I should mention that I've taken to calling my birdie, "Kai", which has many meanings: sea, beautiful, and Keeper of Keys. It is special to me, because the first thing that he played with when I picked him up was the key on my necklace. In fact...I didn't realize it until one of the employees pointed it out, but my necklace is a great bird toy... If Kai turns out to be female, then she'll be "Kaia".
The weather was pleasantly warm when Mr. Neighbour and I drove out around 4pm to go pick up my Pionus at the bird store. Mrs. N was exiting her own car as we were about to pile into the old farm truck. She laughed, because I told her, "Good morning!", and the sun was beginning to set in the west. After shopping around a bit more for perches and toys, which the girls tucked into my bird's cage in strategic places, we were finally all set to go! I also paid to have my bird DNA sexed, and picked out a few more toys that I thought might work well in the cage. There was just so much to look at...! I also picked out a carrier with mesh front and backs, which feels very sturdy and not flimsy at all like some of the ones I examined. It took me a while, but I also wanted to give the girls a bit of time to say good-bye. There was one girl in particular who really loved him, but I promised them I would take wonderful care of him and bring him to visit occasionally.
After Mr. N and I got the cage out of the truck bed and into the house, I thanked him and gave him a big hug, then let him get back home. I was going over later to watch Ghosthunters with Mrs. N and Lauren, so I'd see him again in a few hours. Mr. Lewis said that I should let my bird get used to his cage and surroundings for an hour before I tried to take him out, so I waited (im)patiently and tried not to fall asleep before I had a chance to bond with him a little. My poor baby looked absolutely petrified sitting on the perch, and once, Ollie (my ginger kitten) walked through and startled him. I went in and comforted him, and he calmed down. I put him back up on a perch after I was sure he was okay and let him calm down a little before I brought him back out to play.
He still hasn't completely gotten the hang of climbing the bars of the cage yet, but I knotted some leather strips that he can use to climb up if he needs help. I'm going to look around for some parrot-safe rope that I can knot into a ladder and hang over his perch on either side like a V, just in case he gets stuck on the bottom. It's apparent that he's more comfortable in the cage now, but he still likes coming out to be on the tree stand better. I had him out last night and he actually began talking with me :) He likes saying, Week-eek? when he's not certain about something, and a kind of Meep-meep sound, along with some Kee-kee sounds that are more parrot-like. Kai also has a cute sound he makes that sounds like Ha-ha! as if he were laughing.
This morning, he was extra talkative, and I looked around to see what he was telling me (or asking me) about. The feather decorations I have up all around the room were of particular interest to him, as well as the carved wooden Raven I have sitting up on my computer hutch, and the stuffed owl and other owl decorations that my sister has given me as gifts. It's really funny, because I actually will talk to myself semi-often, but moreso, I'll talk to my cats or my dog. I'll tell them what I'm doing as I prepare stuff for dinner and cook, or about the birds I'm taking pictures of outside, or I'll read out loud something I'm reading online. So talking to a bird is no big deal. My dog doesn't talk back to me usually, sometimes my cats do, but usually only if I'm hungry. It's a lot of fun to imagine what they're talking about, or thinking about as they look at me so intently...like they're actually listening. They're probably thinking, "Feed me...", like my fish always psychically commands me to do every time I walk past his tank.
I actually got Kai to eat today, which is a huge relief. Being that birds are so tiny, missing meals must be stressful on their bodies, so it worries me if they go without eating for long. I had tried to offer him food several times, but got no results. After being turned down multiple times, I held a slice of cucumber up in front of my mouth and said, "Nomnomnomnom, mmmm!! This is so good!" I held it out to Kai and asked, "Kai, do you want some cucumber? Mmm!" To my delight, he took it and started eating it, which made me cheer...and Kai responded by puffing up a little. Which made me laugh as Kai just stared at me. After that, he remembered he had been hungry and tried just about everything once.
My friend Sue, who has a gorgeous Great Green Macaw, had written to me, "You guys - you, (your hubby), cats, and Sacha - are now his flock. Unlike the other animals who can follow at will, Douggie needs to be carried when the rest of the flock moves. OR - she's bold enough that, if I forget and leave the cage door open, she'll climb down out of the cage, down the stairs and march herself into whatever room we're in, almost like with her hands on her hips saying "WTF! You left me upstairs!" "
Tonight, I also took a big step and brought Kai out to the living room while I finished up my dinner from earlier. We all sat together as I ate, and after a little initial settling down, all was well. I had been out with Peaches, who took me to the first volunteer class for the Braddock Bay Bird Observatory tonight. Earlier, I had brought him out to his stand in my room to have some dinner, then parked Hubby with him to babysit while I dashed around trying to get ready. I'm having Hubby learn to bond with him a bit more, because I don't want a one-person parrot. Fortunately, Pionuses are known to be very good birds who are social with many people. I do plan on sharing him with many people so he will be easily handled, though he'll be spending much of his time with me. I would like for Kai to learn early on that the cats and dog will not hurt him, and I'll always be there to monitor and supervise them all.
I do feel that it's important for us to all be together, and now my new baby needs to be inducted into our pack (or flock, to Kai!). The cats and dog get along, but the bird is brand new, so everyone is curious about him. Sacha is especially curious, which is a bit troublesome, but I just keep him leashed and reward him when he's acting like he should be. Mia is interested in Kai, Murdock flees at the sight of him, and Ollie is torn between being interested and terrified. Eventually, the newness will wear off, and everyone will just ignore everyone again :) I generally have Mia, Murdock, and Sacha all with me, or if I have an extra catbed near/on the desk, Ollie will be with me.
My friend Sue is sharing a lot of great information with me, and I'm taking lots of notes. One very interesting thing that she brought up was the idea of having a sleeping box. After doing a bit more research, I find a lot of people keep their birds in a special sleeping box. When it's time to wake-up, they bring their birds out, then put them into their cages; this is said to prevent territorialism, which strikes me as very valid. As I don't want to prevent the use of one of my cat carriers, I'll be buying an extra carrier that's a bit smaller so Kai can sleep in it. I can keep him upstairs in the bedroom with me that way, also, which will be nice. I won't have to worry that he might be in trouble, and he'll get used to my odd sleeping schedule. (My bedroom is nice and dark...it's more like a den than a bedroom. We just can't sleep if it's bright, so it's very dark and comfortable up there.)
I still have to ask Mr. Lewis about feeding mealworms, which I would behead, of course. Feeding live things living things is just dangerous, especially if that live thing has big pincer mouthparts. I'm not certain Kai has even touched his pretty pellets, which look like fruits and smell like Fruit Loops. He's only been eating since this morning when I woke up to sit and talk with him, but I prepared cucumber, carrot (which I shaved off with a peeler, a habit of mine from when Justin and I used to prepare buckets of veggies for the reptiles at the reptile shop. Imagine preparing about 20 lbs of shaved carrots, zuchinni, yellow squash, and brocolli by hand.), blueberries, red seedless grapes, brocolli, banana, dandelion greens (which he flung out of his bowl everywhere....so I guess he disapproves!), mixed bean sprouts (which he loves, along with the cucumber!), and a few pieces of white sweet corn, which I was told he loves. Today, when we wake up, I'm going to make Kai some quinoa. Speaking of "today", it's almost 6am, so I should tuck in for the night and let Kai get some shut-eye.
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Chirp!