Just Poifect!

29:365 - Missed opportunity

2012-01-29T16:31:00.003-05:00

At first glance, I'm sure there is some confusion about why I chose to title this picture like I did.

I love the picture, don't get me wrong. But..it is truly a missed opportunity.

Zuri was showing signs of restlessness and not wanting to "pose" for much longer so I snapped pictures as fast as my camera's focus and flash regeneration would allow me. I snapped this one and, a few seconds later, Zuri lifted both his wings up. That shot, to me, would have been quite amazing. Unfortunately, by the time I was ready to take another picture, he was done with his stretch and both wings were back down...and he promptly turned his back to me, signifying the end of the photo shoot, lest I would want to take pictures of his back.

What I got is still a pretty wonderful picture though and I guess I should consider myself lucky to having been able to at least catch one wing being lifted.

Fruit murder scene

2012-01-29T10:20:00.001-05:00

The poor blackberry never stood a chance against Pixel..

28:365 - Trust

2012-01-28T16:34:00.004-05:00

Trust with parrots, I found, is a funny thing.

Some give it (almost) willingly. Some, you need to work much harder to get.

I have a mix of rehome/rescue birds as well as birds I got as babies.

I won't lie, in almost all cases the ones I got as babies were quite more willing to give their trust easily. There is, however, one of the rehomes that is an exception.

Pixel.

While she was skittish the first week or two when she moved in, we quickly formed a bond. Being able to have a bird lay on their back in the palm of your hand does deserve a certain amount of trust - and this was something I was able to do with her quite quickly. While I can also do this easily with Shade, we did have to work longer on it and this is something I'm also currently working on with Léa. (Piper just doesn't like being on his back so I won't try to get him to do so, but he does shows his trust in me in many other ways.)

Would I dare attempt this with Joey, Zuri or Petey? No, not at this time at least.

While the trust level with Joey is much improved from when he first joined the flock and that Zuri is slowly starting around, I don't think I'm nowhere near ready to try and manipulate them as easily as I do Piper, Shade, Pixel and Léa. But I do think it is something I might be able to do down the road with them. Petey, on the other hand..if we ever get to a point where we can cohabitate with no chance of him trying to dive bomb me from time to time, I'll be happy.

Why is it easier to gain trust with birds you get as babies? They haven't been issued any reason yet to feel any other way than to trust you. However, this comes with a great deal of responsibility since how you do treat them and deal with them will pave the way of how they will feel about humans in general. Part of the reason why I don't think I'll ever be able to fully gain Petey's trust is that I think, at some point, someone, a women, did something terrible to him. He's quite willing to treat any men he encounters in a very sweet demeanor. But women...no such luck. While he won't attack unknown women, he is clearly uncomfortable around them. Why would I think there is more hope with Joey and Zuri? For one, the progress that has been made since they first came here and the fact that their history isn't as scarring I would think, although Zuri did seem to have it harder than Joey.

But why would Pixel be so trusting? I somehow feel with her that she is so trusting with me because she might have picked me - back in the days where I visited her in the pet store she would come down in her cage to be as close to me as she could and I did see her ignore many other people. And while she is quite trusting of me, the Boy wouldn't dare handle her in the way I do sometimes and when I had her at my parents' to be watched over while we were away on vacation, she was rather nervous around them.

I did mention earlier than when it comes to baby birds, we have a huge responsibility in playing a role in how they will trust other people - I think I did fairly well with Piper and Shade, as they are quite willing to see different people and be well behaved. I can only hope that Léa will turn out the same way.

Funny how taking one picture let me to write something significantly longer than I first intended. I do hope you enjoy the picture of trusting Pixel and her dainty ways.

27:365 - He looks happy..

2012-01-27T20:10:00.006-05:00

I am finishing up the fourth week of this 52 weeks project.
Which means I still have 48 different pictures of each bird to take.

While I *think* some of the others might play along well and give me something a little different each week to post, some I fear will give me more of the same.

Petey is one of those birds. I basically, at this time, can only really take pictures of him on the atom since it's the only place he'll allow me to without trying to immediately jump on me. And he doesn't have many poses - it's just how he is. I could easily get many blurred head shots of him since he likes to move his head so much when the camera is out (a dancing machine he becomes).

He generally hates the camera - but at least on this picture, I think he looks happy.

26:365 - Curves

2012-01-26T19:59:00.002-05:00

The concentrated Meyer's look

2012-01-26T17:07:00.000-05:00

Alternate to day 24.

25:365

2012-01-25T20:27:00.001-05:00

Not the sharpest picture, but a cute one nonetheless!

24:365 - The look

2012-01-24T19:47:00.002-05:00

I did a 365 project a few years ago. I remember one of the things that was the hardest was to take a picture when I just did not feel like it.

Today was one of those days. I did not feel like taking pictures but I did - since I know how nice the feeling is to complete the project, even if many times (and I'm sure this is just the first of many times where it will happen this year) I want to quit.

What I got tonight made it worth it - I really like how this picture of Zuri came out.

23:365 - Bat bird

2012-01-23T19:44:00.002-05:00

The random generator did not want to give me an easy picture today - it picked Léa, as shown above.

What is not shown - my scratched up left hand/wrist/forearm given she kept flying to me instead of staying nicely in one spot and then held on as tightly as she could while I tried to put her down one handed (since my other hand was holding the camera).

And why did I keep on holding the camera instead of putting it down so I could put Léa down with more ease? Because if I wasn't somewhat ready to try and capture a shot right after I managed to ease her off I'd miss the opportunity. This photoshoot lasted a long time, and most of it was spent handling Léa.

So sorry for the not-so-sharp head. I still think it's a pretty neat shot showing her activity level.

22:365 - Funny coincidences

2012-01-22T19:40:00.005-05:00

The first week of this project, I decided to let a random number generator decide of the order in which the birds pictures would be taken (the number attributed to each bird was the order in which they joined the family). The following two weeks were done in the order the birds came here and their age from oldest to youngest.

This week, I figured I'd go back to the random number generator. Three weeks ago it picked #3 first. This week...#3 came out first again.

21:365 - Léa

2012-01-21T17:00:00.003-05:00

8 month old hyperactive Léa..it was hard to get her to stand still long enough to get a sharp picture today.

Day 18 alternatives

2012-01-21T16:35:00.005-05:00

I had a hard time picking which shot of Joey I wanted to use on day 18. Here are some of the alternates that I had pondered about using on that day.

20:365 - Zuri

2012-01-20T20:10:00.001-05:00

He's 4 years old!

Léa's telephone noises

2012-01-20T17:24:00.003-05:00

Yup, that is noises plural.

Earlier this week right after coming home from work and before letting the birds out, the Boy was in the living room while I went to get something in the bedroom. I heard the familiar noise of someone pressing buttons on the phone. I asked the Boy if he was checking voicemail and he said that he thought I was the one handling the phone..before saying "that was Léa". She confused both of us so I think it's fair to say she's got it down perfectly.

