Cookie monster, part 3

Stella knows the container where we keep our cookies.  The empty container was on the counter, waiting to get washed, so she flew over and tried to open the cover.  Since she is not delicate (I can't really blame her since she's using a beak instead of hands to open it), I opened it for her to show her that her efforts would be in vain -- we'd eaten all of the cookies.  I expected her to fly back to her stand, but I was wrong.

I underestimated her longing for cookie crumbs, as she immediately jumped up to clean up:

A few seconds after that, she really got into it:

Could it have been worth it?  There were hardly any crumbs, and they were tiny!

Quiet Calypso

Poor guy, after realizing that his dream of a Thomas-free life was not coming to fruition when Thomas suddenly appeared again, he had to get on with his routine.  I leave for work after Thomas does, so he had me to himself this morning. 

He made the most of it!  Eating some greens:

And wandering around on the floor, coming to find me.  Here he is, about to leap off of the bottom of his cage door to the ground:

He is so stealth -- like a ninja!  I turn around and he's inside his cage playing with a toy.  Two seconds later, he's on top of his cage.  Two seconds after that, he's at my feet, begging to get picked up.  Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit on the length of time it takes him to move around, but it's quick.  I never know where he's going to be next!

Reuinted

Thomas was gone this past weekend and much of this past week at a conference for work.  It was rough for me!  The parrots were thrown off of their routine of having him home with them, so were a little extra cranky.  Except for Calypso who was loving it and was a little cranky during Thomas's first day back!

You would have thought it was Rocky to have been the happiest at Thomas's return, but it was actually the greys.  They couldn't get enough of him!

Vying for kisses:

I took yesterday off of work and the parrots were very happy to have the entire flock together again.

Food cart

Speaking of caique explorers, our parrot food cart is right next to the living room stand where Beeps spends much of his time.  Previously ignored, the food cart has become a new playground for Beeps.  He spent quite a long time yesterday trying to eat pellets through the plastic containers.

Of course he had those same pellets in his cage, but I suppose it is more fun this way.

I don't know if yesterday's explorations were a one-off thing, or if this will now become part of his routine.  I suppose only time will tell!

The wanderer

Calypso has recently begun climbing down from his cage and wandering around.  Usually he walks over to find me, but sometimes he just wanders around.  He is a very quiet walker, so sometimes he'll be climbing up my pant leg before I even realize he's left his cage.

In a way, this makes me happy, as he's gaining the confidence to explore, but it means that we have to be extra careful to make sure he doesn't get stepped on or get into trouble.

Boxed in

Over the weekend, I was reading a catalog while waiting for dinner to cook.  First one grey, then the other, flew over to join me.

I know I should be happy that they want to spend so much time near me, but it can get to be a bit much at times.  They aren't content to just perch there, they start demanding head pets, chewing up my magazine, or doing something else disruptive.

Brian chatter

Brian had been chattering to my glasses (in the background) but, of course, once he saw the camera, he ran over to chatter to that instead.  It's rather long -- almost a minute.  I kept filming as I'd hoped he would say something intelligible.  That didn't happen!

Grey togetherness

The greys still do not physically interact at all, but I've recently realized that they are rarely more than a couple of feet away from each other.  They basically ignore the rest of the birds, but are fascinated by what the other grey is doing. Stella seems to be the one who usually follows Max around, though it is occasionally the other way around.

Here they are, destroying the mail pile:

I think Max was looking for a little alone time, by perching on the seat of a chair that was pushed in to the table, but she discounted Stella's detective skills:

I thought perhaps they'd both sit on the chair, but Max took off as Stella arrived, and then Stella followed Max to the stand:

This morning, on my newly washed counter:

They've even taken to both being on the same stand.  Before, this was Max's stand and Stella stayed on the green stand:

They are so interesting to watch.  I wish I knew what they were thinking.  Do they keep such close tabs on each other because they like each other (and, if so, why don't they allopreen?)  Or do they not like each other and have to make sure that the other one doesn't get preferential treatment?  Or am I ascribing human feelings to them and they're just doing it because of the flock mentality that's hard-wired in their brains?

What would happen if we introduced another grey to the flock?  There is the sweetest timneh ever at the rescue right now.  My curiosity will have to go unsatisfied in this area as we are in a really good place and don't have the room for another bird right now!

Slow motion stretching

I'd been taking pictures of the greys this morning (which will be my next post) when Calypso started begging for my attention.  This was odd, as he's usually not the biggest fan of getting his picture taken, but I went over there and captured elements of his ritualized stretching.

At the very beginning, he's about to lift his leg up:

Stretching one leg:

Then his wings:

Rubbing his beak on his perch:

Complete!

He'll usually do this with the other leg a few minutes later and repeat the entire process.

Guess what Rocky's doing today?

As I've mentioned many times, Rocky loves shredding boxes.  It keeps him busy and not screaming.  The trouble was, even though Thomas and I run, and therefore change our running shoes on a frequent basis, that still only worked out to maybe 8 boxes a year for Rocky.  Of course he'd get the occasional other box, but shoe boxes are his favorite.

I was mentioning this to a friend who is the manager of a running store, and she told me she could get me boxes as many customers don't want their when they buy shoes!  What an exciting find!

Here's Rocky, enjoying one of those boxes this morning, before I left for work:

I suspect that it will be in shreds when I get home in an hour or so.

I really am trying to get a picture of him inside his box, but as he comes running out to threaten me when he senses my presence, this may prove difficult.  Perhaps I can see if Thomas will be able to get the shot.