What do you do when you have a day off and it is nice out?

You take the birds outside!

To be fair, we had all week off, but this has been the first day where I deemed it warm enough to bring the birds out. And luckily, it didn't get too hot either (there is very little wiggle room here I find, we go from cold to very hot very easily), even in the direct sun.

Most birds have now become accustomed to this, and only Zuri still appears nervous and somewhat uncomfortable. Originally, the plan was to be outside for an hour and a half, but I had to admit defeat early (although I believe a few birds were happy about this decision), as the wind was picking up and pollen was flying around like crazy and I couldn't handle being out anymore (and I will not leave the birds outside without very close supervision, given I don't trust a certain neighbour and her two cats). We were outside for about an hour.

Here are a few pictures, that I tried to have look differently from past pictures taken outdoors, but there is only so much you can do with birds confined to cages.

Early May outing

It was lovely out today, so the birds got to enjoy a little sun. Although, by the time we got out (around 3:30 in the afternoon, to avoid the harsh sun) it got intermittently cloudy. But this made for more even light when it came time to take pictures!

Don't mistake Zuri's possible cheerful expression about him being happy. In fact, he wasn't happy, he was protesting. I believe he thinks going outside is one of the possible worst things that could happen, but that is just too bad for him, everyone got and will continue to get a nice dose of vitamin D when the weather will allow for it. He was the most nervous one; Petey and Pixel, who were also rather nervous the first time out this year, seemed more comfortable, Pixel even took to copy her brother and play with a toy while outside.

First outing of 2015!

Although my backyard looked like this just last Wednesday -

- today was a wonderfully warm and very Spring like day (finally!) and it was most definitively warm enough to bring the birds outside (about 19 degrees Celcius!)

Not everyone was thrilled, in fact, I'm quite sure Zuri felt like he was tricked to come outside and Petey and Pixel were also a little skittish, especially in the beginning, but I'm very happy everyone got to enjoy some sun without it being overly hot (like it will be this summer).

 

We were out there for about an hour, just so that they can start getting acclimatized to going outside again. I'll also add that I've very happy I got all these Kings aluminum travel cages (especially the 6 medium sized ones), as it is apparently impossible to find any of those in stock anywhere anymore.

Hopefully the weather keeps getting better and we'll be able to go out more frequently!

Fall outing

Today we did something I didn't think we would get the opportunity to do once again this year - we went outside! It had been getting progressively colder, but this week-end felt like Summer came back.

I won't have a picture of everyone, as the sun was shining brightly and I had a hard time focusing (or even seeing what I was doing).

Here are the ones I did get -

Outside time!

Earlier today we went outside with the birds. The plan was to go out bright and early to beat the heavy humid head, however, due to the timing it took to have everyone ready, we didn't go out quite as early as I would have liked, but we went out nevertheless.

And the heat had started to pick up by that time (nine o'clock). So our time outside was around 45 minutes, as I started to find it unbearable. Most of the birds still seemed to not mind it too much, but I think Léa was looking forward to going back in the cool house.

Of course, I took a few pictures, and, as usual when it comes to these type of pictures, I used my phone. There wasn't a cloud in sight and the sun was shining down rather harshly for it being early morning.

The set-up (there are two more cages on the table with the blue tarp) -

The birds -

The colours seem different as I have an Instagram filter applied to them - it helped some of the colours pop and not looked so washed out by the sun, although Blogger is making everything look more purple than it ought to be.

The neighbour's cat to whom I referred to in a previous post relating to the birds being outside didn't show as much interest in the birds today - the Boy did spot him on the other side of the fence, but it was busy eating another neighbour's grass and then just moved away.

A morning outing

Finally, everyone got to enjoy some sunshine for the first time since the beginning of our vacation! Monday, the Boy and I went for breakfast and by the time we got back home, it was too hot in the backyard. Yesterday morning was dreadfully wet. This morning, however, was nice and sunny, yet quite comfortable. So we got the second table outside, packed everyone in their travel cages and brought them outside.

Some were more comfortable (Shade, Léa), some took a few minutes to adjust (Piper, Joey) and some were not very happy (Zuri, Pixel). As for Petey - well one never knows how Petey will react to anything (for example, one morning he will like a particular food item while the next he won't touch it...) Lately, Petey had been good outside, but this morning it took him a good half hour to get there, but then he was dancing like crazy and looked like he was enjoying himself quite a bit.

Some pictures (not the greatest quality as these were taken with my phone) -

Mid-yawn

Towards the end of their time outside, something spooked Zuri so he got to go in a little earlier (we looked around, couldn't find anything and none of the other birds really seemed to have picked up on whatever it was).

However, Zuri wasn't the only one who got spooked during our morning outing; at the very beginning, it was me who got protective. I love cats, I even have a cat. My cat and my birds don't interact though. I'll also add that my cat is also an indoors cat so none of my neighbours have to deal with her going on their property. I think it is pretty obvious where I'm going with this - new of this year (such as this wasn't an issue the two past summers we've lived here), a neighbour a few houses away lets two of her cats out. They are quite friendly, and one has even wanted to come in our house in the past (which obviously we did not allow). But I'm not so keen when, let's say, they leave little "gifts" in our garden...This morning though, I heard one of the cats on the other side of our fence, calling to us. The Boy was still inside (he was in the process of bringing the cages outside while I was outside keeping an eye on those that were out) - and, without really thinking about it, I went to get our hose (small backyard means everything is pretty much within reach) and heavily sprayed the fence, so the cat would get the message. After the second shot of water to the fence, he got it and left. That got me thinking that for a while I was entertaining the idea of an enclosed patio and I probably would have felt more at ease of letting a bird or two out there with little supervision had that been what we ended up with...and that might have led to an accident involving these cats. Not that I would blame the cats, as they are predators, but I really don't think highly of that neighbour for letting her cats run around.

It was a lovely day...

...so everyone went outside!

It's only the second outing of the year. It's not that we haven't been getting nice weather, but the past two week-ends were no good, as we had our backyard redone and work was in progress. But all of that got done this week so the birds got to enjoy our lovely new patio.

While they were outside, I was busy mostly gardening. Eventually I thought of taking pictures, but that has proven to be a challenge due to continuous changing light. I didn't even bother with my nice camera, here are a few pictures taken with my phone and to which some Instagram filters have been applied.