Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Progress



Maya has been here for a week now and she's pretty much settled in. Looking at her paper work she is 8 months old now. At the pet store she was raised on pellets, which is great, I don't have to get her to eat them, she already loves them. The problem is she wont eat anything else. So I've been trying to introduce her to fruits and vegetables with no luck so far until today. She's eating the apples that I cut up for her this morning, ignoring the carrots, peppers, and broccoli, but it's a start.



She surprised me this morning by giving herself a bath in her own water bowl. I was sitting here at the computer reading the news when all of a sudden I heard splashing coming from my left. LOL There was Maya, soaking wet and looking at me like I was strange for being concerned.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Maya Arrives


Maya Arrives
Some comfort food after a hectic day.


Maya arrived today. Weighing in at 60 grams with a hatch day of 6/12/12. so she's less than a year old at this point. right now she's getting used to her new home after a hectic day having her wings clipped and then being stuffed in a travel cage for the trip home. She's calm now and eating the millet I gave her like a horse.

This is the same bird as in the picture below from the pet store.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Sunday, January 13, 2013

SW Florida Eagle Nest Cam


Video streaming by Ustream More information about the Eagles can be found here.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Success!



I got Kara as a rescue from the local Petco. She had come from a home where she'd been neglected or abused. They wouldn't say what specifically. But ever since I got her she has never really wanted to come out of her cage. Every time I'd stick my hand in the cage to bring her out she'd retreat to the far corner and then growl and nip at me when I got close.

I've been working with her though and over time I've been able to get her to step up on my finger (in the cage) and then I could sometimes bring her out, but it's always been more likely that as I brought her out she'd jump back on her perch at the last minute and further attempts sent her back to her safe corner again.

Until today that is. I tried a new approach to get her out of the cage.

Last night I was poking around the internet and I found Sally Blanchard's Companion Parrot Online website. She has advice for taking care of all kinds of birds, including Budgies. She recommends putting a bunch of the bird's toys just outside the cage and then eating something near them so the the bird can see and hear you eating and playing with the toys. She says if you do that for a few days the bird will come out on it's own.

So I set the bird play-set on a TV tray just outside the cage and opened the door, then went into the kitchen to get my food. By the time I came back, maybe 20 seconds later, there was Kara playing on her play-set. As I approached she jumped back in her cage.

So I went back around the corner into the kitchen and she came back out. I slowly approached, head down with my eyes averted so as not to appear threatening. This time she stayed where she was, happily chewing on a piece of wood. I picked up the play-set and took her to her window where she likes to watch the outside world.

No jumpiness, no nipping, happy bird, happy me. And it only took ONE day!!

RESULT!

Monday, December 3, 2012

A Recent Trip to the Pet Store

Above: Green-Cheeked Conures. Below: Sun Conures

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Conures

Yeah, I've got the bug! I really want one of these!

The local pet store has a few Conures that I really like. They are so friendly and playful! When you walk into the bird room they immediately climb to the side of their cages. poke their beaks through the bars, and beg you to play with them. The store has a pair of Sun Conures and a pair of Green-Cheeked Conures. The Suns are gorgeous, but probably a bit too loud for where I live. So I think if I decide to get one I will either get a Green-Cheek or a Dusky-Headed Conure as they are supposedly the quietest of the breed.

Green-Cheeked Conure
That also means that I need a new cage. Since Conures are larger and like to chew on things a lot I'll need a much more substantial cage than what my Budgie is in.

Dusky-Headed Conure

According to Animal Planet's book, Conures by Carol Frischmann I need at least a 20 X 20 inch cage with 1/2 inch to 5/8 inch bar spacing. I'll need to find something like that, or larger.