from the Daily Mail: How the early bird snatches the worm
Last updated at 20:24pm on 21st February 2007
Bird lover Dennis Bright has become a real life Dr Doolittle by taming this plucky Robin so it dares to land on his chin - and eat a worm from his mouth.
Dennis, who has been a wildlife photographer for 20 years, says Robins are naturally tame birds and can be tempted by a free feed of mealworm.
And he says he even talks to the birds and lets them fly around his house so they can get used to him.
He said: “Taming a Robin is actually quite simple - anyone can do it. The secret is that they will sell their soul for a mealworm!
“And talking to them really helps too - I use simple, common phrases like, ‘come on cheeky’. This particular Robin has been in my garden for four years. He comes into my house during the day and never flies away when I feed him.
I’ve just started out an effort to clicker train the boys. It should be very interesting!
Tonight I just started with getting them used to the concept that “[click] = goodies”. So I started with Piper on top of the cage (since both of them enjoy hanging out there) and clicking, then letting him take a bit of millet from a clump in my hand. Piper seemed to enjoy this, but it had a really noticeable effect on Petrie–he wanted a piece of the action!! After a few minutes the boys traded places. Piper was even more aggressive about trying to horn in on the action. He crawled around the roof of the cage upside down, hoping to snag some dropped millet on its way down I guess. Petrie was not amused. It looks like we’ll need some other area for the “serious” training, but for now it was a fun start.
I use images from iStockphoto.com for design work from time to time. While working on a web site yesterday, I decided to check out iStockphoto’s most popular images. A duckling (by iStockphoto member GlobalP) was at the top of the list. Here’s the duckling, and a few other great pictures.
I have a few pictures of Zack and Zoe. They are both doing very well together. My brother Mitchell teaches Zoe all kinds of songs to sing. She also picks up on songs the birds are singing outside. Zoe loves to nibble on my earrings and my hair. Zack is very protective towards Zoe. When my brother Mitchell or my sister Natalia are playing with Zoe in the living room. Zack leaves his cage and flys out to the living room to check on Zoe to see if she is okay. When he knows she is okay he flys back to his cage. Now..that is birdie love :0) He also sings to her when she is out of the room. Zoe loves to explore outside of her cage a lot. She likes to bite on my mom’s plants so we have to make sure we provide enough treats and snacks for them both. They both make a big mess and love to sing in the morning when everyone else is sleeping.
I just came across this old post on the moltka Board, featuring a picture of Cadie. It’s part of a post of budgie pics, within a larger thread of nice birdie pics.
The other day, Toby kept me company while I worked at the computer. As the David Bowie classic “Magic Dance” (from Labyrinth) played in the background, Toby perked up and started rocking out—bobbing his head a little and whistling, almost in time with the music. When the track ended, he stopped. I replayed it, and he joined in again; I paused it and he paused until I pressed play. So I grabbed the camera and recorded his antics for posterity.
For your viewing pleasure, bittybirds.com is pleased to present Toby rocking along with “Magic Dance.”
Many thanks to Landnelkentulpe for posting the above video of Lily, our “pocket baby,” to Nymphensittich Forum, an online bulletin board for cockatiel lovers. The site is written entirely in German. (”Nymphensittich”=”cockatiel”.)
On Nymphensittich Forum, Landnelkentulpe wrote,
Noch eins!
Ihr Lieben!
Bei YouTube habe ich mich inzwischen angemeldet und dort steht definitiv, dass man die Videos auf andere Seiten verlinken darf!
With YouTube I have in the meantime announced and there stand myself definitely that one may do the videos on other pages left!
Therefore I have here still which sweet for you.
[video of Lily]
It enjoys!
While this is not the world’s best translation, I am glad that Landnelkentulpe (”Land Carnation Tulip”) liked our “sweet” video so much. We’re glad she’s spreading the bittybird word!
Toby just loves to whistle the Andy Griffith tune. He’s been hearing his papa, Reggie, sing it since he was just an egg!
Reggie learned to whistle the Andy Griffith song when he was about a year old. I would whistle a section of it, and then Tyler would whistle it back. I’d ask Reggie, “Can you do that?” and eventually, he figured it out.
When Reggie and Charlie were in the nest box with eggs and then chicks last summer, Reggie sang the Andy Griffith song *incessantly*. Judging by how many eggs she laid, Charlie found it pretty darn impressive! As a result, all the baby birds had a constant soundtrack of Reggie singing Andy Griffith.
Toby, being a smart and attentive little bird, started whistling the Andy Griffith tune at a very early age. He just picked it up from Reggie. I’ve been working with him to fill in some of the parts that Reggie never got, and he’s doing a great job! It’s not perfect, but that doesn’t matter; as the video proves, Toby is awfully cute. :-)
Unfortunately, Reggie hardly ever whistles Andy Griffith anymore. I think he feels like Toby stole his thunder. Poor little boo!
p.s. That video looks way darker now that it’s been compressed by YouTube than it did on my camera. Here’s a shot of what it’s s’posed to look like:
