bittybirds: the blog

Zack is our parakeet which was always very shy and timid. Now that we have Zoe in the family he has became very friendly and loving to Zoe. I picked the name Zoe because I felt that it was a good pet name and goes well with Zack. Trying to go for the Jack and Jill feel. Anyway, we all love them very much and Zoe was nice enough to share her new cage with Zack in just a matter of a few days. They eat, sleep, play and clean each others feathers together. They also sing to each other when they are in different parts of the room.

Here’s one of Petrie, Piccolo, and Piper.

Here’s a photo of Piper and Petrie. (Petrie is Piper’s “big brother” but is not one of the Reggie-Charlie offspring.)

Reggie and Charlie with the first clutch of babies:

See the babies and Charlie swaying? They are hissing to try to frighten me away, in case I’m a predator. Lucky for them, I am not, because the sway-hiss routine is not at all scary! :-)

Last week, Charlie made bathing look sooo fun that Bowie wouldn’t leave her alone. He wanted a turn!

Here is a video of Charlie bathing while Bowie bugs her:

(BTW, note how well that video shows the color difference between a Cinnamon Pearl cockatiel [Charlie] and a Pearl cockatiel [Bowie].)

5 minutes later, Charlie gave in. Bowie hopped up on the bath tub eager to try it, but couldn’t figure how it worked.

Then he had the hardest time figuring out how to step down from it:

Phew. Thank goodness he finally found a way down. Toby was just dying to get a sip of that dirty bath water!

Baby tiels are too funny.

Baby Bowie has adjusted quite nicely to his new home. Mike and I have been extra cautious and have made sure he is getting enough attention and staying warm enough. We enjoy whistling and singing with him. He loves being outside his cage and is now very comfortable with Mike and I handling him. I feel that he likes his cage a lot where he has lots of space and toys to play with. We haven’t fed him much other than his pellets, millet spray, and peas, although we found out he really likes apples. There was one scare we had where we noticed nasal discharge coming out of one nostril but it came out easily when Mike touched it with a q-tip. We also called the vet and read some literature and he does not show any signs of fatigue, unhealthy breathing or any other abnormal behavior so I belive that all is well. It’s our first time being birdy parents so we’ve been monitoring him very closely and were kinda over-protective.
I find Bowie being very affectionate with me recently. He will let me pet his feathers and kiss around his head and ears. He likes it when I make little kissy noises and he’ll put his head down for me to scratch it. We recently got him a long rope perch that goes across the cage and he loves that. He’s got a really cool house. Every time we go out we have to stop at the pet store and get him some sort of birdie treat or toy. When we go out we always leave his little birdy TV on and I think he likes that too. Sometimes we’ll find him watching TV on his perch.

I found a piece of long cardboard and my friends and I decorated it for the back of his cage area as well. I find him looking at it sometimes. I believe he is a very happy birdie and I love him soooo much!

Watching the birds bathe is a lot of fun, because they enjoy it so much! At least, Cadie and Charlie do. They hop in and out and delight in bathtime. Sometimes, Cadie tries to bathe in the droplets from the water bottle, as she’s doing at the beginning of the video. That never works out too well for her, so into the tub she goes!

The babies haven’t figured out how to take a good bath yet. Lookit Toby drinking the dirty bathwater! Reggie was in the nestbox during the making of this video, but I can tell you exactly what he does. He just stands up really tall in the tub and looks pleased with himself, the goof.