New birdbath record!

When I came home from work Friday afternoon, I heard tons of birds singing in my trees.  I was going to call Thomas to tell him to come outside, but before I left work he told me he had to call a patient, so I figured he was busy.  Good thing I got inside quickly so I could see all of the birdbath action!

After taking my pictures, I mentioned the bird extravaganza to Thomas, and he was excited because he thought he'd taken the new birdbath record, with 5:

And then he saw, on the screen, what I had been able to capture.

First, 7:

Then, 9:

Then, 11:

And, finally, 13!!!!!:

I'm pretty sure it will never be possible to break that record, unless we get a bigger birdbath!

There was a mix of grackles and sparrows, and it was so fun to watch!  Here, a sparrow lands, as the grackles are fixated on something above:

The grackles are in the midst of molting, so it was interesting to look at them through the binoculars and see the various stages they were in.  Looking forward to birding during the upcoming fall migration!

Breakfasting

It's been awhile since I've posted pictures of Max eating with a spoon.  This spoon is only used for her, so when she sees it she gets so excited!

Brian was eating some of Thomas's toast, but he was taking such a long time that eventually Thomas broke off a budgie-sized piece and left it for him:

Then he came over by me and pretended to eat my bowl.  Why?  I have no idea!

Meanwhile, Rocky climbed into Brian's cage and burrowed under his cage paper:

More Little Brian

I have not been diligent about taking pictures the past few days, so as I was eating breakfast this morning, I realized I had nothing to post.  Luckily, Brian was willing (even eager?) to let me take more pictures of him.

Every day he charms me even more.  Today, he started following me around the kitchen by flying between the counter and table when I'd walk back and forth.  Previously, he'd follow me by running back and forth along the length of the table, but he added the counter into the equation, so can now get closer.

Last night, he flew to Thomas's shoulder, which made Thomas very happy -- who can resist a little budgie?

He continues with his newspaper-standing ways:

Look at me, not the newspaper!

I wanted to get a picture of him from above, as I find his patterns and coloring striking.  Knowing him, you will not be surprised that he turned his head around to look directly into the camera!

If you take a picture of me, I must look at you!

He also had to work on destroying the edges of the paper.  Because he takes such small bites, this does not impede our use of the paper:

Admiring his work:

I must not have kept him out as long as he would have liked this morning, as he started throwing a fit, slamming his toys around, when I put him in his cage so I could leave for work.  He quickly calmed down and I can't wait to see him again this afternoon!

Little Brian

Thanks to all for your comments on my budgie dilemma.  I think I frequently fall into the trap of anthropomorphizing my animals and in trying to do what I think is best for them, I end up doing something they may not like.  After all, since parrots are flock animals, surely they'd prefer to have another of their own kind living with them, right?  Ha!  Just look how well that turned out for my caiques and greys.  Why don't I learn?

Luckily, that other budgie found a great home.  Later that day, I got a message about a tame budgie with neurological problems -- might I like to take him home?  I got that message after the deadline passed (another volunteer took him home) so didn't have to make any decisions there.  I think it's best Brian remain an only budgie.  Perhaps someday I can have a budgie hospice, with enough budgies so they can choose their own partners, and enough space so they can get away when they'd like.

As was pointed out to me, he's only ever lived with humans, and may not welcome a budgie companion.  Also, since some birds will try to drive out sick members of the flock, I wouldn't want anyone to harm him (due to his tumor) or for him to harm the newcomer.

All this talking and thinking about budgies made me appreciate Little Brian even more this weekend.  Thomas was drinking from a different water bottle than usual, and Brian was entranced:

He was singing and chirping to it; possibly because he could sense his reflection, but that doesn't necessarily mean he wants a friend -- he's got us!

Thomas was trying to read a magazine, but Brian wanted some attention:

He is well-mannered, so will jump off of the magazine for a page turn and then jump back on.  Reading around him can be a bit tricky as he does seem to find the article you're currently reading and stand right in the middle!

Stella's eye

Stella's eye, which was injured by Max in self-defense, is nearly healed.  I wanted to get a pictures of her wound one week in, but she kept doing weird things with her eyelid:

And then apparently decided she'd had enough from me as she flew away (about to launch):

Thomas tricked her into posing by giving her beak-rubs:

I'm curious if there will be any scars, and will share on the blog once I know what happens.  My guess is that she'll be as good as new.

