The House Guest (Part 2)

The birds continued to interact with eachother tentatively over the next couple of days. I kept noticing that Ernie was trying to get close to 'Zeus, but I was unsure of his motivations so I observed the birds carefully.

It should be noted that 'Zeus came to our house with a head covered in little pin-feathers* from his most recent molt. It turned out that Ernie had taken notice of this fact, and was continuing to approach 'Zeus, until 'Zeus would let him preen his head. After a few minutes, 'Zeus came to realize this was a very satisfying experience and let Ernie fix him up. I was delighted to see the two birds interacting so nicely, and grabbed camera! It took Ernie several preening sessions to get 'Zeus looking "presentable".

Meanwhile, Joey continued to keep his distance -- having only met Ernie little over a month ago (stay tuned for the recap of Joey's arrival to our house), I think Joey was being protective of his new friendship with Ernie, and uncertain of what to do about this new bird in the house stealing Ernie's affections. I wondered if Zeus was able to distinguish between Ernie and Joey (since they look so much alike), and if he was at all confused why sometimes "the yellow bird" would be friendly, and at other times standoffish.

Interestingly, all three birds seemed to view both cages as common property, or more accurately as "mine". It did not take very long for Ernie to enter 'Zeus' cage and try out his food dish, nor 'Zeus Ernies'. In fact, when he is out, 'Zeus always seems to go back to the lovies' cage, rather than his own for refreshment -- possibly because it is more accessible? I have had endless amounts of entertainment watching three birds try to share two food dishes -- especially 'Zeus and Joey who require a larger space gap between eachother, than between themselves and Ernie. Despite the larger size of the lovies, often as not, it would be 'Zeus chasing the lovies away from their food dishes, and even out of their cage. I soon came to learn that 'Zeus was a little bird with big 'tude.

Things where going along great with our little guest until he decided to chow down on some dirt... -- to be continued.

*Note on Pin-Feathers - When a bird grows a new feather, it comes in wrapped in a Keratin Sheath. In most cases, the bird will pull the itchy sheath off, and open the feather him or herself. It is very difficult, however, for birds to remove these coverings from feathers on the face and head. This is where another bird comes in handy!