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.