Grumpy Shade

These last few days Shade has had a few grumpy moments.

I actually should have clued in as to why earlier because this exact thing has happened in the past.

What did trigger my memory was that a few nights ago, when I went to take her off my shoulder to put her in her cage she didn't step up but rather put a lot of pressure on my finger with her beak(without actually biting). I didn't really look as to what I was doing, just offered my finger and accidentally lightly touched her on her wing in the process.

That's when I thought that it was possible that she had new flight feathers coming in and they were probably painful. A quick glance proved that it was the case on her right wing.

More so than the others birds, she seems to be in pain when these grown in and is very sensitive and if you even brush her slightly she'll let you know that she's unhappy.

Does anyone else have birds that seem to be extra sensitive to this?

Third wheel anyone?

It's funny to see bird relationship evolve in a flock and it seems like lately, everyone wants a piece of Zuri.

And by everyone I really mean the two hens, Shade and Pixel.

I believe I have said in the past how Shade and Zuri were closer than the other birds and that would entail preening sessions and the occasional feeding session, in which Shade was only interested in the food given to her and the moment Zuri might consider skirt dancing, she goes away. That still holds true, it's still all Shade wants.

But now there's a new player in this, making it appear as weird triangle of birdie relationships. And this one, I'm keeping my eye on a lot.

Pixel also wants Zuri time. But contrary to Shade, she doesn't seem to want to preen Zuri (which it appears to be what Zuri wants most of the time) she's more into the feeding portion - and if that goes on for too long, she's the one who starts doing the skirt dancing. Which is why I don't let them do it. I don't want her to feel nesty. I don't want any eggs.

This new turn of events makes Shade jealous it seems. If Zuri and Pixel interacts when Shade is on me, when she'll see it she will fly away to try and get close, which is generally when I move in to separate Pixel and Zuri just in case Shade would try to interfere - she's a stubborn one.

I'll definitively will have to keep an eye on this.

Petey observations

For a little over a week now I've been alone with the birds since the Boy is away on a business trip.

It has happened before and it's always interesting to see how Petey will act, since he really truly loves him and not me.

In the past, he wouldn't really act any differently towards me, still looking for opportunities to attack when he could, with the result that I would take him out of his cage but leave him most of the time in the birdroom where he could hang out. As well, he would give his usual "Hi Petey" greeting when I came home for the first two days or so and then clam up until the Boy would return.

This time, things have appeared to be different.

This time, he's much MUCH nicer towards me. No aerial dive bombs, greetings have continued uninterrupted and when left in the room alone while I carry the others out, he will flock call until I go and get him. He WANTS to be out with us - and he behaves too. The few times he has flown since the Boy left, it was either to exercise with no intent on landing on me OR he has flown from the atom I normally put him on to the couch in an attempt, I believe, to be closer. I don't like leaving him on the couch since Zuri will chase anyone who's there, but when I pick him up, I do talk to him and make him bounce on the perch (which he LOVES) and he'll bob his head and dance.

In the past, while I normally didn't have any issues with having him step up onto a perch, it was always a battle to have him step off - now, he does so without any issue. When I would put food in his cage in the past, he would immediately lunge for the feeder door so I had to be very quick. Now, he'll let me do so without any interruption and once the bowl is in, he'll go check what's in it.

Yes, I've been pleasantly surprised and yes, I really REALLY hope this continues when the Boy will be back. As I've said, he doesn't need to like me, but if he could be neutral and not attack, it would be good. And this seems like a very good step in that direction.

Little Léa..

..is one month old today!

Hard to believe it's been only a month and that it's been a little over two since I knew there were eggs.

She should be here by the end of August, early September. The breeder will be keeping her for an extra two weeks after she's done eating formula to be sure she keeps her weight on, which I'm more than ok with. I'd rather not have to deal with a bird that regresses.

Introducing....

..Lea (or Léa I haven't quite decided on the spelling yet).



So today was the day the babies were pulled out of the nest. Two would end up at a pet store while my little girl would be trusted to a friend of the breeder's to finish weaning. She's also a breeder who I have met before and trust - the original breeder is capable of hand feeding babies and in any case, the other lady has extensive experience doing so and they have operated like this for a while now. I knew this from early on so it's not an issue - I'd rather Lea be in the hands of the more comfortable person with handfeeding.