And just now, I had another realization. She does make the sound of a ringing phone and it's always eluded me as to which ring it was exactly until now. She has the pattern down of the long distance ring. Of course, the reason it was crystal clear now is because, for the first time, she did it right after the phone rang, and it was a long distance call.

She also said "Allo" shortly after, although not close enough for it to have been an association. And it was "Allo" not "Hello" - I typically answer the phone with "Allo" (what can I say, years of habit of answering the phone in French) and it's also how I greet the birds. Generally, those long distance phone calls are answered by the Boy since they are either his parents or telemarketers and such and he most definitively uses the English greeting.

She definitively seems to prefer the French lately - but honestly, I do find the sound of it fits her little girly voice better!

19:365 - Shade

2012-01-19T20:13:00.002-05:00

She's 5 years old!

18:365 - Joey

2012-01-18T19:44:00.000-05:00

6 year old Joey!

17:365 - Piper

2012-01-17T19:48:00.000-05:00

6 year old Piper!

16:365 - Pixel

2012-01-16T19:50:00.000-05:00

She's 7 years old.

15:365 - Mr. Petey

2012-01-15T16:00:00.002-05:00

This week's order of portrait will be based on the birds' ages - from the oldest to the youngest.

So Petey gets to be first, according to his band he would have hatched in 1995, which means he's 16-17 years old by now.

Léa, today you are 8 months old!

2012-01-14T14:14:00.009-05:00

Another month has gone by, and quickly at that!

Last month, I said you had gotten more active - this has not changed. In fact, the combination of this hike in activity level combined with the Boy's and mine vacation, meaning you came out in the morning later than the usual 6am during the week, meant that you spent even more energy than you normally did (being more awake when we took you out later), you decided to give me another scare and lose a little weight. I had toyed with the idea of bringing you to the vet more than once, but the last time I did that after you had lost some weight, the vet had told me that it was quite normal for you to lose up to 10% of your weight. So I kept a vigilant eye on you, but since you were so full of life, that you continued to eat with the same appetite and you did put on some weight throughout the day and that everything else about you screamed healthy, I figured you were ok. And the moment routine came back to "normal", your weight also came back to "normal".

The fact that you just want to move all the time made today's photoshoot rather difficult - I got quite a few blurry shots since you would move as I pressed the shutter on my camera. But it also make for some fun and interactive pictures.

Toys are still quite popular with you and you are starting to play with more and more different kinds, which makes me happy.

On certain of the pictures above, we can see that you started growing some orange on your wings as well; you have two orange feathers at about the same place on your right wing and one on your left so far. Your right ankle also now has a band of coral going all around it, while your left ankle started to grow a few more of those coral feathers but still has some catching up to do.

As for your head, a few more coral feathers have started up showing on your forehead, however, since they seem to like to grow behind some grey feathers, they aren't all that obvious yet. And since you seem to like to grow them one pin at the time, they are very slowly coming in.

Now, all this obsession about looking for your first coral feathers has drawn my attention away from one other physiological change you have been growing through, the apparition of grey all over your head (and not just on the very top).

It's funny how it's coming in - there is the very obvious patch of grey on top, your cheeks have definitively started to change as well to the reddish with a grey rim adult feathers and your bib has definitively got more grey as well. And all of these waves of grey are converging towards the back of your head, where there is still a very obvious baby green spot left. I'm guessing my next month it'll probably be grey as well.

This month you've also started using words in context - I never doubted that you were smart, but seeing birds do this always amazes me. Don't think that this means that you always have to do so; I'll be quite happy if you want to stick to your cute noises instead of really using human speech. Even without saying words you do manage to get us to understand what you want. I've also seen you get obsessed with doing things and then stopping and moving on - might I suggest that you get tired of going on the floor? I'm pretty sure the Boy as well as myself would enjoy it if we didn't have to pick you off the floor so often.

Finally, Léa, it's been quite enjoyable seeing these changes happen in you and I'm quite looking forward to what is to come!

14:365 - Turning 8 months old today!

2012-01-14T10:28:00.003-05:00

There will be a lengthier post about this later on today.
While I love this shot because it captured her in movement, that same thing made her photoshoot today all the more difficult..Lots of blurry pictures!

Earlier this week I mentioned that there would be a nice coincidence with this week's 365 - this was it. That Léa's turn would fall on her turning 8 month old day!

Little Coy Girl

2012-01-14T09:26:00.001-05:00

Who, me?

13:365 - Contortionist Pixel

2012-01-13T20:09:00.002-05:00

Being insanely cute. Really hard to resist scratching her head when she asks that way...so I didn't!

A tired Léa

2012-01-13T06:29:00.004-05:00

When Léa is tired in the evening and is still out of her cage, she'll normally hang out in two spots - on the cube which is closer to the computer or the triangle swing which is adjacent to the atom the birds all seem to enjoy. The last few days, the latter option has seem to have won more often, including last night and I couldn't resist taking a few pictures as she wound down for the night.

Head-on shot - I love her puffy cheeks here!

Right profile

Left profile

She also did these cute head tilt pose - I love it when any bird looks at you with a crooked head!

Tilt one one side..

..then the other.

(I love this one!)

Finally, it all ended with some beak grinding!

12:365 - Crumbs

2012-01-12T19:55:00.001-05:00

Zuri likes to eat.
But he's not very careful about being a meticulous eater, unlike Shade.

Caught red handed...err..footed?

2012-01-12T06:16:00.004-05:00

This story was relayed to me from the Boy, as I was sitting in the living room with most of the littles (all minus Petey) when it happened.

He brought Léa in our bedroom and he then went back to the birdroom to let Petey out (as letting Petey out first and then taking Léa out while he's free in the room doesn't work really well). After Petey was free in the birdroom, he returned to the bedroom to find Léa on top of one of the speakers of my stereo system in there (a place she most defnitivily should NOT be) making all kinds of happy noises. When she saw that he was back, she screamed (which I heard) and flew back to her Wingdow, which set the Boy laughing (which I heard as well).

He said, it really looked as if she was saying "oh no he caught me, RUN".

11:365 - Preening Petey

2012-01-11T19:13:00.002-05:00

I was going to say this one was taken/posted late, but in reality, it's not.

It's been a very long day, which involved moving the birds to my parents and then back home as our building was, yet again, going to have all electricity cut off, this time for 9 hours to allow for Hydro to fix a problem they created back when they were fixing (the same problem I guess) back in November.

I'm happy it's all over and, hopefully, this will be the last of these type of problems for the winter.

10:365 - Birdie Arabesque

2012-01-10T16:44:00.002-05:00

Natural Pixel

2012-01-10T06:22:00.001-05:00

Taken in natural light.

9:365 - Simply Shade

2012-01-09T19:53:00.004-05:00

This wasn't an easy one to get, but not because of a lack of cooperation on Shade's part.

A good part of these pictures either have Shade's eyes half closed due to me taking a picture probably too soon after a previous one (and her eyes having closed probably because of the flash which I had bouncing off the ceiling and not firing directly in her face) or because of the low light situation, the camera focused on the atom instead of Shade, resulting in slightly blurry pictures.

Eventually Zuri decided to join Shade on the atom, resulting in it moving.

