You're So Cute! (and moderately hormonal....)

The weird, warm/sunny winter weather here in Upstate NY is causing Kai's spring hormones to come early.  I worry about birds down south taking the warmer weather as a cue to begin migrating back up to Canada prematurely, then having a sudden cold snap come through to wipe them out.  It would be horrible...!

Kai has been very talkative lately and still enjoys singing along to metal music the best!  I was stretching the other day, and he told me, "You're so cute!"  Last month, he told me, "(I) love you," also.  I hope he never stops learning words, he's such a smart little guy!  Who knows how long he was practicing before he found the courage to speak above his little Pionus mumble?

(Kai's Pionus mumblings below!)

Kai turned one this past summer, but it would appear that he's growing up and becoming an adult, which makes me a little teary-eyed.  It's not that he's changed all that much, but there have been slight differences in his behavior.  Even if he stopped wanting to be with me and decided to pick R, instead, I would still love him!  His hormones don't appear to be that dramatic, not like some of the nightmarish attack birds that some people report, at least.  He's just been mouthier, enjoys biting his shreddables more, and attacks his perches more aggressively during play.  Since he's been able to fly, he's been much more confident and happy!  There's still minor, occasional territorial aggression when it comes to his house in my craft room if R comes near, but half the time, he's content to sit still and not clamber to his drawbridge to appear all 230 grams of menacing, threatening, blue-and-green fluff.  I had been worried that since he can fly, he would be flying around assaulting everyone in sight, but that hasn't been the case, thankfully.

I've been giving him lots of foraging containers and materials to look through to keep him busy.  The only receptacle that I leave in his cage in the same place every day is his water bowl, which I've been having to clean more like three times a day.  He seems to like soaking food more this month!

Kai really enjoys the mixed nuts that I give him, too.  Almonds have fallen out of favor since I introduced him to pecans and walnuts!  I partially crack the shells for him, since Pionus beaks aren't as strong as other parrots' beaks.  He still loves "chio" (pistachio), though.  I feel it's important to give one's parrot a couple nuts each day, as the oils and fat in them are probably needed.  Kai is also going through a minor molt right now, so I have given him a bit more protein to help him through.  I seriously worried that he was going bald at one point, because a pinky-finger-tip sized bald spot turned up right above his cere!  I watched to see if his skin was irritated, and in a couple days, teeny little pinfeathers started poking through.  I felt so bad for him, he was absolutely miserable for a week while they grew in.  I just kept soaking him to soften up those itchy bits and to give him some relief.  When he's molting like this, I bathe him ever other day, at least. 

I'm not sure if it's just that he's in much better health since I've switched him mostly off of artificially colored, sugar-filled pellets and onto 20% TOP pellets, 10% Lafaeber's, and 65% veggies/fruits, and 5% nuts/other (including a scrape of coconut oil and red palm oil), but his feathers look much better!  He's also much more active and healthy since he's been able to fly around to get exercise, also.  When he was younger, he tended to just hang out in one spot, but now he climbs around much more and enjoys being able to fly from room to room following me.  I'll tell him, "I'm going kitchen," and he'll know to fly to me in the kitchen after I've gotten a head start.  He also knows, "Let's go house!" as meaning we should go to my craft room where his house is.  "Let's go perch and eat dindin," well, he knows that one really well, too!  The only thing is, since I'm so small, my shoulder makes a horrid landing pad.  Kai really really dislikes hitting me in the face, I think because I made a sound when he accidentally slapped me, so he's taken to landing on my head instead.  He's very considerate like that.

I don't really mind if he lands on my head, because he steps down onto either my hand or another spot, like the counter or the faucet, if I ask him to.  R gets annoyed if Kai lands on his hoodie, mostly because he doesn't want to get pooped on or bitten.  (Poop from any species is a huge deal to R for some reason, I forget that he didn't grow up with a lot of animals like I did much of the time.)  Since Kai has been able to fly, though, every time that he's landed on R, there has been absolutely no aggression whatsoever.  In the past, he liked to try to give R nips, and R REALLY wasn't helping as he'd do all kinds of "fun" things to encourage that behaviour in Kai.  (You bet I scolded R for it...though I'd do it where Kai couldn't see me.)  If we hear Kai flying into the kitchen, R knows to duck, because chances are, he's wanting to land on the sink faucet, which is his favourite place to hang out so he can "help" me prep to cook dinner. 

