A blog about my beautiful budgies.
Some of my recent posts have been about milestones Moriarty has achieved as he settles in. But milestones do not need to be about the young or those in new, developing situations, they can also apply to the old, or those in well-established routines.
Take Lennie, for example. From some point early on (post-quarantine days) he decided he needed to be wary of me. He will always give me a wide berth – sometimes very wide! His only slight exception will be if millet is involved. Ordinarily, this would be a great training tool but since Lennie is very overweight, I decided it best not to encourage more millet-eating just so I could get near him.
So, you can imagine my surprise when, on the 1st of May, he voluntarily landed on my finger!
Alas, it was not a new-found acceptance of me but a need to not miss anything with Perry & Moriarty!
Lennie
Perry & Moriarty were on my hand, in front of Moriarty’s cage, flirting & running up & down my arm. My other hand was beside them (between them & the cage). Their flirting intensified & Lennie made his way over to the top of Moriarty’s cage to investigate. I could see he desperately wanted to join Perry & Moriarty but was holding back as they were on me! Nevertheless, I kept my free hand out, positioned where he could easily fly down to it, thinking he will never come, but he wanted to join in the fun so much that he actually flew down onto my finger! He was not there long as he realised pretty quickly that this was an out-of-the-ordinary event & he did not want me to get the wrong impression!
Still, it was a nice feeling & nice to know that even when habits & routines are well-established, an occasional leap into unknown territory is possible!
Lennie
It took time, but finally, on the 5th April, Moriarty braved the window perch!
Due to Perry & Lennie’s current lack of flying ability, the window perches have been out-of-bounds for well over a year (certainly Dalai was the last to use them). This has meant that Moriarty had to find his own way to the window perches, without anyone setting an example.
I would try & encourage him onto them when he was sat on my finger & a couple of times he would touch them & once even put his foot on one, but needed a bit more courage to take that next step. On the occasion I had Perry on my finger, I would take him over, hoping he would remember the old days when he liked to sit on the window perch but if I got too close he got a bit worried so I would withdraw.
Moriarty regularly sits on the back of my chair & looks out of the window from there. It was from that location that he took the brave leap to the window perch. Unfortunately he was not there long enough for me to record the historic occasion! However, since then, the window perch is now a regular haunt for him. I am pleased about that because it provides more stimulation, from watching birds, squirrels, wind through the trees, rain, people passing through or children playing games.
Phineas still likes to regurgitate to my finger or thumb. There are several locations where he prefers this activity to happen. One location is on the open door of the Ferplast. This flat area showcases nicely his habit of interspersing regurgitation with side step speed footwork.
Phineas blew an impressive bubble the other day. It came out whilst he was regurgitating onto my finger. It was so big & strong it stayed on my finger long enough for me to take a photo:
The Bubble
Well done, Phinny!
The Bubbler
Phineas is still regurgitating to my finger. He is still blowing bubbles. This phase is ongoing. We do not have an end date yet.
The regurgitation session can occur many, many times a day. Duration of each session appears to be getting longer. If I wait until he comes to a natural end rather than force him to end as I have things to do [rolls eyes!], this may mean waiting up to 25 minutes. (I usually have the TV remote control to hand).
Sometimes he attempts to clean my finger & licks it all over. Recently, after the licking, he preens my finger. As you can see from the photos below, more often than not, my finger (& sometimes hand) needs a good wash afterwards.
(Click on photos to enlarge)
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A most interesting incident happened a few days ago where Phineas was on top of the manor, regurgitating to my index finger. I was holding my hand up to him, resting it on the cage with my index finger out but other fingers folded back. He regurgitated as normal but then tapped on the knuckle of my middle finger. I unfolded that & he proceeded to regurgitate to that finger. Hmm… interesting.
Then he tapped on my ring finger. I unfolded that & he regurgitated to that finger. It was like he was feeding all my fingers. He seemed satisfied after doing 3 fingers & then off he went & left me with this:
Three well fed fingers
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When Phineas has his seed, he then has the need to regurgitate & likes to use my finger or thumb. In the morning this has become a bit of a routine. He looks for me to offer my finger through the cage bars so he can regurgitate. It is a very tidy business as he takes it all back in.
The other day Atilla spent some time on the ttmss swing. Occasionally, I hang it from the landing platform & it usually gets passing interest from Atilla & the Toyboys. This particular day Atilla wanted to spend more time on it.
Sadly, her lump is starting to affect her balance. When I held her up to the swing, she put one foot on but kept the other foot on my finger, all the while giving her reflection a lot of kisses & the occasional thump.
A little later, I was pleased to see she had made her own way to the swing & was settled enough to have a little snooze, snuggled up to the familiar hen who seemed to want to snooze when she did.
(Click on pictures to enlarge)
Sometimes, when things are a bit chaotic, Raspy likes to sit on my finger for awhile & chill out. She will just sit & watch the others being silly… or have a little doze… or preen.
Unusually, yesterday when she was chilling out on my finger, she motioned towards my face, so I held her up closer. She nuzzled into me, touching my nose & cheek in such a gentle manner.
However, it did not take long for me to realise she was not being affectionate…. she just wanted to wipe her beak!
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