Finally, Pixel also decided to join but unlike Zuri who was just watching what was going on, she had to land close to Shade, yet in a higher position and try to lunge/attack Shade. Unfortunately for Pixel, I had a feeling that was her intentions so I intervened with my free hand (and Shade having seemingly known what Pixel was going to do had proceeded to move away as well). Unfortunately for me, that meant one of my fingers got the blow of the attack, a nice bite on the nail. While this meant no cut/bleeding as a result, bites on the nail hurt A LOT. It's still sore.

I still managed to get a shot I liked in the end.

She said it again!

2012-01-09T17:17:00.004-05:00

Last week, I had blogged about how Léa had said a nice clear "viens-t-en" (come here in French) to the Boy.

Hearing it had eluded me, as I'm pretty sure it did the Boy as well since then.

That is, until today.

I currently have Léa out and for a while, she was being quite the brat, going places she shouldn't go and trying to indulge in her new obsession - trying to chew my curtains. Having had enough, I sent her to the atom and proceeded to ignore her, even as she flew around and tried to get my attention. After about 5 minutes at being unsuccessful at getting me to acknowledge her, she landed back on the atom and said a very clear, very articulate "viens-t-en".

I was flabbergasted.

What amazed me the most is how in context it was. It was clear she wanted me to go and pay attention to her and "viens-t-en" is probably the thing she knows to say that would portray this in human speech as well as she could.

Of course, I did go and see her. She went crazy on the atom and seemed quite happy and proud with herself..as she should!

Quotes

2012-01-09T16:58:00.004-05:00

"I think they are working in teams; one bird will distract me in one place and while I am dealing with the first bird another will do something they shouldn't."

~The Boy while watching the little ones in the birdroom.

Shake those tailfeathers!

2012-01-08T21:01:00.002-05:00

8:365 - Natural Piper

2012-01-08T14:38:00.003-05:00

1 week down, 51 more to go.
This week, I have decided to post pictures of the birds in the order they joined the family and that means Piper is #1. I had been toying with the idea for a while and doing it this week will take care of an ulterior motive for a specific bird, which will be reveled on the day where it's picture will be posted.

I took advantage of the natural light today for Piper's picture, it felt nice to not have to use the external flash. I really can't wait for there to be light outside for longer.

7:365 - Petey

2012-01-07T09:43:00.002-05:00

Last, but not the least.
Not entirely cooperative this morning, but I still like what I got!

6:365 - Tired Pixel

2012-01-06T06:29:00.001-05:00

I think Pixel might have found it a little too early for a photoshoot.

The colours of Léa

2012-01-05T20:26:00.003-05:00

Some pictures from tonight.

Her orange/coral feathers on her right wing were showing a bit more. There are two obvious feathers so far. The first one (the most outside one) is more on the orange side whereas the second one is more coral. The same thing happened with the colours on her ankles - the feathers first grew in more on the orange side and then came in coral.

A picture of Léa climbing the cube (she had been hanging upside down from it minutes before). You can see how nicely coral her right ankle is getting. The left one still needs to grown in more feathers. You can also see how grey her bib is getting.

Finally, a picture of her head. I was looking back at pictures I took of her when she turned 6 months old had had started to get the splotchy head look. So very little of that initial orange on her head is left. However, the number of little coral feathers at the very front is going up and I recently found a new coral pin feather there.

If I calculated right, she's 236 days old now.

5:365 - Zuri and the cube

2012-01-05T07:02:00.001-05:00

He sure loves the hanging cube!

4:365 - The cooperative one

2012-01-04T15:26:00.003-05:00

It was Shade's turn today.
That was a good thing. I'm feeling a bit under the weather and Shade is generally quite cooperative when it comes to posing for a picture.

A new word

2012-01-04T06:38:00.002-05:00

It seems Léa might be adding to her very limited vocabulary at the moment.

So far, she's said "step up", I'm pretty convince we heard her say "Léa" once and it really sounded like the said "Thank you" the other day.

Apparently, she said "viens-t-en" (come here) to the Boy this morning as he was about to let her out of her cage.

One word at a time!

3:365 - The picture that almost never was

2012-01-03T20:27:00.003-05:00

I knew this morning that I was going to take a picture of Piper as we had the random generator pick a number early on - #1.

But this picture almost didn't come to be.

Why?

I didn't want to take a picture early this morning and when we come back home from work, the Boy is with the little ones while I have Léa out, meaning I could only get my picture when they came out after dinner.

And that almost didn't happen. When we had Nemo out (just prior to the other littles coming out), the power was cut from our building. This was the second time in a week. The first time, we got notice about an hour before it was going to be cut that it had to happen to do repairs and that we'd be out for about 3 hours. This time around, it just cut, making us believe at first that it might be a random power outage, but the fact that buildings around us, including the second building of this complex, had electricity, we had a sneaky suspicion it was related to that first problem. The Boy went downstairs to check and we were right. This time around, the repairs were only to take 20 minutes but I wasn't happy with the fact that they didn't feel the need to announce that they were going to cut the power this time.

In any case, the power came back and I was able to take my picture.

I also have two honourable mentions - two other pictures I really like from this mini-shoot and that I felt the need to share.

The Forager

2012-01-03T19:46:00.003-05:00

Zuri likes to forage.

If the other birds don't eat a specific item after a few tries (at the one item), we'll hide the treat in the bird room and Zuri will, each time he's let out in the bird room, take a look around the typical hiding spots for these items.

As well, if we give treats (Avian Organics cookies or nuts) in the living room and the others happen to drop the item below where they are perching from, well you know that Zuri will eventually find them.

It seems this concept is now applying to items he generally will reluctantly touch (although he's got a little better) - vegetables.

A little before dinner, I had prepared a mix of different cut vegetables, which included broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, red bell pepper, hot chili pepper, pomegranate, golden beet root, rainbow chard and black kale. Because Nemo kept flying to me in the kitchen, I threw a few pieces of carrots and broccoli in a bowl and put that bowl on one of the perches in the living room to keep him busy. Well I forgot to put the bowl away and Zuri found it...and is now munching on a piece of broccoli, a vegetable he particularly doesn't seem fond of when he's in his cage.

Eh..whatever works!

The look

2012-01-03T17:36:00.003-05:00

I've been giving Léa nuts that are still in their shell lately.

Almonds are now a joke for her (not that they've ever really been difficult..)

She's figured out walnuts as well.

Hazelnuts gave her a harder time at first, but I think they were good for her as she's been quite beaky lately, possibly because her beak in in a growth spurt, and they are the perfect size for her to chew on for a while (unopened).

Well she's recently started to figure out how to snap them open quicker and quicker.

Just now she had a hazelnut, opened it and carefully lifted the nut out, gently put it down in front of her but proceeded to continue beaking the shell. Well I grabbed the nut, wanting to look it over, wondering if there was anything wrong with it for her to have put it down.

The look the she gave me.

It seemed like a mixture of disbelief and sadness that I would take her nut away. She just kept looking at me that way while holding the nut shell in her beak. I put the nut back and she happily went back to her destruction in progress.