We had a "visitor" in early February, also!  My friend's daughter, Cailey, had an (awesome!!) school project where they mailed the "flat" versions of themselves to family/friends!  It's based on a book called Flat Stanley, where a little boy is flattened and is able to go on adventures, because he can slip under doors or be mailed in envelopes.  I took Flat Cailey all over the city one weekend.  We visited the adoption clinic at PetsMart, had lunch at our favorite Korean BBQ restaurant, went to a bunch of other shops, had dinner at our favourite Thai restaurant, and she got to meet all our animals.  The next day, we took her to Lollypop Farm, and she got to meet a MASSIVE 180 lb Great Pyrenees dog!  I had never seen one before in real life, and flashbacks of Mr. Tadakichi (of Azumanga Daioh fame) instantly sprung to mind!  I was also fortunate enough to get Cailey in time for one of the few winter craft shows going on.  We got to see Kira, Casey and Amanda, as well as Robert at the show, so we got pictures with them, and I was able to give Cailey samples of their crafts!

R was a bit exasperated with me by the time I finally sent Flat Cailey back home, but I told him that if we ever had kids, he would understand.  I printed out about seventy-five photographs and wrote descriptions for Cailey's mom to read to her on the back.  My hand was just about dead by the time I packed her away into a box with goodies in it.  I also packed some cute paintable ceramic stuff in for Cailey and her brother to play with.  It's really cute, because apparently I "already live at Cailey's house", and Cailey "has me over to play in her room" often.  Does this make me an imaginary friend?  I wonder what Cailey imagines me as being?  (I'm kind of scared to ask!)  Either way, it's sheer adorableness.  I wish kids didn't grow out of stuff like that so fast...

I'm starting to do things early so I'll have stuff to sell at this year's Mayday Underground, also.  More samples of what I'm making will come later.  Nanaa's begun planning to make things for our shop, too, so I'm excited to see what she comes up with.  I'm a little worried that my portion of stuff will have mostly to do with birds and not kitties at all, but they're just so much fun to draw cutely.  I really need to remember to have my banner printed out, too, urghh...

Well, I should get back to the drawing board now.  I'm also due to go to my doctor's appointment in two and a half hours - joy of joys.  I guess I figured out (half a year ago!) that I would still be awake at 8am.  At least I'll be avoiding traffic, too, because the city traffic trying to get home is insane and I can never get back home, because I'm (terrified!!) not an aggressive driver at all.

Humble Beginnings...

Hello! For the sake of (poorly) concealing my idenity, I'll be calling myself Em. I'm thirty years old, going on fifty (it feels like!). I decided to create this journal so I could share my dorky love of birds with my friends and family (if they so desire to keep up with it!). My goal here is simple: to write down a little blurb or two each day about my bird experiences!

We moved to this grand old farmhouse, which was built in 1820 by one of the original settlers of this city. It's a gorgeous house that sprawls across about an acre of land, and has some incredible trees, which most likely predate the house itself. I name my trees and important plants around the house, so if you run across posts which read, "Today I saw a chickadee in Mikari..." or, "Mr. Cardinal was up in Tamerlane yesterday...", you'll know I'm referencing a particular tree, shrub, bush, or plant! I'll try to remember to write up a post to make a Key later when I draw a map of the property. We're still incredibly busy cleaning, sorting, and packing things away, so I haven't had much of a chance to work on making my garden pretty for birds and butterflies. I really hate that I'm cooped up inside, but it forces me to focus on working on the inside of my house so I'll be able to work outside come spring. During summer, when it gets hot, I tend to estivate - it's really fall, winter, and spring that I'm the most active.

Ever since we were little, my sister and I have always loved birds. Alright, so that's not quite true - my sister and I absolutely HATED this mockingbird. He would sit up on the very tippy-top of our neighbour's roof and squawk his brains out every single day, sometimes while it was still dark and all through the afternoon. He really and truly drove us insane most of the time. At one point, we took shots at him with our dad's pellet gun. Cruel, I know, but we never did hit him. It was decades ago, and I will never shoot at another bird.

One fateful morning, my sister woke up to Mr. Mockingbird making a racket. She was in a horrible mood, understandably - and I think I might've been used to him at this point, and was snoring away - and she started banging on her window while telling him to shut up. Well, imagine my surprise and panic when she nearly put her hand through the glass. She had struck the glass so hard, she had cracked and partially shattered it! Insert copious amounts of bawling and bleeding here. It had our dad and I picking pieces of glass out before we wrapped her hand up and took her to the hospital. Luckily, she didn't need any stitches and she has no scars, but still...that's how far the mockingbird drove her. Madness and mockingbirds, I tell you...Only the scrub jays (when I lived in California) and the blue jays (now that I live in New York) compare on a scale of noisiness!

