Monday 3 January 2011

First days with Brian

Brian is so much more fun that I ever expected. I am so happy we brought him home! I was hoping not to get too attached as he will likely not live long due to his tumor; however, that ship has sailed. I'm smitten.

Over the weekend, I took him out and let him wander around the kitchen table. It was almost like an obstacle course since the table was filled with an old newspaper, the mail, and other things. He had a lot of fun exploring and jumping onto things. He is so incredibly curious and brave.

He'd been wandering around the table when he jumped up on Rocky's stick, even though a budgie-appropriate perch was right there:I should have made a video of this; in process of turning around on the stick:
Later, he found the plastic container of parrot seed. My larger birds will sometimes go up to it and pretend to eat the seeds; I never thought a budgie would! In the picture, it just looks like he's posing next to it, but he was pecking at the container.
He then made it to the other side of the table and hopped up on the tissue box. This appears to be one of his favorite places to perch.
I am having a hard time believing that he wasn't allowed out of his cage for 10 years as he is incredibly brave and tame. But why would his former owners lie about that?

Brian didn't appear to know how to step up -- I'd kind of scoop him up -- but after a day or two, he picked it up. He does not like it when we leave him alone -- he wants to be in on the action.

The only real downside is my need to protect him from my other birds. He is so much smaller than they are, so I need to be very careful when they are out at the same time. Yesterday he was perching on my upper arm when Beeps jumped on to that same shoulder. I'm not sure what Beeps's intentions were -- he's not bird-aggressive, so it's entirely possible it was an accident -- but I quickly scooped Brian to safety. I'm sure we'll work out a system in the next few weeks as he definitely needs to be out of his cage a lot!

Thanks again to everyone who commented and encouraged me to bring him home. You guys were a deciding voice in this!

0 comments :