A splash of colour

2012-01-03T06:29:00.000-05:00

2:365 - Go, go, GO!

2012-01-02T10:30:00.003-05:00

The random generator picked "7" this morning, which, obviously, meant a picture of Léa.

Not as sharp as I'd like it, but this is a testament to how she was this morning - always on the go. Getting a crystal clear picture of her would have been otherwise difficult.

Preening buddies

2012-01-02T10:10:00.003-05:00

Symmetrical

2012-01-01T17:34:00.002-05:00

I've been keeping track so far of when the first coral feathers were showing up on Léa, and this included the when the first coral feather showed up on her right wing. Here it is again.

Well, as of today, she's also having a coral feather showing up on her left wing!

Both have showed through the white fluff feathers. Now all that is left to do is to wait for more and more of these feathers to show up all along her wings (and head, and ankles)!

Poofy Piper

2012-01-01T10:38:00.003-05:00

...and silly Piper!

I'm already enjoying not having to watch that my number of posts per month arrives at exactly the number of days! These were too cute not to share right away! (And I don't post nearly as much as I should about Piper I think.)

1:365 - Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T09:33:00.002-05:00

First picture of the New Year and the start of my 365 Parrot project!

I didn't know what bird to pick as the first, so I asked the Boy to find some random generator. The birds were assigned a number based on the order they joined the family and 3 was selected by the random generator.

So Joey became first!

2011

2011-12-31T08:52:00.000-05:00

Another year has gone by.

While a lot of key things happened for me in 2010, 2011 was a bit calmer. The biggest change was the addition of Léa to the flock.

I finally decided to take the plunge and add that last dream parrot, one I’ve been thinking about for years.

With any parrot addition there is a shift in dynamics. Every time I think of adding, the biggest “con” argument I get is “well things are going well now, why change it”. But I do..and I’ve been lucky that things always seem to settle out nicely after an adjustment period of a few months.

The addition of Léa did bring a different dynamic than any of the others – with the little guys, we always tried to maintain taking everyone out together and although my initial intention was to try and eventually bring Léa out with the others as well, I might have changed my position on that.

What made me change my mind? Well, there was a number of factors.

Shortly after I brought Léa home, the smaller guys entered their bi-annual hormonal phase (Fall and Spring). They were a tad more unpredictable and edgy so beginning introductions then was not something I wanted to do. And while the smaller guys have calmed down since then, Léa has proven to be quite an exuberant baby, definitively has more energy than any of the others, is very curious and….well mixing that with my set flock didn’t seem like a good idea either, especially if considering the third issue I have – her size. I knew Capes where bigger. Actually, when I first brought Léa home I thought she should be bigger for some reason. However, after reading many tragic stories of parrot loss to other parrots..the size difference is a big part of my reconsidering mixing everyone together, specially the size difference between my small yet very bold Piper and Léa.

I won’t lie – the adjustment period of bringing Léa over took longer than any of the other additions. There are days where I wondered why I took the plunge. The first few weeks when I first got her were the worst – the fluctuating weight worried me a lot (was she weaned? Did she regress?), the week or so where she would constantly call for us did play with my nerves (and thankfully ignoring her and going to see her when she was quiet fixed the problem)…after having added 4 rehomed/rescued birds that had been beyond the baby days, I did think I was crazy to go back with a baby.

It has been 4 months since we brought her home and I have to say, although it was a difficult beginning at times, it’s been all worth it. She’s very comfortable with us, she loves to play, she loves to fly, she is starting to really make plenty of cute noises, she’s a joy to be around.
As far as the rest of the flock, things have been going nicely as well. Although very few of them are looking to others for friendship, I do believe that they enjoy each other’s company and the flock environment.

Finally, I’d like to discuss about the blog a bit.

My goal this year was to have one post per day, so that each month would have a number of posts which was the same of it’s number of days for a grand total of 365.

With this last post for 2011, I’ll have achieved that goal.

It wasn’t easy. Some months I struggled to come up with something, some months I struggled to hold back and post more. Often I had to tell myself, especially once we were over the half-point mark, that I did so well until then, to just keep going.

And something that I wasn’t planning on happened – while I always intended the blog to be somewhat of a journal of my life with my flock, using it almost daily (as some days I didn’t post but would post more on another) made it more enjoyable. The fact that it became a routine made me look at things differently, capturing things to talk about that I might have overlooked in the past. I definitively want to keep this up.

While I won’t set myself the same challenge, I have been contemplating, over the last few months, of something else to keep me going. And what I came up with is this – to do a 365 picture project of my birds, one picture a day. It’s something I did a few years ago with self portraits – and I have a feeling using the birds instead of myself will be much easier. Ironically, since I have 7 birds it just seems perfectly fitted that each of them would be featured once a week. This would be on top of my regular posts and other pictures. I’m quite looking forward to starting it and see how long I can keep it up!

Happy 2012 to everyone!

Ready...Set...

2011-12-30T10:31:00.001-05:00

...and the image for "GO!" would probably look something like this -

Will need to practice capturing those flight shots in a less blurry manner.

They don't forget

2011-12-29T12:08:00.003-05:00

A while back I had done basic trick training with the birds for a treat - a one-trick per bird deal and Zuri was the fastest learner out of them all, and the one who seems to genuinely like the training.

I have to admit that over the past few weeks, I haven't been as generous with giving out treats (Avian Organics Truffles or almonds for example) in exchange for the trick; I would give it in their cage or hide it around for foraging.

Earlier this week I figured I'd give everyone an AO Truffle while they were out of the cage. Not soon enough that Zuri saw me with the bag, he started turning and turning and turning..I found it hilarious. Now, he only gets the treat when I request it from him, but obviously I wasn't going fast enough at the time!

It's showing!!

2011-12-28T17:33:00.002-05:00

I was playing with Léa when I first spotted it.

Do you see it?

What about now?

Or now?

One last picture..

That is her first official coral wing feather! I knew it was growing for a few days now, but it just started showing earlier today!
On that wing (the right one), I also noticed another much longer coral pin still working it's way to show and I also found one on the left wing.

She's 7 1/2 months old right now.

Who, me?

2011-12-27T21:25:00.002-05:00

The look of faint innocence masking some type of guilt..

..like he was caught right before he was going to do something bad.

Monday Flock Pictures

2011-12-26T20:20:00.001-05:00

More Nemo Pictures!

2011-12-26T15:48:00.007-05:00

I decided to take a few more pictures of Nemo today, hoping he would be a little bit more cooperative than last time, and he was...but just a little bit.

Itchy Nemo

Alert Nemo -

Coy 1 -

Coy 2 -

Coy 3 -

Stretch to the right (his right) -

Stretch to the left -

Proud Nemo -

Secret sharing Nemo -

Thinking Nemo -

Finally, just because I find it funny -

A Christmas present

2011-12-25T16:11:00.004-05:00

One of my gifts this year was very bird oriented - I got a custom painting of Petey.