Other than the mockingbird experience, we love and adore birds. When she was little, my sister loved birds so much, she wanted to grow up and be an ornithologist. I'm not sure why she never pursued that interest, but then again, I never pursued my interest in dinosaurs. So in a way back then, we were both really into birds - her preference was just for itty bitty dinosaurs. She used to go on and on about how she would own a canary some day, and how pretty it would be, and how nicely it would sing for her. I don't really remember which of my dad's family members had canaries, but I remember seeing them as a very young child.

My first (and only) pet bird to date was Feathers, my yellow-and-green parakeet, who was given to me by my parents after my very first day of First Grade. I think they were more excited to show me what they had gotten me, actually, which is just the way parents are. It's very endearing, really. I remember being very confused by the covered object sitting on my low, long (what would now be called "retro") dresser. When they unveiled the parakeet, I was a little shocked and stunned. I sure didn't know what to do with a bird! And what would my cat think of my bird? Would he try to eat my bird? I became a little protective of Feathers... Feathers' happy, cheerful chirping always made me feel so happy. My husband hates the sounds they make for some reason.

Another thing I absolutely dreaded, aside from my cat eating Feathers? Cutting his flight feathers. It was sick, it was cruel, and I never let my parents or anyone else cut Feathers' flight feathers after the first time I saw it done. People say it doesn't hurt them, but seriously...If you cut a human's hair off, or even if you just shaved your dog or cat, don't you think it impacts them? Birds are meant to fly...I say leave their feathers alone! Same with animals and fur coats - leave their damn fur on. I think that's another reason why I still have yet to get another bird, though I really miss having one. I couldn't bear to keep a bird caged, I would want them to be able to fly around the room. Feathers did get to fly around my bedroom, actually, but my parents never knew, because I always cleaned up his little pee-poops.

So I loved Feathers, and he apparently loved me so much, he wanted me to have his little parakeet babies. How on earth did we find that out? Well, Feathers kept rubbing "herself" on me, and I freaked out, because "she" was leaving red liquid on me. My mom and I packed "her" up and drove to ...I think it was called Dot's Bird Farm?... where Dot inspected Feathers carefully and listened to my observations.

The conversation went a little like this:

6-year-old Me: And then she started rubbing her bottom on me, and all this blood started coming out!
Dot: Oh...
Me: Is she dying??
Dot: Oh, no, honey. Feathers is actually a boy, and he just loves you very much.
Me: ... What? He wants to have sex with me??
Dot: *Speechless for several moments.* Well, yes.
Me: Feathers, oh my god! Gross!

After that, I always just tried to distract him from wanting to mate with me by trying to get him to play, but birds are birds. I didn't have Feathers for very long, unfortunately...That late-spring/summer, one of my parental units left Feathers' cage outside in the sun, and he overheated and died. We lived in Southern California, so "spring" is more like "summer", and "summer" is more like "sweltering semi-arid desert" without shade. I came back home from school and looked all over the house for his cage, only to discover someone had put him outside in the sun. I was PISSED. My parents can tell you that I could be really scary when I got angry as a kid. I probably didn't speak to them for a week... We had a funeral, and I haven't ventured to get another bird since...

SO! Fastforward to present day! I have always loved crows and ravens, they have always fascinated me. Though I would love to have one, I also know my life would be turned upside down if I ever owned one of the legal species. A wild bird is a wild bird, even if it was captive born and raised lovingly by hand, it will still be a wild bird. I don't mean wild like pecking my eyes out in a fit, or anything like that, but a crow would still probably wreak massive destruction during fits of boredom, be chatty in general, and well...I imagine it would be likened to a three-year-old child who can get way up high and into everything. I don't believe in punishing dogs for barking, so I certainly wouldn't punish a bird for talking, and I know crows to be extremely talkative. That in itself would no doubt drive my husband mad, even if I would love talking back to it.

I would also love to have some finches, but my husband really doesn't care for those, either. He's a cat person to the core, through and through. He likes animals that are independent, but still need and love your company, and birds in a cage just don't do that for him. I do know birds to be affectionate, but it's in a very different way than a cat or a dog. I don't think I could bring myself to cage a bird, though, which is why I'm so excited about watching the wild birds outside my windows. I can "have" my very own birds outside where they belong and can fly free. They don't have to be crammed into cages, or have their wings clipped for human convenience, or any of the other things that trouble me about owning a bird.

Another benefit about being able to "have" birds? I can "have" different birds every day! I'll go into which birds live on our property in another post, but we do have two pairs of cardinals who live with us! I call them Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal (I haven't been able to establish which is which male-wise, just yet). I'm not certain if they're the same pair of cardinals who always live here with us, because I know they're not precisely monogamous, but we always have at least one cardinal pair that nests on our property!