Brian on the table

Over the weekend, I had put all of the larger parrots in their cages so I could spend some time with Brian.  Thomas was at work, so Brian and I made cookies, with frequent breaks so I could give and get some budgie attention.

At one point, I looked over and noticed he was singing a pretty tune to the container of Aquaphor on the table.  Of course when I tried to get a video of him doing this, he had to run to the camera.  But, I love watching him run around, so I'm posting this anyway.

At the very end of the video, he's just about to start singing to me, but I had already turned the camera off due to Rocky screaming in the background.  Someday I will make a video of Brian singing!

Jumping to conclusions

I was up at the rescue last Saturday.  I was supposed to be there just for an hour or so (one of my favorite alums, a severe macaw I've talked about here before, was coming up for a visit), but wound up staying a couple of extra hours.  I wanted to talk with a couple who was adopting their first macaw (another one of my favorite birds; I pictured her here and here) to answer their questions and help to ensure a smooth transition for her, and then I had to interact with all of my favorite parrots and customers -- a visit can quickly become a time suck!

Thomas was working that morning, but called me as he was leaving work.  I promised to come home quickly, but see the preceding paragraph for why that didn't materialize.

By the time I got home, he'd gone grocery shopping and was near the end of washing the kitchen and living room floors.  I gave him a hug and told him I was so lucky to have married the best husband ever.  Instead of nicely accepting the compliment, his response:

"What bird did you take home today?  Another budgie?"

I think he may have been a bit disappointed when he realized I was empty-handed and just legitimately thanking him.

Helping herself

I had the parrots' dinner dishes on the counter and was just about to transport them into the living room, when Stella decided to eat a little early:

Of course, making a mess as parrots do...

More Rocky nesting

This is one of my favorite things that Rocky does, but I have a hard time getting a good picture of it!  My camera is not powerful enough to take a good picture from far away (hence the evil glint in Rocky's eye), and if I get too close, he just comes out to threaten me.  He only does this for a portion of the year, so I have to enjoy it while I can.

At night, Thomas sweeps the floor really well.  As soon as Rocky sees the broom, he runs down and hides under his cage.  He then sings and laughs during the sweeping.  As soon as the sweeping is done, he climbs into his cage and starts saying "Bye Bye!"

This next picture I took this morning.  Rocky's been screaming pretty much non-stop, unless he has a box to chew.  I gave him a new box this morning so I could get ready for work in peace.  As you can see, he chewed an entrance hole in the bottom left of the box.

When I found him, he was inside the box and stuck his head out to look at me; however, when he saw me, he had to run over to threaten me, which is what he's doing here.  Once I left him alone, he went back to his box.

By the time I left for work, he'd chewed through the entire front of the box.  I'm sure it will be gone when I get home from work.

He's such a good nest-builder and very conscientious of Thomas and of his eggs.  I bet he would have been a great macaw parent.  It just breaks my heart that he's in my living room instead of the wild.

Odd sleeper

I'm not sure if I've posted a picture of this before or not, but Thomas and I were talking about it again this morning, so I took a picture.  Basil is the strangest sleeper ever!  All the rest of my parrots have a sleep perch -- usually the highest perch in their cage -- where they spend the night.

Basil, however, clings to his cage bars, on either side of a corner:

I can't imagine this is comfortable, at least not compared to a rope perch!  I must add that he spends his days perched on normal perches -- it's only at night when he goes to the cage bars.  Also, when he naps, he does so on a perch.

What a funny guy!

Weekend hiking pictures

We went hiking/birding over the long weekend; mostly hiking as we were a bit out of practice with the binoculars.  This black-capped chickadee was posing in the most adorable ways; however, by the time I thought to get my camera out, he'd taken flight.