The painting -

The picture it was based on -

This is added to my collection of parrot paintings I've been getting over the last few years. The goal is to get one of each of my birds. So far, I do have one of Piper, Shade and Joey as well (having the paintings made in the order I got my parrots).

Piper

Shade

Joey

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Understanding time

2011-12-23T21:46:00.003-05:00

Most of the time, my birds come out in one hour spurts - one hour in the morning, one hour after we get back from work and one hour after dinner. Sometimes, it can be up to one hour and a half, but specially since we had to split time between the littles and Léa, it's how it goes during the week.

Petey seems to have understood this concept of one hour and generally, when he feels like going for an attack (on me) he chooses to do so during the last 15 minutes of time out - it's unmistakable. It's like he knows that such an offence normally gets him a time out for 10 to 15 minutes, he might as well make his move then.

Léa seems to slowly have a grasp on time as well and the whole hour-out notion. Lately, she's been quite active and generally when she breaks rules too often, she can end up in her cage a little prematurely. She seems to have figured out a way around that - make mischief all she wants in the first half hour, start to calm down in the following 15 minutes and to be completely quiet and still, engrossed in beads or the like in the last 15 minutes, often making us forget that she's been out and possibly overlooking the time and therefore managing to get an extra 10 minute or so, until one of us realizes that it's her time to go back in her cage.

Smart birds.

Pretty Pixel

2011-12-22T20:16:00.001-05:00

The wings are next!

2011-12-21T07:22:00.000-05:00

Léa first got some coral on her ankles.

Recently, I also found two very coral pin feathers on her head.

Her wings still look very much green...however that might change shortly.

I was handling Léa, playing with her but also getting her used to being handled all over (thing I find practical latter on if there is any injury, much easier to look at with a bird who doesn't mind being handled that way). I was raising her wings, one at the time and felt pin feathers on the right one, through some fluff. I took a closer look and there were two coral pin feathers! I'm guessing they might start showing before the end of the month. I tried looking on the left one but she was not being as cooperative so I didn't push it (I want her to be comfortable, pushing it won't help). But a quick overview did not show any on that side yet.

Funny thing with Léa, she seems to be growing her coral on her right side before the left - it was that way with her ankles (her right ankle is displaying much more coral than the left at this point), the coral feather on her head showed up on the right before it did on the left and now the wings.

In any case, she's growing!

Most birds would want the nut...

2011-12-20T20:10:00.004-05:00

...but Léa seems to prefer to play with the shells instead!

It's a little unsettling really, to watch her go for a in-shell nut, open it, let the nut fall and destroy the shell to smithereens. She'll eventually go for the nut as well, but she REALLY enjoys pulverizing the shell!

And we are talking somewhat hard shells - hazelnuts and walnuts - she doesn't seem to really care about destroying the shell of an almond.

Strong beak indeed!

Last of the SWS orders - Oliver's Garden

2011-12-19T20:56:00.010-05:00

My last Sidewalk Sale Order came today,and I'm quite pleased with everything I got.

I got a few more additional medium Skywalks - while the first one is quite similar to the one I got last time (I requested it so), the second one is quite different in looks.

The Boy said that he thinks the second one would be good for Joey as he loves to pace back and forth on the perches in his cage and this one is longer and a shape that is more appropriate for his pacing. This perch is also thicker, which means it might last longer (if not forever) to the assaults of Joey's beak.

I also got a few Christmas themed toys -

Ruby's Sock

Holly Bell

I couldn't pass the opportunity to stock up on a few of the ultimate favorite here - the medium Chunky Monkey!

Chunky Monkey

As well, I finally took the plunge and got a Highway - which is a length of cotton rope which includes eye rings to attach toys or another Highway to it. It's typically sold as a 6' rope, I had it custom sized a little longer (9') to fit across my birdroom.

Highway

I kept it in it's bag for the picture as I wasn't going to hang it right away and this way I won't have to fight with it while trying to put it back in the bag.

Susan also included a few freebies - always appreciated!

There was also a bag in which there were a few toys wrapped in paper. Turns out a dear friend, Kacy (owner of Léa's virtual Cape sister Mali) sent a few toys along for the flock!

Star Burst

Maple Candy

Citrus Pull - took two pictures to show different angles of this toy which I had been contemplating buying for a while!

Thanks Susan! Thanks Kacy!

More wide angle fun!

2011-12-18T10:13:00.003-05:00

I got an early Christmas present in the form of a wide angle lens for my iPhone. Well I got three lenses but the wide angle one is my favorite, given the bobble head effect it provides.

Working for an almond

2011-12-17T10:56:00.003-05:00

..an in shell almond!

Ok to be honest, it wasn't supposed to be the main focus of these pictures. What I really wanted was to take pictures of her first *official* coral feather showing on her forehead (a little to the left). And the only way I was able to get her to stand still long enough to take pictures was to keep her beak busy with something!

From 7 to 8 - My buddy Nemo

2011-12-16T21:41:00.002-05:00

Things have gone pretty smoothly right now.

Nemo is getting individual out of cage time and he's pretty content about just spending that time sitting on my shoulder...or the Boy's shoulder if I'm unavailable.

He's just not a huge fan of the camera.

Léa, you are 7 months old today!

2011-12-14T06:05:00.010-05:00

What can I say?

Your activity level hasn't gone down, it continued to go up. In fact, over these last few days you've found a new level of energy that we hadn't seen up until now! You certainly have found your comfort zone and we've seen you fly even more than before, you've become even chattier...there is no denying that you are full of life!

Yet, you still look like you smile all the time and you seem genuinely happy!

These pictures also show another important change you went through. While it was obvious that you had started to molt when you turned 6 months old, I never would have dreamed that you would have lost so much of your cap within those 30 days! There is but tiny fringe left, although you can now see some very nice grey feathers tinted of red that have taken their place. You also managed to give me a little anxiety, wondering if you were, after all, a boy. However, a few wispy coral feathers have started to show up at the very front of your forehead as well as two nice coral pin feathers have started to grow! I do wonder if more of these pin feathers will show up as quickly as you lost your orange baby feathers but I don't think the change will be quite as drastic.

Talking about colour, your ankles have definitively started to sport some coral, although you don't really let me take pictures of it. The most obvious change happens to be on the inside of your right leg and the feathers are starting to show on their own (aka, without my "help" of moving the ones above them a little).

Over this past month, you have developed a new fondness for the atom, but over these last five days, you have also discovered the "cube", which hangs more of less above me when I'm at the computer. You go on it later in the evening when you are starting to wind down - you preen on it and then you generally perch on one leg and start grinding your beak. However, the moment I start to think that you are ready for bed and get up to take you to your cage, you suddenly wake up and get active and chat away - I'll admit that I've found the chatting rather cute and it might on a few occasions bought you an extra five minutes (but this really only brings you to the time I had first thought of putting you back in..)

Finally, Léa, it's hard to believe that you are only 5 months away from turning 1 year old. Time does go by fast..

From 7 to 8 - Nemo has arrived!

2011-12-13T19:40:00.004-05:00

My parents just dropped off their Senegal Nemo (Shade's brother) for a stay that will be a little less than 3 weeks.

