Lunch with Alex

Firstly I didn't smuggle in the camera... no photos yet!

Today I spent my lunch with Alex, the new Alexanrine. He happily shared my bowl of noodles, then climbed down to the table and investigated all the odds and ends there. Watching slyly as I unwrapped my cake (It was a sponge cake), he then made a mad dash at it, grabbed a beakful, and walked backwards with it, looking triumphant. Funnily enough he showed no interest in my pack of Rollo chocolates - if he had I wouldn't have let him eat that since chocolate can prove toxic to birds - as if he knew he wasn't allowed. He was happy to play with the paper wrapped though!

Alex also met the young boy Archie today. Archie wasn't too friendly and mainly ignored the bigger bird, but Alex was quite interested in him, once even picking up the end of his tail and nibbling it, as if he thought Archie might be offering it to him as a toy! Though they got along well they are still housed separately, it being best to give male Alexandrines their own space.

I've also undertaken a mission to convince the shop to buy a couple of macaws! Who knows if I'll actually be successful, but you have to start somewhere!

Photos up next post :D

Another new boy!

Another new addition to the growing gang of handraised birds in the Birdroom today - we got in a second Alexandrine. This one is called Alex (Alex the Alex :D) and is a very handsome five year old. And BIG - when I had him on my shoulder this afternoon, it was like having a small hawk sitting on me! So I've settled him into his own cage for tonight, tomorrow I'll introduce him and Archie, the on year old Alexandrine I got yesterday. They'll still be housed separately unless they decide to become instant BBF or something like that, but it'll be interesting to see them interact with one another since they've both been 'only birds'.

Archie had a fun playtime this morning, out with the other handraised birds - the two Scaly Lorikeets and the Kakariki. He was a bit freaked out by the smaller birds, leaning away from them in alarm when they ventured near - and Heebie, the larger of the two Scalys, was hilarious with him. He kept stalking over to a higher perch, sitting right above Archie's head, while the poor Alexandrine (around four times Heebie's size!) pinned his eyes and fluffed up his head feathers nervously. Heebie seemed to know Archie was so nervous of him and continued to strut up and down on his perch just above Archie. I warned him if Archie bit his foot off I was just going to watch, but he knew best. Too fearless for his own good, that Lorikeet. Jeebie at least had some common sense and stayed away from the bigger bird!

Heebie wasn't finished with tormenting poor old Archie though... early in the afternoon, I was chopping fruit and vegetables and put out some celery pieces for the birds to peck at. Though there were plenty of smaller bits, because Archie grabbed the largest one, Heebie wanted it too. As Archie held it in one foot, Heebie sidled up and began to take bites out of it! So, so cheeky.

Didn't take my camera in today... will smuggle it into tomorrow, and hope the new boss doesn't notice me taking snaps of the birds :D 'Uh - yes, as a matter of fact this IS work related. Sorta...'

New boys

Got a couple of new boys in the Birdroom today! There's a Kakariki who's quite sane... for a Kakariki! They're typically very highstrung and crazy even as handraised birds, but this guy is okay :)

We got a semi-tame Alexandrine in, one of those I sold late last year/early this year, a year old boy called Archie. Didn't have my camera on me when he came in this afternoon, so he'll be my next photo subject.

Here we have a very handsome pair of Nanday Conures, which I don't get in too often - they are beautiful, friendly for aviary birds, coming and taking seed from my hand. Lovely calm natures.

I got in quite an interesting bunch of budgies, with some lovely colours among them.

This photo came out very interesting with the wingbeat shown!

And last of all - she must have the last word - Peaches, who saw me snapping photos of all the other birds and shot over to get her share of adoration!

Photos photos photos!

Here are the photos of Heebie, Jeebie and Peaches! The Scaly twins decided to all but flood the birdroom with their bath today, and Peaches the Greencheek Conure spent another spoiled afternoon passed around to everyone's shoulders and smooching up to customers :)

Back to work

I'm back from a two-week New Zealand holiday to visit relatives! The birdroom has been pretty quiet in my absence, though I'm expecting the usual end-of-year seasonal birds to begin any week now.

Handraised birds are down to three - the two siblings of Spick and Specks, named Heebie and Jeebie! They are sweet little lorikeets, just starting to come out of their shell after a few days with us. The other handraised bird is Peaches, a little Greencheek conure. Her sibling got sold recently so she's been hanging out with me and the other staff members for most of the day, getting spoiled! She's a bit of a sweetheart, though stubborn, like many a conure.

Will try to get some photos tomorrow!