I did go and meet both people and the meeting point was the pet store where the other two babies were going to be sold. So this explains the bad lighting.

More of my little girlie.





Here is a picture of older sister and baby brother - there appears to be other birds around, this was a tank with four partition walls. Also in the tank but in different sections were White cap Pionus, Brown head parrots and Meyer's parrots.



Finally, one last picture which is not of the Capes but of the aforementioned White cap Pionus. The way they were standing just looking so happy to be under the heating light - one of the cutest things I have ever seen!

Zuri and the SS twirl

These were taken yesterday and made me feel better about Zuri being on the mend following the little incident with Petey.

At one point I was looking for him but couldn't find him - until I looked on the hidden side of the SS twirl and saw Zuri perched ON it - I think it's the first time I've ever seen any of my guys attempt that, they normally sit on the atom and chew the wood from there. Zuri probably get fed up with the atom moving in one direction and the SS twirl in another so he found the solution - and I don't think he would have perched on the twirl had his feet still hurt. You can see that at one point he was even spread out!

1 year with Pixel

Today marks Pixel's first complete year here.
Hard to believe it's already been a full year.

She's done a lot of progress in a short amount of time. Feathers look better, same with her feet. As well, she was a bit nippy when I first got her but now I can do pretty much anything I want with her.

Here is to many more years together!

Another baby picture

I got this earlier this week, I believe on Wednesday.
There seemed to have been some confusion around which baby is which, the breeder didn't want to give a definite answer until he pulls them out. He argues that it's hard to say when they are all huddled together and that mom and dad are just waiting for the right moment to charge at him (if you look in the shadows on the picture, you can see a very unhappy parent..), really leaving him with only a few seconds to look, which I can understand.



If I were to go just by looking at the feather growth, I would say baby #1 is the one at the front right, baby #2 (mine) would be the one in the back and baby #3 would be the one at the front left. It could be the picture although the breeder has pointed it out as well from in-person observations, but that front left baby, the one that I think is #3, is rather larger than the one I think is #2 and appears to be possibly a bit larger than the one I think is #1. Hence why there is a bit of confusion.

Accidents happen so quickly

It's been a very long week for me - deadlines, unnecessary stress and just sheer bad luck.

As the week progressed, by the time Thursday came I was exhausted. Finally things started to look up a bit on Friday; still a busy day but things seem to finally start to turn around.

Yeah right.

I came home in a happier state but still very tired. The birds seem to understand - the typical trouble makers (Zuri and Pixel) were really well behaved, Petey had given me some his "Hi Petey"s even though the Boy wasn't there and that typically makes him silent and had behaved really well and didn't try to dive-bomb attack me once. Shade and Piper snuggled extra close and Joey was standing in a protective fashion in front of me, on the computer desk.

I actually would have called this blog something along the lines about how they seem to perceive your mood...but then came diner time.

Wanting to get them in their cages quickly so I could feed them and then go lay down, I made a mistake. I brought Petey and Zuri in the room at the same time, both on a different perch which I was holding in different hands to keep them distanced. Normally, when I bring Petey in like this he behaves until I put him down in his cage where he might decide to turn around and "attack" the perch. Yesterday, he became antsy and when the birdroom dawned closer, he flew in and landed on one of the hanging gyms. This is normally what Zuri does and the moment Petey took off, he took off after him. And I then had a ball of two Meyer's stuck together. I managed to separate them really quickly, how I did so I don't quite remember. Put both of them in their respective cages and then went to inspect each of them for any potential injuries. Petey seemed fine, only in a huff. Zuri was holding a foot up. Upon closer inspection, there was a little blood. I rushed out and prepared a thick clay mixture with water and Clay-cal to put on his foot. That proved to be rather difficult as he wouldn't let me handle him so I ended up smearing some on his rock perch and having him perch on it and it seem to do the work. From what I could gather, there wasn't a deep cut, maybe just a little bit of the skin had been pulled away. During the evening I frequently checked up on him and he seemed to leave his foot for the most part alone, although, as expected, he wasn't putting a lot of weight on it. Of course all of this had to happen on a Friday night..