We stumbled upon a little ground squirrel, whose tail fit perfectly against her back as she was eating:

So beautiful and green!  Thomas is a little orange blur in the middle of the picture:

In the spring, we'd sat here and watched a hummingbird build a nest.  This time, we didn't see any birds, but it was still peaceful and nice:

A dragonfly resting on a post:

From this distance, Thomas noticed something so he grabbed his binoculars.

Two deer, resting in the field!

We turned around so not to disturb them.  So, not a productive birding day -- I think we only saw something like 15 species -- but it was great to be out in the cooler weather and hiking again.  Looking forward to doing this more often in the upcoming fall weeks.

Ohio situation - resolved

I took down my posts about the neglect/abuse in Troy, Ohio after I was told that publicity in the case was detrimental and was currently harming the parrots' chance of getting out.

I have just been informed that all of the parrots, excluding those in the care of vets in Ohio, have been transported to Florida Exotic Bird Sanctuary.

Here is some information, along with the graphic pictures (please be careful about looking at them), as well as a news story.

Rocky nests

Rocky has been very nesty again.  We've been giving him boxes to keep him busy.  I must warn that not all parrots take well to boxes.  We don't let our females have boxes as we don't want to stimulate egg-laying behavior and risk any health problems.  We don't let Beeps have boxes as it makes him extremely aggressive.  But for Rocky, it calms him down, keeps him busy and not screaming, and doesn't increase his aggression.

His favorite is shoe boxes, as he fits in them after chewing an entrance hole.  If you look to the right, you will see one of his "eggs" (really, a ball) that he treasures.  He likes to put his eggs in his nest, then he goes in and sings to them, moves them around, clucks at them, etc.  He never sits on them.  Sometimes he bangs them around, which would probably be bad news if he were in the wild with a real egg!

I spoke to my friend who is the manager of a running store, and she has promised to supply Rocky with a steady stream of shoe boxes; he is very excited about that!

Later, he sat on Thomas's lap and read the paper.  He is also very excited that housecoat weather has returned.

Pre-running

I had these pictures on the other camera, so didn't write about them in yesterday's post.  As I've mentioned before, Rocky is very particular about Thomas's clothes.  He prefers Thomas to wear blue scrub pants, a white T-shirt and, if it's necessary, a housecoat.  Any deviation from this uniform provokes threatening behavior from Rocky and, occasionally, attacks.

I suspect this has something to do with the fact that Thomas only wears that uniform when he's hanging out at home, so Rocky knows when he's dressed differently, he's leaving, which means Rocky has to go in his cage.

Saturday, before leaving for our run, the parrots were all out.  We were dressed in our running clothes, so as Thomas turned his back on him, Rocky jumped him and bit him on the arm.  He then ran away and I put him in his cage so he couldn't inflict further damage.  Meanwhile, both greys flew to the floor to comfort Thomas (who had been curled up on the floor in a blatent attempt to elicit sympathy from me.)  He'd stood up by the time I returned with the camera and was thanking the greys for their concern:

They continued to follow him around as he put on his shoes and got ready to run.  Thomas thinks they were comforting him after his bite, but I think they just didn't want him to leave!

Later, Thomas had a bunch of cabbage on our counter as he was going to make sauerkraut.  Stella immediately flew over and started gently peeling back the layers.  It was fascinating, but we didn't want her to waste too much food, so we removed her soon after taking this picture:

Recovering Rocky

Thomas and I are in training for another marathon, which meant a 20 mile training run on Saturday.  When we returned, the parrots were happy to relax with us.  Rocky had been sipping some recovery drink, but took to threatening me when I tried to take a picture:

Finally, he acquiesced.  Mostly, he drinks water, but he does get a few sips of recovery drink from time to time:

Then, Thomas was peeling a banana.  He'd planned to share bits with the parrots, but Rocky wasn't taking chances, as he ran up to the counter to make sure he would be included:

Since it was so hot and humid over the weekend, the shower we had after our 20 mile was the most satisfying one we'd had in a while.  This may be unpopular, but I can't wait for fall and the cooler weather to follow.