African Lovebird Society Writing Contest

The African Lovebird society is hosting a writing contest, and I really want to enter. Hopefully my two little muses will inspire me to write something great. Joey is already helping me select which photos to submit with my entry. The deadline is December 15, 2006.

See: http://www.africanlovebirdsociety.com/pets/pet_contest_2006.html for more information.

Let me know if there is a particular birdie anecdote you think I should incorporate into my entry.

Princess Tiki Up Close

For my mother's approval, a nice close-up shot of her highness, Princess Tiki.

Tiki is a Princess

My mother's budgie, Tiki, is a princess. My father built her a delightful mansion to live in, and she has a marblesque birdbath (not pictured). Princess Tiki has my parents wrapped around her little toe: my mother is trained to mist Tiki for her daily showers, and keeps *both* of her food dishes full; my father makes many different types of whistles to keep Miss Tiki entertained; and until they realized the con, both of my parents were accustomed to carrying her cage right up to her when it was time for her to go back inside. My father has even declared that I am no longer "the baby", but that the princess has usurped my place! Of course, as I write this, their royal highnesses, Prince Ernie and Prince Joey are roosting atop my head, so I really cannot complain.

A Bird and his Shadow

We have all played with our shadows from time to time, particularly when we were children and I was delighted to discover that birds are much the same. Several days ago, when the late afternoon sunlight was pouring into the living room, I found Ernie pecking away at his shadow while perched atop a door. I imagined him thinking to himself, "what is this thing? Why does it move when I move? Is this another birdie?!@". Unfortunately, the somewhat indistinct birdie on the wall was somewhat less alluring than the camera, and he flew over to the camera, before I could get a shot of both Ernie and his shadow.

Birds on Vacation!

The birds' Whistler vacation started with a dazzling drive up the sea to sky highway. They were amazed with the breath taking views of the mountains, ocean, trees and wildlife (including two ravens). The sky was blue, and the sun was bright. It was a great beginning to our labour day long weekend.

Always the bird "psychologist", I noticed that the birds demonstrated an interesting pattern of behaviour while we were in Squamish for a pitstop. Darren needed to fill the car with gas, so he dropped me off at Tim Horten's to get some food. I strapped the bird carrier into my seat (I had been carrying it up until that point), and jumped out of the car. The birds were perfectly fine while Darren was in the car with them. Then when Darren returned from the gas station I got back into the car and Darren decided to go inside to get a frostee from Wendy's. While I was in the car with them, they were also perfectly content. A few minutes later, however, when I left the birds alone in the car (I was throwing my empty soup container out in a garbage can 10 feet away from the car), they immediately starting calling out to me. I have noticed them use the same type of call when they are separated from each in the house (particularly, when they are more nervous about their surroundings) - it is almost as if they are saying to each other "Here I am, where are you?" back and forth. While I was out of sight, I whistled back to comfort them and as soon as they could see me again, they stopped. I suspect Darren and I may be members of the flock!

We continued on our way to Whistler, and Tantalus Lodge welcomed its smallest guests! I had phoned ahead to make sure it would be okay to bring them, and was assured that it would be fine :). The first night we were there, I left the birds in their house, not wanting to expose them to too much change all at once and they settled into their big cage for the night.

The next morning (Saturday), they were allowed some flight time outside of the cage and amused our other guests (Tam and Gram) with their room exploring antics. The top of the picture frames and the dangling light cord were soon graced with a birdie presence. By the end of day, they had also figured out how to land on the large drapery rod.

On Sunday, they continued to explore the main room, and became fascinated with the large mirror over the fireplace. Ernie and Joey took turns hovering in front of it, so as to see the interesting birdie being reflected back at them. I also managed to coax Joey into a bath (of course, from previous posts you will understand how difficult this was) much to the delight of Tam and Gram. Ernie was content with a few splashes.

By Monday, the birds were more comfortable with their new surroundings, and made their way into the back bedroom - exploring the bathroom shower curtain rod, the window curtain rods, and the large bedroom mirror. After we packed up, and checked out, we stopped at Brandywhine falls on the way home. I carried the birds with me in the carrier as we walked to the falls and many of the other visitors were very curious about them. One Asian tourist asked me if they could talk. I replied that lovebirds don't usually learn to talk, but upon further reflection, I believe I was mistaken - lovebirds "talk" all the time, we humans just have to learn how to understand them!! I have included a picture of Joey and Ernie taken a safe distance away from the falls. I propped their carrier up on a large rock in order to take the shot.

Joey and Grace

Whenever Gracie comes over to scrapbook, Curious Joe is very interested in what she is up to.

"Sunday Afternoons"

"Sunday afternoons, nothing much to do... but there's no one I'd rather do nothing with than you" - Cub

"This bird was made for bathing..."

"This bird was made for bathing, and that's just what he'll do,
and one of these days this bird is going to SPLASH all over you!"
(Sung to the tune of these "Boots made for Walking" by Nancy Sinatra).

Little Birds, Big Decisions

Ernie: I just can't decide... tree or flowers?

Joey: I don't know, Ernie... I think she should use the Umbrella stamp - it even has water droplets on it!

Ernie: Good idea Joey, so long as she doesn't use that stamp with the C A T on it! What is she doing with that thing anyway?@?!