2013_03_0028
Albi the Cockatiel.
As well as paper bags, Albi loved boxes. I eventually made him a mini bird village with 5 interconnected boxes with an assortment of bird toys in each.
Here he's in protective mode of his territory, ready to attack for getting too close.
These details are repeated on each photo, so if you've read it once, firstly thank-you, secondly you don't need to read it again.
I'm uploading these in the absence of anything new.
I took care of Albi while his owner (next door neighbours daughter) started to reproduce. Human babies and birds don't mix these days.
As long as I was in and able to keep an eye on him, he pretty much had the freedom of the house rather being caged up. Like all birds you do have to keep an eye on it, otherwise it will eat the house. I learned this the hard way when I had a pair of Golden Mantled Rosella Parakeets (or Teenage Mutant Ninja Budgies as I named them) with the very good (but naive) intention of giving them complete freedom of the house. This freedom was ended when I came home after a couple of hours out. They’d chewed all the way round a light shade which had collapsed onto the coffee table below. Picture frames chewed and chunks of wallpaper removed. Bits of sofa chewed off. Every house plant (10 or 12) shredded down to the soil. Electric cable chewed. I was impressed by the amount of damage done in a couple of hours, but also a bit annoyed.
Anyway, back to Albi. He was a very friendly bird that would happily sit on your lap to watch telly. He liked to sleep on your head, but woe betide if you dared move - if you woke him up, this would result in your head getting a severe beak battering.
He was a dancer, and a whistler. His favourite tune to whistle and dance to was the Addams Family theme.
He had to be caged at meal times though, because he always wanted to share your meal by landing on the plate and digging in, whatever you were eating. He would even use his head to push your lips apart and literally take the food from your mouth.
I had him for 2 years. But sadly : One really snowy winters day, some of the neighbours and myself were clearing the road and pavement (no gritters for our street). He was watching us intently from the front window. I went in and out the back door a few times, but one of the times, he'd moved to the back of the house to greet me, and as soon as I opened the door, he flew out. I watched him spiral upwards in ever increasingly sized circles. Being such a tame and dependent bird, I honestly thought he'd return. But he'd never have survived that cold night. It was below freezing all day. Even in the unlikely event he had survived the night, there are too many cats and magpies around. I did wander the neighbourhood for a few days, and left the cage out in the back garden with food in it, but all to no avail.
2013_03_0028
Albi the Cockatiel.
As well as paper bags, Albi loved boxes. I eventually made him a mini bird village with 5 interconnected boxes with an assortment of bird toys in each.
Here he's in protective mode of his territory, ready to attack for getting too close.
These details are repeated on each photo, so if you've read it once, firstly thank-you, secondly you don't need to read it again.
I'm uploading these in the absence of anything new.
I took care of Albi while his owner (next door neighbours daughter) started to reproduce. Human babies and birds don't mix these days.
As long as I was in and able to keep an eye on him, he pretty much had the freedom of the house rather being caged up. Like all birds you do have to keep an eye on it, otherwise it will eat the house. I learned this the hard way when I had a pair of Golden Mantled Rosella Parakeets (or Teenage Mutant Ninja Budgies as I named them) with the very good (but naive) intention of giving them complete freedom of the house. This freedom was ended when I came home after a couple of hours out. They’d chewed all the way round a light shade which had collapsed onto the coffee table below. Picture frames chewed and chunks of wallpaper removed. Bits of sofa chewed off. Every house plant (10 or 12) shredded down to the soil. Electric cable chewed. I was impressed by the amount of damage done in a couple of hours, but also a bit annoyed.
Anyway, back to Albi. He was a very friendly bird that would happily sit on your lap to watch telly. He liked to sleep on your head, but woe betide if you dared move - if you woke him up, this would result in your head getting a severe beak battering.
He was a dancer, and a whistler. His favourite tune to whistle and dance to was the Addams Family theme.
He had to be caged at meal times though, because he always wanted to share your meal by landing on the plate and digging in, whatever you were eating. He would even use his head to push your lips apart and literally take the food from your mouth.
I had him for 2 years. But sadly : One really snowy winters day, some of the neighbours and myself were clearing the road and pavement (no gritters for our street). He was watching us intently from the front window. I went in and out the back door a few times, but one of the times, he'd moved to the back of the house to greet me, and as soon as I opened the door, he flew out. I watched him spiral upwards in ever increasingly sized circles. Being such a tame and dependent bird, I honestly thought he'd return. But he'd never have survived that cold night. It was below freezing all day. Even in the unlikely event he had survived the night, there are too many cats and magpies around. I did wander the neighbourhood for a few days, and left the cage out in the back garden with food in it, but all to no avail.