This will be interesting as he's not a fan of other birds (he's been known to try and go after Cockatoos much bigger than him). He'll have his own time out in the evening, maybe in conjunction with Léa following the same method we do in the morning (someone with him while the other will be with Léa). Well this is while we'll be at work. As of December 23 I'll be on vacation for a few days and that will facilitate proceedings allowing every bird to have a considerable amount of time out of cage.

For Nemo, I have two cages set up - one in the birdroom mostly to be used for sleep (so I can close the door and not be worried about cat curiosity) and he has a bigger cage set up in our bedroom for during the day (I'll close the door to the birdroom and to our bedroom and allow the cat to have the living room all to herself during that time).

It'll be a juggling act but as in the past when this has happened, we always managed to find a routine that worked and I'm sure we'll be able to find something once again.

Secret Santa Goodies!

2011-12-13T06:17:00.008-05:00

This year like last year, I've participated in the Secret Santa gift exchange on Avian Avenue. I got selected to be the Secret Santa to a person with four quite-keen-on-toys Lovebirds (that's a change of pace from my not-so-keen-on-toys Piper) and she seemed quite happy with her gift, which arrived sometime last week.

Yesterday, I received mine..err..the birds' gift.

My Secret Santa ordered items from Blu Bird Toys, a store I hadn't purchased on my own yet as I do try to limit what I get from the States if I can get it in Canada, due to shipping another cost involved.

It was a really nice package, nicely wrapped.

The box

The individual gifts wrapped

One of the gifts, the longer/narrower one, seemed quite obvious to me - it had to be a Sassy Ladle. Whereas the smaller one came totally as a surprise.

The content of the smaller one? 1 lb of wood for my little beavers!

The long and narrow one was indeed a Sassy Ladle - I had a hard time taking a picture that would show all of it, but I think this was pretty good. It's also quite nice and shiny!

Jan, the owner of Blu Bird Toys, also included a card with some magnets as well as a few more little goodies.

Unfortunately, the package did not come with any clues as to who the Secret Santa is so I need to go wait for more clues to be given on Avian Avenue!

Léa vocalizations

2011-12-11T15:50:00.002-05:00

She normally clams up when I enter the room, specially with some form of camera.

However, I managed to catch her going through some of her vocalization practice earlier today. Unfortunately, she had "actual human words" practice earlier on or just decided to not do so on camera.

The life of a bird toy

2011-12-10T15:07:00.004-05:00

It's not easy being a bird toy, at least in this household.
You often end up being reduced to nothing rather quickly.

Recently, Joey got a T4W toy to destroy. After about a week, this is what it looked like.

Before

After

Safe to say the toy was well appreciated!

Feather of hope

2011-12-09T19:14:00.002-05:00

A little over a week ago, I had posted about my concerns that Léa might be a boy, since her head was in a big molt and grey feathers were growing in where coral should be appearing for female Capes.

For a while, and this was before I posted earlier, I had noticed two tiny wispy feathers that weren't grey above her nostrils, but I wasn't sure if they were new feathers or feathers that just hadn't molted out by that point.

I was keeping a watchful eye on her forehead, similar to the scrutiny I put her legs through while waiting for the first coral feather to appear there. She wasn't a fan, just like she wasn't a fan of the ankle examination.

The other day she wanted me to scratch her head. So I jumped on the occasion to keep an ever watchful eye on what might be hiding under the grown feathers.

And I spotted something, a new pin feather. Yesterday, while still tiny, it was clearly different in colour compared to the dark one growing right behind it, similar to the first pin feathers that I thought might have ended up being coral on her legs but weren't. Today, however, it looked different - it looked like it was heading to be the same colour as that first official coral ankle feather.

There is just one of these small, yet "fat" possible coral feathers on her head, at least that I've spotted. Although it's probably still early to tell for sure and I should probably wait for it to be a bit longer or even open, but it does look like I've got my girl after all!

My welcome home

2011-12-08T17:24:00.004-05:00

It was a bit chaotic in the birdroom, as it always is, when I go home. It seems everyone wants to be greeted, everyone is making some sort of noise or has some type of body language going on.

I started with greeting Shade, the calmest of the bunch. Actually took her out for a quick head scratch and put her back in without a problem.

Greeted Zuri second, bobbed my head like he likes to do it and I got a bob back.

As I was moving to Piper's cage to say hi to him, Pixel started to rattle on of her Grey Feather Toys toy to make sure I understood that she was next. Still said hi to Piper, gave him a quick head scratch through the cage bars.

Move onto Pixel, who was quite happy to finally have her moment of attention. Tried to get her to say Peek-a-boo, as she normally does so when we do our greeting, but not tonight.

Go say hi to Joey, and notice that his water is nearly red - it seems one of his toys got a bath today..at this time Léa decides to say, for the first time, a very clear "Allo" (hello in French). While I'm impressed, I just turn to say hi back to her and proceed to sing a song to Joey, his and mine's little ritual (and he was waiting for it!).

Next is Petey - say hi to him, he doesn't seem to really care (as I'm not the Boy) so I move to say hi to Léa again and she goes crazy and beeps a lot.

Get out of the room to prepare for them coming out and they all start "talking" at the same time.

Yet, once out, they are all very very quiet!

All the same

2011-12-07T20:14:00.002-05:00

I really *really* wanted a profile shot. She made it otherwise...

Reaching for the Stars

2011-12-07T06:05:00.000-05:00

More delectable Avian Organics food!

2011-12-06T06:11:00.004-05:00

This wasn't part of my Sidewalk Sale order.

At first I had intended to wait for that sale to get some more Avian Organics food but two reasons pushed me to order ahead.

First, well I was running out fast of the Mayan Gourmet Mash, a staple around here as it is possibly the favorite AO mash, one that is good enough for the birds to lick their bowls clean. In fact, by the time I got my order yesterday, I had been out of the mash for a few days, having cooked what I had left the day after I ordered. I didn't want to wait to be stuck in the middle of a massive pile of orders and have to wait too long to get the my order.

Mind you, the birds did not have to wait too long to get their Mayan Gourmet Mash fix - the shipping with this order has got to be the fastest I've ever seen from BC to Ontario; it was shipped on the 30th and arrived yesterday (the 5th)! Less than a week and there was a week-end in between somewhere!

Here is what I ordered -

Pineapple Pudding, Mayan Gourmet Mash x2

Hemp Berry Pudding x 2, Cazuela

I had mentioned above that there were two reasons as to why I ordered right away - well reason #2 has got to do with the fact that I jumped on another sale Doris was having, this time on Facebook. The first 5 customers to order at the time were each going to get a package of one of her new products, Parrot Pals.

Parrot Pals

Doris also was very generous and included one of the above Hemp Berry Puddings for free.

Hopefully this order will help tide their big appetites for a little while longer!

Quotes

2011-12-04T17:12:00.002-05:00

"What have we fed you today?!"

~The Boy to Léa, who's been quite highly active all day, rarely stopping to catch a breath.

However, she was also very "chatty", i.e. was making all kinds of cute little noises, and it's hard for him to be annoyed with her when she's that cute.

