Here's a few more pictures of irrepressible Suns!
My greeting each morning as I walk into the Birdroom: 'Let us out!'
One of the babies playing on the rope ring, a favourite toy of the whole group.
Look mum, I'm an acrobat!
A moment of grace:
Everyone, have a safe and happy Easter form Chris and the Birdroom!
The Birdroom has been going really well the past few weeks. As usual, I'm in possession of a gang of of lorikeets - seven to be exact. Two Rainbows, a Red-Collar, a Musk, two normal Scalys and one lutino Scaly. Phew! As if my hands weren't full enough with those little monsters, I have a total of five Sun Conures - two babies, and three DNA tested adults. Lola, the very cheeky girl, Tango, the shy but sweet boy, and Jack, the terror of a boy! They greet me and any visitor to the Birdroom with a barrage of Conure screams, causing one customer to remark on my 'alarm system going off!'
I had a fun 'wrestle' with the local Army barracks mascot this week, a fiery Sulfa-crest Cocokatoo called Bert. He comes in regally to get his wing trimmed - making me one of his least favourite people - although this time he wasn't too bad. Myself and his handlers both have all our fingers! To start with, Bert wasn't keen on coming out of his travel cage, eyeing me balefully from the perch in the middle while his handlers tried to coax him out with a bribe - a sugar packet! After a few minutes of head-scratches I finally got a step-up and we settled him on top of his cage, where his handlers distracted him with more head-scratching while I very carefully clipped wing feathers, taking several attempts as he whipped his head around to snap at me. But in the end we had a trimmed Cockatoo and we didn't have to wrap him - something that requires two people to hold him, he is easily one of the biggest Cockatoos I've ever seen!
Anyway, onto some photos and a video of the residents :)
One of the baby Conures, ready for takeoff!
Lola knows quite well that she's gorgeous and dares anyone to say different!
Lola was the last of the Conures to arrive at the store out of the five. I had brought the babies from one of my regular breeders, and Tango and Jack had both been DNA tested and were boys, so I'd taken them before the babies' arrival. I had my hands full with the four of them, but I'm glad I said yes to Lola, who is an affectionate if strong-willed bird! I decided to take her as she was a DNA tested female and I thought it would be nice in case somebody was interested in a breeding pair. Jack was excited to see her, dancing all over the place in order to impress her when she arrived. But I actually think she prefers gentle Tango, since I caught them snuggling together and preening each other during playtime yesterday!
But in any case, Lola's old owner donated a bag of her favourite - peanuts - when she dropped her off. And within a day she had taught all five of them to love them and how to eat them!
Lola is quick to show the two babies how it's done
One of the babies tests to check if my ring is tastier than the peanuts.
Lola is quite tolerant of the youngsters, even when one tries to take her nut!
Realizing he's missing out, Tango pops a hopeful face into the mix
Tango politely checks to see if there's any left for him! The babies are still chewing open the shells while Lola has reached her prize!
At this point in time, clever Jack was taking advantage of the empty seed bowl on the playstand and hogging it for himself, fishing out all the sunflowers!
This is a vid of the Musk Lorikeet amusing himself doing what I term his 'Crazy Dance' - you'll see why!
1 - Food
Make sure you have plenty of food, so when you're out grabbing supplies for the family, grab some extra bird seed! Petbarn Townsville is currently in low supplies after the road closures from the recent floods, so if we don't have your bird's seed in stock, check alternative pet stores, produce stores, department store and supermarkers for emergency supplies.
2 -Water
Remember water! Something simple that is often overlooked - make sure you have an extra bottle of water for your birds (1 litre will do a 200ml container for five days).
A small travel box or cage is the safest temporary home to move your bird into, ESPECIALLY if your bird usually lives on a patio or veranda. Include food & water dishes and if space permits, your bird's favourite toy. Set this up beforehand and move your bird a few hours before the storm hits the coast, to give them time to settle in. Having an old towel or sheet handy for a cover can be useful if your bird stresses over the new cage or the storm itself.