Sandhill cranes

Over the weekend, we went to the marsh for some birding.  It was gorgeous!

There were s fair number of sandpipers and other shorebirds, but our camera is so poor that they all came out fuzzy.

I did get a nice shot of a couple of cranes, though:

We'd heard them calling and then saw them fly over us, so it was a nice surprise to see them standing here when we were driving back home.  Of course, no way to tell if these were the two we saw flying!

Help keep me grounded

An extremely tame, sweet, gorgeous female budgie was surrendered to the rescue where I volunteer.  I mentioned her to Thomas, thinking he would object (as he has in the past when I mentioned theoretically that Brian would like a partner.)  This would let me off the hook for any guilt -- after all he's the one that said no, not me.

But his response?  "Bring her home!  I make two pieces of toast in the morning!"  That's not the response I wanted!

If she were old, or had a large tumor, she'd already be at my house.  I have to keep telling myself no -- we've already got 7 birds, and that's enough.  Plus, I really like to stick to similar-sized birds which reduces the chance of a severe accident happening.  I only agreed to take Brian because he was a hospice bird who needed a good home for his final days.  (Luckily we've gotten more months with him than planned; with any lucky we'll continue to have many more.)

I'm really hoping that someone adopts her before my resolve completely weakens.  I love budgies!

ETA: She was adopted today, which is what I hoped would happen.  I think we'll stick to old and/or tumor budgies and leave the young, healthy ones for other people to adopt.

Reverse escape

Last night, I was alone with the parrots as Thomas was working late.  I was cooking dinner in the kitchen with Brian and the greys.  My new world birds were all in the living room.  Beeps was locked in his cage as he'd been picking fights so I needed to be able to closely supervise him when he's out, while the other three were out.  Basil and Calypso just stay on their cages and while Rocky does roam, he doesn't bother the parrots and mostly stays out of trouble.

I do keep an ear open for trouble, and Rocky and Basil are both world-class tattle-tales who make a fuss if anyone -- except themselves -- misbehaves.  Luckily, Basil will tell on Rocky and Rocky probably would tell on Basil (who's not yet done anything to warrant such a reaction), so everyone's covered.  Of course, Basil does occasionally cry wolf, but I find that endearing.

Suddenly, I heard Beeps fly to the other side of the room -- but how could this be as he was safely locked in his cage?  I immediately ran into the living room and saw this:

Which, upon further examination, was actually this:

That's right -- Rocky let Beeps out of his cage so that Rocky could go inside!  Smart guy; he likes to visit Beeps's cage every night to scavenge for whatever Beeps didn't eat.  (Beeps does this to Rocky as well; luckily their preferences complement each other -- frequently Rocky is eating Beeps's food while Beeps eats Rocky's food.  They get the same food.)

Last night, because Beeps was locked in his cage, so was his dinner, which meant Rocky had to work a little harder to get to his food.

As soon as I tried to take pictures, Rocky climbed out onto Beeps's dish:

And then came over to threaten me; this picture is Rocky in progress; he wanted to get as close to me as possible to make his threat most effective:

I left before Rocky could get in threat position, so he had to follow me into the kitchen to finish the job:

Meanwhile, Beeps was happily on Rocky's cage, playing with Rocky's toys and eating Rocky's food.

Beeps got put back in his cage for safety, and was let out once I could go into the living room and supervise carefully.

Surprise!

Yesterday, I had opened the fridge and bent down to grab some food out of the bottom drawer.  Imagine my surprise when I stood up and saw this:

She'd flown to the open door, and I hadn't even heard her!  While she may look angry, she was just shaking out her feathers and I caught her in mid-fluff.

Rocky eats tomatoes

Since it's prime tomato season here, we've been hitting up the farmers' market and eating a plate of tomatoes as an appetizer.  Rocky wasn't sure if he wanted to try any or not.  He looked at them for a long time:

Then, he alternated between fake-eating a tomato and fake-eating Thomas's hand:

Finally, he decided to eat some:

He didn't appear to love it (cucumbers are still his favorite), but it's always good for him to try new things and get some different nutrients into his system.