Piper's Skywalk

2011-12-04T09:41:00.003-05:00

He had it in his cage for a little bit and just recently started going on it.

What makes me happiest?

That toy in the forefront, the thin balsa toy, he started chewing on that once he started going on the Skywalk! It's getting him to play with toys!

He also seems to like pacing back and forth on it. I'm happy he's enjoying his new perch!

On the topic of the Sidewalk Sale

2011-12-03T16:23:00.006-05:00

I got my first SWS order!

I think this is the first time I ever received something ordered during the SWS in such a timely fashion. That there was no shipping involved, that I was one of the first to get her order in, that it was a rather small order as well as the fact that (some of) the toys were probably created ahead of time helped.

I was told late yesterday that my order with Crystal's Bird Toys was ready. However, since Crystal was mostly locked in making more toys resulted in either me picking up the toys today or waiting until sometime next week-end to have them delivered.

Obviously I picked the first option, which meant I got to meet Crystal's flock (and got to hold Merlin the African Grey!) as well as see her workshop - which was very organized!

The toys!

A Snow Play for Léa

Snowball for the little Pois

Freebies - for being one of the first five customer to have ordered during the SWS

Quite happy with everything! Thanks Crystal!

Sales all around!

2011-12-03T09:14:00.005-05:00

I think it's pretty obvious that while I try to look for quality items, I also like hunting for sales. With 7 birds to buy for, it just makes sense to make bigger purchases if there is some type of deal going on (although the savings will undoubtedly just go towards more parrot-related purchases..)

As it turns out, this week-end is full of savings to be found in a lot of parrot-related online stores!

I'll start with a sale that is more than over the week-end - a week ago or so, I placed an order with "Les Jouets Rosie" since Jacqueline is currently having a sale of 30% off everything in the store when you buy for $100 and more of merchandise. My order actually came in earlier this week.

AviClean solution, 4 1lb bags of TOPs, 5 Rosie double perches, 1 cajeput perch

Close-up on the Rosie double perch and cajeput perch

The smaller Pois LOVE that double perch and I'm sure they'll be happy to see a new one in their cages.

For more sales, and these are only on this week-end, hop on over to Avian Avenue. The forum is having it's bi-annual Sidewalk Sale (SWS) and many vendors that are also members are participating. Every store has it's own different sale and it's worth having a look around. However, you must be a member to order, but the forum itself is a great place to be, full of resources and nice people!

A Shade Story

2011-12-01T06:45:00.003-05:00

**The Boy insists what is described below really happened.

Last night, the Boy was put the little ones in their cages, paving the way for Léa to come out.

He brought Petey and Joey in one go.
Then got Pixel and Shade.

As he came back to get Zuri and Piper, he tells me:

"You'll never know what Shade just did.

-What?

-Well she opened her cage door, went down and got in her cage.

-How did she open the door?

-Well it was unlocked, she stood above and pulled it open."

So basically Shade decided to do this for the first time in his presence...no one taught her that, she's one smart cookie (and strong)!

This might also explain how she's managed to get out of her cage in the past...

Léa's new obsession

2011-11-30T19:05:00.004-05:00

Honestly, it's not one I'm too happy about.

What is it? Well let me show you with the help of a picture.

Granted it might not look all that obvious. What she is doing is removing some scabs on my arms. See, with the help of her incredibly sharp baby nails, my arms have looked pretty bad these last few weeks, all scratched and such. Unfortunately, Léa has developed a passion to try and take off any scabs..which doesn't help the healing process go any faster. I try to discourage her with other loved items, such as wood beads, but she's a stubborn one. She also has seem to move on to include any type of skin tags and moles..While I appreciate the fact that she wants to preen me, there are just some things that aren't meant to be taken off by her very precise beak.

In other news, while I'm still waiting on the coral to come on her forehead, that little red pin feather I blogged about a few days ago is officially her first coral feather on her ankle. While it's not yet fully open combined with Léa's effort to make it ever so difficult for me to get a picture of it, here is a small glimpse at the new colour on her ankle.

Léa's first official coral ankle feather!

As well, still in relation to yesterday's post, from what I have gathered, the coral on the ankle comes first, followed by the coral on the wings / forehead. So since she's just starting to get colour on her ankles, there is still plenty of time for her to grow the feathers elsewhere.

But what does her head look like nowadays? Well here is a profile shot of her from today.

She was a bit uncooperative when it came to me taking a picture of the top of her head, but you can see how the line of baby orange feathers is slowly receding. Another thing that might be worth noticing is the shape of her head - here it looks nice and round, which would be a strong indication of a female in any of the other Poicephalus parrots, as female have a rounder head whilst the males have a bit broader and flat head.

I'll finish with one last picture of Léa where I find she looks genuinely happy!

The wait begins

2011-11-29T17:22:00.004-05:00

Over the past few weeks, one question has plagued my mind.

"What if she's a boy?"

After all, DNA sexing isn't 100% foolproof. There was always a small probability that the DNA test for Léa would have been wrong.

She is in a pretty big molt right now; the baby orange feathers on her head are falling, there is definitively a tint of grey on her neck where it used to be green, some coral is finally starting to show on her ankles..

The head is what has been worrying me. While all babies have the orange cap, the males do lose it for good and the females get a new one growing in, a bit more on the reddish side from the pictures I've seen, comparing juveniles to adults. A while back, I had been looking back at pictures of other female Capes who's journey from baby to adult had somewhat been documented in pictures. And always I've seen that it's clear that the orange on the head becomes splotchy and slowly darker grey feathers with a tint of red show up and finally the full blow coral forehead shows up. I also hunted down pictures of one of Léa's older sister (previous clutch, not quite a year apart) and she went from having a full orange head as a baby (much more than Léa had) to having a full grey head with a small trip of coral coming in. I do wish there would have been more in-between pictures to show a smoother transition but no such luck.

Knowing myself and my tendencies to worry for everything and anything, I had told myself after all this "research" that it's quite possible that Léa will lose the orange before the coral comes in; in fact, I also found a little text somewhere only that said just that. I kept telling myself before the molt even started that there is no need to worry, that until the molt is all well and over that there is no need to jump to the conclusion that she is a male.

But here I am, undoubtedly worrying, going back to all those pictures that I've looked over a thousand times, trying to see something although what more they could tell me I do not know.

So what if she turned out to be a male? Well, obviously I would love her all the same. She is, regardless of her sex, my little goofball who brings me tremendous joy. But admittedly part of me will be disappointed since these years of waiting were really for a female Cape.

A little hope was thrown my way earlier this week by a fellow Cape owner with whom I had been discussing this first heavy molting in Capes. She also has a little girl Cape named Olivia. She admitted, when Oliva's head molt started, thinking the same question for a few weeks - "What if she's a boy?" at the face of the grey feathers starting to take over.

So a new wait begins. The wait for those little coral feathers to pop up on her forehead.

Carrot beak yawn

2011-11-29T06:39:00.002-05:00

She does love her carrots! And I love her little pink tongue!

It's all about Petey!