This morning I got up really early to check on him, fearful that he would have decided to play with it overnight and there being blood all over the cage. Instead, I found a cheerful bird perched on both feet just waiting to be left out. I did take him out a bit, just him and I, and then put him back in so I could get a bit more sleep, feeling better about him. And when I let them out for their morning out-of-cage time, he wasn't as active as he normally is, but was still moving around quite a bit and was perching on both feet and also put all his weight on his injured foot when he was preening the other.

Hopefully he'll just keep getting better, I tried looking at his feet again and the bottom toe that seem to have been the problem only seem to have a little dry blood on it, the top had a little bit of skin lifted which I think went down to side of the toe. So mostly a scratch and not a bite as him and Petey might have locked together feet-to-feet.



A picture of Zuri from this morning. He's looking really alert, like his usual self. You can see a bit of the dried blood on his left foot (our right).

I had been looking forward to the week-end all week this week. When I got up the second time today, I thought things were be looking up until I found out that the cat had just thrown up in the living room...

How they like to confuse me

So, a little while ago Pixel had started showing interest for Zuri, but it seemed to be in a friendly fashion. Then earlier this week she was trying to attack Zuri - the body language in both instance was obviously different and I did have to intervene this week before things got a bit out of hand between the two.

Then this morning....

They were both sitting on the Java tree so I kept a real close look on them. Then they both showed some excitement to see each other and acknowledge each other from a distance. Still I let them be. Then they tentatively approached each other and then, when within reach of each other...started to feed each other.

It seems like they will be having a complicated relationship.

What my baby Cape will look like...

..in a few weeks time. I figured my blog could use a bit more baby cuteness and this picture is obviously from a previous clutch. I was told this what what they looked like at +/- 4 weeks of age, but I really think it's on the + side.



Hard to believe that my little girl Cape will be a month old, one week from tomorrow!

I am really wanting to burst out with the name I picked but I'm waiting on getting a clearer picture of her. Just to see if it seems right.

Hoping for another picture update this week!

More naughty Pixel

I have written in the past that Pixel has had spurts where she has wanted to attack Shade.

Well, she seems to have started over again, but this time not with Shade. She seems to be willing to try picking up fights with Zuri. While sometimes she gets close and seems to just want to be close and do the same as Zuri, sometimes it's not as friendly and they'll both try to attack, at which point I or the Boy has to intervene.

And this, like with her angry spurts towards Shade, I hope is only temporary in nature. Not sure if she's trying to ascertain her spot in the "pecking order" - she scarcely goes after Piper, maybe knowing he's out of bound, and doesn't really try to argue with Joey, probably because he's pretty easy going and doesn't try to be a dominant bird. Zuri, on the other hand, does act like he is. Well him and Petey - and Pixel is not above trying to get at Petey, but we are generally much quicker at separating any bird trying to get too close to Petey.

Petey is a Canucks fan!

The Boy is currently watching the Canucks-Bruins game and the Canucks just scored a few minutes ago.

Of course, Petey was on his shoulder and when the goal was made, along with the Boy's cheer Petey started dancing. Then when asked if he was a Canucks fan, he bobbed his head like you would do to say yes.

And now, he's intently watching the screen. Apparently he finds hockey really captivating.

Pixel is a hummingbird

The title says it all really.

She's getting much better at flying than she initially did when I first got her. But she was somewhat clipped back then. Her flight feathers have all grown in now I think.

She will fly to something she wants, hover mid air for a few seconds and then either land or just fly in another direction if she can't land.

I don't think any of my other birds can quite do that, the hovering part, at least not as well.

I'll definitively will have to try and get it on video but that might be tricky.

Her previous owner had mentioned that she had managed to fly and hover right underneath the ceiling at the point of having done quite a bit of destruction in one specific area. I have no trouble believing him...

Girl Poi / Boy Poi

Haven't done one of these in a while...





Don't let that sweet face of Pixel fool you - she was quite a bit of trouble this morning whereas Joey was quite sweet...