photo shoot today, all he did was preen...and preen some more.

Avian Organics Anniversary Sale Order

This is an overdue post, since I received my box over a week ago!

Recently Avian Organics had a week long celebration to commemorate their 8th Anniversary, which meant sales and draws for prizes! My "reserve" of mash was dwindling quickly so I took the opportunity to order a few more bags.

I got the Pineapple Pudding, Mayan Gourmet Mash and Hemp Berry Pudding (all pictured above). Those are favourites with my flock.

I also stocked up on some treats, namely the Veggie Berry Bars and the all time favourite Mango Ginger Minis.

Every order placed during the Anniversary week meant you got your name placed in a daily draw, and your name would remain in the pot until everything was all done. While I generally am not very lucky, I ended up winning the day after I ordered so that was pretty exciting! Gifts varied and I won a large all natural basket with a bag filled with natural parts.

Many thanks to Doris!

113:365 - Piper

I just realized that his forehead is surprisingly clean! He might not have been hiding under papers as much lately.

The new accessory in bird fashion...

...the "beak feather".

Edit: It appears that blogger didn't like my processing of these pictures and has decided that Léa's head should have deeper tones of blue, as well as the contrast being bumped up. I tried replacing the files but got the same result.

April 2014 - "Cooking for the birds"

It's been a long time since I posted one of these entries! Not to say we weren't feeding the birds fresh foods, but it was more along the lines of preparing dinner every night or making a larger batch of Avian  Organics mash and adding a few vegetables.

However, with Spring coming back and the prospect of the Farmer's Market also returning and being able to select fresh in season produce combined with the four day week-end I just had, well I made a batch of "greens".

I have no picture of the "before" state of the veggies that went in - got too lazy to get everything out at once and set-up for the picture, as well as not knowing what exactly was going to go in.

The finished mix of chopped vegetables, grains and legumes

It definitively was not my most thought out bunch of food, but it'll do.

Ingredients:
-Black kale
-Beets
-Broccoli
-Carrots
-Green beans
-Red and orange bell peppers
-Quinoa
-Chick peas
-Adzuki beans
-Mung beans
-Black lentils

This aslo marks the return of chick peas in the evening mash, which I'm sure will delight Léa. I haven't yet bagged what I got, so I'm not sure how many weeks worth I got, but I'm sure that there is more than enough to last until the Farmer's Market starts operating again in May!

Close-up

112:365 - Bright blue

He has such a bright blue rump!

111:365 - Up!

It took some work to get her to stretch (essentially the Boy and myself looking ridiculous), but eventually she got it!

110:365 - Cuddly little one

Yesterday's picture, never got around to posting it then!

Piper is all about getting his head scratched lately!

109:365 - She worried the Boy...

"She's making a spearhead!"

Those were the words he told me when I entered the room and Pixel was chomping away at a wooden toy. I guess it is looking a little pointy.

Day 107 alternates

As promised! They all look rather similar, but yet I really couldn't pick one over the other!

Focused

Something has got his attention!

Changing up her feather style

Gotta work on it!

Still needs more work!

Do you see the difference?

What about now?

108:365 - What 'ya doing down there?

Joey watching the Boy who happened to be picking up something below the atom.

Hi!...maybe?

With her foot ever slightly up, is it a wave hello? She wasn't moving and she wasn't scratching.

Bird in a bowl

Joey's new thing is to lay down in his foot toy bowl. In it.

Something I would be more worried about if he was a hen.

107:365 - The one the Boy picked

I couldn't pick a picture out of the few I got of Shade, as a number of them appealed to me, so I got the Boy to help me select just one. And this one was his choice.

I'll probably post some of the others later on as an outtakes entry!