2011-11-27T16:20:00.005-05:00

I did feel bad about not having a picture of Petey included in this morning's series of pictures, although this was due to his lack of wanting to participate, I figured I'd try again this afternoon, right after I took him out of his cage.

This proved a bit more fruitful as I did get a handful of usable pictures since he decided to cooperate a little and not move too much.

Eye pinning

More wet Léa

2011-11-27T11:46:00.004-05:00

Playing with an Oliver's Garden toy

The Boy also wanted to take pictures.
While I seem to master the "take camera away from Léa's range when she tries to come and land on the external flash" move, he does not..

Léa sitting on his light sphere (softens the light out of the flash)

Intrigued by what is inside..

Sunday Morning Pictures

2011-11-27T10:04:00.007-05:00

For the most part, they weren't entirely cooperative this morning.
In fact, there is no picture of Petey as he was already a bit on edge this morning and when I brought the camera out, he got more antsy. So I figured it was best to not even point it at him..

Léa's continuous molt

2011-11-26T17:00:00.003-05:00

I discussed about her losing some of the orange feathers on her head, here are some feathers I've collected over the last week alone. She's definitively molting out of her baby feathers.

(I meant to share something taken with my DSLR, but I was unhappy with those shots, kinda liked the processing I was able to do on my phone..as I stupidly tried taking pictures of the loose feathers with Léa out and one visit from her sent them all flying..)

Walking the tight rope..

2011-11-25T06:16:00.000-05:00

..er..tight branch?

A very red pin feather

2011-11-21T21:04:00.000-05:00

A lot of the other orangy/reddish pin feathers she had on her legs that I posted about the other day were orangy/red on the fringe or were tiny feathers.

This pin feather though - I'm pretty sure will be the first full blown coral leg warmer feather ;)
It looks nothing like the others, it's definitively going to be a big feather and it's quite vivid in colour.

Taking pictures of it wasn't easy though..

More Things for Wings Works of Art!

2011-11-21T17:17:00.007-05:00

With each new toy she creates, Danita is making it harder and harder on me to want to give her toys to the birds - they are truly little works of art. But their purpose is to keep beaks busy so I'll just face the music and hang these beautiful toys in the cages.

This order was all about the Winter/Christmas collections available right now at T4W. I showed restraint and didn't order one of everything..but it was a difficult task!

My favorite of the collections has to be the Snowmen collection - it's simply adorable!

Some toys from the Snowmen Collection -

Snowmen Trio & Snowman Wiggle and Jiggle

Baby, it's cold outside

I also got a few toys from the Festive Collection -

Holly Pod Shaker & Grandma's Christmas Tree

Evergreen (x2)

Holly Jolly Shredder

While I find that Danita has outdone herself with all these toys and that I love them all, I do have one favorite, one that will be harder to give up.

From the North Pole Collection -

Elf

The collections seem to be ever expanding - just as I was typing this I have noticed new toys that have been added. I think it's safe to say that I might just have to put in another order for more of these toys!

Hey Joey! Hi Petey!

2011-11-20T12:14:00.004-05:00

These are the greetings we get by Joey and Petey (each saying the one with their respective names).

But there might be a new bird in the mix saying these things.

The Boy had mentioned in the past that Pixel had started staying "Hey Joey" (she's also nicked his low toned "hello" and makes it very confusing as to know who's saying it when..). He was surprised that she hadn't picked "Hi Petey" yet as Petey does repeat that one very often.

Well this morning she said it - a rather clear "Hi Petey" although not exactly said in the same way Petey will say it.

It was cute!

Dainty Sleepy Beauties

2011-11-19T21:52:00.002-05:00

Expanded heads

2011-11-17T20:23:00.001-05:00

More iPhone fun I'm afraid..

Yes?

Does this really make my head look bigger?

When you turned 6 months old...

2011-11-14T17:40:00.007-05:00

You were very active - always on the go, go, GO!

You also lost some of the orange feathers on your head, resulting in a "splotchy" looking forehead - after all, must make way for those adult feathers! Talking about those adult feathers, you had quite a few pin feathers growing on your head which made it very itchy and therefore, you demanded quite a few more head scritches!

And you also had those pin feathers on your legs - and a few of them I'm hopeful by their orange tint will grow into those beautiful coral leg warmers that are typical of Cape parrots.

One tiny orange feather showing on your right ankle (there were actually two orange feathers at this time, but I couldn't photograph both)

Quite a few orange looking feathers on the left ankle!

Happy 6 months to you Léa!

A little blue bird

2011-11-14T06:23:00.003-05:00

..who thinks he's REALLY big and definitively has a big personality!

Why I can't always take pictures of Petey

2011-11-13T19:29:00.000-05:00

Often I take pictures of the others and post and a picture of Petey will be missing.

It's not that I don't want to take a picture of him, but he's not always cooperative.

See, this is what he does when a camera is pointed in his direction - move, move and move!

And I thought hormones were dying down..

2011-11-12T19:46:00.003-05:00

..I was wrong.

So very wrong.

The Boy was letting the birds out a few minutes ago as I waited in the living room for them - most of them generally fly out of the birdroom on their own.

Generally this goes over fine, albeit the Red-bellieds landings are always something to watch out for as they come out of the birdroom very fast and don't generally know where they want to land until they are .5 seconds away from landing.

Tonight...well I don't know if they had conspired about what they did, but they were bad.

Joey was out first - I honestly can't remember if Piper was on me or close to me but all I know is that Joey went for my head - and he was NOT nice about it. It could have been that Piper was on my head and he decided to go for him, as he's done so a few times (although rarely as he's generally pretty subdued) or he might have just gone for me. I don't know. But I ended up shielding my face with my arm and it's good, since he decided to latch onto my hand. He's never done this before.

Oh and Piper is fine.

Pixel on the other hand went straight for Shade. I heard a scream but that was immediately followed by sounds of a bird flying off (this happened as I had Joey on me) and it ended up being Shade who had moved on to another tree. Once I was rid of Joey, I checked her out and she was fine. While Joey acting how he did was out of the ordinary, what happened between Pixel and Shade isn't so much. I always check where Pixel intends to land as she's tried what she did tonight in the past. Shade also seems to know of Pixel's intentions and that's probably why she managed to avoid the attack.

All of them were doing so much better lately. Why this happened tonight, why both of them did what they did at the same time eludes me - well I can only guess that Pixel seeing me occupied with Joey figured there was an opening for mischief of her own..

Never let your guard down.

A series of Léa videos

2011-11-12T13:35:00.003-05:00

The following two have been taken with my iPhone last evening - must say I was pleasantly surprise by how they came out!

Léa enjoying one of the Atoms.

Léa saying "oui oui oui" (very short video, you might want to bring the volume up to hear properly)

This last video was taken a while ago with our video camera. She had a down feather on her beak and I found it cute (I might or might not have put it back on her beak on a few occasions..)

Point a camera in his face..

2011-11-11T07:34:00.002-05:00

...and he'll just preen, preen, preen!

Happy and content

2011-11-10T06:38:00.002-05:00