If your cage is usually left outside or on a patio, remember to move it or tie it somewhere safe once you relocate your bird. Remove all fixtures and take out the tray from the bottom, storing these inside.
If you are asked/decide to evacuate, prepare your bird's travel box/cage beforehand. Place them inside 2-3 hours before you leave. If leaving by car, ensure your cage or box fits where you indeed to have it for the journey (before the bird goes inside - you don't want to be juggling a cage sideways trying to cram it in through the door!) - and make sure it's secure with a rope or strap and cannot move during the journey. Remembered to pack extra food and water (enough for five days) for your birds.
If you are staying at motels/hotels, call beforehand to check for pet-friendly establishments.
If you are leaving my train/plane, check with QR or your airline as to requirements for traveling with birds.
5 - Temporary quarters for birds
If you don't have a cage or travel box, dog and cat crates and carriers work well for most birds. Finches are the exception, since usually the mesh on dog and cat crates is too wide for finches.
Don't forget, the Bureau of Meteorologywebsite (http://www.bom.gov.au/) is providing forecast maps every three hours, which will become hourly as the storm closes in on the coast. Please keep a close watch on the cyclone and keep your cyclone kits and battery radios ready.
Stay safe, Townsville and all surrounding areas.
Lolly the princess parrot struts happily in front of her foliage!
The adult budgies investigate bottlebrush and hibiscus.
Not many of the other parrots will stand up to bossy little Gem, the pineapple green-cheeck - but the young blue Princess is a stubborn one and refused to back down!
A handsome little guy - a Lutino Kakariki, just a little bub with his head feathers still spiky!
Things are getting busy for Christmas, and I expect that next week is going to even busier in the Birdroom!
Tis' the season for baby birds, and I've got a heap of handraised birds! Here's some pretty photos of the group.
Closeup of Gem, the pineapple green-cheek conure!
Gem lying in my hand.
Gem, snuggling with a red-collar lorikeet!
Awww!
Gem and a scaly lorikeet!
Gem with his red-collar and scaly lorikeet pals!
The two scaly lorikeets who are best friends, Spring and Summer (Spring = Green, Summer = yellow). Spring has a huge crush on Summer - if you pick her up, he wails until he gets to go too! They're only being sold together because they've bonded so closely.
I know this one it out of focus, but I couldn't resist an actual photo of this idiotic scaly lorikeet leaping entirely off the cage! This, incidentally, is why he's called Spring, although it did also have something to do with his colour :P
Summer lying on her side!
The red-collars, scalys, alexes and Gem the conure after a bath session! 
And here's Lolly, the Princess parrot - a favourite with the whole staff, she's so very sweet!
This is a video of the lorikeets (Two scalys and two red-collars) plus Gem the pineapple green-cheek conure having a bath (and a quick meal in ?Gem's case!)
Just wanted to upload this video of two scaly lorikeets, a normal and a Lutino (yellow) having a bath! A rainbow and a red collar x rainbow watch from the background - the scalys are little bullies, and won't let the bigger guys in the bath with them!
And this is Lolly, our princess parrot, playing with her favourite dice toy!
I know, it's been an age! Been busy with both work and life, but I'm going to start sneaking in my camera to work, and updated a bit more regularly!
So, here's a few of my current Bird residents:
A cute budgie!
Scaly and a musk lorikeet
Lutino (yellow) Scaly lorikeet
Kakariki group - from left to right: Cinnamon red-crowned pied, normal red-crowned pied, normal yellow-crowned pied, normal red-crowned.
Yellow-crowned pied hen ready to launch off the perch.
Red-crowned pied male showing off!
Tiel group from left to right: cinnamon pearl, cinnamon pied, whiteface pied, and two cinnamon whiteface pieds.
Two whiteface cinnamon pieds cuddling on the swing!
I've just gotten a bunch of new handraised birds in, so I'm going to have a big photo session, keep your eyes out!
