5 posts tagged “birds”
Nothing stirring? How about my depth of perception? Woke up this morning; bird squawking; sun shining and husband's got coffee brewing. Couldn't ask for a better morning. Clad in my oversized t-shirt and undies and on my way to the shower, I take the bird from the cage with the intention of having the husband play with her while I shower. She's been in a funky low lately and I figured she could use some morning socializing with him.
Bird on my shoulder, I'm standing at the top of the stairs trying to coax her into calling out for him. He whistles for her (a little whistle game they play) and she's not budging. Unusual that she's not up to calling back. So I decided that I would move down the stairs closer to him in the family room. I don't know what happened on my first step. The only thing on my mind as I tumbled down the stairs was "keep the bird on your shoulder." I was afraid that she'd fall off and I'd roll on top of her. As I'm trying to regain balance (and it wasn't working), the bird is squawking (would have been nice if she did that sooner) and the husband comes running "are you ok?" "I don't know ... where's the bird?" "On your shoulder."
Standing up, I realize that the big toe on my left foot is in pain. Into the shower I go and I take an extra long one. Damn! I was going to go out to the store and get bird food. Need to get her wings and nails trimmed. And I can only get one shoe on. So husband packs us up in the truck and off we go. She's in her travel cage and I've got one shoe on and his (huge) comfy slipper on my left foot, doing the limp-shuffle. Limp to avoid pain and shuffle to keep the damn slipper on.
NEO wouldn't let the assistants take hold of her. She kept flying around the room and so what do I do? I turn off the lights. Would have worked better if I had waited until she landed somewhere first. What was I thinking!? OUCH. I heard a thump on the wall. Oh shit! I flip on the light and she's running on the floor along the floor board towards me. I pick her up and she's ok but rattled. Didn't take her long to shake it off but she could have broke her neck. The assistant's didn't say anything. I had given them permission to turn the light off and they did. But they turned on the light to the xray film box to compensate (low light). That didn't work because she could still see enough to fly. So the light that I turned off was the xray film box after she flew around the room again. Yikes, pitch black now. Just as I realize it's too dark and am ready to turn the light back on, I hear.. thud. Yes, I feel badly about it still.
All is good now however. Still don't know why she's been in a funk this week though. She's been able to fly (because she's needed this trim), and she's been clingy not flighty which tells me something is up. It could be the weather change - ie: depression, which happens from time to time especially when there's less sunlight.
As far as me... my big toe, my ankle, my leg, one side of my back, and anywhere else a muscle was used to compensate for the fall, aches. Tomorrow, I'm anticipating less pain than what I had when I fell back in August. OMG.... that was the worst day after pain I had felt in 10 years, when I had been in an auto accident.
So when I said "nothing's stirring," I didn't mean for the universe to fill that 'nothing' with something like today. So I take it back. All is well and good. :)
Show us something steep.
As I mentioned in a previous post on my pet lovebird, she loves to play peek. Fortunately, there was no water in this tea kettle at the time she jumped in it. It had recently been washed out and she flew from my shoulder while I was washing up some holiday dinner dishes, to the kettle when she must have spied that it was a dark and cozy place to play in. NOT cool and a good enough reason to keep the wings clipped. As you can see, she was really attempting to climb out. I happened to have the camera in the room, grabbed it and took this because she reminded me of that caricature and saying "Kilroy Was Here." Although it's not a great photo and I had to crop it, it just seemed appropriate for today's vox hunt, and the pun (steep) is there. Photo was taken in 2004, Christmas time.
A normal Peach-face Lovebird is beautiful dark green with deep blue, almost blue-violet rump feathers with a rosy-orange colored face down through the neckline (bib). An American White which use to be considered an American Silver, is almost always female and is distinguished by the apricot colored band across the top of the head,
If you're not familiar with Lovebirds and their place in the parrot family, they rank above a Parakeet (aka Budgie) and below a Conure. They are smaller than a full grown Cockatiel and a bit larger than a Budgie. Their intelligence level is comparable to a 2 year old human child. They can be trained to talk, whistle and play games like Peek-A-Boo. Some experts are still trying to figure out whether or not Lovebirds can associate the words they learn, as can Alex the African Grey. By the way, some words that Lovebirds speak are not spoken clearly. Most of the words are mimmicked or sounds-like. NEO is able to clearly say a few words such as Mama, Peek, Kiss Kiss, Yum Yum, uh uh and No Bite (with an attitude even!). Words that she doesn't say but knows what they are, are: Get the Ball, Where's the House? (representing her cage), and Sock Monkey. Games that she definitely knows how to play and plays them well are Peek-A-Boo and Raspberry (as in give me a raspberry). She also laughs; she has her own laugh and my laugh. ;) She repeats sounds like coughing, which she uses to gain attention; mimmicks "where's the baby?" another attention getter; "birdie" when she hears birds outside or when we're talking about her, and a few more.
Training isn't always difficult but it can be for some birds and their human partner depending on how much time one has to devote to it and it's not something that happens overnight. Patience and a calm voice are key as they tend to pick up on drama and re-act similarly, thinking that it's a game. Loud noises or heightened voices tend to provoke loud squawks from them. Mimmicking outdoor singing birds is something they can do even though they are not song birds themselves; and thankfully they are not as loud as the larger parrots, unless you're talking around them. They can behave like 2 year old children, interrupting conversations and vieing for attention.
It's often believed that Lovebirds come in pairs. Yes, it's true that they bond as a pair but it's not true that they need a mate or have to be paired. Lovebirds will bond with their (human) owner if allowed to. In other words, if you purchase a Lovebird and only feed and water it, you'll have a Lovebird that's virtually untamed and can even be uncontrollable. But if you spend time with a Lovebird, allow it out of the cage, handle it, train it, allow it to socialize which is important because they are social birds, then you will find that the Lovebird will bond with you or a member of your family that spends the time with it most.
If you could only save one thing in a house fire (thing, not person), what would it be and why?
Submitted by donnunn.
Hard question but if I can consider my pet Lovebird a "thing," then it would be her. Otherwise, assuming all humans and pets are not part of the equation, I would grab my external pocket hard drive because it has oodles of important stuff backed up on it that includes information that would be important for insurance claims as well. "Nice Save." *wink*
Speaking of pets and emergencies, if you own one or more, you might want to check out your local pet store for a window sticker that alerts emergency aids (like your local firefighters, police, etc) that you have pets that need to be saved too.
