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Mango, our little sun conure, seems to have selected my shoulder as his favorite perch. He will come running to me as fast as his little birdie legs can carry him, sometimes trying to fly on the way. He will come for me whether I am across the table, or across the room. Here is a little video: mango-loves-me!
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Romeo has had a whistling explosion ever since I started playing Vivaldi in my room. I decided I would use my camera to record him so I could try to put a video on my blog. Please tell me if you can see it, ’cause I’m not sure how this works yet. I didn’t ask Dad for help, I just started exploring my blog tools.
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One year ago today, I brought home my first cockatiel. I remember picking her out, she was my choice because she was swinging and chirping, and I admired her beautiful pearls. When lady who worked at the pet store got her out for me, she stood on my finger for a moment and looked at me, and I knew she would be a pet who wasn’t afraid of me. So I brought her home. When I tried to get her into her new cage, she bit me very hard out of fear, which made me wonder if I had picked a brave bird after all. I had ten days to decide whether I was going to keep her or take her back for a different one, so I chose to wait a while and let her adjust to the new surroundings.
A few days later, I was seriously considering taking her back for another bird. It already knew how to whistle, even though it wasn’t as pretty. Fortunately for Penelope, only five days after I had bought her, she sealed her fate by coming out to me, something Clover was too afraid to do. So I kept her, and I am so happy I did. She is a wonderful bird who likes everybody in the house, and she comes begging for head rubs constantly. Even though she doesn’t whistle, she has a beautiful little chirp I love.
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John Paul and Mango (in flight suit) doing school.
Clover playing 'dead birdie.'
"Ahhh. . . Complete relaxation."
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The other day, Maria uncovered the flight suit (pretty much a bird diaper) I have for Penelope. I had put it there about six to eight months ago, when Penelope was not big enough to wear it. I was so happy when I tried it on her, and saw that it fit perfectly. Penelope is not as pleased as I am, though.
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Can't . . . Quite . . . Fit!
I really need a bigger water dish.Honestly! There is no privacy around here anymore. A bird can't even take a bath around her without someone coming around with a camera.
I really need a bigger water dish.
All clean!
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Just in case you have lost track of how many birds we have, I am going to review them all and introduce a few that I haven’t blogged about yet. We got a few more because a pet store that was going out of business was having a big sale.
This is Clover, our first bird.
This is Penelope, my first bird. She is very nice and loves head rubs.
This is Romeo. I got him for his whistling abilities. He has a sweet little song, but he will only sing for Penelope!
Here are Shasta and Jasmine, the breeder birds. The redder one, (the one who is hanging upside down by one foot) is nicer, and he likes to lick my fingers.
Last but not least is Mango. He belongs to the family. He is a sun conure just like the breeder birds, but since he is a baby he has some green feathers on his head. These will fall out as he matures.
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My nativity scene set-up is completed today, Epiphany, which commemorates the arrival of the magi in Bethlehem. This nativity was a Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa on Mom’s side.
This was also the day we opened up presents from Mom and Dad. We didn’t do it on Christmas because with our trip to Florida and the sickness that struck immediately when we got back, Mom had no time for shopping. We have thought about opening gifts on Epiphany for a couple years, since that was the day Jesus received his gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, but we had never done it.
Dad handed out the first presents to the four boys. They were small, identical square boxes about two and a half inches on every side. Dad built suspense by making the boys count to seventeen in a painfully slow manner before they could open them. After the number ten, Alexander tried to say seventeen at the beginning of each number. “Sev- eleven, sev-twelve, sev-thirteen,” etc. etc.
Finally, the boys reached seventeen, but not before sixteen and a half, sixteen and three quarters, and sixteen and seven eights. When seventeen was reached, the boys tore into the wrapping paper and opened the box inside. Alexander declared, “Springies!”
“Slinkies,” I corrected him.
“Oh, I knew that,” he mumbled.
Dad has a fondness for slinkies. I remember him showing me how they worked when he found one at his friend’s house a long time ago.
It wasn’t long before Dad and the boys had the slinkies lined up on the stairs for a race. Unfortunately, our stairs are too wide for slinkies, so the race was abandoned and attention was turned to the other gifts.
The first present I opened was a calendar. Dad made me guess what was inside the wrapping paper, but the size and fact I get one every year gave it away. I got it right on the first guess.
This calendar has some beautiful pictures inside.
Maria and I each got one of these sun catcher kits. She got butterflies and I got a parrot.
This is a cross stitch pattern. I can’t wait to get started.
This is a pair of sun conures. They are not pets, they are two year old breeder birds. I got one for Christmas and I bought the other bird. Aren’t they the most beautiful thing in the world?
Well, that’s all for now. I will post more later as I get going on the cross stitch and sun catchers.
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This is definitely a late post, (Mom’s 33rd B-day was on the seventh), but I just remembered I had these pictures on my camera. Mom went to the hair salon on her birthday, and she had her hair done up in temporary curls. Naturally, I was taking pictures of the it as soon as Mom walked through the door. Clover decided to fly to Mom to get in the picture as well.
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The shirt says it all!
Clover has found somewhere to nest. She flew to Mom’s head herself with her newly grown-in flight feathers.
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Penelope has almost all of her flight feathers in, and she doesn’t mind using them. She likes to fly to up high places, and I usually have to make her step up onto a broom to get her down.
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Penelope’s flight feathers are in, and she likes to use them. She will fly to places that are up high for a good view, or she will fly to Clover’s cage to play with Clover’s toys and eat Clover’s food. Dad and I thought it would be fun to teach my bird to use her wings on command and fly to me. I am working on this with her, and Penelope is cooperating nicely. She will fly back and forth from Landon or Dad to me and back again. It is fun to train her to do tricks, and I am sure she benefits from the exercise. This picture is the closest Mom could get to Penelope in the air.
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